Even worse, here’s nepotism poster child offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan yelling today that “In 2012 the Redskins are gonna be the NFC East champions, and that starts right f–king today.”

This is the same Shanahan son who is coaching the #16 offense in the league and lost 34-10 to the 8-8 Eagles.

Shut the hell up, Kyle.

I know I keep writing this, but I’m tired of this. Tired that the Redskins aren’t just out of the league’s elite for two going on three decades, but that they aren’t even regularly in late contention for a wild-card playoff spot.

Turns out I was right to be suspicious of starting and NFL season with John Beck and Rex Grossman as the starting quarterbacks… because THEY SUCK AT PLAYING QUARTERBACK. I hate that the Redskins have now had two arrogant coaches who think they can start sucky University Of Florida quarterbacks because they think they’re such geniuses (the first was Steve Spurrier with Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews).

Neither Beck or Grossman should even be a backup on the NFL roster.

The Redskins — again — need a wholesale makeover. They need a new quarterback. Santana Moss is done at WR, they need new blood. RB is okay. They need new offensive linemen and tight ends who aren’t injury prone or who disappear. They also need defensive players who actually scare the opposing team.

And they need a head coach and coaching staff based on skill, not family connections. And they need coaches who will adapt to the players they have, rather than be so arrogant they insist on jamming round pegs into square holes (this is true of every Redskins coach over the last 20 years save perhaps Joe Gibbs and Marty Schottenheimer).

And they most importantly need an owner who isn’t an insufferable jerk who couldn’t assemble a winning team and staff if he had all the money in the world (which he does).

I’m sick and tired of the Redskins sucking, but I expect they will suck for the foreseeable future.

See you next September.

I will concede that he performed somewhat better in the pre-season. But that said, I am more than a little disappointed that the Redskins starting quarterback is the worst QB to ever win play in a Super Bowl, Rex Grossman.

I of course hope he does well, but I doubt John Beck will be holding the clipboard for very long.

The team trimmed its roster from 80 players to 53 Saturday, revealing a roster that bears only passing resemblance to what Shanahan used last season. Barely half of last year’s Week 1 roster — 27 players in all — survived on the team Shanahan will use to begin preparations for next Sunday’s season opener against the New York Giants.

While Saturday’s cuts didn’t include any major surprises, the team did part ways with a handful of veterans: linebacker Horatio Blades, safety Chris Horton, nose tackle Anthony Bryant and offensive lineman Artis Hicks. Gone, too, are running back Keiland Williams, quarterback Kellen Clemens and three 2011 draft picks, including Evan Royster, the former Penn State running back who was selected in the sixth round.

I feel pretty optimistic, but I’m a bad barometer because I’m always optimistic in September when it comes to the Redskins.

That said, this team feels the least Snyderiffic of all the teams we’ve had in a long time, and that’s a good thing.

Prediction: 9-7

Heath Shuler sucked as the Redskins starting quarterback for the 4 mins he held the job, and he has sucked as a “Democrat” in congress who thinks his calling is to attack Democrats and knife Pelosi in the back.

Heath Shuler sucks.

So I wonder if the University of Tennessee understands that while Heath played well for them in his college years, his post-college life has largely been a giant bowl of suck, and I’m betting he’ll suck at being an athletic director.

That said, if he leaves congress, that institution will suck a little less. (via Todd, who understands that Heath Shuler sucks)

According to an NFL source, owners and players have tentatively reached an agreement to end the lockout, which entered its 86th day today.

Some coaches and players have been contacted about returning to work probably early next week and as soon as this weekend.

Jamaica’s top athlete is at it again.

Usain Bolt shook off a nine-month lay-off to prove he was back as he beat rival Asafa Powell to win the 100m at the Golden Gala here on Thursday.

Bolt had to grit his teeth and drag back his Jamaican compatriot over the last 20m before winning in 9.91 seconds.

Powell recorded 9.93sec in second with Christophe Lemaitre of France third in 10sec flat.

“I believe I’m a starter in the NFL,” Beck said in a SiriusXM NFL Radio interview Monday.

He’s certainly thinking like a leader during the lockout, calling teammates to organize workouts since players are not permitted to train at team facilities during the work stoppage.

“I basically say, ‘Screw the awkwardness.’ ‘I’m trying to be the starting quarterback,” he said in the interview. “I’ll call whoever, try to set whatever up. If you don’t think like a starter and act like a starter, your teammates probably aren’t gonna believe you’re the starter. So I’m thinking I’m the starter.”

I like his moxy, at least. It couldn’t be worse. No, really, could not be worse.

Anybody who follows the Redskins recognizes this isn’t a team that is one good draft away from being in contention. The Redskins need to find a quarterback now that the Donovan McNabb era has turned disastrous. They have to bolster their defensive interior with Haynesworth’s future in doubt and running back and offensive line are other questionable areas. In a division as competitive as the NFC East, this team won’t be competing for anything for at least another year.

There’s no re-building anymore. There’s no letting your rookie quarterback hold the clipboard. You have to win now in the modern NFL. The idea that bad teams (like the Redskins) should write off a season as a loss before the first snap is foolhardy and economically tone deaf. Fans no longer have the patience to build a franchise, we’ve had too many teams go from “worst to first” for them to accept the cautious team building of a past era.

A District of Columbia grand jury on Tuesday indicted Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth on a charge of misdemeanor sexual abuse in connection with an alleged assault on a waitress at a downtown hotel in February.

The indictment stems from an incident in which the embattled football player allegedly caressed the breasts of a waitress at the W hotel as she was clearing the table.

Dan Snyder, our useless sack of a Redskins owner who has run the team into the ground while extracting millions of dollars from us fans, has written
an editorial in the Washington Post (one of the few outlets around here that does Redskins coverage that he doesn’t have on the payroll) to pre-emptively defend himself as he sues the Washington City Paper for this article in New York (he doesn’t say why). In the process, Snyder lies. Again.

Among many examples in the November 2010 article, the most egregious was when the article stated: This is “the same Dan Snyder who got caught forging names as a telemarketer for Snyder Communications.” That is a clear factual assertion that I am guilty of forgery, a serious crime that goes directly to the heart of my reputation — as a businessman, marketer and entrepreneur. It is false.

TBD looked into this and found an AP article that corroborates the allegation:

Verizon and its former marketing agency, at the time owned by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, were fined $3.1 million for illegally switching Florida customers’ long distance telephone service without authorization.

The state Attorney General’s Office said representatives of Bethesda, Md.-based Snyder Communications forged thousands of customer signatures to switch them to service provided by GTE, which is now Verizon. Investigators also found GTE employees forged signatures and “used deceptive tactics” to get customers to switch service.

GTE hired Snyder Communications to market its long distance service in 1998.

The state has received more than 3,000 complaints of “slamming” involving Snyder Communications and Verizon, officials said. The majority of the customers lived in South Florida.

Snyder’s weaseling seems to be that it wasn’t he personally who committed this forgery, but rather the company he owned.

That’s sort of like saying he wasn’t the one who wasted $100 million on the sack of crap known as Albert Hayneswroth, but rather Washington Redskins, Inc. whose majority shareholder happens to be one Daniel Snyder.

The rest of The Danny’s editorial is more of the woe is me crapola that we’ve come to expect from the owner of one of the most underperforming NFL teams of the last 20 years.

Snyder is suing the City Paper because it has given him much butt hurt. Nothing has changed, except Snyder is even more reviled for trying to bigfoot the free press with his money.

Here is why Redskins fans hate Snyder, and here is where you can donate to the City Paper’s defense of free speech.

1 Sun. Sep. 11 vs. Giants 4:15 PM
2 Sun. Sep. 18 vs. Cardinals 1:00 PM
3 Mon. Sep. 26 at Cowboys 8:30 PM
4 Sun. Oct. 02 at Rams 1:00 PM
5 BYE
6 Sun. Oct. 16 vs. Eagles 1:00 PM
7 Sun. Oct. 23 at Panthers 1:00 PM
8 Sun. Oct. 30 at Bills 4:05 PM
9 Sun. Nov. 06 vs. 49ers 1:00 PM
10 Sun. Nov. 13 at Dolphins 1:00 PM
11 Sun. Nov. 20 vs. Cowboys 1:00 PM
12 Sun. Nov. 27 at Seahawks 4:05 PM
13 Sun. Dec. 04 vs. Jets 1:00 PM
14 Sun. Dec. 11 vs. Patriots 1:00 PM
15 Sun. Dec. 18 at Giants 1:00 PM
16 Sat. Dec. 24 vs. Vikings 1:00 PM
17 Sun. Jan. 01 at Eagles 1:00 PM

Tiki Barber has alerted the NFL that he plans to come out of retirement and play in the 2011 season, sources close to the former New York Giants running back said Tuesday.

The agency that represents Barber confirmed the news on its Twitter account.

(via Giants fan B.D.)

Portis first run for the Redskins

Clinton Portis Redskins highlights

Clinton Portis acting the fool – RIP Coach Janky Spanky

That said, recent events have me wondering what the heck is going on over there. First there was the narcissitic LeBron James sweepstakes, and now comes the NY Knicks heralding the arrival of Carmelo Anthony as if he were some sort of demi-god.

No doubt the arrival of a new, purportedly high quality player is generally a cause for joy among fans but there’s a certain over the top feel to this in today’s NBA. At least that’s how it feels from the outside looking in.

The game is smaller now, particularly as it transitioned into a primarily cable affair, and there’s simply nobody today with the wide appeal of a Jordan or even Rodman. But the sense I get is that these guys are getting their rear ends kissed by the teams more than ever before, and more so than in other professional sports.

Moron.

Grimm was a key element of one of the greatest offensive lines in NFL history. When he retired, Art Monk had the most career receptions of any NFL player in history. He also played in 3 Super Bowls. If anything, it took too long for Monk to be voted into the Hall Of Fame.

As Dan Steinberg notes at the link above, this is mostly Whitlock trawling for traffic and links. But he’s stupid.

Has it ever happened before in NFL history that an owner has to compose a letter discussing (not quite apologizing) for the seriously crappy job they did of hosting the Super Bowl?

And yet, here is Jerry Jones doing just that. Dallas sucks, proven once again.

ALSO: Deion Sanders in the Hall of Fame? Fail.

TBD has an excellent rundown on why the little tyrant’s lawsuit is garbage.