D.C. Sports Bog - By The Washington Post's Dan Steinberg - December 6, 2009

VMI helps Seton Hall set pith record

Such a shame that VMI is not in danger of being ranked in the Atlantic 11. When you give up 134 points to Seton Hall--which set a school record--and allow some dude to come off the bench and hit 12 three-pointers and score 40 points, the one-liners should flow. "In...

By Dan Steinberg | December 12, 2009; 11:07 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Atlantic 11 , College Basketball
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Orakpo wouldn't have cut Suisham

At some point, enough is enough with the Shaun Suisham stuff. Even if he made 732 kicks in a row, a lot of people would have cut him after he missed that potential game-clinching 23-yard attempt against the Saints, which is understandable. Just one more item, though, in light of...

By Dan Steinberg | December 12, 2009; 3:24 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Redskins
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Riggo discusses Hall of Fame voting

If there's one NFL market where fans have spent more time debating Hall of Fame voting procedures more than any other, D.C. might have dibs. The lingering Art Monk debate got to the point where Skins fans were creating petitions and Web sites, writing to selectors and parsing every word...

By Dan Steinberg | December 11, 2009; 3:17 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Redskins
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Cerrato: 'Some crazy things have happened'

I've got this fancy new recorder that lets me record like 73 hours of audio, so here are more, non-Jimmy Clausen highlights from Vinny Cerrato's ESPN 980 radio program, Inside the Red Zone. And sure, the program is two hours and just cherrypicking stuff like this is probably unfair to...

By Dan Steinberg | December 11, 2009; 12:22 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (24)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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Cerrato's interview with Jimmy Clausen

You know, I was going to print the entire transcript of Vinny Cerrato's interview with Jimmy Clausen, but I'm tired of being a mere transcription robot. So instead, I will rank seven highlights for your reading pleasure. See, this way I'm a transcription robot who at least uses the cut...

By Dan Steinberg | December 11, 2009; 10:57 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (31)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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Cerrato explains Suisham release

In his first public comments since Shaun Suisham was released this week, Vinny Cerrato explained Friday morning that keeping the kicker on the team wouldn't have been fair to his teammates after Suisham missed the short fourth-quarter field goal against the Saints. "To me, the players fought their butts off...

By Dan Steinberg | December 11, 2009; 9:06 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (110)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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Schottenheimer on Cerrato

The news that Daniel Snyder and Vinny Cerrato were scouting Colt McCoy together this fall--reported by my colleague Jason Reid-- obviously raised a lot of eyebrows locally. Turns out some national observers were also struck by this news, including one Marty Schottenheimer, who like Cerrato, now lists "radio host" among...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2009; 8:38 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (87)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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London Fletcher Pro Bowl campaign begins

(By Jonathan Newton - TWP) Earlier this week, London Fletcher was named to Peter King's All-Decade team at SI.com, with King calling him "a tackling machine." Not mentioned was the utter absurdity of one of the best players of the decade never having made the Pro Bowl. Luckily, the...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2009; 5:49 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Redskins
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Cerrato to interview Jimmy Clausen

This has already been one of the weirdest weeks in D.C. sports talk history. 1) Jim Bowden interviews Stan Kasten, his former boss. 2) Jim Bowden interviews Manny Acta, his former employee. 3) Jim Zorn goes on The Jim Zorn Show, is asked about the Sherm Lewis hiring, and refuses...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2009; 3:59 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (49)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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Quintin Laing and the broken jaw

(By Bruce Bennett - Getty) As soon as that Michal Rozsival shot slammed into his face last month, Quintin Laing knew something was wrong. The momentum of the contact sort of spun him around, and Laing tried to bite down to make sure everything was ok inside his mouth....

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2009; 2:43 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Caps
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Matt Bradley on parenthood

Matt Bradley was skating at the Caps practice facility Thursday afternoon, a bit more than 48 hours after the birth of his first son, Henry. I was out at the facility to talk to Quintin Laing about life with a broken jaw, but I figured I would ask Bradley how...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2009; 12:42 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Caps
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Season greetings from Greivis Vasquez

If you'd like to have a song about the glowing of your inner turtle stuck in your head for the rest of the day, please to go to the Happy Holidays '09 video from the University of Maryland, featuring guest appearances from Maury Povich, Connie Chung, Greivis Vasquez, Scott...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Terps
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Lou Holtz was a Skins coaching candidate?

"Listen, I talked to Dan Snyder about that job once before," Lou Holtz told Mike Wise this week, when Wise jokingly asked him whether he'd agree to coach the Redskins next season. "It was never offered to me. We were involved in a bowl game, said we could not talk...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2009; 10:02 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Redskins
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Mike Greenberg says Nats to World Series

People talk about how there's a Nats Tax on free agents, how the long-struggling franchise needs to overpay at least slightly to get big names to sign on with a 100-loss outfit. Well, I'm gonna argue there's also a Nats Tax on the media, how the long-struggling franchise needs to...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2009; 9:18 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Media , Nats
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Cooley on Tiger and Campbell

What's that? You're wondering why I haven't transcribed any Redskins radio interviews in two days? Good question. Let me start making amends. Chris Cooley's weekly appearances with DC 101's Elliot in the Morning are getting progressively more interesting the longer it's been since Cooley actually played. This Monday, he brought...

By Dan Steinberg | December 9, 2009; 3:29 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Redskins , Wizards
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Billy Kilmer was rooting for the Saints

(From the archives.) In this season of quoting ex-Redskins about the current Redskins, you know who hasn't been heard from? Billy Kilmer. So let's have at it, via the New Orleans Times-Picayune: Sitting in his Florida home just outside Miami, the first quarterback of the Saints watched every second...

By Dan Steinberg | December 9, 2009; 2:12 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (22)
Categories: Redskins
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Abe Pollin celebrates his title

There was a tribute to Abe Pollin at Verizon Center last night, with speeches from ex-players and politicians and family members and friends. The entire Wizards team showed up in suits, with DeShawn Stevenson in a bow tie. Vincent Gray proposed renaming the City Title Game after Pollin. There...

By Dan Steinberg | December 9, 2009; 1:33 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Wizards
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Is Jason Campbell Un-clutch?

(By Nick Wass - AP) One good thing about the pending end of this Redskins season: it could mark the end, for all time, of the incessant Jason Campbell debates 'round these parts. "No way he's gonna be back," ESPN's John Clayton said on Mike and Mike Tuesday morning....

By Dan Steinberg | December 9, 2009; 12:18 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (89)
Categories: Redskins
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Best of the decade: local sports

In three posts below, you'll find Dan's candidates for top story, athlete and bust of the Washington area sports scene in the 2000s. Please check out the lists, rank the candidates for yourself and comment as you see fit. if you feel especially passionate about one candidate, state your case...

By Jon DeNunzio | December 9, 2009; 3:15 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Decade's Best
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Top local athletes of the 2000s

Yes, just what you have been waiting for: A chance to evaluate the D.C. careers of Olie Kolzig, Christian Gomez and Kristi Tolliver against each other. Go to it. You can rank those three plus all the big names on the jump -- and if you feel especially passionate about...

By Jon DeNunzio | December 9, 2009; 3:05 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (34)
Categories: Decade's Best
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D.C.'s biggest busts of the decade

It was pretty easy to get to 20 candidates on this one. Disappointment has been a constant theme in Washington area sports over the past 10 years, as the 20 entries below make clear. You can rank them on the jump -- and if you feel especially passionate about one...

By Jon DeNunzio | December 9, 2009; 3:00 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (47)
Categories: Decade's Best
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William & Mary mascot finalists

With William & Mary's hot start to the season making them newly relevant in Atlantic 11 circles, it seems we should take a quick look at the school's five mascot finalists, revealed today: The Griffin, the King and Queen, the Phoenix, the Pug and the Wren. Actually, heck with...

By Dan Steinberg | December 8, 2009; 4:55 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: College Basketball
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Jim Bowden criticizes Pudge Rodriguez deal

That small rumbling you felt this morning on your way to work? That was just the universe's irony scale shifting a few degrees to the right, thanks to Jim Bowden. Bowden, as you likely know, has been co-hosting "Baseball This Morning" on SIRIUS XM Radio's MLB Home Plate channel this...

By Dan Steinberg | December 8, 2009; 3:49 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Media , Nats
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Redskins kicker carousel continues

According to the Redskins media guide, exactly one man attempted regular season field goals for the franchise from 1988 through 1994: Chip Lohmiller. In each of those years, he led the Redskins in scoring. In three of those years, he led the entire NFC in scoring. Since then, of...

By Dan Steinberg | December 8, 2009; 3:17 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Redskins
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Reactions to LaRon Landry

(By Gary Cameron - Reuters) After the loss to the Saints, fingers were pointed primarily in two directions: at Shaun Suisham, and at LaRon Landry. Suisham is gone, having been unceremoniously left on the curb during this journey toward Disappointmentville. "I know he'll just be upset," Coach Jim Zorn...

By Dan Steinberg | December 8, 2009; 1:25 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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Local Poll Week III: Voter Frauds

(Photo by Toni L. Sandys, editing by Ian Oland. Follow his twitter feed.) I'll tell ya, good help is hard to find. The Terps have lost three out of four. Their second best win is against Fairfield. They received a combined zero votes in this week's AP and coaches...

By Dan Steinberg | December 7, 2009; 4:48 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Atlantic 11 , College Basketball
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Jim Bowden interviews Stan Kasten

(TWP photo by Toni L. Sandys) Man, we live in such a weird sports market. Every Friday the Redskins' executive vice president of weather forecasting interviews various ESPN personalities on his radio show. In the playoffs, the team's all-time greatest coach will team with one of its most famous...

By Dan Steinberg | December 7, 2009; 2:59 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Media , Nats
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Most heartwrenching D.C. sports losses of the decade

We're a bit late to the Top 10 decade retrospectives, but we'll be ramping things up in the next few days, with a few local and national lists. In the meantime, I was wondering in the shower this morning where the Cowboys/Eagles/Saints triple-play of anguish would rank in a...

By Dan Steinberg | December 7, 2009; 12:53 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (43)
Categories: Caps , College Basketball , Redskins , Terps , Wizards
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Vinny Cerrato discusses the weather

I feel like I'm in this war against Vinny Cerrato, and he's slowly winning. The Skins' Executive Vice President of Presiding Executively hasn't been too willing to talk with the media this year--most recently, he refused to comment for our Sunday story about the team's playcalling arrangement. But I always...

By Dan Steinberg | December 7, 2009; 9:29 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Media , Redskins
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Redskins sure feel cursed

Look, obviously the rational among us don't really believe in curses. But at some point on Sunday, you said to yourself, "Crikey, self, this team is cursed." Yes? "I don't know about the voodoo, but I definitely believe in destiny," Saints quarterback Drew Brees said, after a game in...

By Dan Steinberg | December 7, 2009; 7:11 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Redskins
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Albright blames himself

(By Ricky Carioti - TWP) Ethan Albright still hadn't seen the tape of his snap on Shaun Suisham's ill-fated field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter, but he was blaming himself anyhow. "It's like [how] Jordan used to shoot free throws with his eyes closed, and he knew...

By Dan Steinberg | December 6, 2009; 8:37 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Redskins
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Haynesworth: "They're gonna remember the Redskins"

(By John McDonnell - TWP) With the clock running down and the Redskins driving to go ahead of the undefeated Saints by two possessions, some of the burgundy and gold types stood and cheered on the muddy sidelines. Albert Haynesworth didn't join them. "I didn't say anything, because you...

By Dan Steinberg | December 6, 2009; 6:36 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Redskins
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D.C. Sports Bog: December 6, 2009 - December 12, 2009