Allen's stranglehold on Redskins tightens with Lafemina's departure
You want to know how hard Brian Lafemina’s job was as the Washington Redskins president of business operations, chief operating officer and franchise savior? This is how hard it was. Lafemina and his newly imported business and marketing team, brought in by owner Dan Snyder to stop the bleeding at the box office and change the toxic narrative that had come to define the Redskins, had an idea for a marketing campaign — seemingly a simple campaign with a catchy phase. “We Hail.
NFL dreams fuel D.C.'s latest arena football adventure
Sean Brackett was the third-string quarterback for the WashingtonValor, and believe me, there is no more third string than being the third-string quarterback for the WashingtonValor in the Arena Football League. Still, for Brackett, it was better than last year. At least he didn’t need a translator in practice. Brackett, 25, a former quarterback at Columbia University, was the backup quarterback last season for the Qingdao Clipper in the Chinese Arena Football League — a leag
Tim Tebow should pay attention to just how hard it is to reach major leagues
Brian Goodwin played his first professional baseball game in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 2012 at the age of 21. Since then, he’s played professional baseball in places like Scottsdale, Arizona; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Syracuse, New York, and Margarita Island in Venezuela, over the last five years. He stepped up to the plate 2,243 times in 603 games. Before that, Goodwin played college baseball at University of North Carolina and Miami-Dade Community College for two years. Befo
Joe Don Looney's place in history
The presence of Sonny Jurgensen and Billy Kilmer together at a Washington Nationals game last week caused quite a commotion — Washington sports royalty side by side, in, appropriately, the President’s Club seats. Two presidents at a Nationals game wouldn’t have gotten as much attention — especially two shown with cigars in their mouths. The one-time quarterback rivals here in Washington may be the most valued and treasured relationship in Washington sports history. Even thoug
When it comes to needing advice, athletes find the mirror never lies
Athletes, coaches and competitors look for answers in all kinds of places when they fail. They look at film, they look at playbooks, they look at practices, they look at Bible verses. But perhaps no where do they look for help more than the mirror. When things are bad, the go-to move for competitors is the mirror. What kind of mirror, I’m not sure — a rear-view mirror, bathroom mirrors, maybe a full-length mirror — but somewhere in there, they are convinced are the answers. L
Junior Seau’s likely Hall of Fame selection could be troublesome for NFL
Who will speak for Junior Seau when he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in August? Will his wife Gina represent the late linebacker, who died in May 2013 at the age of 43 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound? Will she say this? "When he would come home from games, he would go straight to the room, lower the blinds, the blackout blinds, and just say, 'Quiet, my head is, is burning.'" That's what she told 60 Minutes Sports several weeks ago. Or maybe
Pitchman to pariah: Last year, NFL used Ray Rice jersey in women’s apparel ad
Nearly one year ago to the day that the Baltimore Ravens — exposed and embarrassed — cut Ray Rice following the video TMZ released of the Ravens running back knocking out his then-fiancee in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino in February, the NFL embarked on a promotional campaign selling apparel to women. The jersey they used in the ad? A Ray Rice jersey. The spokesman they used to promote the value of women to the NFL? Ravens coach John Harbaugh. How did the ad spot end
In midst of Super Bowl spectacle, the wreckage of human lives
Imagine if at the Phillip Morris annual stockholders meeting, they paraded around cancer victims who told their stories of facing death? Or at the Tobacco Expo in Las Vegas, oxygen tank manufacturers touting their latest wares, showing you the newest technology to help you breathe? Welcome to Super Bowl week, which has become a parade of former players with their tales of destruction, depression and dysfunction resulting from the very game the entire event exists to celebrate
NFL keeps bounty scandal behind closed doors
Hearings in the NFL bounty probe were held in Washington last week, but not the kind of hearings we should have seen take place. Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue was appointed to oversee the appeals of the New Orleans Saints players suspended for their roles in the Saints bounty case -- paying players to injure opponents. The alleged mastermind of the bounty program, former Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, was in Washington to testify before Tagliabue, as
Numbers game; NFL ignores sack statistics before 1982
Imagine, if you would, that Hack Wilson never drove in 190 runs in a season. Or that Roger Hornsby never batted .424 in 1924 and George Sisler never got 257 hits in one year.
Imagine that no baseball statistics existed before 1982.
That, in essence, is what the NFL is doing in its campaign to sell us on the idea that Redskins defensive end Bruce Smith has tied the all-time sack record. Smith was credited with half a sack of Dolphins quarterback Brian Griese, giving him 19
