Another Great Purchase

Yes it has been quiet for a bit but we finally have some news to talk about from this past week. So here we go...

As if the Danny can ever take a vacation? So this week he makes another big purchase and picks up Dick Clark Productions which includes American Bandstand, Golden Globe Awards and, yes, Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve. I can see it now for the 2008 celebration "Danny's Rocking Redskins New Years Eve"! Move over Dick and Ryan Seacrest the show will now be hosted by Larry Michael on Redskins TV and heard on the Triple X Radio stations across the DC area (hopefully it will be clear that night so we can get more then static). I am sure the Danny will be present for the big countdown which will move away from NY City and into Landover Maryland. The Waterford glass ball will drop onto FedEx field at Midnight with the Redskins Marching Band playing for the big moment. Cerratto will be in charge of booking the rest of the music talent so don't get too excited since everything he picks STINKS. As for Coach Joe I can see him showing up in a puff of smoke on the stage at 11:59 pm ready to press the button to get the ball moving almost like Muhammad Ali lighting the torch at the Atlanta Olympics in '96. So now that this is a done deal make sure to hurry and book those hotels in Landover Maryland for the big New Years Event.

Enough with the positive press for the Danny this week. Danny did have a bad day on Thursday with the Six Flags Amusement Park accident. I am sure the Danny has already got his people taking care of this and is ready to have everyone sign waivers when they enter his amusement parks going forward. I just hope they don't require these waivers at Skins games next season as we have all had some type of injuries over the years at the FedEx compound.

And then there was Lavar and his little bike accident this week; at least he had a helmet on. I can't believe he actually was able to find one that fit his fat head? I guess he needed to hide his mug since he did not even have a bike license. Last time I heard of Lavar he was on a little "Granny" scooter pulled up in front of Congress with a bum achilles talking about his half-ass agent. I guess with the injuries from the accident Lavar will probably have to get that battery charged up on his scooter to get around for a while. What a bust and it's sad to say he was the face of the Skins franchise for all but one of his years. Looking back at it now know wonder we stunk.

As for my last report about Dale Jr and Gibbs racing well I guess I was wrong. From what I am hearing Gibbs might switch from Chevy to Toyota next year which would have caused Jr to lose interest in Gibbs racing. We are headed to the Charlotte NC area this week to tour Nascar Race shops including of course Joe Gibbs racing. Supposedly his Hall of Fame Blazer is their with his Superbowl rings and some other Skins stuff. Hope to have some good stories from the trip so stay tuned.

Only 78 days till the 1st regular game of the season but who is counting??

Having a bad day? THIS WILL CHEER YOU UP!

Junior, Gibbs Racing, Snyder, Coach Joe, #3

So early last week I hear on the radio that there was a "top secret" meeting at Snyder's home with Dale Jr. and Gibbs flying over to the Snyder residence via copter to talk about the big free agent Jr. I guess Snyder and Cerrato played this NFL offseason a little cool, calm, and collected so when they heard about this big opportunity and heard the words "free agency" even in NASCAR they had to jump right in and get the copter gassed up to help Coach Joe out. So I begin to wonder why Snyder would be helping Gibbs racing unless maybe Snyder is thinking about starting his own race team with Gibbs help or maybe even partnering with Gibbs, similar to the Roush/Fenway merger this year. I decide to post a message on the Skins message board to see what others have heard and these are some of the better responses I got.

Originally Posted by 2skins (my post)
I heard on the EITM show this morning a few people calling saying they heard that Coach Joe and Jr flew in on the Danny's copter to Danny's house for a meeting. Could we being seeing a Redskins sponsored car in NASCAR with Jr driving for Gibbs? Or do you think it's possible the The Danny could start his own race team?

"Unless earnhardt can play defensive line then i dont give a crap".

"seriously, i think maybe jr is up for a role in a snyder-tomcat movie about a former racecar driver working at one of dannys themeparks".

DH + TS + JR = IONTOP's NASCAR heaven...

"It'd be awful hard to root "against" a burgundy and gold, Skins-logo-emblazoned car, owned by Joe Gibbs and driven by the biggest Skins fan in the sport".

So today I hear on the radio that somebody spotted Chris Cooley in Charlotte at the All-Star race on Saturday night. The word was he was there to help recruit Jr to sign on to JGR. I think to myself that the Skins Beach Blitz event was happening the entire weekend in VA Beach and Cooley was slated to attend. Another fan later calls the show and says that Cooley was definitely MIA from the blitz after Friday. I later found a post with someone stating that Cooley had told them that he had to leave the blitz early to go to Charlotte to do something for Coach Gibbs????

I am just wondering if Cooley brought with him the Superbowl trophies so Dale Jr. could take a picture with them on pit road or maybe they will hold that for the press conference announcing that Jr signed with JGR. Maybe even Snyder arranged Darrell Green and Art Monk to pay a visit to the late great Dale Earnhardt to help in the recruiting process since Sr was a big Redskins fan and that is how Jr jumped on the bandwagon as well. I bet part of the contract that Snyder has proposed or worked out for Gibbs is that the Late Great Earnhardt and Jr are both immediately inducted into the Redskins Ring of Honor at FedEx.

Who looks like the bigger loser here Gibbs, Snyder, Cooley, or even Jr himself? Snyder's first thought, as always when recruiting a big free agent, is to set up a meeting with the Redskins Salary Cap Specialist. In this case he was quickly reminded that the best thing about NASCAR is there is NO salary cap. Just imagine the marketing capabilities that Snyder could throw on that car??? Six Flags, Red Zebra, Danny Rockets, Red Zone, Redskins, or even better I am waiting for the Daytona 500 paint scheme of the Danny himself on the hood of the car with DAN SNYDER written all over it.

So if it is true that Snyder does help Gibbs land Jr or gets part of the team, I hear there are already plans to build a short track around the inside of FedEx field to have a parade of Danny's cars at half-time and possibly a NASCAR race in the NFL offseason. Snyder might have a problem luring in NASCAR since he will not allow fans to bring in their own concessions. I know Jeff Gordon would like this though, he would not have to dodge as many bottles and cans during his victory lap should he win. What's next for the Danny, joining the WWE? He can take Donald Trump's spot in the next Wrestlemania.

My prediction is that Jr will definitely sign on with JGR / or a new "Snyder" team. We all know once the Danny wants something he gets it. I just hope for JGR's sake we don't get another Archuleta in Dale Jr. I am not sold yet, but I guess I might have to actually cheer for Jr a bit now if this all happens. Stay tuned....

Guest Blogger - The Optimistic Cousin Ted

I have recently viewed Matt's predictions for 2007. 11-5? Two Questions - What are you smoking? And can I get some?

First, they will lose twice to Dallas, as usual and once each to Philly and the Giants, that's 4 losses.

Next is Dan "The Idiot" Snyder. He'll manage to overpay for some stiff who will piss off everyone in the locker room and destroy chemistry. That's good for 4 losses.

Then we've got "Norv" Saunders. Despite playing a team with the worst rushing defense in the league (remember indy last year?) he'll call 85 passes and 4 runs. 4 more losses.

Don't forget about the defense - The safeties can't cover past 10 yards, 1 loss, the corners will all get injured - 1 loss, the linebackers can't tackle - 1 loss, and the lineman can't rush the passer - 1 loss. That's 4 more losses.

Oh - I almost forgot the special teams. The punter is horrible, giving up an extra 10 yards to the opposition each punt. The kicker does the same on kickoffs. Plus he'll get hurt two games in. The coverage teams allow at least 3 td returns a year. All this adds up to another 4 losses.

Okay - where does that leave us? 4 in the division, 4 for the owner, 4 for "Norv" Saunders, 4 for the Defense, and 4 for the special teams. Looks like we're due for 0-20. I guess we'll have to include the preseason.

11-5 Very Good

Open up that best bottle of Ballatore the Skins are going to the playoffs this season! That's right Jim Mora, I said playoffs. By going 11-5 this season, which is my prediction, the Skins will be in the playoffs. Now we can all ponder for the next 151 days until the action begins. Looking at the games seriously this is how we get to the 11-5 (being modest of course).

9/9 vs Dolphins-"W"
With a new coach and Cul-pooper at the helm how could we lose?

9/17 @ Eagles-"L"
Tough Monday Night division game, Eagles still suck.

9/23 vs Giants- "W"
No Tiki-Time in NY, Skins learn to tackle, and win big!

10/7 vs Lions- "W"
Lions have not won in DC since like 1937.

10/14 @ Packers-"W"
Taylor takes out Favre ends streak. Favre cries goodbye again.

10/21 vs Cardinals-"W"
No Denny Green, but the Cardinals still crown the Redskins asses.

10/28 @ Patriots-"L"
This one hurts but I have to be honest. Skins now 5-2

11/4 @ Jets-"W"
Big rebound game, Skins take one on the road!

11/11 vs Eagles-"W"
Skins fans throw more beer on Eagles fan. Skins win.

11/18 @ Cowboys-"L"
Skins flush one down the toilet

11/25 @ Buccaneers-"W"
Skins win again in Tampa and sink the pirate ship.

12/2 vs. Bills-"W"
Skins win after coming home from two road games.

12/6 vs. Bears-"L"
Short week and a tough home loss.

12/16 @ Giants-"L"
Defense forgets to tackle again in NY.

12/23 @ Vikings-"W"
Payback for the embarrassing lost last year.

12/30 vs. Cowboys-"W"
FedEx home crowd, last game, nothing stopping us!

I am sure Uncle Al has already got the game plan in for the first six games. I just hope another member of the coaching staff actually takes a look at his plans before the year starts. My memo to Uncle Al is - Run the damn ball before week 9 or 10 this year. And speaking of game plans I received the following email from Joe Gibbs' ministries today, kind of weird for his 1st "game plan" of the bible coming out on the day the schedule is set. I guess Gibbs has got the bible covered, Uncle Al has covered the on-field prep, and I have now set the expectations.



From - joegibbsonline.com

"Dear Matt Stnons,

We hope you're having a great week! The first off-season Game Plan, "The Bible, God's Inspired Word," is now available. You can access the Game Plan by clicking on the links below.

Study 1: The Bible, the Inspired Word of God – Week of April 12, 2007 - Video
Study 1: The Bible, the Inspired Word of God – Week of April 12, 2007 - Audio
Study 1: The Bible, the Inspired Word of God – Week of April 12, 2007 - Hard Copy

God Bless,
- The Joe Gibbs Online Team

Cooooley!

So we heard about a week ago that Chris Cooley was going to be in Williamsburg on Saturday, and Sunday signing autographs at a hotel/pushing the upcoming Redskins Beach Blitz event. Williamsburg, only being about forty-five minutes away, was feasible so Lisa and I make plans to drive down their to see him on Sunday.

The night before, I went into the Skins closet and pulled out some Skins clothing/shoes for both of us to wear. I also had to determine what items I wanted to take with me for Cooley to sign. I read on a Redskins message board that Cooley would sign up to three items per person! Looking around the Redskins room I decide to take with me the cover of "Game Day" magazine with Cooley pictured on the front, Cooley's official draft day cap from his draft year, and a football with other Redskin Player signatures.

We leave the house headed for the Burg at 10:30 in the morning, planning on being at the place by 11:30am to get a ticket to see Cooley starting at noon. We hear the night before there was a huge draw on Saturday so we expect to be there a while. Headed down 64 we jam out to Chris Paul's Redskins raps making the drive a bit easier. We arrive to what appears to be a pretty open parking lot with a sign for Cooley/Skins to the left and a Wedding party to the Right. Just imagine sharing the hotel with Skins fans and your wedding reception. I am sure they were happy about that. We head to the Harrison ball room where Cooley is supposed to be meeting and we are given a ticket by one of the workers which marks our place in line. We were number 817 and 818. I hear from some guys walking around that they stopped autograph signings yesterday around number 350, but they expect most people from yesterday with tickets not to come back. This could be a very long day or even worse we might not meet Cooley since he is leaving at 2:00pm.



In the room they had some Skins merchandise for sale and game worn Jerseys and used footballs. We decided to walk around and take a look at everything. Before we made our move I looked up and saw "MY BOY JIM" the manager of the Skins store in Chesterfield! Lisa and I head over to him to get the story on the store closing. He tells us they are just moving location in the mall to allow a larger retailer to have more space. The new store should be open within the month and actually be larger then the original! So excuse my comments about the Chesterfield Town Center in my prior blog. As we stand talking to Jim he points out Cooley's dad who walked past us. Jim takes a second and says hello to him and makes sure all is well. He tells us Chris and Pops just hung out at the hotel last night and stayed out of trouble. I am sure they hung out at "Pitchers" the bar in the hotel lobby a bit. I tell Jim that Lisa and I had met Cooley's ex-wife at training camp his rookie year and how much has changed since then with a chuckle. He said Christy did not make the trip with Chris. Guess it was a boys weekend.

Finally noon comes and Cooley appears on stage. He gets on the microphone and tells everyone hello and says make sure to buy up his Jersey. They start calling numbers 350-400, 400-450. We finally get our number called about 1:45 only fifteen minutes to spare. We walk up to Chris and he signs all of our stuff as Lisa snapped a few pictures. He was real nice with everyone chatting a bit with each person. I tell him to make sure to get that contract signed ASAP and he said he wished it was already done. I mention that we will be up in the 400's during the year and he says sweet!


All and all a good day, long waiting time but it could have been worse. Good free autograph opportunity and lots of Skins fans which is always good company.

2nd Guessing...

As Skins fans we are always looking for signs of the Skins via cars, stickers, clothing etc. Always guessing between ourselves how hardcore these other Skins fans are. It is a good sign though after a 5-11 season we are still being surrounded by fellow Skins supporters with various memorabilia. Something tells me though that most of these people probably don't have a full room dedicated in their homes for the Skins, but we've all got problems and it just so happens the Redskins are ours.

The day started with us driving our burgundy SUV to the shop to get inspected. I gave my sister a call to talk about the days plans. I mentioned we were heading to get the inspection done and also joked about the new "Gold" ride we just purchased to complete our burgundy and gold fleet. There has been some doubt in the family about the true shade of gold in the new ride. I tell her the gold shade is all the maker had to offer at purchase time as it was termed "gold" on the sales packet. After we got the car inspected we had some time to kill so we head over to the mall to check out the Official Redskins Store. There are two Skins stores in the Richmond area. This is the first Redskins store in Richmond that opened about five years ago and is quite a bit larger then the store closer to our house. As we pull up in the mall parking lot we see an open spot close to the front door. As we put the car in park I look to my right as I go to climb out and in the next spot is a "GOLD" Hyundai Tuscon. At first glance it looked a pukey mustard color and I mention to Lisa to look at this crappy looking color. I then start to second guess my comment and get out of our car. I compare the two cars next to each other and all of a sudden I say, "These burgundy and gold colors together are beautiful". We start joking about the color which was not offered in the specific model that I picked and this must be a custom color. Either way the two cars accented each other terrifically. Maybe a trade in our future???

We enter the Department store to head towards the Skins store in the mall. Talking between each other about making sure we had the coupon from the Skins ticket invoice and wondering about any possible sales or new merchandise. We have become friendly with the store workers over the years and enjoy chatting with them about the team during our frequent visits. They always make sure to point out the new merchandise knowing that Lisa and I would be all over the new items and they could make a quick sale. As we get closer to the store I notice something is very wrong. The metal gates into the store from the mall walkway are pulled down, and the store looked dark. I say to Lisa, "It's gone, the Skins store is gone!" We put our faces closer to the gate and peer inside seeing nothing but empty shelves and two paper Skins posters laying on the floor and a CSN postgame live sticker across the TV cabinet that once displayed games to onlookers walking by in the mall. Just earlier this week I thought I received a great sign with the Bible from Gibbs, but now was this a new sign? And not to mention NOT a good one at all. We continued to stand questioning why the store would close and thinking that maybe they just moved down the mall a bit. I say "nah", knowing they would have a sign stating their new location if that is the case. I feel hot and pissed so we head to the food court and get a soda and take a seat. Still talking about the store closing and why? Lisa makes a good point saying the 5-11 season probably didn't help merchandise sales. I mention to Lisa that this would be the last time I head into Chesterfield Mall - my purpose is now gone. We finish our drink and head to the mall exit again passing the closed store taking another look I say again "its damn closed". I start singing outloud "As I close my eyes - all we are is dust in the wind" like Will Ferrell in Old School only this time Jim the store manager's "my boy" and Lisa tells me to shut up because people are now looking at me. I am in awe as they even took the large Skins entrance sign down, this would have been a nice addition to my Redskins room, again I say -"SHIT ON THIS PLACE!"

And the day goes on... On to our next destination I am still in disbelief over the loss to our family. I tell Lisa maybe the Danny had to close up the shop to get extra cash for the Danny Rocket's deal. So we head over to a few model homes we've been touring over the past few weekends and low and behold I head down the steps to the basement of the first house and see a Redskins wall. The wall includes an official game helmet, a Carlos Rogers framed jersey, a Superbowl pennant, and a few posters. I tell Lisa, will take the house or even better maybe she should pull the car around back and I can make a quick exit through the basement doors with memorabilia in hand - things are looking better.

We head to dinner at the local Ruby Tuesday's. We walk through the bar headed to our booth and see a very large homemade wood cut out of a Redskins helmet nicely painted in Redskins colors over the bar. On either side of the helmet I notice pictures of Gus Ferrotte in all his glory. Yes, a little outdated I know, but still a part of the Redskins history. We take a seat and are talking with Lisa's folks and enjoying our dinner. The time comes to pay and I whip out my Redskins MasterCard and hand it over to the waiter. He brings the slip and card back to me and says, "It was a pleasure swiping this beautiful card". He starts talking about his passion for the Skins and about his autographed Joe Theisman football. I mention to him our pending trip tomorrow to Williamsburg for a meeting with Captain Chaos, Chris Cooley....

Though we had a major downer today with the store closing, all in all, there were a few positive signs from the day that hope is still alive for a Redskins victorious season. I will keep my eyes open but stay tuned. Hail to the Redskins and shit on Chesterfield Town Center!

A Sign From Above!!

So a few months back, well actually January 31st to be exact, I went to joegibbsonline.com to hear about Joe's announcement of his sick grandson. The site talks about Gibbs' "game plan" on and mostly off the field. While on the site I noticed he was offering a free Joe Gibbs bible. I have purchased a few of Gibbs's success books over the last few years and have seen minor success on the field for the Skins. So now that we are in the 4th season with Gibbs, I had to step up and order one of these bibles to get the ultimate advantage from the man upstairs.

Since the time I input the order, I have gotten a few emails from Joe Gibbs Chaplain saying they received my order and were backed up a bit with getting the bibles out, but I should be receiving it shortly. Well today is March 19th and I received my Gibbs bible with a letter enclosed from Gibbs himself talking again about his "game plan"!

I think to myself after opening the bible that today is the first official day of voluntary (your ass better be there) practice at Redskin's Park. THIS IS A SIGN! I think this could be a very good year! My "game plan" is the Superbowl this year! Lets stay focused now... but you have to admit this could be more then just a coincidence.