The toughest job in the DC area these days? Fireman? Policeman? Trashman? Professional Boxer? Nope. Wrong. The toughest job is being a fan of local professional sports. For years now I have been repeating the mantra that “next year my team will be competitive and hopefully will make the playoffs.” Each year has been a bigger and bigger disappointment to the point now that I have now completely given up. In this day of free agency and players playing for the biggest payoff and showing no loyalty to their hometown, all you have to root for is the team itself. So when the team is a constant loser what are you’re alternatives??????? Bandwagon is an option for some, or you continue to cheer for a losing team that disappoints each and every year. It’s a tough call

Back when I was a kid there were guys like Cal Ripken, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer Art Monk, Darrell Green, Dave Butz, Joe Jacoby and Charles Mann. The list goes on and on… guys you knew would be there each year, playing their asses off for your team. There are no players like that now. Who do you think has been with the Skins the longest? Hard to say? Well, it is the group who came to the team in 1999. That's right. 1999. Champ Bailey has one of the longest tenures on the team. The Orioles? Who the hell knows.... Scotty Erickson? Sidney Ponson? Compare that to the players mentioned earlier. See the difference? I mean, Elrod Hendricks has been in the O's organization for over 30 years. Scotty has been with the O's for about six seasons. So what’s left? You root for a team because those reliable players made you love it ...... and now it just shits in your mouth.

Lets look at the worst example of this…….. The Orioles. This team has pissed away talent left and right and the owner has no idea on what to do as far as running a team or who the fans care about and come to see everyday. The last 15 years the Orioles have had Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina, Raphael Palmeiro, BJ Surhoff, Mike Bordick, the list can go on and on. I don’t feel like writing about all of it. Now all these guys are all on other teams playing exceptionally well while the orioles go on to lose 32 of their last 36 games. The Orioles farm system, in every division, Single A, AA and AAA, are all losing teams full of nothing but shit talent. Larry Bigbie right now is their top prospect. And he is maybe, MAYBE, a career .250, 10 home run guy. They basically traded away all their talent to acquire losing slack ass nobodies that come in, play a half season and leave. Example Bobby Bonilla. After that they have 4 young pitchers that all blew out their arms last year. So there is no promise, nothing on the horizon to bring up from scratch, a career Oriole to cheer for. They try to go the free agent route but no one wants to play for them. No one wants to manage them and no one wants to become GM because Angelos is such a prick bag who loves to interfere in matters that he obviously knows nothing about. So what’s my point to all this ranting, Look at what we have to look forward to….. NOTHING!!!!. There is no in-house talent, there is nobody available in free agency, and there is nobody to build a franchise around. Nothing. Have fun, Oriole Fans. Those Pinstripes are looking better and better every minute.

The Redskins are a little better. They look as though they are trying to come around. But still, the inconsistent managing from up top. Years of all the head coaching changes and now that we actually keep a coach (that I’m still undecided if he is a good one) we lose our 5th defensive coordinator. They are saying this time at least the plan is to keep the fundamentals the same. So hopefully the Redskins won’t come out sucking terribly defensively next year, then turn it around only to have someone else leave. They have had their share of players that had the talent to become franchise players. Art Monk was the greatest redskin receiver to play for this team and they got rid so that he could go on to extend his consecutive catches record at the time with the goddamn Philadelphia Eagles, Charles Mann had to finish his career in San Fran, Brad Johnson was a simple answer only to get replaced by fucking Jeff George and now they have neither of those guys and Brad Johnson is one game away from leading his NEW team to the super bowl. I got two words for you Redskin fans ….Steven Davis. He’s the next one to play great only to get released to be picked up by a team that cares and go onto greatness for someone else. Get ready for the fun!!!!

Up til about 4 years ago the redskins drafted horribly. Kenard Lang a first rounder? Bullshit, Westbrook? Fucking Heath Schuler??!! Great job guys!!!! Hey here’s a secret…….why don’t you take that kid out of Miami that blew the hell out of his knee in this years first round. Because that would be just as smart. But after they drafted Champ Bailey I feel they have been getting a little better about picking guys to come in and help out immediately. Lavarr Arrington will be a bad ass for a while. He is the type of player the Redskins have that the Orioles don’t have: someone to build a team around. Until he wins the defensive player of the year and then goes to a new team.

The new problem, well not that new, is that this team has no heart to go out and win games. They continue to produce guys that lay down and die. “We’re down by 10 points? Fuck it, there’s no way we can come back.” Look at the good teams right now. Look at Pittsburgh, down by like 20 points in the 3rd and they come back to win. San Fran? Down by 30 to come back and win. Guys on teams that don’t give up make for great teams. You tell me these new Redskins come back to win games like that. Horseshit!! I haven’t seen them do that for eons. Good teams want to win. This team doesn’t care. Sonny Jurgenson put it best when he said the Redskins have a reputation of “if you hit them in the mouth they lay down and die” That’s the way it is, no more fighting, no more trying, no more caring………. I’m starting to feel the same way about my teams. Thanks for listening.