Wednesday, January 07, 2004

Hail to the mutha freakin' Redskins. Today is a landmark day for the DC sports scene. Everyone remembers the cloudy day in 92 when Joe Gibbs retired from the Washington Redskins football organization. Winner of 3 Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks, coach was...err...is an all-timer. Gibbs returns today, after a 12 year hiatus, to the job that rightfully belongs to him. He brings a resume of success through hard work and a keen ability to make adjustments unlike any so-called peer. He bleeds burgandy & gold and does not sell out to the highest bidder like his contemporary Bill Parcells, the stink of Tuna you smell coming from Dallas by way of New Jersey...err...Boston...err...that swampland in the Meadowlands.

I remember the day Gibbs retired from the Redskins very clearly. A first year at the University of Virginia, I was in the gameroom getting ready to shoot some pool when I saw Coach getting ready for a press conference. A crowd quickly gathered, and when Coach was done speaking, the life had been sucked out of the gameroom. It should have been another ordinary day, but that day, unbeknownst to us, had set the tone for the next twelve years.

The glory of the 80s and 90s was soon replaced by a culture of losing. The proud Washington franchise made the ultimate mistake in soon hiring a former Cowboy, Norval Turner, to "coach" this team. It took seven dismal seasons for the organization to realize its mistake. But at this point, we grew accustomed to the futility. Expectations were lowered. We longed for days gone by, where victorious Sundays led to cheerful weekdays.

A cloud has hung over DC for the past dozen years. Steve Spurrier claimed that "sunshine follows the Gators." His words could not ring any truer.

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