Top 10 Dumbest Moves by Dan Snyder

This needs no introduction the title explains it all, please let me know if I missed any other dumb moves I'm sure there's plenty more out there.

Honorable mention:

-2010: After seeing more Ovechkin, Strasburg, John Wall jerseys and even more DC United apparel than Redskins apparel at Fed Ex field, Dan Snyder decides to ban all Washington sports apparel, besides Redskins apparel to be worn at Fed Ex field to promote more of a “team spirit atmosphere.”

- 2002 Signs Jeremiah Trotter:  This was this year’s big signing as Danny and company Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter to a 7 year $35.5 million dollar contract. Trotter only played 2 out of the 7 year contract before heading back to Philly.  Stats as a Redskin:  150 solo tackles, 2 interceptions and just 1.5 sacks 

- 1999 Hires Vinny Cerrato as VP of Football Operations:  Ok I know some are going to say this should be in the top 10, but I’m like FIFA I like controversy, jk, but let’s take a look at this Cerrato and Snyder were basically butt buddies and the only reason why Cerrato was hired by Danny boy was because Danny knew that he could make all the moves he wanted with Cerrato as the VP.  The one main thing Cerrato can be solely responsible for is for trading away draft picks and not so great drafts at times.

10. 2004 Trades Champ Bailey for Clinton Portis: Still not sure if this trade was by Danny or if Joe Gibbs initiated this trade to get his 2000 version of John Riggins.  Here is where the biggest problem with this trade lied; Champ Bailey is a shutdown, once in a lifetime cornerback.  He was mentored by one of the best in Darrell Green and offenses never throw his way because the ball will most likely end up in his hands.  At the time of the trade, Clinton Portis had produced in Denver as he rushed for 3,099 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2 seasons as a Bronco.  Thing is, a good running back is easy to come by the draft, something that Snyder and company don’t know about, and a shutdown corner like Champ Bailey is  not easy to come by.  Snyder and or Gibbs could have easily picked up a RB through Snyder’s favorite market free agency or by drafting a running back and kept Champ Bailey. 

9. Near Future:  After getting cut from the Washington Wizards Dan Snyder decides to give Gilbert Arenas a 6 year 30 million contract to play PR and WR for the Redskins.  Plan backfires when Gilbert shows up at Albert Haynesworth’s house jokingly pointing a gun at his head for not showing up to minicamp and OTA’s.

8. 2009 Bans signs being brought into Fed Ex Field:  The 2009 season was the breaking point for Redskins fans with Dan Snyder.  Fans had it before with Daniel Snyder, but after a 19-14 loss to the Detroit Lions, who had loss the 19 previous games, this was loss that broke Redskins fans backs.  After this loss back at Fed Ex Field, it did not take much for fans to start booing their beloved team and signs saying sell the team and others bash Dan Snyder signs popped up .  Since those signs were hurting Danny feelings he decided to not let signs be brought into Fed Ex ticking off Redskins fans even more.

7.  2009 Signs Albert Haynesworth: Dan Snyder signs Haynesworth to the largest D tackle contract in history at $100 million over 7 years.  As we speak right now the plan is backfiring.  Haynesworth is the ONLY Redskin that did not show up to minicamp and to OTA’s this whole off season.  Why? Because in a 3-4 defense poor little Haynesworth is not going to have great stats since his job will be to clog up both A gaps.   O so now Haynesworth is worried about stats, yea sure cause 4 sacks and 38 tackles (Solo and Assist) last season was a lot.  Haynesworth is exactly what I thought he would be a fat lazy piece of shit!!! In his 8 year career he has never played a full 16 game season.  Haynesworth is a perfect Nose Tackle for a 3-4, he has the size to clog both of those A gaps, but he’d rather just remain busy in the Tennessee woods with his yacht and monster truck instead being with the team and being in shape for once.  Yea sure this guy is definitely worth $100 million. 

6. 2009 Sues fans for dropping season tickets:  Surprisingly enough this one is not made up, yes good old Danny boy attempted to do this.  In a tough economy some Redskins fans had get out of their season ticket plans because they couldn’t afford it anymore, including a 72 year old woman close to bankruptcy.  What did Snyder do? Sue them even the 72 year old woman.  If you didn’t think all Snyder cared about was making money you should think that now.  Who does something like this, not even George Steinbrenner sued fans for dropping season tickets when they moved to the new stadium.  Snyder just cares about how much money and could not give two shits about the fans who waste their hard earned money to watch a below average franchise.  Obviously this didn’t go through, but you have to be a money hogging whore to try to attempt something like this, what does Snyder need the money for anyway? He’s already a billionaire.  Maybe it’s because of Snyder there are so many Cowgirls fans in the DC area, and who can blame them.

5. 2001 Firing Marty Schottenheimer:  After one 8-8 season Snyder decides to fire Marty Schottenheimer, why? Because Snyder wanted full control of his team he wanted to be the coach and Marty was not having any of that he even fired Snyder’s buddy Vinny Cerrato as the VP of football operations that firing proved to be another reason for the firing as Snyder hired Cerrato back the next season.  8-8 is not a bad season and does not lead to a firing, after this it was obvious that Snyder and Cerrato were going to run things with the Skins weather it was good or bad, but mostly bad.  

4. 2006 Off Season: Signs Adam Archuletta, Antwaan Randle El, TJ Duckett and Brand Loyld: Ah yes one of the greatest spending sprees by Dan Snyder, the 2006 free agent class, the only thing that is keeping this from being in the top 3 is that Danny boy did sign Andre Carter for a 6 year $30 million contract. Carter has lived up to his contract as he has only missed 2 games in a Redskins uniform, mmmmm sounds a lot different than another defensive linemen for the Skins cough cough, anyways Carter’s stat line as Redskins is 31.5 sacks and 162 tackles in 6 years.

 Now to the bad part about this free agent class, let’s start with Adam Archuletta, Snyder signed Adam Archuletta to a 6 year $30 million contract making him the highest paid safety in NFL history.  Let’s just say that his performance on the field did not live up to his contract, Archuletta had 0 INTERCETPIONS yes 0 , just 49 tackles and started a whopping 7 games so much for $30 million and after the 2006 season Archuletta left DC for the windy city, so much for 6 years. 

Next Antwaan Randle El, Randle El was signed to a  7 year $31 million contract.  This was a classic Dan Snyder signing as Randle El had been a key player to the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl  while he was a key to the Steelers, Randle was expected to be a #2 receiver in  DC, but he didn’t turn into that in DC as teams continued to double Santana Moss and Randle El did not produce when given the opportunity at WR or PR.  Randle El finished is sting in DC with 186 receptions for 2,202 yards 8 receiving touchdowns and 2 passing touchdowns.  Randle El slowed in age during his final 2 years in DC and definitely was not worth $31 million.  Rundle El this year will be back in Pittsburgh playing for the Steelers.

Brandon Lloyd was traded to the Redskins from the San Francisco 49ers and in return the niners received a 3^rd round draft pick in the 06 draft and a 4^th round pick in the 07 month, trading away draft picks something Danny boy is known for.  Whatever made Snyder like Lloyd we’ll never know, then again we’ll never know about half the moves he makes anyways, Lloyd put average numbers in San Fran with 1,510 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns.  When he came to DC, his production dropped and went Joe Gibb’s dog house right way as he only started 13 games in 2 years.  Lloyd stats as a Redskin were a whopping 25 receptions for 379 and an astounding 0 touchdowns.  Once again a major waste of draft picks.

Continuing with the theme of wasted draft picks, TJ Duckett, in a 3 team trade the Redskins gave up another draft pick to the Denver Broncos while the Broncos sent Ashley Lelie to the Atlanta Falcons and the Falcons sent RB TJ Duckett to the Redskins.  The Skins then signed Duckett to a 2 year $1.36 million contract.  Duckett only spent one year with the Skins with 38 carries for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns, all career lows for Duckett. 

3. 2002 Hiring of Steve Spurrier:  After going 122-27-1 and winning a national championship at the University of Florida , Steve Spurrier was hired as the head coach of the Redskins after Marty Schottenheimer was fired as head coach.  This hiring had disaster written all over from the start, Spurrier to decided to sign players that he had been successful with him in college, he signed former Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews both who had both been nothing more than backup QBs in the NFL.  Then he signed 6 former Florida WR and the results of the Florida alumni teams  12-20 in 2 season and 2 finishes in 3^rd place in the division after the 2003 season, Spurrier realized that he belonged at the College level and went on to coach at South Carolina.

2. 2000 Off season:  Signs Deion Sanders, Jeff George and Bruce Smith, after being on bad snap away from the NFC Championship game, the season earlier, Dan Snyder thought that all he had to do was just add a few players and the Skins would win their 4^th Super Bowl and many experts thought that the Redskins would be Super Bowl contenders.  Haha the 2000 season was far cry from that as the Redskins went 8-8 and the team 45 miles to the north won the Super Bowl.  Here’s who Danny boy signed to some outrageous contracts.

From the hated Dallas Cowgirls I mean Cowboys, Deion Sanders was signed to a 7 year $56 million contract after spending 5 seasons in Dallas.  Primetime had 4 interceptions, 38 tackles and 0 punt or kick return TD’s.  Best part of all was that he played only 1 out the 7 years of his contract.  After that season Deion retired then came back in 2004 with the Baltimore Ravens.   

Jeff George signs on as backup QB for $18 million over 4 years.  Talking about being paid to do nothing; over the 2 years he was in DC George only started in 7 games passing for 1,556 yards, 7 Touchdowns and 9 Interceptions.  George would then be a backup in Minnesota before hanging up the cleats.

Bruce Smith, after 15 years as Buffalo Bills, Smith left Buffalo to come to DC as he signed a 5 year $25 million contract.  Now stat wise, Smith had an ok stint in DC as he compiled 29 sacks and 137 tackles in 4 years.   But I’m sure Danny could have found a much younger D-end through the draft, then again Danny and company have no idea what the draft is.  Snyder would then continue to sign washed up free agents, a strategy that has not worked at all.

1. 1999 Becoming owner of the Washington Redskins:  Since Dan Snyder has become owner of the Washington Redskins; the Skins have compiled a record or 80-96, 6 coaches in 10 years and numerous starting QB’s.  Doesn’t sound like a winning formula at all and hasn’t been, signing big name free agents has not worked at all.  In fact any player that has made the pro bowl on their pervious team has not made the pro bowl as a Redskin, only 1 player has done that Santana Moss.   Not only has Snyder not given results on the field, he has shown that he could not care about the fans at all, going to a game at Fed Ex Field is one the biggest pain in the you know whats ever.  I remember as a little boy being able to take the metro to the Landover metro station then take a free bus over to the stadium.  Since Snyder took over that hasn’t been available, why? Because all Snyder cares about is making money, he doesn’t care about the fans.  The only way to get to a Skins game at Fed Ex is pay $100 + for a parking pass, pay $20 to walk 2 miles to the stadium or pay $40 to park 2 miles away and take a shuttle bus, wow Snyder you sure are making a killing you fucking ass hole.  To be a good owner Snyder just has to look right down the road to Ted Leonsis who isn’t afraid to answer questions to the media, takes fans questions on radio shows and even greets fans at the door before games.  Has Snyder done any of this HELL NO!!!! Snyder has now made a laughing stock out of a once proud organization and he doesn’t even seem to care that the Redskins are now the butt of every one’s jokes why? Once again because he’s making money and that’s all he cares about.  Snyder claimed at the end of the 2009 season that he will change his ways, so far I haven’t seen a change by the signings of Larry Johnson and Willie Parker and part of me thinks that they only reason why the Skins traded for McNabb was because Snyder knew he would get at least one primetime game this year.

What Type of Caps Drunk are You?

He is Who I Thought He Was

As of Tuesday evening all hell broke loose at Redskins Park in Ashburn. Albert Haynesworth is now refusing to attend a mandatory minicamp this week, after being the only Redskin not to show up at any OTA’s this spring, because the team is switching to a 3-4 defense this year, fat Albert doesn’t want to play in it because he won’t get his stats in a 3-4, yea sure 4 sacks and 30 tackles last year was a lot of stats. On April 1, Haynesworth took a $21 million check in good faith that he would attend this week’s minicamp. This deal was made earlier this year when the decision was made to switch to a 3-4 and the second half of the deal was that Haynesworth had the option to look at all other 31 NFL teams to go else were until April 1. Haynesworth supposedly looked, I doubt it from seeing his effort on the football field, and like the lazy piece of shit Haynesworth is he took the money and decided not to come, basically committing a theft from the Skins. Head coach Mike Shanahan put 100% trust in the fat ass that he would come to camp.

“When we owed him a check for $21 million dollars, we said, 'If you take that check, we do expect you to be the best defensive end, the best nose tackle--if we play you at free safety, we expect you to be the best free safety,' even though he'd have to lose a little weight. Whatever position we play him at, that he would have to do the best job he possibly could and make the commitment to be the best football player. Obviously he took the check. So I was surprised he wasn't here [at mini-camp], because I thought he did make that commitment once he took that check, that he wanted to be a Washington Redskin and he wanted to do the best thing for the Washington Redskins to help our defense and help our team win. Obviously it didn't go in that direction. So we're very disappointed."

The actions of Haynesworth do not surprise me at all, when we signed Fat Albert. I knew right away this was a mistake giving a player who has never played a full 16 game season a record contract of $100 million over 7 years. That stat alone should’ve been a red flag to giving him a contract like that, but as usual good ole Dan Snyder could not resist signing the biggest free agent of the 2009 class. Albert’s laziness was noticed throughout the season as he was sitting out in the 2nd quarter of games to get air. I knew this was going to happen all along and it didn’t surprise me at all when the fat ass was sitting out of games because he was out of shape, but if Coach Zorn or anyone on the team called him out he could go crying to mommy and daddy aka Vinny Cerrato and Dan Snyder. Fat ass can’t do that anymore now that a new regime is in town with Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan and that’s another reason why he wants out because he can’t get his way anymore despite the fact that he is being way over paid to be sitting on the bench sucking in his inhaler. London Fletcher’s quote sums up Haynesworth easily “This is a situation that's really basically uncharted waters. Where a guy has gotten their money [and] it's not about contract, this is about 'I don't fit the scheme.' Well, you don't know if you fit the scheme because you haven't been here, so until you come here and see if you fit the scheme... . If they're gonna pay you what they're gonna pay you to be a 3-4 end or 3-4 nose tackle, come, be the best 3-4 end, 3-4 nose tackle that you can be, and at the end of the day we'll be happy with you." Fletcher went on to say that Haynesworth is selfish and mostly everyone on the team agrees.

So where do the Redskins go from here, it’s obvious now that this was a huge mistake, no pun intended, or is it? The Skins have a few options, trade him, cut him, buy his contract out or just let this play its self out. If this were under old management I would see the Skins letting this situation play out, thank goodness we now have two people (Allen and Shanahan) that know what they are doing. The Skins tried to trade him during the draft and that didn’t work out, maybe because the other 31 teams are smart and know that something like this can happen with Haynesworth. If there will be a trade the most likely scenario I see happening is come training camp a DT will get injured somewhere and that team will be making a phone call to the Skins. The Skins can definitely get something for Haynesworth, but after this showing of attitude I doubt we can get a 1st or 2nd round pick now. Depending on how ticked off Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan are, they right now could be considering either buying out is contract or just cutting him straight up. Obviously a buyout would be cheaper for the Skins, but at this point it doesn’t matter how Haynesworth leaves just as long as he is not in a burgundy and gold uniform on September 12.

Anyone that is a fan or is associated with the Washington Redskins has the up most right to be pissed off at Fat Albert. What Haynesworth basically did was just give one the biggest middle fingers to the Redskins organization that this team has seen. He’s already over paid to start off with then takes a check for $21 million to show up to minicamp and then doesn’t show at all. Haynesworth is saying F U to all of the fans that use their hard working money to pay for outrageous prices for tickets, food and parking at Fed Ex just to pay his fat salary and he can’t even get off his lazy ass and show up to just a minicamp? You have got to be kidding me, Haynesworth is the stereotypical athlete that just cares about how much he makes and could care less about his team. And the excuses he makes, “uh I was guaranteed that we were going to run a 4-3 defense when I came here” well guess what fat ass the NFL stands for Not For Long and you should’ve known that Zorn was not going to be there any longer. People that know me very well know that I always say “Excuses are like ass holes, everyone’s got them and the all stink.” Mr. Haynesworth your ass hole really stinks and I will celebrate like the Redskins won the Super Bowl when I see you leave town.

NCAA Conference Shake Up: Does it Mean Anything for Georgetown and Maryland?

Well it was rumored to be coming and it is almost now a reality, a major shakeup in the college football conferences. As it looks right now, the Big 12 Conference will soon cease to exist due to Colorado and Nebraska officially applying for memberships to the Pac 10 and Big 10 Conferences, respectively. This is now going to create a domino effect as the Pac 10 reportedly has a plan to raid the Big 12 South division by taking every team except Baylor, (teams taken would be Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State). With those teams being added, to the Pac 10 that would create a 16 team super conference creating a lot of money being brought into the Pac 10 or possibly soon to be known Pac 16. With reports about the Pac 10 expanding, there have been reports about the Big 10 expanding to 16 teams also; teams in that discussion have included Missouri, Rutgers, Notre Dame and Maryland. Mizzou is most likely headed to the Big 10 with Nebraska officially applying today.

Rutgers is sexy to the Big 10 because of the huge New York City TV market. As the New York market would bring in plenty of revenue from TV, merchandise sales, conference tournaments and so on would add to the current revenue already being brought by the Big 10 Network and other sales from the current 11 teams, but the question is can Rutgers compete in the Big 10 for both football and men’s basketball? (The NCAA’s 2 main money making sports) On the gridiron, since going 11-2 in 2006 they have had two 8-5 season and one 9-4 season in the Big East conference, where the level of play is a lot lower than the Big 10. Rutgers has been a non factor for a while in men’s basketball and has not made it to the big dance since 1991. The level of play for Basketball, in the Big 10, is just below the level of play in the Big East. While there would be a lot more money made by joining the Big 10, Rutgers would remain irrelevant in the Big 10 and would have a better chance of succeeding in the Big East for both football and men’s basketball, if the Big East remains intact. Remember it was rumored earlier this year that both the ACC and Big 10 would raid the Big East.

For Notre Dame, it would make sense for the Irish to move to the Big 10 based on geography if more than just the Big 12 dissolves, but get this Notre Dame’s contract with NBC helps them make $21.1 million to the Irish’s academic programs. Everyone knows that the school will not give up that money just to be in a conference. As long as the BCS exists, the Irish won’t join a conference because all they have to do is get 9 wins and they get into a BCS bowl. 9 wins will become even easier if there are 4 super conferences because teams will only have 2 non conference games and at least one of those games will be cup cake team, but right now Norte Dame maybe considered a cup cake to some of the top 10 teams so they may just get those games anyways. Now on to Maryland…..

For the Terrapins, it would be smart for one out of the two major college sports to move to the Big 10. Competition wise Gary Williams and company will be competitive in the Big 10 as the ACC is just a ledge higher than the Big 10 basketball wise. The question is Gary willing to break ties with their ACC rivals? Border wars with UVA and Virginia Tech have become traditional games and of course there’s the Duke rivalry and weather if Duke fans like it or not it’s a rivalry. Anyways, the point is Maryland is just as big of a part of the ACC as all of the North Carolina teams. For football the move would be complete insanity, the Terps would get destroyed by the likes of Ohio St, Penn St and Iowa. The Terps couldn’t even beat Duke, yes in football not basketball, last year and could lose to Navy in the Crab Bowl this year. The one plus for both football and basketball is that Maryland would be able to recruit from the east coast to the mid west giving them one of the largest recruiting bases in the country. Like with Rutgers, Maryland is in the same situation, do the Terps want to trade winning for money? Maryland draws from both Baltimore and DC markets which is why Maryland has been discussed for the Big 10 since the conference would get two markets with one school. Maryland is more of a basketball school than football, but the Terps have won the ACC before in football and they would have no chance at a conference title in football if they move to the Big 10.

For Georgetown, they have to pray that the four 16 team conferences don’t emerge from this realignment or that the Big East emerges as one out of the 4 super conferences. The biggest problem for the Hoyas is that they are I AA or FCS for football, but of course we all know how historic the basketball program is. If the Big East does implode, both Georgetown and Villanova will be looking for a conference that will just take them as basketball schools. Both the Hoyas and Wildcats are basically in a holding pattern right now, because they do not have a I A football team they would not have enough say in the realignment since all of this seems be surrounded by football.

Here’s how I see things shaping up, if the Pac 10 does raid the Big 12 south to create a 16 team conference; other conferences will follow suit because they would not make as much money as the Pac 10 would be making and may lose money if they don’t expand with the Pac 10. So I have taken all of the current 6 major conferences and created 4 super conferences with 2 divisions of 8 teams in each conference. Teams would play everyone it there division once a year and 3 teams from the opposite division leaving room for 2 non conference games, but if this were to happen I could see the NCAA expanding to a 14 game schedule that way there would be 4 non conference games. The biggest plus for 4 super conferences is that opponents of a football playoff system will say that the 4 conference championship games are basically the semi final games for the national championships and since the conferences are so big the regular season games would be like first round and quarter final games. A plus one system can also emerge from this with the conference championships being the default quarterfinal games and the bowl games being the default semi final games.

ACC: Clemson, Georgia Tech, FSU and Miami all leave the ACC to join their rival foes in the SEC. Unfortunately, I do not see the Big East emerging as one of the 4 super conferences due to only 8 teams in the conference for football. The ACC will take WVU, Pitt, Syracuse, UConn, Rutgers and USF from the Big East. For football there would just be 14 teams with 7 teams in each division as the ACC would grab Georgetown and Villanova for basketball only. You may think the ACC would lose money by just having 14 teams for football, but this has basically combined the 2 best conferences year in and year out in college basketball and has created a super power basketball conference. Any money lost from a 14 team football conference would be made up during basketball season. Imagine Duke vs Nova, UNC vs WVU, Syracuse vs Duke, Villanova vs NC State, the battle of DC with Maryland vs Georgetown, Georgetown vs Duke who have already had some good games between each other in the past few years so imagine what that game would be like every year. With match ups like these every night, money would be easily gained as there would be no doubt that this would become the best basketball conference in the country. In fact, there are 17 men’s basketball national championships between the teams in this super conference, most likely the most in any of the 4 conferences for basketball. Here’s how it would look for football.

South: Duke, North Carolina, NC State, USF, UVA, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
North: Boston College, Maryland, Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, UConn and West Virginia

SEC: The SEC would grab Clemson, Georgia Tech, FSU and Miami from the ACC. This move could draw protest from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida as those 3 schools are the only SEC schools in their respective states and draw a recruiting advantage from that. Obviously with 2 SEC schools in South Carolina and Georgia and 3 schools in Florida, SC, UGA and Florida could lose some recruits to their rival schools. On the other hand, now that rivalry games would be conference games; they would mean even more to the winner as the victors would not only have state bragging rights but a spot in the SEC championship game could be on the line when the rival teams meet up. Even with recruiting there would be a rivalry as coaches will most likely go after the same players for their teams and add story lines about how this kid said no to FSU but yes to Florida to add fuel to the rivalries. Here’s how the toughest football conference in America would shape up.

East: Clemson, Florida, FSU, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Miami and South Carolina
West: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt

I know a lot of you are saying shouldn’t UK and Tenn be in the same division? Let’s be honest here, Kentucky hasn’t beaten Tennessee in 25 years, yes there have been close games, but I couldn’t find any other way to form the divisions. I could’ve had all the Florida teams in the west and put UK, Tenn and Vandy in the east, but the west would be stacked with Florida, FSU, Miami, LSU and Alabama all in the same division. It may not make a lot of sense for Tennessee and Vanderbilt to be in the west, but they are closer to the other west teams than Kentucky Schedule makers will just have to put UK vs Tenn every year on the schedule as an opposite division game.

Big 10: The Big 10 may have to change its name to the Big 16; then again they didn’t change it to the Big 11 when Penn State joined. The Big 10 has already grabbed Nebraska officially and Mizzou will be most likely be soon to follow. The Big 10 will then get what is left over from the Big East by getting Louisville and Cincinnati. The last team that I can see joining is either Notre Dame or Iowa State since Notre Dame is stubborn and won’t join anyone’s conference the Big 10 will take Iowa State since Iowa is already in the Big 10, making that in state rivalry a conference game. Here’s how I see it.

East: Cincinnati, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue
West: Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Mizzou, Nebraska, Northwestern and Wisconsin

Pac 10: For the Pac 10 simple, they get what they originally planned by taking Colorado, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma state. Here’s what the divisions look like.

Coastal: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State
West: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech

The New Big 8: Here’s the answer for everyone saying, “What about Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State?” In this scenario the Big 8 makes a return with 2 out of the original 8 teams in Kansas and Kansas State, also joining the Kansas schools would be Baylor, Boise State, BYU, TCU, Utah and UNLV. Football-wise this would be a competitive conference and this conference would also receive an automatic BCS bid since the only mid-major schools to make it to a BCS bowl are in the conference and there are 3 former BCS conference schools in Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State. Basketball maybe a different story as I see Kansas dominating for a long time until the other schools start getting better recruits which will happen from it being known as the 5th BCS or major conference. The rest of the teams from the Mountain West and WAC will form a 14 team conference. Yes, I know a little much for a mid-major conference, but the MAC has 13 and this will give a chance for the Mountain West and WAC teams to win a conference crown instead of getting beat up by Boise, BYU, TCU and Utah all the time.

Here’s where the rest of the Big East schools not picked by the super conferences would go. St. John’s, Providence and Seton Hall would join either the A 10 or CAA. De Paul will most likely go the MAC brining that conference to 14 teams. It will be sad to see all of the basketball history in the Big East go. Yes Providence, St. John’s and Seton Hall were part of the original Big East but none of those schools have division I A football and that would be a turn off to any super conference if that was to form. Georgetown and Villanova have a bigger profile and more money than Providence, St. John’s and Seton Hall, that’s why I see Georgetown and Villanova surviving the formation of super conferences. It’s a shame that all the NCAA cares about these days is making as much money as possible, the NCAA doesn’t care about many traditions that could be in jeopardy with the formation of super conferences and that is not right at all.

Heros Summer Lacrosse Preview: Team Beej

Well summer is here and nothing says summer in Maryland like Hero’s lacrosse and with play in the men’s league getting under way tomorrow night, one team looks to take the summer crown in the men’s league.  That team is Team Beej; the team is a combination of club lacrosse players and college varsity players.  Most of the players on this team are products of Spalding high school and other MD high schools.  Team Beej is coached by Brenden Jones who has spent 3 years as an assistant coach to former Spalding lacrosse head coach Zach Burke.  This will be Jones’ first stint as a head coach “I’m very excited to be coaching this team, I learned a lot as an assistant at Spalding and hopefully those lessons that I learned from Coach Burke will pay off with this team,” says Jones, “This team is very talented and the expectations of this team is to compete for the championship this summer.  Along with the talent, we have also worked very hard in practice.  We had 2 a day practices for the past 2 weeks and because of that both the offense and defense are running on all cylinders. We also have done a lot of running and I don’t expect us to lose a game at all this summer because of conditioning.  We had some tough morning practices due to people being hungover, but we were able to work through it.  Another plus is that due to having 2 a days this team has become very close to each other and from my experience as a coach, the teams that tend to be close to each other tend to win more games.”  Not only is Jones the head coach but he will also be a playing for the team “I think me playing in the games will help out the team a lot because everyone will be able to hear the calls instead of listening for calls from the sideline, that’s a huge advantage we will have over other teams.”

Offense:

On the offensive side of the ball Team Beej will feature two division 1 players in Andrew Scalley and Mike Poiter.  Scalley was a key part for the offense of Mount St. Mary’s as he was able to score 3 goals in MSM’s first round loss to UVA.  Scalley will once again be one of the go to men on Team Beej “Scalley has a tremendous scoring ability and we will look to use that this whole summer.” Says Coach Jones.  When teams start to focus in on Andrew Scalley, Team Beej will then look to Mike Poiter, a player on Maryland’s lacrosse team.  “Mike Poiter has a great shot from 10 to 15 yards, it’s almost unstoppable. I think that when you have two key offensive weapons that are pretty hard to stop, your offense becomes very hard to defend because you cannot just double one player then leave the other wide open.  Poiter and Scalley will definitely cause problems for opposing defenses.” Says Coach Jones.  Coach Jones will also be taking the Princeton offense used in basketball and make it into lacrosse offense “I’ve always been a fan of the Princeton offense and I think that it will work in lacrosse also.” At the faceoff X will be Matt King who will be playing at Salisbury this year.  “Matt is one of those faceoff guys that will beat with skill and speed not by power,” Says Coach Jones.

Defense:

On the defensive side of the ball, Team Beej will look to a variety of long polls and short stick d middies starting with Mike Jones aka Short Fat who will anchor the defense.  “Mike or Short Fat is a solid defender, he did a great job playing for Maryland club lax this past year and we will definitely put him on the other teams top scorer every week,” Says Jones and asked were the nickname came from for Mike, Jones says “It’s been a  joke since high school, we joke cause we love.”  Team Beej will feature two great short stick middies in Andy Bieler and Chris Haines.  Andy Bieler played club lacrosse at Villanova this past year and uses his speed to defend. “Bieler has great speed and will be useful to create fast break chances” Says Jones, “if the situation comes, Bieler may have to be a full time middie if we need him and that’s a plus to have a defensive short stick middie that can also play offense.”  Chris Haines is coming back from a 2 ½ year retirement from lacrosse as he was busy playing Rugby in Europe and for the US national team.  “It was apparent during the first few practices that Haines was a little rusty; he also came into camp over weight and has been working on getting back into shape.  Despite those two minuses, I really like Chris Haines’ heart.  He may not be the best player on the field, but he will out hustle you to every ball and isn’t afraid at all to lay down the wood,” Says Jones.  At long stick middie will be Tim Ryan who played his club ball at Notre Dame, “Tim is a great defender and will be seeing a lot of playing time as long stick middie as we don’t have anyone else that can play that position as of right now,” Says Jones.  In goal will be Salisbury product Mitch Meredith.  “Meredith did not see a lot of action at Salisbury this spring, but he can still can the job done for us this summer.”

  

Strasburg’s First Start as Good as Advertised

Well, here it was, the event that everyone in DC (and some Baltimore fans) had waited for since that faithful night in April at the Verizon Center, Strasburg’s debut as a Washington National. After falling behind 2-0 in the count to lead off man Andrew McCutchen, Strasburg threw a 95 mph fastball that was hit right to the glove of SS Ian Desmond, then to end the inning, struck out former National Lastings Milledge. As if the first sellout crowd since the first game at Nationals Park didn’t have enough to cheer about, Ryan Zimmerman then hit a solo shot to right center coming through once again in a big moment at Nats Park. For those of you that don’t remember, it was Ryan Zimmerman who hit the walk off HR in the first game at Nats Park. Strasburg continued to use what we had seen in the minors this spring, his overpowering fastballs and changeups to this nasty breaking balls that seemed to only have drops thought possible in MLB the Show. Not only were his pitches as good as advertised, but so was his composure. Pitching in front of a sellout crowd did not faze Strasburg nor did anything else faze him as he was down 3-0 in the count and came back to strikeout the batter. Then, after giving up a 2 run homer to Delwyn Young in the top of the 4th, Strasburg proceeded to retire the next 10 batters. But that was not enough as he struck out the side in the 2nd, 6th and 7th innings.
Those events created an atmosphere in the park that could only rival the atmosphere of a Capitals game at Verizon. I even heard some of the same chants that are used at Verizon being used at Nats Park tonight, of course replacing Caps with Nats. Anyway, every time Strasburg got to 2 strikes in the count, the crowd would hold their breath as if Ovechkin was flying across the neutral zone on a breakaway in anticipation of something special about to happen. And that something special did happen, as Strasburg struck out 14 batters on the night setting a franchise record for most K’s in a game. Nine more K’s than what the Vegas odds makers predicted at 5 K’s. Obviously, like any other young player, don’t be surprised if Strasburg has a few bad games this summer; remember there was no major league scouting report on him now there is. Batters know what pitches Strasburg will throw and after a few starts, batters will pick up on his tendencies. Strasburg will then have to adjust to how batters approach him; if Strasburg is able to do that he will then have the great career that everyone is expecting him to have.
For the first time in a long time, the crowd at a DC baseball game had something positive to cheer about and for the first time in a long time, there is hope for a DC baseball team. This team is slowly but surely becoming a contender right now; 2 out of 3 keystones are in place with Zimmerman and Strasburg, the 3rd was just drafted yesterday in Bryce Harper. In the first 4 years as the GM of the Atlanta Braves, Stan Kasten has a winning percentage of around .400 after that the Braves reeled off 14 straight division crowns and one World Series championship. Kasten, so far in his 4th year as the Nationals GM, is also on pace for a .400 winning percentage. Sounds like a good sign, the stars are starting to align in Natstown. In a few more years, DC will have 2, possibly, 3, championship contenders every year with the Caps and Nats as the first 2 and possibly the Wizards with Ted Leonsis becoming owner of that team.
This night just maybe the top night in DC baseball history behind the first game back at RFK and the first game played at Nats Park, unless Strasburg throws a no hitter or perfect game which has a good chance of happening. Not only will this go down as one of DC’s top baseball moments, but as one of the top moments in DC sports history.

LOL Dan Carcillo