Chris Graham: Week One
So Tiki Barber’s agent is “flabbergasted” that the former UVa. star didn’t get a sniff from the NFL after his five-year absence from the game.
I don’t know about “flabbergasted,” but yeah, I was surprised, if only because I don’t think you look at Barber as a 36-year-old running back given the time he spent away from the game. By all accounts, Barber had worked himself back into football shape, and given the way most teams handle backs these days, preferring to go not with one featured back but rotations of two or more, I guess I just assumed that Barber would pick up somewhere.
And I think he probably still will. Running backs are a precious commodity, and their expiration dates come with a carry-to-carry date. …
It’s hard to get too excited about a butt-whupping of William and Mary, but then UVa. had lost its last matchup with the Tribe in 2009, so the 40-3 smackdown that the ‘Hoos handed to W&M on Saturday might mean more than meets the eye.
Quarterback Michael Rocco, in his first career start, looked solid, hitting on 21-of-29 passes and doing well in the proverbial manage-the-game role that he was asked to play.
The defense was what impressed me the most, harassing Michael Paulus into a 5-for-22 passing performance and keeping the Tribe off the scoreboard into garbage time.
Again, it’s too early to get too excited, but maybe this team is poised to take a step up in the ACC this year.
I think the Washington Redskins did the right thing in going with Rex Grossman as its opening-day starter over the untested John Beck. Both looked good in the preseason, but all things being equal, tie should go to the guy who has a conference championship under his belt. Sure, Grossman has his faults, but at least he knows what they are. Beck will still get his chance one day.
Weekend Watchdog: At the world’s fastest half-mile
NASCAR spends an exciting weekend in Bristol, with thousands of fans converging on the high-banked half-mile track.
It’s the 50th anniversary of the small track just across the border from Virginia, which draws thousands to the area and packs all hotels within miles.
The Sprint Cup teams pack the infield for their race Saturday night on ABC. The Nationwide racers get their chance to bang around the track Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Across the country, the Indy Cars are in Sonoma Sunday at 4 p.m. on Versus.
Little League baseball crowns its champion this weekend. The International final will be set after Thursday’s 4 p.m. game on ESPN, then the local Pennsylvania team battles California at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
ABC has the International final Saturday at noon, followed by the United States final at 3 p.m. The consolation game will be Sunday at 11 a.m. on ESPN, with the title game on ABC at 3 p.m.
FOX offers the choice of four games Saturday afternoon, as the Tigers face the Twins along with three National League contests – Pirates at Cardinals, Braves-Mets and Rockies taking on the Dodgers. ESPN has the Angels meeting the Rangers Sunday night.
Pending Irene’s path, the Orioles will meet the Yankees on TBS Sunday afternoon and MASN. Prior to that, they have a Thursday afternoon game at Minnesota on MASN and games Friday and Saturday on MASN. The Nationals take on Arizona Thursday on MASN, then head to Cincinnati for the weekend on MASN2.
The third week of the NFL preseason opens with the Redskins taking on the Ravens Thursday at 8 p.m. on ESPN. CBS offers a pair of contests – Packers at Colts Friday and Patriots visiting Detroit Saturday – before NBC closes the weekend with the Saints taking on Oakland.
The PGA tour starts its playoff run this weekend at the Barclays. CBS has coverage Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday starting at 2 p.m.
It’s almost time for the U.S. Open, and top players prepare at the New Haven Open and Winston-Salem Open. ESPN2 heads to New Haven Thursday at 3 p.m. and Friday at 2 p.m., with the final showing Saturday at 5 p.m. CBS has the final from Winston-Salem Saturday at 12:30 p.m., after ESPN2 goes with Friday’s play at 12:30 p.m.
D.C. United takes on Portland Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on Comcast. The women’s soccer league holds its championship game Saturday at 4 p.m. on Comcast.
In the WNBA, the Mystics host Phoenix Sunday at 4 p.m. on Comcast.
Weekend Watchdog: Are you ready for some football?
No more legal pads. Time for shoulder pads.
The NFL preseason kicks off Thursday when the Baltimore Ravens visit Philadelphia at 7:30 p.m. on Comcast. The Redskins take their turn Friday at 7:30 p.m., hosting the Steelers on Comcast.
ESPN begins its coverage Thursday at 8 p.m. when the Seahawks visit San Diego. Friday, FOX has Tampa Bay heading to Kansas City at 8 p.m. and the Jets take on the Texans Monday at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
No more lawyers and lockouts. Now it’s time for linebackers and blockers to take center stage.
The PGA tour has its final major of the season this weekend, with the PGA championship from outside Atlanta. TNT has coverage of the first two rounds, starting at 1 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Early birds can catch the start of the final two rounds at 11 a.m., while CBS takes over at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The Pirates are on national TV this weekend, facing the Brewers on FOX. Other Saturday afternoon games are Rays at Yankees and the Rangers taking on Oakland. TBS shows the Rays-Yankees Sunday afternoon, while ESPN offers Colorado at St. Louis on Sunday night.
The Orioles close out a series with the White Sox Thursday on MASN, then host Detroit for the weekend on MASN2. The Nationals take on the Cubs Thursday at 2 p.m before heading home to meet the Phillies for a weekend series on MASN.
Like your baseball with younger players? The road to the Little League World Series begins this weekend, with a Midwest semifinal Thursday at 2 p.m. on ESPN. ESPN2 has the second Midwest final at 6 p.m., along with the Southwest final at 8 p.m. and Northwest finals at 4 and 10 p.m.
The Mid-Atlantic semifinals are on Friday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., then the Southeast final goes Friday at 8 p.m. on ESPN. ESPN2 heads West for semifinals at 5 and 11.
Four regions have their finals on ESPN Saturday, starting with the Great Lakes at 11 a.m. At 5 p.m., the Northwest crowns its champion followed by the Midwest and West. New England’s representative to the Little League World Series comes out of the 1 p.m. game on ESPN2. The Mid-Atlantic title game is Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
NASCAR heads to upstate New York for the Sour Cream Dips race at Watkins Glen. NASCAR coverage starts Sunday at 1 p.m, while the Nationwide racers hit the track Saturday at 2 p.m.
The IndyCar racers are in New Hampshire Sunday at 3:30 p.m., with ABC at the Move that block.com 225.
D.C. United hosts Vancouver Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on Comcast.
The road to the U.S. Open continues with the Rogers Cup on ESPN2. Play begins Thursday and Friday at noon, then 3 p.m. on Saturday. The finals go Sunday at 1 p.m.
NBC has skateboarding from Portland as the Dew Tour offers the Skateboard Street finals Saturday and BMX Dirt finals Sunday.
Sports Roundup: #1 ‘Hoos lose at UNC
Embarrassment of (lack of) riches
Mike Shanahan, we hardly knew ya. The genius is being exposed as a guy who was simply along for the ride at the twilight of John Elway’s NFL career, his reputation as an offensive guru now offensive in retrospect.
“I basically say, Screw the awkwardness. I’m trying to be the starting quarterback,” said John Beck, the four-year veteran who hasn’t played since his rookie season in Miami, and is yet somehow going around telling everybody who will listen that he thinks he will be the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins next fall. Continue reading “Embarrassment of (lack of) riches” »
Winners and Losers
LOSER: Tuesday Night Football
Disadvantage: Philadelphia, which needs to win on Tuesday against Minnesota and then on Sunday against Dallas while getting a Sunday loss by Chicago to Green Bay to secure a first-round playoff bye.
It wasn’t automatic that the game had to be moved back, either. Among the critics of the move: Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who does radio commentaries after Eagles games, and said “you play football regardless of the weather.”
Not anymore. Continue reading “Winners and Losers” »
Winners and Losers: All losers this week
LOSER: Mike Shanahan
OK, so Rex Grossman isn’t the solution. Don’t get too excited about his four TDs in Washington’s 33-30 loss at Dallas Sunday. He also had two interceptions and a sack fumble, and didn’t exactly look adept in his second run at a late-game two-minute drill.
Coach Mike Shanahan is back to square one with QBs heading into next year. (Pining the days of Jason Campbell, we are, aren’t we?)
So much for the offensive genius who was finally going to get things turned around in Redskin Park. Continue reading “Winners and Losers: All losers this week” »
The (failed) Shanahan experiment
Another Sunday, another unfulfilling ending for the Washington Redskins, who lost 17-16 to Tampa Bay despite dominating for long stretches, then suffering the “North Dallas Forty” ending when the special-teams unit couldn’t execute what would have been the game-tying extra point with nine seconds to go.
It’s easy to say that the ‘Skins have just been bugabooed this year, because there have been plenty of bad-news type things happening in Redskin Park. Injuries are part of the game of football, though, so don’t hang your hat there and excuse first-year coach Mike Shanahan because of them. Shanahan, two-time Super Bowl winner that he is, completely mismanaged this Redskin team into another out-of-the-playoffs finish. Continue reading “The (failed) Shanahan experiment” »
The (failed) Shanahan experiment
Another Sunday, another unfulfilling ending for the Washington Redskins, who lost 17-16 to Tampa Bay despite dominating for long stretches, then suffering the “North Dallas Forty” ending when the special-teams unit couldn’t execute what would have been the game-tying extra point with nine seconds to go.
It’s easy to say that the ‘Skins have just been bugabooed this year, because there have been plenty of bad-news type things happening in Redskin Park. Injuries are part of the game of football, though, so don’t hang your hat there and excuse first-year coach Mike Shanahan because of them. Shanahan, two-time Super Bowl winner that he is, completely mismanaged this Redskin team into another out-of-the-playoffs finish.
It starts with Haynesworth-gate and his handling of the $100 Million Man Who Didn’t Want To Play Noseguard. We won’t know what happened behind the scenes that led to the apparently immediate breakdown of relations between Shanahan and Albert Haynesworth, who just two years ago was considered the best defensive player in football, but whatever it was, it should have been dealt with summarily with a trade for a low-round draft pick or outright release. Instead, the Haynesworth situation was allowed to fester to the point where the move was made last week to suspend him for the final four games of the season.
Which brings us to quarterback Donovan McNabb, alternatively the franchise and the guy who has to share snaps with his backup on Fridays and isn’t in good enough shape to run the two-minute drill. That embarrassment, with the ‘Skins trailing Detroit late, was the nail in the coffin for the 2010 Redskins, who have dropped four of five since the Lions game, including that showcase they gave to Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles on a Monday night a few weeks back in the form of a 59-28 laugher that was nowhere near that close in the way it was played out.
I can’t imagine that McNabb wants to hang around for any more of the BS that Shanahan seems to want to put him through. McNabb, 34, probably has three or four good years left, and there has to be a better situation for him out there than handing the ball off to training-camp tackling dummies and throwing it to Arena League castoffs.
That is precisely the team that Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen put together, and if they’re as successful in running McNabb out of town as they were in pushing Haynesworth off the cliff, well, they’ll always have Rex Grossman.
Maybe there was good reason Denver booted Shanahan out the door and gave the keys to their future to a thirtysomething kid with no head-coaching experience anywhere. That kid got fired for going 11-17 in parts of two seasons in the Rockies. Hate to say it, but 5-8 is roughly halfway to 11-17.
Column by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Cline: ‘Skins suite seats misused by Lottery staff
State Del. Ben Cline, R-24th District, announced today that he had received confirmation of recent actions by Virginia Lottery employees in which luxury skybox suite seats reserved for winners of the Redskins Legacy game were misused by Lottery staff. Cline also announced that he would be asking for an independent audit of the Virginia Lottery at the next General Assembly session.
“For years, the Virginia Lottery has been playing fast and loose with millions of dollars that should go toward education but instead are spent on layers of administrative bureaucracy and private licensing agreements,” Cline said. “Now we learn that these agreements, one of which includes luxury skybox seats at Washington Redskins games as prizes, are being abused by Lottery employees. Lottery revenues should be going to fund education, not to line the pockets of advertising executives or to provide perks for Lottery employees. Virginia’s school children deserve better.”
The issue regarding the Redskins suite tickets was first raised on the Not Larry Sabato politics blog in September with a report about the use of a luxury suite at the Redskins’ season opener this year by Virginia Lottery officials. Cline wrote to the Lottery to request details about the Redskins Legacy game, and said he was informed in an e-mail response from Lottery Director Paula Otto that one of the prizes was in fact the use of a luxury skybox for a Redskins home game. When questioned in more detail about the use of the luxury skybox, Otto also confirmed that the suite was not occupied during the Redskins home opener by a Redskins Legacy game winner, but instead by Lottery staff.
“At a time when we are being forced to make difficult decisions about funding for education in Virginia, it is disheartening to learn that Lottery revenues intended for our schools are being misused by the staff of the Lottery Department,” Cline said. “I plan to file a budget amendment in the upcoming General Assembly session for a full and independent audit of the Virginia Lottery, and I hope it will receive bipartisan support as we strive to fully fund our public schools in Virginia.”
Virginia Lottery spokesman John Hagerty disputes Cline’s characterization of Otto’s e-mail to Cline. Hagerty said today that Otto informed Cline in her e-mail that the box was indeed used by Lottery staff, but the use was as a staging area for an on-field presentation at halftime of the football game that highlighted the $4.8 billion the Lottery has generated for K-12 public education since 1999.
“We believe that was a logical use of the box, which would otherwise have been empty,” Hagerty said in an e-mail to AugustaFreePress.com.
Scratcher games using licensed properties, such as Redskins Legacy, routinely perform an average of 17 percent better than other games, Hagerty said. Redskins Legacy has generated $14.6 million in sales this year to date, Hagerty said.
“The Lottery is audited each year by the independent Auditor of Public Accounts, as required by statute, as well as by its internal audit department. We would welcome a further audit if the General Assembly deems it appropriate,” Hagerty said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Weekend Watchdog: Tide rides into prime time
Once a season, CBS shows a Southeastern Conference game in prime time. It’s a good one this week.
Top-ranked Alabama, fresh off a come-from-behind win at Arkansas, hosts Florida in a rematch of last year’s SEC championship game.
And the schools with two of the last three Heisman Trophy winners.
And the last two national champions.
Ought to be something worth watching. Even if Tim Tebow is in the NFL.
If that’s not enough, in the late afternoon slot CBS shows Tennessee at LSU.
ABC usually shows prime time games on Saturday, and has some good ones this week also. Out west, Oregon takes on Stanford while Notre Dame’s visit to Boston College will be shown to much of the east. ESPN2 will show the game you don’t get on ABC, except a few western areas will see Washington-USC.
Once a season, CBS shows a Southeastern Conference game in prime time. It’s a good one this week.
Top-ranked Alabama, fresh off a come-from-behind win at Arkansas, hosts Florida in a rematch of last year’s SEC championship game.
And the schools with two of the last three Heisman Trophy winners.
And the last two national champions.
Ought to be something worth watching. Even if Tim Tebow is in the NFL.
If that’s not enough, in the late afternoon slot CBS shows Tennessee at LSU.
ABC usually shows prime time games on Saturday, and has some good ones this week also. Out west, Oregon takes on Stanford while Notre Dame’s visit to Boston College will be shown to much of the east. ESPN2 will show the game you don’t get on ABC, except a few western areas will see Washington-USC.
Read the rest of the column on VaSportsOnline.com.
Winners and Losers
Posted by afp on January 2, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Ugh. Outside of Duke, what do we have? Eleven dwarfs. North Carolina and Virginia Tech were supposed to contend for #2, but both are weak 9-4s. Traditional powers Georgia Tech and Wake Forest are 7-5 and 6-8, respectively, with losses to the likes of Kennesaw State, Stetson, Winthrop, UNC-Wilmington and Siena.
The league might get two NCAA bids. Three seems a stretch right now.
I repeat: ugh. Continue reading “Winners and Losers” »
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with acc basketball, bcs, donovan mcnabb, mike shanahan, nfl playoffs, rex grossman, tcu, washington redskins