D.C. Sports Bog - By The Washington Post's Dan Steinberg - July 20, 2008

This Week's Top 10 WaPo Sports Stories: Skins Rule

This week's most popular WaPo sports subject. By a lot. (By John McDonnell - TWP) As mentioned last week, every Friday I'll be listing the Top 10 most viewed WaPo sports stories of the previous seven days (i.e., Friday through Thursday). Sadly, my list will not include page view...

By Dan Steinberg | July 25, 2008; 3:19 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Caps , D.C. United , Media , Nats , Redskins , Wizards
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Fred Smoot Hangs Out With Gilbert

Gilbert hangs with Fred Smoot, goes to World Team Tennis matches to hang with Mark Ein. (By Lawrence Jackson - AP) So it turns out that Fred Smoot, Gilbert Arenas, Clinton Portis and Shawn Springs all live in the same Great Falls neighborhood. That's what Smoot told the Junkies...

By Dan Steinberg | July 25, 2008; 2:20 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Redskins , Wizards
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Alexander Semin Seems Confused

Brothers. No, really. (By Toni L. Sandys - TWP) Quick blog notes. UPDATE: I had a punch line in here that I thought reflected the absurdly fantastic humor of Semin's response here. Many, many people thought I was accusing Semin of being racist, which I absolutely was not doing....

By Dan Steinberg | July 25, 2008; 12:12 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Caps , College Basketball , Nats
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Video Prohibition Slayed: The Chris Cooley Interview

One more time, with feeling! To recap: earlier this week, I attempted to post an innocuous Redskins fan video from training camp. I was told to take it down, due to team rules prohibiting any speck of Redskins Park video from running on a newspaper Web site. Undeterred, I...

By Dan Steinberg | July 25, 2008; 10:01 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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Morning Look: (Sorta) Hot Fitteds in Ashburn

It's been a few days since I've really been able to mingle with the fans at Redskins Park, so my supply of Hot Fitted photos is a lot sparser than it should be. But today I did run into the fellas with the burgundy and gold Nats cap, which...

By Dan Steinberg | July 25, 2008; 8:12 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Morning Look , Redskins
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Mike Sellers is Scared of Snakes

How do I know Mike Sellers is scared of snakes? Well, it's complicated. Sellers was discussing his trip to Orlando with Chris Samuels to test high-tech inner tubes for Boating Life Magazine. Sellers was mentioning that he was such a big strong tough guy in the face of high...

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 4:51 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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Gimelstob's Apologizes, Kournikova Mutters, Saga Ends

Justin Gimelstob went on WUSA yesterday to speak with Brett Haber about his previous comments about Anna Kournikova to the Junkies. Gimelstob again talked about how contrite he is, how he'd like to make things right with Anna, and how this incident has changed his career. "The second I...

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 4:14 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Tennis
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D.C. United Fans Wear Life Vests

Photo by Ben Mahler. Colleague Steve Goff posted many of the most important numbers from last night's waterlogged D.C. United disaster this morning: *Announced attendance: 14,660. *Actual attendance: Maybe 9,000. *Attendance at final whistle: 250? *Time of match: 4 hours 44 minutes. *Time of delay: 2 hours 54 minutes....

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 3:44 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: D.C. United
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Jim Zorn Goes Mountain Biking: The Video

Still haven't seen video of Jim Zorn kayaking, ice dancing, playing the cello or skinning coyotes, but the AP at least got video of the head man mountain biking. It's a start. (Via StetSports.com)...

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 2:48 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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Clinton Portis Gets Serious

(By John McDonnell - TWP) Serious, as in, not funny. Extremely not funny. This has already been noted by Hog Heaven, but after Clinton Portis discussed his newfound fatherhood with Mike Wise this week, he went on Comcast SportsyNet with Kelli Johnson yesterday and revealed that he had previously...

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 2:28 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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Viral Video Update: The Bog Wins One

It's been a tough few weeks for the newspaper industry. Layoffs. Buyouts. More bad circulation news. Local NFL teams spending half their time making sure that local media outlets don't do anything to provide their franchise with any unnecessary exposure. Eventually, you get tired of losing. Sometimes, you want...

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 1:57 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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Karl Alzner Does the Blog Show

While Agent Steinz is running around greater Ashburn, we're stepping in to fill the gap with an entertaining video he taped a couple weeks ago at the Capitals' developmental camp. The interview aired last night on Washington Post Live -- which is on Comcast SportsNet and live streaming here at...

By Jon DeNunzio | July 24, 2008; 12:05 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Caps , Media
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Casey Rabach Speaks a Strange Language

(Getty) With all my postings about Fred Smoot saying stuff and me not understanding, there was some lingering acrid scent suggesting that the only reason this was funny was because a black dude was talking to a white dude, and the white dude didn't know what the hell the...

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 11:07 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Redskins
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Jim Zorn's XXX-Page Playbook

An unknown number of Redskins players, plus new PR guy Zack Bolno. Note Carlos's kicks. (By John McDonnell - TWP) Jim Zorn may be a first-year coach, but he knows how to dance around the 700-page gorillas that have tripped up previous offensive minds in this town. "No," he...

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 10:01 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Redskins
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Morning Look: Colt Brennan Plays the Ukulele

Photo taken from Hawaii State Society of Washington D.C. On the first morning of the first week of Colt Brennan's first NFL season, the Hawaiians came out. The one group I spent time with included several out of towners from Hagerstown and Carroll County who had woken up at...

By Dan Steinberg | July 24, 2008; 8:24 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Morning Look , Redskins
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How Offensive Linemen Stay Awake in Meetings

O Line, smelling like roses. (By John McDonnell - TWP) "You know what, meetings are fun," Casey Rabach told me today. "Obviously there are times where things get stale, but we let Jansen drop a fart or something and it picks back up." Wow. Ok. Great. Um, so those...

By Dan Steinberg | July 23, 2008; 4:18 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Redskins
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Gilbert at Sony Style

(All photos courtesy of Belal Gardizi) Take five. Some blogs have made their mark with pictures of famous professional athlete doing borderline inappropriate things with comely young ladies in social settings. This blog is in the process of trying to make its mark with pictures of famous professional athletes...

By Dan Steinberg | July 23, 2008; 3:04 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Wizards
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Smoot's Handing Out New Nicknames

The Bloody Bloke and Brother O'Dell. (By John McDonnell - TWP) This is a long dialogue. Very, very long. But today's second practice is special teams only, and the media room has cleared out, and, after I published two massive Fred Smoot nickname dialogues last year, I figure might...

By Dan Steinberg | July 23, 2008; 2:28 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Redskins
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A Svelte and Happy Meat Hook

Whoa. Really? I mean, the 1993 Dmitri wasn't half the man that 2008 Dmitri is. He was way, way, way less than half the man. I mean, 2008 Dmitri's hair weighs more than 1993 Dmitri. (Via Gem Mint Ten.)...

By Dan Steinberg | July 23, 2008; 1:19 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Nats
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Playbook Talk: How to Speak Zorn

Zorn: "Dead Man!" Brennan: "Banana!" (By John McDonnell - TWP) I chatted with several offensive players this morning about the Jim Zorn Playbook, and how it compared to the dearly departed 700-pager. While opinions differed, the players touched on the differences between Al Saunders's numerical system and Zorn's word-based...

By Dan Steinberg | July 23, 2008; 12:09 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Redskins
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Viral Redskins Videos: CP's Birthday

More allowable Redskins video. I mean, which camera crew hasn't Clinton Portis invited into his house at this point? Oh yeah, mine. But see also the famous Eastern Motors visit to his house, as well as the more recent NFL Network video visit, which will be pulled from YouTube...

By Dan Steinberg | July 23, 2008; 11:01 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Redskins
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Viral Redskins Videos: Sellers Riding Tubes

Ok, troops. We won't have Washington Post video for ya. We won't have WUSA or Comcast SportsyNet video for ya. What's the next best thing? Boating Life video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What NFL rule does that break? Stay tuned. Weeks ago several blogs posted parts of this video series featuring Chris Samuels...

By Dan Steinberg | July 23, 2008; 10:31 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Redskins
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Morning Look: Now Here's a True Skins Fan

If you've spent any time at all on sports blogs lately, you know that team-logo prosthetic legs are all the rage, from a Red Sox leg to a Penguins leg to a Patriots leg to a Steelers leg. But what happens in Boston and Pittsburgh is good enough for...

By Dan Steinberg | July 23, 2008; 8:55 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Redskins
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The End of Viral Videos: The Redskins Win Again

I'm no Web designer. I don't really know much about embeddable video players, their pluses and minuses, their technological underpinnings or requirements. But it strikes me that, if you're a TV station and you're putting up video clips that feature a special "Embed" button, you're sort of telling the world:...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 5:17 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (27)
Categories: Redskins
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ESPN Explores Nats Indecent Exposure

Mostly naked UMBC fans. ESPN Page 2's Patrick Hruby had the brilliant idea to bring photos of partially naked sports fans to Nationals Park to ask spectators and a helpful usher whether or not these fans would qualify as indecently exposed. The results seem to indicate that, barring complete...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 4:59 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Media , Nats
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Clinton Portis Has a Mohawk

Except Clinton claims this isn't a mohawk. "I'm going bald on the sides," he told me. Good answer....

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 3:48 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Redskins
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Chris Cooley, [Bleep Bleep], and the Great Lie

Chris Cooley, making Americans sad. (By John McDonnell - TWP) I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Chris Cooley's epic post about the meaning of life and training camp on KSK yesterday. A brief excerpt:...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 3:33 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Redskins
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Best of Gilbert

From today's event. (By Preston Keres - TWP) Naturally, I asked Gilbert Arenas this afternoon how many coin flips it had taken for him to decide to stay in D.C. "Actually, I didn't pull out the magic infamous coin in this negotiation," he said. "It was pretty straightforward. I...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 2:29 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Wizards
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Gilbert's Got a New T-Shirt

Gilbert hasn't arrived at the Acela Club for his "Yeah, I signed two weeks ago" press conference. The media members are here; at least, those members who aren't in Ashburn. More importantly, what appears to be the entire staff of Washington Sports and Entertainment is here, wearing matching t-shirts....

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 1:01 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Wizards
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New From Zorn: Ice Dancing and Zamboni Driving

Zorn's first day of training camp. (By John McDonnell - TWP) After Jim Zorn was hired as Redskins coach, the Internet spent days turning up some of his eclectic interests. My colleague Les Carpenter provided a summary over the weekend: Soon, Zorn's career as a disc jockey was over,...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 12:01 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Redskins
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Viral Redskins Videos (UPDATED)

Updated: Forget it. As of about 5 pm, maybe five-and-a-half hours after I put up this entry, I was told to take down all the videos, on advice of counsel. So forget all the rest of this. I lose. They win. They're all my daddies. I give up. Yesterday I...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 11:26 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Redskins
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Taylor: Taking it One Year at a Time

One hundred percent positive this is Jason Taylor. (By John McDonnell - TWP) Look, it's training camp, and there's plenty of mincing and flipping and slicing and overanalyzing of words, because what else is there to do? I realize this is petty. Still, when Vinny Cerrato says "I'm 100...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 10:33 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Redskins
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Women Excited About Redskins Trade

To quote directly from WJLA, "Women across Washington are excited to see Jason Taylor play locally." Couldn't agree more. In related news, "Women across Washington find local men to be local, male."...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 10:01 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Redskins
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Morning Look: Gilbert Meets the Media

(2003 photo by Charles Dharapak - AP) I know, right? Hard to imagine that's what five years ago looked like. And today, of course, is the day that Gilbert meets the media again, to once again discuss signing a massive deal with the Wizards. I had also forgotten that...

By Dan Steinberg | July 22, 2008; 9:04 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Morning Look , Wizards
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Smoot vs. Rogers vs. Taylor: Dance Off!

(ABC/Kelsey McNeal) With Jason Taylor a few minutes away from his Redskins introduction, and camera persons already amassing outside the doors to get the first precious shots, and fans deep into multiple media comment feuds, let's visit the true crucial issue of the day: with the defensive end-slash-television dance...

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 4:20 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Redskins
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Happy Birthday to Mike Sellers

From your biggest fans: your daughter Kaylin (9), Rock Cartwright's daughter Brianna (8), and Khary Campbell's niece Madisyn (8). And also, from some random people from New Jersey....

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 2:54 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Redskins
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Fred Smoot's New Nickname

Me: You got anything to replace Johan Whatever-It-Was last year? Fred Smoot: Yeah, my name now is "Brother O'Dell, Pass the Biscuits, Pappy O'Daniels." That's my whole name. Me: Can you...can you pronounce it again?...

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 1:44 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Redskins
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D.C. Sports Media Approval Ratings: Kelli Johnson

What better way to kickoff Redskins Training Camp Week than with a look at some of the Reporters Who Cover the Redskins? And where better to start than with Kelli Johnson, the team's beat reporter on Comcast SportsNet. Johnson also anchors SportsNite and SportsRise, but she's clearly made her...

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 1:08 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Media
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Zorn Rule: No Hazing

Malcolm Kelly, his tattoo, and his non-hazing equipment. The young'uns were all carrying helmets up the hill after practice today. Marcus Mason had the helmets of Mike Sellers and Rock Cartwright along with his own; "I had Ladell's and CP's, but somebody helped me," he said. "I'm not a...

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 12:22 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Redskins
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The Redskins Hire Their Blogger

After weeks of speculation and more speculation, the Redskins got their blogger, and just in time, too. He is Matt Terl, he reported for work this past weekend, and his blog--tentatively called "The Official Blog of the Washington Redskins"--went live on Sunday morning. Terl, 31, has blogged about the...

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 11:29 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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Redskins Fans Show Their Dedication

Sadly, I never got the full story on this one, so I'm just gonna have to imagine. [Thought bubble.] Hey honey, what should we do today? The swimming pool? The playground? Maybe one of the museums? Or, wait, I've got it, what if we dressed our grade schooler up...

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 10:44 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Redskins
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Seven Bowel Movements: A Training Camp Conversation With Stefan Fatsis

During the 2006 NFL season, Stefan Fatsis embarked on a 21st century version of George Plimpton, with more tees. As you've no doubt heard, the D.C. resident and well-known author hired a trainer and a kicking coach and eventually convinced the Denver Broncos to let him in the doors,...

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 9:44 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Media , NFL , Redskins
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Morning Look: Todd Collins is a Cover Boy

There are certain stock images of athletes posing that you've seen so many times your mind whirls right past them: the smiling face with hands resting loosely on hips, the scowling stare with hands gripping some sporting implement, the defiant glare with shirt off, tattoos screaming into the air....

By Dan Steinberg | July 21, 2008; 9:01 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Redskins
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The Redskins' New Best Dancer

(ABC/Kelsey McNeal) Let me just quote from the intro to the segment below: "Sexy, Hot, Steamy." And no, it's not Vinny Cerrato's workout tape!...

By Dan Steinberg | July 20, 2008; 7:32 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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The Mike Sellers Beard Returns

The first thing I noticed about Mike Sellers today? The beard, of course. You remember last year's two-toned training camp beard, dyed blond at the bottom, that prompted teammates to call him T-Pain? The beard that he then shaved off in mid-November, citing superstition and saying it was "time...

By Dan Steinberg | July 20, 2008; 2:29 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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The 6 A.M. Tailgaters

The six young men arrived outside Redskins Park around 5:30 a.m. The gates to Redskins Park wouldn't open for another hour, so they staked out their spot in the median on Loudoun County Parkway and started preparing breakfast. And what, you're wondering, is the best 6 a.m. breakfast to...

By Dan Steinberg | July 20, 2008; 1:27 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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Jim Zorn's Cool-Keeping Invention

I'll admit that I missed part of Jim Zorn's opening-day press conference. The parts I saw were fairly straightforward: "I was amazed, driving in about 6:30 this morning, and they were already parking cars," for example. Or "I thought it was a great first practice....What was fun for me...

By Dan Steinberg | July 20, 2008; 12:38 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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Fred Smoot on Baseball: "It's Just a Pastime"

(2007 photo by John McDonnell - TWP) Fred Smoot ended last year in a self-imposed media swoon, having turned on the press corps based on the treatment of Sean Taylor in the initial days by some national media figures. Granted, it's only Day 1 of training camp, but I'd...

By Dan Steinberg | July 20, 2008; 11:41 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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Chris Cooley's Wife's Got a Nice T-Shirt

If marriage has dulled Christy Cooley's affection for her husband, it didn't show today. Yeah, that's her, pictured above. Yeah, that's her t-shirt. Yeah, it's signed by her husband. She asked him for a special message. He obliged. (This, and several other variations of signed Cooley tees, are selling...

By Dan Steinberg | July 20, 2008; 9:59 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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Redskins Football Has Returned

This photo was taken around 7:15 a.m. Yup. It's football season. Welcome back, football. We've missed you. We've missed your muddy scent, the charred and bloody nourishment you provide, the sight of your curves, pale and blurry this month, gradually becoming both more distinct and dreamier as you peak...

By Dan Steinberg | July 20, 2008; 8:01 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Redskins
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D.C. Sports Bog: July 20, 2008 - July 26, 2008