The Curly R: A Washington Redskins Blog

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Eight

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:30:00 +0000

Not getting any younger

Eventually we get to the part where the Redskins played football in RFK for decades. Then left. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium concludes.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Palace Intrigue
Part Seven: The Stadium Becomes Legend
Part Eight: Coda
References

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Responding to requests for specific RFK memories, many polled for this article did not even cite football games. RFK Stadium held other sporting matches, including spring training baseball and international soccer. Dozens of big names played concerts in RFK, including the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, the Allman Brothers, Aerosmith, Yes, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, U2 and The Who, among others.

Today, RFK is in bad shape. The concrete is crumbling, ceilings are sagging and the stadium's only regular tenant, Major League Soccer's DC United, is complaining. One day soon, DC United will be in their own soccer-only stadium, leaving RFK empty once again.

And then what will happen to RFK? Well probably nothing in the near term. After spending six hundred and ten million dollars on a municipal stadium for the Washington Nationals baseball team, there is not much appetite in the District for a new stadium built on spec, with no guaranteed tenant.

Redskins fans wonder why the team cannot simply move back to that site. FedEx Field is old before its time and rumors have persisted for years that while Prince George's County in Maryland is trying to negotiate back the land rights to the stadium site, the District is also negotiating to get the team back right on the RFK Stadium site.

Why can't it happen? Politics. Logistics.

The Redskins have an agreement with Prince George's County to stay in the county until at least 2027, another sixteen years. Both parties, of course, could agree to nullify that contract. Meanwhile, over in the District, Dan Snyder is far too shrewd to agree to any stadium deal that does not involve him owning everything from the dirt up. That means the federal government, which owns the entire stadium site, would have to transfer the land to the District, which would then have to sell it to Dan. Of course these transactions would come with years of haggling, posturing and environmental studies.

The adjacent campus of the defunct DC General Hospital has been in development limbo for a decade, with plans for a riverwalk-style mixed use community drifting aimlessly. No enterprise redevelopment of RFK and the surrounding parcels would be permitted without attached development requirements for this area, similar to what Verizon Center did for Chinatown and what Nationals Stadium is trying to do for the Navy Yard. Who would pay for what and what guarantees could be extracted for community development add to the complexity of any possible deals.

What do Redskins fans really want? What they already had, what they miss: RFK Stadium.

They want Dan Snyder, the famous deal maker, to get it done, to tear down RFK and rebuild it as a modern stadium: Bigger, with the same shape and allure and all the amenities of modern stadiums. Redskins fans want to see that icon back on the horizon from Interstate 295, coming down East Capitol Street, coming off Metro. Redskins fans will accede to Dan Snyder's demands for luxury suites and all the necessities of making money in the modern NFL, as long as they get their beloved RFK back. Call it Son of RFK.

In the end, all Redskins fans have is memories, sometimes hazy ones, and the oral tradition of RFK Stadium to pass down to the next generation.

In our dreams, we all sit under a giant Budweiser clock.

This concludes Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium, I hope you have enjoyed it. Tomorrow we will publish our list of references used for this series.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Seven

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Home cooking

Naming the stadium after Bobby Kennedy was an inside baseball affair, bureaucratic infighting at its best. The name change also signaled a change in the fortunes of a franchise. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Palace Intrigue
Part Seven: The Stadium Becomes Legend
Part Eight: Friday
References

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That first season in the newly renamed RFK Stadium, 1969, serves as a bridge to what fans of a certain age think of as the start of the modern era of Redskins football. Vince Lombardi had come to Washington as head coach. Larry Brown, Pat Fischer, Chris Hanburger, Sam Huff, Sonny Jurgenson, Brig Owens and Charley Taylor were all on a team that suffered fewer losses than any Redskins team in fourteen years. RFK sold out every game. Within two years, Billy Kiilmer, Jack Pardee and Richie Petitbon would be on the team that made it to Super Bowl VII, eventually losing to the only undefeated NFL team of all time, the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Many of the traditions we took for granted in the 1980s and 1990s were established in this period: Tailgates in Lots 7 and 8 by the river, walking the promenade of vendors from Metro to RFK's front door, bouncing the north side bleachers, asking the guy with the portable radio what just happened because the sound system was always so awful at RFK.

And that is part of what made RFK so great as a football venue, so appropriate for those great Redskins teams of the 70s, 80s and 90s; it was a downscale facility in upscale town. The team and the stadium never seemed to take themselves too seriously even when no city takes itself more seriously than Washington, DC.

The design of the stadium itself became a character in the drama of Redskins football. From above, RFK is a perfect circle, but viewed from the edge, as you would on approach from parking lots or the Metro, the cantilevered roof has curves, like a 1960s calendar girl laying on her side, a lipstick kiss over the month of September. Inside the halls were cavernous, the food basic and the beer cold. Rowdiness of the type seen commonly at FedEx Field today would not ever come to RFK Stadium.

Built for use as a baseball or football venue, the north bleachers swung in and out on an arc rail to clear the outfield. Once the Senators abandoned RFK for good following the 1971 baseball season, the bleachers stayed in place, even though they were not meant as permanent seating. Their attachment to a rail assembly and not the ground itself made them less stable than permanent bleachers, and fans figured out early when things were going well that bouncing in unison would yield a resonant frequency, the visual effect and resulting noise were somewhat startling and lent to the home field advantage.

Looking up, the inward bow of the cantilevered roof was perfectly angled to bounce reflected sound from the stands directly below onto the field, making the venue much louder for the visitors than an otherwise open air stadium of fifty-six thousand might be. This specific design is cited by many Redskins fans as a key weakness of FedEx Field; despite being more than thirty thousand seats larger, all noise generated in the new stadium simply escapes into the open air above. And the cantilevered roof of RFK gaps over the upper deck, offering those in the last row views outside the stadium of the surrounding area, including the US Capitol.

Small and quirky and without a bad seat in the house, Redskins fans wish it never had to end for RFK.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium concludes tomorrow with part eight, Coda.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Six

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

LBJ Stadium?

Team owner George Preston Marshall could hold out no longer, black players were coming to the Redskins, but who expected Ernie Davis and Bobby Mitchell? Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Palace Intrigue
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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There is evidence the Kennedy administration maintained contact with the Redskins even after the advent of black players on the team in December 1961. In January of 1962, players and coaches involved in the new collegiate US Bowl were treated to a tour of FBI headquarters and met briefly with Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Among the guests for this event: Redskins head coach Bill McPeak, the coach of the East squad, and newly signed Redskins rookie Ron Hatcher, the first black player to sign with the team. Later, in December 1963, Redskins players would haul presents at a Christmas benefit for needy kids attended by Bobby Kennedy.

Between these two events, the Redskins would improve, playing their best football in five years, averaging forty-one thousand attendance per game and a 5-7-2 record in 1962. Despite falling to 3-11 in 1963, attendance at DC Stadium continued to climb, up to forty-five thousand.

It was in this time that the legacy of Interior Secretary Stewart Udall was established: The man that forced final integration of the NFL using the power of the federal government to force private enterprise to adopt policies of equality through the use, or withholding, of public facilities. Secretary Udall's story was not done here though, he and DC Stadium would come together once more in history.

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After 1963, integration faded as a football issue in Washington, DC. Between 1964 and 1968, many players that would bridge the Redskins from the integration period into the modern era were brought to the team: Bobby Mitchell, Sonny Jurgenson, Sam Huff, Charley Taylor, Paul Krause, Len Hauss, Chris Hanburger. Attendance continued to rise at DC Stadium: Nearly forty-nine thousand per game in 1964; nearly fifty thousand in 1965 and 1966; cresting fifty thousand in 1967 and 1968, the year the Redskins streak of sellout games officially started, the streak is still alive today at over 350 games.

In June of 1968, Bobby Kennedy, then a Democratic Senator from New York, was assassinated in Los Angeles, thrusting the Redskins back into a political fray.

Following the assassination of his brother the president in November 1963, Bobby had stayed on as Attorney General for nine months before resigning to run for Senator in New York. As President, John Kennedy was succeeded by his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson. Tensions between Johnson and the Kennedys were legend. Many of the Kennedy hands resigned before the end of President Johnson's abbreviated term, or were not reappointed when Johnson won the presidential election of 1964.

One Kennedy appointee that did stay through the full Johnson administration was Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. A staunch Kennedy ally, Udall administered his department capably while defending it from political encroachment by a famously strong-willed and self-congratulatory Johnson.

It was during Johnson's full term in office that discussions began on the possibility of renaming DC Stadium in honor of someone, someone worth honoring. President Johnson seemed to think, with no trace of irony that he was the best candidate. The stadium, as the president's thinking went, could be renamed LBJ Stadium, an enduring monument to his political legacy.

Interior Secretary Udall and his coterie of former Kennedy aides, already enduring a difficult relationship with President Johnson, were not pleased with this idea and conspired to prevent the president from naming his own Taj Mahal. Examining laws governing naming of facilities on national parkland, Interior staffers discovered that the Secretary had full naming authority for such facilities, and did not require presidential approval or direction.

Thus did Interior stall any action on the renaming of DC Stadium until the last possible moment, holding the president at bay. Finally, on Saturday January 18, 1969, with two days left in Johnson's presidential term, Udall signed an order to rename DC Stadium after his friend and fellow civil rights activist, Robert Francis Kennedy. DC Stadium would now forever be known as RFK Stadium.

President Johnson was caught by surprise. Secretary Udall's staff had leaked the story to the press with just enough lead time to make reversing the event a political impossibility for the president in his final forty-eight hours in office. Coming just seven months after his assassination, it was the first major monument to the legacy of Bobby Kennedy's accomplishments as a politician.

So no, if you thought DC Stadium was renamed RFK Stadium by the Redskins to honor the man for whom they had developed a grudging respect during the difficult period leading up to integration, you would be wrong. Or if you thought the District, a predominantly black city, renamed the stadium in honor of Bobby Kennedy's fight for racial equality for all, well you would be wrong there too.

Nope, the stadium that became a hallowed football ground to generations of Redskins fans got its name almost arbitrarily, less to honor the namesake than to piss off his rival.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part seven, The Stadium Becomes Legend.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Five

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

When Bobby Mitchell came

After deciding to make the Redskins a new home in DC, the government decided to get in George Preston Marshall's business. One way or another, a black player was coming to this team. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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The 1961 NFL season opened for the Redskins with two games on the road before their first game in their new home, the price tag of which had risen to twenty-four million dollars. When Sunday 1 October 1961 finally rolled around, the Redskins lost to the New York Giants in a game that featured Washington scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter behind rookie quarterback Norm Snead to take a commanding 21-7 lead. The Redskins would not score again as New York quarterback YA Tittle led the Giants to seventeen unanswered points.

More than thirty-seven thousand people attended the game, sixteen thousand more than had attended either the 1960 season opener or closer.

Media opinion of the new stadium itself was mixed; DC Stadium was the first of a new breed of stadiums and most viewed it somewhat as a curiosity; its nonstandard lines were off-putting to some and the reflection of noise back from the cantilevered roof was instantly noticeable to others.

There were others at this inaugural game besides fans and media: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people. Angry NAACP supporters picketed the stadium over the team's lack of black players, fifteen years as it was after black players came back to the NFL following the 1933 lockout, and nine years after the next to last team had begun using players of any color on its roster.

Still unsatisfied with the team's position on integration, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall pledged publicly following that first game in DC Stadium that he would personally boycott Redskins games as long as the NAACP continued picketing, which was of course by the NAACP's own position until such time as the Redskins signed black players to the active roster.

It was two more long months before the 1962 draft was held, during which time the Redskins went 0-4 in DC Stadium, averaging nine points per game on offense. When the 1962 NFL Draft was finally held on December 4, 1961, the Redskins famously drafted Ernie Davis first overall. Ernie, a Syracuse tailback, was the first black football player ever to win the Heisman Trophy and was highly coveted in both the NFL and AFL. A bidding war for his services was expected to ensue between the two leagues.

As the story goes, the Redskins traded Ernie's rights less than two weeks later to the Cleveland Browns. In a sad twist of fate, Ernie would never play a down in the NFL, he was diagnosed with leukemia in the 1962 offseason and would succumb to the illness a year later in 1963. In exchange for Ernie, the Redskins would receive Bobby Mitchell, a tailback and flanker who would come to revitalize the Redskins franchise, Bobby was elected to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1983 and remained in the Redskins organization altogether for more than forty years.

But before that trade even happened, something else memorable happened following the draft: The Redskins signed their first black player, eighth round pick Ron Hatcher, a tailback out of Michigan State. Ron was not heralded, and certainly would never have garnered the headlines of an Ernie Davis, still he will always be remembered as the first black player signed by the Redskins, the last team to include players of color in its roster. Ron would appear in three games, amassing no plays for no yards in his one year NFL career.

The cynical eye may regard Ron as the exact token black that Bobby Kennedy and Stewart Udall had no interest in seeing.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part six, Palace Intrigue.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Four

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Colored players need not apply

An intractably racist owner, a presidential administration committed to equal rights. The Redskins and the government were on a collision course. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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Washington's rising new multipurpose venue was at the center of a complex federal-local government partnership, one that thirty-five years later would be a factor in thwarting Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke's efforts to keep the team in the District once RFK was no longer a viable NFL stadium. District of Columbia Stadium would be built on federal parkland, Anacostia Park, a reclaimed spit of land at the far end of East Capitol Street. Managing the stadium and the revenues from its use would be the DC Armory Board, a branch of the DC government created by Congress in 1949 to administer federally owned properties in the District for non-military and commercial uses.

Although the stadium was to be managed by the District, the ultimate authority on its use, or nonuse, was the US Department of the Interior, the federal government entity responsible for administering US parkland resources. Stewart Udall, John Kennedy's Interior Secretary, shared Bobby Kennedy's concern for the Redskins' resistance to integration, and as Interior Secretary, had the authority to back his concern with action.

In March of 1961, as DC Stadium was rising and the Redskins were planning their inaugural season in that new home, Secretary Udall wrote a letter to owner George Preston Marshall, alerting him to certain recent civil rights laws, and the penalties of prosecution for violating them.

Whatever response George and the team offered were not sufficient, for five months later in August of 1961, Secretary Udall wrote a second letter, this one to NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. This letter was right to the point: Department of Interior would consider using its authority to prevent the Redskins from using DC Stadium if they did not hire black players. And not just any black players, talented black players, ones that would not simply ride the bench as tokens of compliance.

The Redskins owner shot right back, swearing the Redskins had no hiring bias, it was simply that the Redskins had not yet come across the black players they wanted. To bolster his argument that the Redskins did not actually have a no-blacks policy, George publicly displayed interest in Syracuse star tailback Ernie Davis, a player who happened to be black. And the Redskins had the number one overall pick in the upcoming 1962 NFL Draft, to be held in December.

The government relented and approved the Redskins use of DC Stadium for the 1961 football season.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part five, Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Three

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Colored players need not apply

With the government already agreeing effectively to bail out the Redskins in the form of a new stadium, all that remained was to work out the details. The absence of black players happened to be one of those details. Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Football and Race
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
References

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While the Redskins were struggling in the present, a famous and influential figure was examining the Redskins past. Senator John F. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, had been elected president in November 1960, upon taking office President Kennedy named his brother Robert, or Bobby, Kennedy as attorney general. Both the president and his brother were vocal proponents of civil rights and racial equality, the president having been in office as a senator during the passage of the first two major civil rights bill in Congress since Reconstruction, in 1957 and 1960.

Bobby Kennedy was personally appalled by the failure of the Redskins to integrate, the team still had not had a black player in George Preston Marshall's entire tenure as owner, dating back twenty-eight years to 1932.

Prior to George joining the fraternity of NFL owners, there had been a handful of black NFL players between 1920 and 1933, most notably Fritz Pollard. At his first meeting as an NFL owner in February 1933, George floated a package of proposals, many of which individually would be seminal in the development of the NFL as a sport of mass appeal: That the league should be split into Divisions, better to host a World Championship game; that the old school 'fat' football should be slimmed down so as to facilitate the passing game; and that the goalposts should be moved to the goal line so as to increase scoring.

George's package also included one unfortunate proposal: That roster spots should be denied, indefinitely, to black players.

The proposal before the owners was approved, with the inclusion of the lockout of black players. The proposal might not have passed were it not for the endorsement of the plan by Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas; many believe Halas was agreeing to take the bad with the good for the better of the league.

And so the NFL did not have any black players between 1933 and 1946, thirteen long years. By 1952, every team but the Redskins had at least one black player. And nine years later in 1961 the Redskins still were all-white.

But Bobby Kennedy had found a way to exert influence on the team and its headstrong owner: Threaten to take away DC Stadium from the Redskins before they had even played in it.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part four, A Complex Relationship.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Shovel ready

By the 1960 season, the Washington Redskins had long faded from their heights of the 1930s and 40s, attendance was winding down and the city was rapidly falling out of love with NFL football. Who better to rescue the team than the government? Curly R's special series on the history of RFK Stadium continues.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Race and Football
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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With Griffith Field already forty-six years old and no new local stadium projects on the horizon, in June of 1957, US Representative Oren Harris, Democrat of Arkansas, proposed legislation to authorize construction of a fifty thousand seat, municipal stadium in the District of Columbia. Representative Harris was a well known supporter of sports business, also proposing in 1957 that the NFL be granted an antitrust exemption in the style of baseball's, in place since 1922.

By June of 1958 the US Treasury had agreed to guarantee bonds worth up to six million dollars, the principal projected cost of the stadium project. One month later in July President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill authorizing construction of the stadium into law. The new venue would be called District of Columbia Stadium, or DC Stadium for short. It would be located at the end of East Capitol Street, hard by the Anacostia River.

The first shovel went into the dirt on the site of RFK Stadium in July 1960. What emerged over the next fifteen months was the first of a generation of multiuse, or 'cookie-cutter' stadiums. Round or slightly oblong, with cantilevered roofs and miles on concrete, these venues were designed to accommodate 1960s appetites for both football and baseball, though in the end by modern standards they did both relatively poorly.

Other stadiums that would rise in the decade that followed and look an awful lot like DC Stadium included Shea Stadium (1964), Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (1965), Busch Stadium (1966), San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium (1967), Three Rivers Stadium (1970), Riverfront Stadium (1970) and Veterans Stadium (1971).

That fall and winter the Redskins would stagger through their 1960 season, finishing 1-9-2. In a move trumping even future owner Dan Snyder's postgame firing of head coach Jim Zorn in January 2010, team owner George Preston Marshall fired head coach Mike Nixon before the team's 38-28 season ending loss to future Redskins quarterback Sonny Jurgenson and the Philadelphia Eagles.

In coach Nixon's place the owner would promote 34 year old Bill McPeak, an assistant under Mike Nixon with no previous head coaching experience.

The Redskins were limping into their new home by the river.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part three, Football and Race.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium, Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:30:00 +0000

What came before

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, former home of the Washington Redskins, celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 2011, on October 1st. Fifteen years gone are the stadium's football days of tailgates, bouncing bleachers, noise and home field advantage. Today RFK sits, an aging memorial to past glory, slowly decaying by the Anacostia River, still looking down East Capitol Street toward Capitol Hill and the government that gave birth to it, then nearly took it away.

Part One: Faded Glory
Part Two: Government Intervention
Part Three: Race and Football
Part Four: A Complex Relationship
Part Five: Ernie Davis, Bobby Mitchell and Ron Hatcher
Part Six: Wednesday
Part Seven: Thursday
Part Eight: Friday
References

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When quarterback Ralph Guglielmi and the Redskins jogged off the field for the last time to end the 1960 season, a 38-28 loss to Sonny Jurgenson and the Philadelphia Eagles, the once-proud Washington NFL franchise was in complete freefall. The team had won one game that season, and a total of four over the two season tenure of head coach Mike Nixon.

Season ticket subscriptions had been below ten thousand for three years and Griffith Stadium, the twenty-five thousand seat baseball stadium the Redskins had called home since moving to Washington in 1937, was showing every bit of its fifty years of continuous service.

Much as it must seem a generation ago to today's fans that the Redskins were a feared team in the 1980s and early 1990s, so it must have felt to those fans in 1960 about the dominant teams of the 1930s and 1940s, when Slinging Sammy Baugh and the Redskins appeared in six NFL Championships in a ten year span. The Redskins had fallen on hard times.

The horizon was bright though. Washington had the number two overall pick in the 1961 draft, and were set to move into their new, fifty thousand seat, federally funded municipal stadium just down the street from the US Capitol for the 1961 season.

But before the field that would later be known as RFK Stadium could become the new home of the Redskins, before it could assume its place of honor in the hearts of Redskins fans and be iconic in the NFL community by its name alone, the Redskins would be forced to confront the modern realities of racial integration, risk losing the stadium altogether, and navigate a playing field as political as the city of Washington itself.

In the end the Redskins would integrate, the last NFL team to do so, and be rewarded immediately with a future Hall of Fame player. Later the team would be forever linked by tragedy with the man most responsible for the team's racial integration.

This is the story of RFK Stadium.

Political Venue: The History of RFK Stadium continues tomorrow with part two, Government Intervention.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Coming Tomorrow: The History of RFK

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Sunday best

Last Saturday, a Washington milestone passed: The fiftieth anniversary of the opening of RFK Stadium. It was precisely fifty years ago, 1 October of 1961, that the Redskins played their first game in what was then known as DC Stadium. The Redskins would play every home game there for the next thirty-six years, through the 1996 season.

The stadium, the experience, the emotion, the home field advantage all became part of the culture of the nation's capital. Redskins fans over a certain age (40? 35?) get wistful just at the mention of RFK.

Now, it has been fifteen years since the Redskins played at RFK. Fifteen long seasons in Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, later known as Redskins Stadium, now known as FedEx Field. None of it is the same, nothing in that stadium captures anything of the experience of RFK.

I worry that Washington and Redskins fans at large are losing this part of our history. Why do I worry?

Because this milestone went largely unnoticed. Last week, Tom Boswell of the Washington Post wrote a column on the occasion, it was mostly a misty eyed revisitation of his youth, the early days of RFK and what it meant to have that thing in your neighborhood. A colleague told me Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban and Thom Loverro discussed the occasion on The Sports Reporters on ESPravda 980 this week, wondering aloud if RFK was not drifting out of memory and into lore.

It should not. I will not be letting this moment pass without giving RFK Stadium its proper due. All through the Redskins bye week, we will be running a special eight part series on the history of RFK Stadium, how it came to pass, how it was almost taken from us, and how the Redskins became forever intertwined with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Starting tomorrow. Only on Curly R.

RFK Stadium: Dudley Brooks / Washington Post photo from here via here.

Curly R: The Year In Exile

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Outside looking in

*Sigh* I've been downgraded.

At first I thought it was just one level, from superfan to fan.

Later though I realized I have no idea what is happening with the 2011 Redskins and who plays for them. Barry Cofield is the last addition I remember.

Tim Hightower? You mean the guy from Arizona with the fumbling problem? Donte Stallworth? Isn't he the guy that ran a guy over in Florida?

Nope, don't know any of them, not the draft picks, not the post lockout pickups. That is when I realized my downgrade was a two level demotion, from superfan through fan straight to casual fan. There is only one level left below me now, observer, before sweet football oblivion.

And I do not even care. I was already mad at the team for botching the post Joe Gibbs transition, sandbagging Gregg Williams from the job by trumping up some bullshit story about betraying coach Gibbs over the Missing Man Formation after Sean Taylor's death, note carefully here that Gregg Williams IS NOT the guy I thought should have the job.

Dan Snyder then promptly turned the team over to the one guy everyone knew could not manage his way out of a paper bag, shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato, they wait around for a top shelf candidate that was never coming and promote Jim Zorn, the coordinator they had stupidly hired before a head coach, as the candidate of last resort.

The team then spent two years eating itself as Vinny tried the old dodge where he was responsible for hiring coach Zorn but not for his results, those two stopped speaking, then Dan soured and fired Vinny then fired Zorn on the plane ride home from the last game.

In come these two football professionals, general manager Bruce Allen and head coach Mike Shanahan, both of whom have great football pedigrees, their first move? To trade two picks to a Division rival for a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback they can count on for a couple of seasons until they get the offense where they want it.

But they don't do that. Instead they nitpick Donovan McNabb's footwork and practice ethic after the guy had only been to six Pro Bowls, won five Division titles, been to five Conference Championships and one Super Bowl, while not giving him any new targets to throw at and utterly failing to plan at the tailback position.

And in so doing squander an opportunity to install and stabilize a new offense and develop young players by focusing like a laser beam on how this guy that has been successful his whole career is just not perfect for us. Wah fucking wah.

Donovan had to be sacrificed because the Shanahans can do no wrong, that is axiomatic.

Meanwhile over on the other side of the ball Jim Haslett was busy destroying a perennial top ten defense, one with experienced players and a history of savvy coaches that could flex with talent, forcing the switch from an historical 4-3 to the more trendy 3-4. Players were moved into new positions and out of places where they had performed well for years.

And in so doing squander an opportunity to maintain some continuity in what is historically the best part of the team while a new offense can be installed and stabilized.

Too many variables in play, too many plates in the air.

And so the result of that 2010 season was an unmitigated disaster, one in which those two picks for Donovan were squandered to the Eagles, Donovan was benched and dragged under the bus, those Eagles, Donovan's former team, went for 59 on Monday Night Football, the night the team announced Donovan's quote contract extension unquote. Three games later Donovan was benched for the rest of the year.

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That's just the stuff in the game. Off the field the team was busy pushing fans away as well.

The owner is suing newspapers. All these years and the guy cannot just sit back and let the football do the talking.

They ripped out ten thousand seats from Redskins Stadium, the somewhat absurd plan announced at the time was to create standing room only party decks, yet now that the seats have been ripped out along with supporting sections of upper deck concrete, and construction on no decks has begun, it seems transparently obvious to me that the team has no intention of building decks, that removing seats was all about reducing capacity because people are not renewing tickets and no one is there to buy them in replacement. As anyone that has read this blog or listened to me over the past decade will tell you, the million mile long season ticket waiting list simply does not exist.

Sure ticket prices did not go up, thank you Mr. Snyder sir, a beer bought at your seat is now nine bucks.

And I did not even mention Albert Haynesworth. Until just now.

=====

The season then ended and the lockout began, two greedy camps, owners and players, arguing nakedly right in front of you over who should have more of your money, in all the negotiations, the recriminations and pontifications, which party was not at the negotiating table for those six months? You. And then the lockout, after a summer of grim warnings of ZOMG NO FOTOBALL IN 2011!!!1!! just COINCIDENTALLY happens to end right as training camps were to open, the only game that was lost to the whole drama? Yep, the Hall of Fame Game, the one played in a neutral stadium where no one gets guaranteed ticket revenues.

So now, after the players did not work out all summer while coaches could still meet and overthink their gameplans, after a hurried free agent period of extreme player movement, do you really think we are set to see quality football in the NFL before Thanksgiving?

Going to be a sloppy season.

=====

And so I went poof and that was it, I have not had the energy to put pen to paper for this blog since February 2011, and that was for a 2008 story. In the offseason I found other things to occupy my time:

I coached my sons' lacrosse team, the under-nine Fort Hunt Purple Pelicans, we went 2-5-1 with nine rookies on a thirteen man roster, we peaked at the end of the season and I expect we will improve heading into the 2012 season.

I also watched a crapload of college lacrosse including my alma mater the University of Virginia winning their fifth national championship.

I bought a decent bicycle and recommitted to bike commuting, my ride is twelve miles each way each day, I logged 1242 miles on the road from the start of the lockout to the end. My wife also bought a road bike and now we go on vacations based on where and how far we can ride. I have not lost any weight but all my dimensions have changed and I look a hell of a lot better.

I also spent another crapload of time watching Grand Tour bicycle racing, the Tour de France and currently the Vuelta a Espana, I missed the Giro d'Italia because it was during lacrosse season.

I bought a bunch of bicycle tools and taught myself bicycle maintenance, many summer nights I would have spent writing about football, instead I spent in the shed with Tony Almeida refurbing old bikes, I have tuned up all five operating bikes we own, rebuilt two others from the hubs up and have three in queue for complete refurb. Just last night I FINALLY finished my first bartape job. Ever try wrapping bartape on a drop handlebar? To do it right is a fucking bitch.

Now I am working on a public policy slash advocacy project to increase bicycling's profile in the nation's capital. Maybe someday I can ride my bike to a Redskins game.

So yeah, while football was forgetting about me, I was forgetting about it.

=====

And then when it came back, I was not one of those guys in a forgiving mood. All the league apparatus cared and care about was getting back to status quo AND FAST! Do you read the papers or listen to sports talk radio or even the league owned Sirius NFL Radio? Do you ever hear about the lockout and what it meant and means to football this season? Of course not, it is not in anyone's interest to dwell, have you seen the NFL commercial that's all like, It's Back to Football?

So that brings us to the 2011 Redskins season, I did not follow the post lockout frenzy of signings or training camp, I watched some of the Colts preseason game and also one other one that was on in the background at a party, I think they won that one too, I missed final cuts and read with a yawn that Rex Grossman was the guy over John Beck, the shrieking ExtremeSkins fanboys will be calling for Becks within four games. I may even be at a preschool open house when the Redskins kick off against the Giants on Sunday afternoon.

=====

So here is where I say thank you for all the emails, comments and text messages wondering where Curly R has been all offseason, to everyone reading this, I am not signing off. Curly R is not gone, it is, has been and forever will be, my creation and my outlet, all I ever wanted out of Curly R was to be a part of the discussion, to help make the Redskins a better football team. Over the past five years I have learned a lot about football and I am grateful for every pageview, every comment and every email.

Five years and I do not think the team really wants to get better. Maybe they do and this Bruce Allen slash Mike Shanahan regime will hit an upswing, it will not happen this year, I am looking at a 5-11 to 8-8 record AT BEST this season, another season with temporary players in key positions.

Curly R is not gone, it just has nothing to say right now, superfans have blogs, casual fans do not. As any Redskins fan over the past two decades can tell you, winning is not the only thing that draws fans to a team, what draws fans to a team is the feeling that their emotional investment is rewarded with smart football people making good decisions for both the short term and long term health and success of the team. We all know Dan Snyder does not own the team, we do, Dan is just the steward.

When the Redskins and football win me back, you will see Curly R back to daily posting. Do you hear that guys?

Win me back.

Photo by me.

Game Journal: Redskins at Bengals, 12/14/2008

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:00:00 +0000

A good friend in the Cincinnati area, the Redskins playing at the Bengals, why not a road trip? The two day excursion continues, on day one we visited a bona fide Bengals bar, shopped downtown and drank whiskey out in the country. Day two was all about the game...

=====

So much for sleeping in on a road trip away from the kids, like me, my good friend Lee from the old school of Charlottesville who relocated to Cincinnati where he got a good job and his wife's family lives, has three kids and he was sure to send them in at first light, there was fresh coffee, eggs and toast, we shook off the effects of a late night before packed our things for the game.

Our tickets and parking pass, note the distinctive pink color of the pass.

Lee's wife, she can fieldstrip a guinea fowl and grind wheat berries for bread at the same time, if it ever come to a The Road type situation I am headed to her house, she has canned enough food to last a year on full rations.

Lee's mascot for his 1-11-1 football team, and a plastic tiger.

Lee rocks the Volkwagen Eurovan, after taking it cross country from Charlottesville Virginia to Union Kentucky, around the time my own family was in the market for our first minivan, Lee gave me a summary review: A good car except for the high maintenance costs, rough ride and terrifying sway of the elevated center of gravity on hard turns or in high winds. So basically an expensive, uncomfortable deathtrap. As I was processing this information I could have sworn I saw him checking my expression out of the corner of his eye, leaving me later to wonder if the Eurovan is not an awesome car that all owners are sworn to keep secret through lies and misinformation.

Lee's wife's brother arrives and the party is ready to roll. As an fyi to the reader, most of the photos in this Game Journal, including this one, were taken with my crappy Nikon seven megapixel point and shoot, the balance of them were taken with Lee's awesome ten megapixel Canon point and shoot with the bigass lens, it should be obvious once we get to the game which are which, and a big thanks to Lee for letting me download his pictures before I left town.

As we were heading down the road from Union Kentucky to Cincinnati Ohio, we listened to the local pregame station, 102.7 FM, this video captures the end of a bit where one of the hosts plays at being a crazy young dude, after every silly thing he says we hear the sound effect of a beer can opening, it was really funny and unfortunately does not come across well on video. The second half of the video is some pregame statistics on the Redskins, Clinton Portis' last game against the Bengals was while he was with Denver in 2003, he had 120 yards and two touchdowns, also to this point Clinton's teams are 33-10 when he has 100 yards, as for Jason Campbell at this point thirteen games into the 2008 season, he has only six interceptions, during the 6-2 run to start the season Jason had eight touchdown passes and zero interceptions, in the 1-4 streak since, Jason has had three touchdowns and six interceptions, all six interceptions coming in the four losses.

The trip in to the stadium continues...

A view from Interstate 75 northbound heading into Cincinnati from the Kentucky side of oblivion. Despite the overcast skies and attendant dull grey appearance of everything, the weather was shaping up smashing for a December football game.

In this video I record the approach to Cincinnati from the south, picking up from the moment of the photo above. We see the sights of riverside Covington Kentucky, cross the Ohio River into Cincinnati Ohio, then circle toward Bengals Stadium, which is conveniently just off the highway. We admire the design of the stadium, witness Bengals fans shuffling dejectedly and observe a high concentration of Redskins attire before Lee runs a red light right in front of Cincinnati's finest. Throughout this video the printed hardcopy of Curly R's game preview for this game can be seen reflected on the dashboard.

We circled and parked in lot D and rolled out our tailgate, which consisted principally of four bottles of bourbon and a small tin of mixed nuts.

First thing I saw, couple of locals enjoying a beverage with the keepers oh the peace.

Your author, photo by Lee, pretty sure I was banging out a text message to lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery who would be settling in to watch this 1:00 pm ET game, his beloved Eagles would not be playing until the next night, Monday against the Browns.

Your author again, with the John A. Roebling bridge in the background, see the day one game journal prelude for more detail on this major Cincinnati architectural feature.

Lee's wife and your author.

Your author with his hosts, Lee's wife and Lee, note Lee's holiday appropriate jackass headgear.

Continuing my perusal of the parking lot here we see a Redskins flag flying proudly at center and at right a dude in the back of a pickup wearing tiger striped pajamas and a hard hat talking on a mobile phone. Are you starting to get what kind of awesome Cincinnati is?

Three great photos coming here, all of Lee's wife's brother and Lee's wife with the Cincinnati skyline in the background:

Number one...

...number two, the classic me taking a picture of Lee taking a picture of his brother in law and wife...

... and number three, the picture of his brother in law and wife that I was taking a picture of him taking.

Moving on, I poured another drink and wandered the lot looking for Redskins fans.

I found these guise pretty quickly, let us break this one down:

Optimistic young dude superfan in a Redskins hoodie and Sean Taylor woolly hat? Check.
In burgundy and gold Redskins logo kicks? Check!
Wearing burgundy and gold Mardi Gras beads? CHECK.
Driving a 1993 Jetta with Redskins paint scheme and no hubcaps? CHECK!
WITH MOUNTED LOUDSPEAKERS? CHECK!
Bag of trash no extra charge.

With a Dallas Sucks Virginia license plate? FLAWLESS VICTORY GENTLEMEN!

The 93 Jetta was accompanied to the game by this old VW bus in full Redskins regalia, this shot from the left...

... and from the right...

... and from behind with the full on BOSS HOGG imprimatur.

Bye bye burgundy and gold bunch of helium balloons, see you on the other side.

Checking my watch I see it is very close to kickoff though I do not believe we have consumed our rations of whiskey. I head back toward the tailgate.

A good look at the stadium from our tailgating spot, it really is a good looking stadium, wide open at both ends, so the upper decks do not connect like many modern football stadia, with a cantilever on the edge roof that recalls the multiuse stadiums from the 1960s, of which Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium and Washington's RFK Stadium were two.

Endgame for the tailgate, time to put up, toss back and head in.

That is not Lee in anger, it is Lee after a straight pull off a bottle of whiskey that he then proffered to me saying, try it, it's great.

Last drinks before we head in, Lee shares two of his favorite whiskeys with me, the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey and the Pritchard's Double Barrel. As our party is passing the last round, two marketing goons from Cleveland based Key Bank approach and give us dollar bills in bank envelopes. Once in the stadium I spent that dollar first.

At last, with the game already under way behind us, time to head in. We made last second adjustments for the balmy weather and made for the stadium.

Lee and Lee's wife heading in to the stadium with Covington Kentucky across the Ohio River in the background.

One sad little Bengals glove, lying on the concourse all alone, missing its mate.

First of four obligatory I'm taking a picture of you taking a picture of me taking a picture of you taking a picture of me pictures.

Number two...

... number three...

... and mercifully number four.

The Hogettes were in town to root on their beloved Redskins, or at least a midwest facsimile of the Hogettes, I was not able to get a quote.

Still heading to our seats, now down under the upper deck on the way to our section we ran into this couple of Bengals fans, including the guy with bag reading BUNGALS over his head, they were more than happy to pose for the Redskins blogger.

Finally down to our seats, section 111, row 8, nine minutes left in the first quarter, Washington was already down 7-0.

I grab a quick pano of the stadium from our seats, it really is a good looking stadium.

More photos from right when we say down...

Here is injured Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer, after partially tearing a ligament in his throwing elbow in September he still has not played, in his place in this game is Ryan Fitzpatrick. If you click out this photo to full size over on the Redskins sideline you can see, from right to left, since the action is over at the Bengals goal line to my right, Danny Smith, Colt Brennan, Andre Carter, Shawn Springs, Joe Bugel and Mike Sellers. Interestingly enough I cannot find head coach Jim Zorn in this photo.

The Bengals cheerleaders, in Naughty Santa attire, this photo also captures the theming of the stadium, lots of bright orange and black with the Bengal stripes appearing from under the team insignia as though ripped open by claws, and the jungle high grass of the creature's habitat.

A wider angle shot of the same corner at the same time, this one by Lee and capturing the open corner of the stadium, facing into Cincinnati.

Another one by Lee, this one captures the escalator up to the club and suite levels, Lee has framed it as an escalator to nowhere, with a pier of the John A. Roebling Bridge across the Ohio River in the background. The escalator can be seen in context in the pano video above.

Couple of Redskins fans in our section, there was no shortage of Redskins jerseys at this game.

Still first quarter and things are already starting to get out of hand.

3:10 left fist quarter, Bengals now up 14-0, Redskins just about to commit their third straight three and out. Dude I love my old Santana Moss jersey as well, it is from 2005, this Clinton Portis jersey cannot be more than four years old. Looks rode hard. Time to get a new one dude.

3:05 left first quarter, Clinton Portis over right guard for two yards, photo by Lee.

My face when Clinton Portis is averaging less than two yards per carry and the Redskins have a fumble and three three and outs on four possessions so far. Photo by Lee.

1:16 left first quarter, Jason Campbell finds Chris Cooley for a four yard gain... on third and eight. Nother punt. Photo by Lee.

12:09 left second quarter, Bengals huddling, second and ten on the Redskins seventeen yard line, photo by Lee...

... and the Redskins preparing to defend on the same play. Photo by Lee.

12:01 left second quarter, two plays later and the Bengals are still stuck on the Redskins seventeen yard line, not a lot of great football happening so far. Photo by Lee.

Two photo sequence of the Shayne Graham's 32 yard field goal to put the Bengals up 17-0 with 11:24 left in the second quarter, photos by Lee.

About this time Lee came back from the bathroom, normally I would not be compelled to tell you about my friend coming back from the potty, however Lee came back with an artifact:

The WhoDey Revolution urinal cake. A brief history:

There were a couple of guys that started a Bengals blog in February 2008, it was called WhoDey Revolution and it had a very simple reason for being: To improve the Cincinnati Bengals football team.

Immediately I felt a kinship with WhoDey Revolution, as Curly R was founded on the exact same principle two years earlier in 2006, to make the Redskins a better football team.

There was a major difference between the two concerns though. While Curly R was geared toward reporting and commentary, the journalistic act of relaying events and placing them in a context of good-for-team or bad-for-team, WhoDey Revolution was principled on demands and action, breaking down team improvement into steps and harassing the team when progress is not obvious.

They began with a manifesto and moved quickly into a series of actions dubbed Project Mayhem, actions intended to show the team a section of its fanbase, fed up with mediocrity and the poor stewardship of owner Mike Brown, was willing to show its defiance directly to the team, force Mike Brown to remember that, while he may own the team, the Bengals actually belong to the fans.

WhoDey Revolution's Project Mayhem actions so far have included reporting Mike Brown to the Bengals Stadium game day Jerk Line, buying a billboard demanding the team hire a real actual general manager and posting it right outside the the team's practice facility, calling for a boycott of all Bengals merchandise and stadium concessions, calling on ticket holders to donate their tickets and stay home on gameday and encouraging fans to carry signs with messages of the Revolution into a road game.

For the Redskins-Bengals game, WhoDey had a special Project Mayhem: Recruit dozens of volunteers to mule in hundreds of urinal cakes with a custom message and place them in the stadium's urinals, thereby forcing male gamegoers to see the message whenever they go pee pee.

The message on these urinal cakes reads 98-196-1 Get Pissed! This is the record of the Bengals since Mike Brown took control of the team in 18 years ago in 1990, though if you read the page on WhoDey Revolution the record reads 98-186-1 (op. cit.).

I reached out to the WhoDey Revolution guys through the secret underground railroad of NFL bloggers and had planned to carry in some cakes, because we were running late I never hooked up with them. No one knew in advance what the gag would be so when Lee came back from the loo in the second quarter with a urinal cake I thought it was brilliant and Lee assured me it was thoroughly washed.

Moving on...

5:32 left second quarter, second and seven from the Cincinnati thirteen yard line, this play went to Clinton Portis up the middle, on the next play Jason Campbell found Santana Moss with a ten yard bullet for a touchdown to put the Redskins on the board, 17-7 Bengals. Photo by Lee.

4:43 left second quarter, as you can see Lee's wife was well on her way while Lee was still ramping up. His most obnoxious had not yet arrived.

Nearing half time, Lee's wife's brother and Lee's wife are engaging in a conversation over me while I bang out another text or tweet on my phone. The game was just not that exciting and lots of people were asking me for updates. Photo by Lee.

Two minutes left second quarter, waiting for the Redskins to come to the line at the Cincinnati 43 yard line. Along the Redskins sideline in the background you can see cornerbacks Fred Smoot and Shawn Springs, both seated, kick returner Rock Cartwright, rookie cornerback Justin Tryon, special teams coach Danny Smith, safety LaRon Landry, also seated, rookies Fred Davis, a tight end, and Devin Thomas, a receiver, once again no Jim Zorn visible. Photo by Lee.

The ensuing play, Jason Campbell, right, is about to hand off to Clinton Portis for nine yards.

Next play, 1:32 left second quarter, second and two from the Bengals 36 yard line, you can get a good look at the GU sticker on receiver Santana Moss' helmet, worn all year by most teams to honor late NFLPA union chief Gene Upshaw, who died suddenly from pancreatic cancer just four months ago, while sitting at home in August he began to feel ill, after some cajoling his wife got him to go to the emergency room. He was diagnosed with the illness right then and there and was dead three days later. While we are moving about our lives thinking the end will never come for us, or if it will that it is still a long way off, think about this: If I publish this Saturday and I get Gene's diagnosis that means I am dead by Tuesday THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A FUCKING MINUTE.

Finishing the play which was Clinton Portis through the middle for five yards.

Me and the WhoDey Revolution urinal cake. Who would think to smuggle in three hundred urinal cakes to a football game just to make a point? Freaking serious football fans, that is who. Photo by Lee.

Halftime mercifully arrived and we took off to check out the stadium and find a beverage.

Wandering the halls.

[IMAGE REDACTED]
Lee taking a picture of himself peeing on an unrescued WhoDey Revolution urinal cake.

We found some really great awful dark beer on the concourse and I felt pressure to have one. Everywhere we wandered, Bengals fans were pleasant if somewhat dispirited, even their team was winning 17-7 at the half. I mean come on, the Bungals were 1-11-1. Photo by Lee.

Lee's wife, Lee's wife's brother and your author outside our section at the end of halftime, photo by Lee.

6:27 left third quarter, Redskins ball, second and goal from the Cincinnati one yard line, fullback Mike Sellers carries it through the middle for the touchdown, as the Washington extra point team comes onto the field, in the foreground Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis tosses the red challenge flag, I try to get a look at the replay on the big board in the opposite end zone, it does not come out on video and I have no idea what happened on the play. This is also when Lee started to go off the rails and he gets his first taste of dealing with a big time NFL blogger.

During the aforementioned challenge review, no football significance to this photo other than there is a fairly elegant looking woman two rows in front of me wearing a houndstooth pattern coat and standing next to a slob in a tattered Redskins jersey.

Still during the challenge review, as the game went on Lee's wife and I began to have discussion on deeper levels, and I swore to hold her confidence, even if she does not remember our talk.

The touchdown was overturned and the play ruled no forward progress, the Redskins were back on third and one from the Cincinnati one yard line...

After giving Mike Sellers, a guy who had all of four carries in thirteen and a half games so far this season, a shot on short and goal and he did not make it, Redskins head coach Jim Zorn elects to RUN THE SAME EXACT PLAY AGAIN, only this time Mike Sellers does not not make it into the end zone, Mike fumbles into the end zone, the ball is recovered by Cincinnati, as you can tell from the jubilant crowd. Jim Zorn elects to challenge the play which is not overturned and the Washington gets two plays from the Cincinnati one yard line and gets nahthing. Lee continues his downward spiral and the kid sitting in front of Lee is obviously self conscious about his giant fur hat, once he realizes I am running video he removes it all cool and tries to play it off.

Me filming that last video, from the look on my face I have not yet realized not only was it not a touchdown, it was a turnover, photo by Lee.

Waiting around on the ultimately unsuccessful Jim Zorn challenge.

Lee's wife's brother seems less than thrilled with Lee, who took this picture, which would not necessarily surprise me at this stage of the game. Lee's wife is gesturing to him while talking to me as if to say, take my brother here for example. I do not recall what it was that he was exemplifying at this moment.

5:20 left third quarter, Bengals ball after the Mike Sellers turnover, second and three from the Cincinnati 27 yard line, Cedric Benson carries the Redskins defensive line for one yard. Photo by Lee.

At this point Lee decides, what the hell there are just not enough photos and videos of Ben in the world, so he goes on a run of me..

... one with beer bottle in hand, sky in background...

... closeup of ongoing Major Talk with Lee's wife...

... one of the better photos of me in a while if you hold the computer back a little further, me best friend is another few feet...

... and going out of my way to make some long, involved and likely unnecessary point.

And this was not the end, two videos at the end of the run, besides my mug, each notable for a different reason:

Continuing to keep the camera on me, at least temporarily, Lee, with the camera in portrait for some reason, captures a moment of my ongoing MT with his wife before losing interest, he quickly finds the Bengals cheerleaders in the north end zone and with audible grunts and mouthbreathing nearly falls over himself trying to zoom in hard on one particular blonde.

This video also gives Lee a convenient opportunity to demonstrate a pretty cool feature of his camera, a Canon PowerShot S5, you can take a snapshot during the video, the video pauses to show the shot, then resumes playing video, and the snapshot is created as a separate still image file.

This is the photo of Bengals cheerleader ass he snapped during the video.

In this video, Lee requests I repeat what at the time was about the only statistic a Redskins fan could hold onto, despite trailing 17-10 in the fourth quarter, Washington still had a more than five minute advantage in time of possession. He snaps an in-video photo of me and his wife right before telling me I can use this for the blog. Which I did.

And this is the rather unfortunate picture he took during that video, if Lee's wife is reading this she needs to remember that Lee gave me explicit permission to post this on the blog and under Ohio law I am compelled to do so.

At this point Lee has completed his transformation.

Three hours was all it took.

At this point he is just haranguing me.

Noted without additional comment.

Giggling to himself.

Showing me a picture of me, that photo is posted above.

So proud of himself.

There was still a game going on, it was looking bad for the Redskins who had been stuck on ten points since halftime.

2:25 left fourth quarter, Bengals kicker Shayne Graham kicking a 45 yard field goal to push Cincinnati to a 20-10 lead. Of note, Jim Zorn finally makes an appearance in the background of an action shot, see back right.

The Redskins got the ball back with just over two minutes left in the game and trailing by ten points, at this point I am ready for the end, another weak emergency hurry up series punctuated by an incomplete on fourth down deep in their own territory. But no! Rock Cartwright takes the kickoff 87 yards from the goal line to the Cincinnati thirteen yard line, at this point a quick score and the Redskins can still recover an onsides kick and make another score, if ever there was a time for two minutes of competent football it was now.

Alas it was not to be, here Clinton Portis takes the handoff with 2:07 left in regulation, the Redskins have no timeouts, for some reason instead of trying to make a quick strike on first down before the two minute warning they run the ball and give up the seven seconds. Photo by Lee.

Two more plays, both incompletes and Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham lines up for a 36 yard field goal, even with the clock stopped and the full time between plays Washington is not able to get the play off and they commit a delay of game penalty. Move it back five yards and Shaun still nails it, now the Redskins are trailing by seven points with just over a minute and a half left in regulation and no timeouts.

And the fans are filing out of the Escalator From Nowhere, pier of the John A. Roebling Bridge in background, photo by Lee.

Last seconds winding down, just taking some end of game photos and footage. Photo by Lee.

Time runs out on the game, Bengals win 20-13 to move to 2-11-1 while the Redskins fall to 7-7 after a 6-2 start. This is footage of the immediate aftermath, including celebration by what remains of the Cincinnati crowd, the prayer circle, players wandering around, equipment crews packing out and a final headshot of me closing out Curly R game coverage.

The aforementioned postgame prayer circle, a little bigger in Cincinnati than in other cities.

Your blogger capturing the video just above.

Then from out of nowhere was a trio of cute local girls, like legitimately awesome cute football chicks, I love women that love football. Note of course that they are posing for a different photographer.

Check out her tail, my bet is someone is going to be pulling that tail tonight.

We left the stands and started to head out of the stadium, there was much reveling and rambunctiousness from the remaining fans, though as previously established, the Bengals fans were polite.

This guy seemed inordinately happy to meet a Redskins fan.

Here he is again, I have no idea why my Redskins jersey is off at this point.

We ran into a cluster of Redskins fans and we began to commiserate, I learned in fairly short order that it was Aaron, Josh and John, the guys behind Harry Hog Football, the Redskins fan podcast, blog and social network. I knew of them and they knew of Curly R so we compared notes and became Hollywood friends.

Redskins blogger summit at Bengals Stadium.

For whatever reason I had my jersey off, I removed my camera bag from its secure place on my belt and set it down on a condiment stand, I was not far from the camera at any time, even when the overjoyed guy was insisting on pictures. As I was getting to know my Redskins fan podcast counterparts I realized it was missing from its condiment stand perch. Immediately a cold shot went through me, not because the camera was missing, for that camera was already three hard years old and bought with a gift card received at an obligatory and uncomfortable going away luncheon at my previous day job, the camera had been good in 2005 and now it was barely serviceable.

No the reason the camera missing caused me distress was of course the pictures on the camera, I had invested two whole days on this trip and was not happy about losing those pictures.

Then one of my new Harry Hog friends spoke up, he had seen it lying there and taken it to the gate guards right behind us for lost and found.

That camera those guys gave you, it's mine. Really, can you describe it?

It's the one on the three game losing streak.

Yep that's a match, here you go.

Harry Hog Football and The Curly R together, four guys that spend way too much time talking about the Redskins.

So we discussed how we could work together, they wanted to get me on the podcast, I wanted to get into more multimedia...

...when suddenly two wild Bengals fans appeared and got into our photo!

We exchanged contact info, or more accurately they gave me a business card, which for some reason after three years I still do not have, and we went on our way, heading back to the lot.

On the way out we passed the DALSUK 1993 Jetta and Boss Hogg VW microbus, bumper visible at top, tailgate, those guys were setting back up for postgame activity with no immediate plans of leaving short of the law making them, this is their Redskins themed serving table.

One for the do it yourselfers out there, a car battery, AC-DC converter and rabbit ears antenna sitting in a Dale Earnhardt camping chair, all connected to a seventeen inch flat panel TV showing the Steelers at Ravens game, 3:44 left first quarter with the game tied at zero all, 93 Jetta at right.

Wrapping it up in the lot and we are out.

As easy as it was in, it was easy out, we headed back across into Kentucky across the Roebling Bridge, I got these last three looks at Bengals Stadium as we were heading out:

It really is a good looking stadium, the Redskins would be so lucky to have one like it, and the location cannot be beat, situated right in downtown Cincinnati and walking distance from the nearest suburb in Kentucky.

So the game was over and we were leaving, but we were not ready to call it a day on our game experience, we tuned back in to the local game coverage radio station to see what they were saying..

The official EAT IT REDSKINS segment, all about how awful the Redskins have been the last four or five weeks (actually it was three losses in a row, not four or five), it was not actually 88 yards passing for Jason Campbell but rather 88 yards RUSHING for Cedric Benson. And a musical question about what are they saying about Jim Zorn, Clinton Portis and Jason Campbell back in Washington, the answer to all of it is, Not Good.

Continuing with our postgame ride through Covington...

Continuing the way out of the stadium in Covington Kentucky, we ponder the strength of the smell of the urinal cake I took from the stadium, it was really stinking up the car. We then stop for some snacks.

And that is the photo and video journal of my trip. But we were not done, the trip continued. NOT PICTURED:

Our trip to the Kentucky bar where we got Kentucky size bourbon pours, the WhoDey urinal cake was so smelly that I was certainly not going to bring it in to the bar, and Lee would not let me leave it in the car so I put it on top of the front passenger side tire in the wheel well, I had forgotten about it when we came out, I did not retrieve it and it was left in the parking lot. We then went on to one of Lee's favorite upscale Chinese places to get some takeout, while we were waiting we sat at the bar and drank sake after sake, as it turns out we sort of forgot to order so we had to wait a little longer for the food and so had some more sakes, at some point Lee disappeared, at first we thought he was in the bathroom, when he did not reappear for some time we went looking for him, finally I found him in the car, which was by the way was still in the ten minute takeout spot an hour later, Lee was quote resting unquote in the back, he had reached his exit point, his homing beacon went off and he disappeared. I went back in to get the food and wrangle Lee's wife and Lee's wife's brother, the food was on the bar, we finished our sakes and left. Everyone was pretty well in the bag, it was a good thing we had a designated driver, as we were pulling out of the spot the manager lady came rushing out with a bill yelling You no pay! You no pay! We looked around at each other, well the awake ones that is, I thought Lee's wife had paid, she thought Lee or I had paid, it was an innocent mistake. Lee's wife gave me her credit card, I went back in and paid and came back to find Lee puking into the back of his own van, he assured me he was feeling a little under the weather, after some drama about losing Lee's wife's credit card we got back on the road and made it back to Union and feasted on our Chinese. Water up, lay down, go sleep.

Next day, Monday, I got up, more fresh coffee and country breakfast, Lee drove me to the airport, I got on the plane and quivered for two hours in my seat, arrive home, go sleep.

A great two days, thanks to Lee and Lee's wife for a great time, for great hospitality, for the tickets, I am already looking forward to the 2012 season when the Redskins and Bengals do this again.

All photos and video by me or my gracious host and good friend Lee.

Game Journal Prelude: Redskins at Bengals, 12/14/2008

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:30:00 +0000

Several years ago a good friend living in Charlottesville Virginia, home to our alma mater the University of Virginia, pulled up stakes and moved to Cincinnati Ohio to follow an opportunity... to stay married. We had been kicking around the idea of my coming out there for a football or baseball game for some time, and when the NFC Beast came round to play the AFC North in the 2008 season and the Redskins versus Bengals game was scheduled in Cincinnati, Lee challenged me to come out. I squared everything away and bought a ticket, coming out a day early.

Lee had big plans for our two day adventure, this is my journal entry for day one, a sunny bourbon soaked December day in Cincinnati.

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Lee met me at the airport, everything I had was in a carry on, I hate checking luggage when I travel solo, he had two fine bottles of Willett bourbon with which to greet me, both of exceptional character, neither of which can be bought legally in Virginia and both of which would be outside my price range. We toasted our adventure and headed back into Cincinnati.

The plan for that day originally had been for Lee and me and his many brothers in law, all of whom were local, to meet up at a local bar, knock a few back and then head into downtown Cincinnati to do some Christmas shopping for the womens in our lives. As it turned out, this plan did not materialize so Lee and I headed out to one of his favored drinking establishments to get things started.

Willie's Sports Cafe in Covington Kentucky, as it turns out, Lee and his brood actually live in the Kentucky section of Cincinnati.

From the moment I entered I knew it was pure gold for the blog.

Our lovely hostess, I cannot remember her name, she seemed somewhat intrigued by the idea that she and the decor were photodocument worthy. Note the early presence of Bengals flair.

The obligatory Bud Light team themed banner hanging everywhere.

Need to cut his whiskey with something a little less potent, Lee orders a Guinness, I loved these pint glasses and thought very seriously about stealing and/or buying and/or stealing one.

At this point Lee had to take a work call, so I grabbed my camera and left the bar area to check out the rest of the place.

Up on the stage, looks like nights when there is not a Nickelback cover band or open mic nite they set this thing up and toss footballs through it. The more time I spend with midwesterners the more I realize every social activity is derived from Cornhole.

Leaving the bar and stage area and passing into the dining room, there were many jerseys and other items of memorabilia on the wall. From left to right in this picture we see former Bengals punter Lee Johnson's number eleven jersey, Lee punted in the NFL until he was forty years old, eleven of those seasons in Cincinnati from 1988 to 1998, the best years of his career, Lee is best known for expressing frustrations with Bengals management during the 1998 season, ten years after he and Cincinnati went to Super Bowl 23 where he just happened to boot the longest punt in NFL history, saying that if he were a Bengals fan he would sell his season tickets. He was cut the next day. Little has changed here in ten years.

Next is Tim Krumrie's number 69 jersey, Tim played nose tackle for the Bengals for twelve seasons from 1983 to 1994, also helping them get to Super Bowl 23. He is beloved in Cincinnati as a former player and is best known outside Cincinnati for breaking his left leg in three places below the knee in that Super Bowl, he initially refused to leave the game, wanting to stay in the locker room and watch it on TV, only agreeing to leave when the medical staff told him he could be slipping into shock. The put a fifteen inch steel rod into that leg, he was back for next training camp and played another six seasons with a metal rod in him, leading the Bengals defense in tackles as late as 1992. That guy is a football player.

Continuing the theme for this section of the wall, the last two jerseys are tailback James Brooks' number 21, James played for the Bengals from 1984 to 1991, making the Pro Bowl four times in that eight year period, he also played in Super Bowl 23, he is still at or near the top in several Bengals franchise statistical categories.

Here we see Elbert L. aka Ickey Woods' number thirty Bengals jersey, Ickey played tailback in Cincinnati for four seasons from 1988 to 1991 and was the Bengals leading rusher in Super Bowl 23. Two games into the 1989 season Ickey tore his left anterior cruciate ligament, it cost him more than a year of rehabilitation and by the time he came back the team had moved on to Harold Green in 1990. He hurt his right knee in 1991 preseason and was not a factor again for the team. Ickey is a seminal figure in NFL history, his Ickey Ickey Shuffle touchdown dance was a national story, coming as it did in the first officiating crackdown on celebrations, if Ickey did not coin the term then he was at minimum the first person I ever heard refer to the NFL as the No Fun League. The elevation of the Ickey Ickey Shuffle to a pop culture story exposed football to many young people that otherwise would not have been interested.

Moving on, here we see a Jim Brown number 32 Cleveland Browns jersey, Jim Brown of course is that Jim Brown, on of the greatest players ever to strap it on for the NFL.

But wait, why would a jersey honoring a Bengals Division rival's greatest player ever adorn the walls of a bar in Cincinnati?

Because of Paul Brown. Paul Brown famously coached the Cleveland Browns, which had been named after Paul Brown, for their first seventeen seasons until 1962, in that time Cleveland won seven league championships, four in the old All-America Football Conference and three in the NFL after the two leagues merged. Six years after Paul was dismissed by new Browns owner Art Modell in 1962, Paul reentered the NFL in 1968 as owner and coach of the brand new Cincinnati Bengals. Paul would coach in Cincinnati for eight seasons until 1975, Paul died in 1991 at age 82.

So what is the connection to Jim Brown? Jim's career was fully encapsulated by Paul's tenure as coach in Cleveland, Jim and Paul are inextricably linked by football history. You cannot talk about the Bengals without talking about the Browns and you cannot talk about the Browns without talking about Jim Brown.

This one I needed some help to figure out, this is Roger Staubach's Purcell Catholic High School number twelve football jersey, that same Roger Staubach that played for the US Naval Academy then the Dallas Cowboys for eleven seasons. Roger was born and raised in Cincinnati and still honors his upbringing by campaigning for Republicans. Roger's name does not come back up in this story.

Continuing around from the bar to the dining room, I came upon a nook with glass display shelves, the Willie's Sports Cafe Trophy Room

In this video we see a number of interesting bits of Cincinnati sports history and memorabilia:

A helmet from the Cincinnati Marshals of the defunct National Indoor Football League, not of the also defunct Arena Football League as a helpful off camera guest indicates;

A football with the logo of the Cincinnati Jungle Kats of the also defunct Arena Football League 2 aka af2, this team played one season in 2007 and was majority owned by former Seahawks, Ravens, Raiders, Bills, Bengals and Broncos defensive tackle Sam Adams and former Mariners, Reds and White Sox right fielder Ken Griffey Junior;

University of Louisville and University of Kentucky themed basketballs;

An ornate arrangement of Hudepohl beer cans honoring a legacy of Cincinnati's heritage of German brewers, Hudepohl Brewing Company was in continuous operation from 1885 through 1987 catering to regional tastes in beer, ownership of the facilities, labels and recipes bounced around for years until recently when a group of local investors banded together to purchase the intellectual property and bring it back. For those that have heard the cry WhoDey from Cincinnati heads, including the famed WhoDey Revolution blog, this term is derived from the nickname given to the Hudepohl beers, Hudys. Although the Hudepohl brewery is long closed, artifacts remain in the Cincinnati skyline, from the parking lot of Willie's Sports Cafe you can look north across the river and see smokestacks at the old brewery site clearly emblazoned with the Hudepohl name, Google Street View also captures them from Gest Street, the location of the defunct brewery here.

Most interesting: Among the tons of Cincinnati Reds baseball schwag, not a single Pete Rose action figure, bobble head, news clipping or photograph. I thought Cincinnati was the last redoubt of pure adoration for Charley Hustle?

Back in the bar, Lee was off his work call, we had another pull and decided to head out, I grabbed a shot of the Bengals schedule card hanging over the hostess station. There we are at bottom right, Washington.

Now meet my friend Lee, framed by the aging infrastructure of the Cincinnati and the city behind. This photo is looking northeast.

We left Willie's, Lee executed a cute move with his all wheel drive Subaru and we headed about Covington Kentucky on a leisurely ride toward Cincinnati. Being that I am a novice to the area and quite excited once again to be able to engage my friend Lee in witty repartee, I ran video as we discussed our surroundings, with a great background of blues music on the radio.

Of note in this video:

Covington has drive thru liquor stores;

Even Covington's Kentucky neighbor Newport, home to the Newport Aquarium we would visit as a family on a Kentucky road trip in summer 2009, looks down on Covington;

There are horse drawn carriages on the streets of Covington;

The Roebling Bridge spans the Ohio River between Covington Kentucky and Cincinnati Ohio, this bridge was designed by the most famous American bridge maker in history, John A. Roebling, construction began on this span in 1856, it is truly a beautiful architectural specimen, John Roebling is perhaps most famous for designing the Brooklyn Bridge though he died before principal construction had begun, demonstrating once again that New Yorkers cannot let anyone famous get near their city without claiming all their works were inspired by and owing to the greater glory of New York. Seriously, the dude was not paying attention one day, got run over by a ferry boat and died 24 days of infection before brick one was laid but still 150 years later New York is all YEAH HE DESIGNED THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE SO WHAT IF HE MADE YOUR STUPID BRIDGE FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIER HE WAS THINKING ABOUT OUR BRIDGE WHEN HE DID IT.

Paul Brown Stadium is awesome. For want of offers or otherwise, the Brown family has refused to sell naming rights to this stadium.

Bengals ticket prices were plummeting at the time of this game, when the Bengals happened to be 1-11-1.

I asked Lee about the lack of Pete Rose memorabilia at Willie's, Lee assured me that the Reds in general are more beloved than the Bengals, but that the hit ticket in town at this time was the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, who were heading to their first ever BCS Bowl. Note that Lee dodged the question of Pete Rose's relevance.

After we got out of the traffic jam caused by the latest festival, parade or whatever relentlessly family friendly bullshit was happening downtown, we decided to do a little shopping, so we went to the mall at Carew Tower, located right in the heart of downtown Cincinnati.

I was dying DYING to see what there was to love about Cincinnati...

Ok so this, a t-shirt from the fictional radio station from the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati which ran from 1978 to 1982, I remember watching it in prime time as a kid, then became a giant of syndication before being briefly and regrettably revived as The New WKRP in Cinncinati from 1991 to 1993. In the fullness of hindsight the best part of WKRP was its Mad Magazine satire in issue 218, October 1980, it was called WKRAP in Cincinnati:

Image from here via here.

Moving on...

Cornhole reference number two. The shirt says, Cornhole: Not nearly as gay as it sounds. Nice.

Continuing we get over to the Bengals section, here is a Carson Palmer doll that gives hugs...

... and the obligatory Reserved Parking Bengals Fans Only sign.

Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati are locked in an eternal deathstruggle for the hearts and minds of Cincinnati college basketball lovers, that is not the reason I took this photo, I took this photo because the Xavier University Musketeers logo is a blatant ripoff of the University of Virginia Cavaliers logo:

Images from here and here.

We decided to head to the Macy's across the street perhaps actually to do some shopping since all we were really doing was wandering the Carew Tower mall and snickering. As we passed the food court I caught on camera what appears to be the mall Santas' mandatory union break.

Four Santas conspiring to corner the market for Webkinz.

Continuing on through the tunnel to Macy's, we passed through that portal, Lee brought me up where I could get a good look at the diorama pictured, Lee assured me there was some historical significance to the model and or the display window, in retrospect I think he may have been bullshitting me.

We made our way into Macy's, which like everything else in Cincinnati according to Lee, has a story. Macy's corporate headquarters, or at least one of them, is located in Cincinnati, making the Cincinnati store a flagship. Federated Department Stores, owner of Bloomingdale's and a number of other regional stored and chains, merged with Macy's Inc. in 1994, and the resulting company set up shop, called Macy's Inc., set up shop in the old Federated offices in Cincinnati.

There was quite a line of kids waiting to sit in Santa's lap at the Macy's, I could not resist taking a picture of the guy in the bib overalls and Bengals cap talking to Santa. About sums up Cincinnati so far.

Despite the desperate economic situation nationwide there was plenty of commerce happening at the Cincinnati Macy's. I bought the wife a sweater.

From the Macy's we went back to Carew Tower and stopped for a drink at a bar called the Palm Court, a very sophisticated looking place with high ceilings and wood panels and chandeliers all in Cincinnati's old style art deco, I did not get the camera out for so I grabbed this one off Flickr so you can see it:

Photo from here. Top notch professional bartender service and a great selection of bourbon, the only disappointing thing about it was the overwhelming presence of the fanny pack and white sneakers crowd, people sitting at the bar tables to relax and drink water and not tip and kids complaining about no mac and cheese on the menu and parents asking if there was a Chili's nearby.

From the Palm Court we left on a leisurely ride back to Lee's house, or as they call it in Union Kentucky, the prop'ty. We saw some more of the sights of downtown Cincinnati...

Cannot recall why I took this picture of the partially obscured PNC Bank bulding, maybe Lee used to work in that building? Maybe I was just trying to get a sense for how old all the big buildings appear to be in Cincinnati.

Coming out of the parking garage, that is the Macy's on left and Carew Tower on right, downtown Cincinnati kids.

This is an open air ice rink right downtown, it is sponsored by US Bank and is free to the public, there is no charge for ice time. Lee tells me that it is so popular and so crowded that no one can ever get on the ice so no one goes there anymore.

A shot of the Proctor & Gamble worldwide headquarters, P&G has been around and in Cincinnati since 1837 and makes and sells consumer products like CoverGirl cosmetics and Crest toothpaste. A couple of grad school mates of mine went into the P&G grinder about a decade ago and we never heard from the again. Making margin on commodity items is a bitch.

I think this was shot just to give some idea of the weekend weather, overcast and bright, cold but not at all gloomy.

Another picture of the sky, the weather for the game was predicted to be very nice all things considered.

We had one more stop to make before heading out to the prop'ty, and that was for bourbon. Lee is the original bourbon drinker in my life, taking two cubes and two fingers while I was still proudly belching Budweiser and calling it good, since his move to Kentucky, the cradle of bourbon, he had developed quite a palate for the stuff and the place with the widest selection in the area is... The Party Source.

I shit you not, there is more bourbon in this place than in any one place in Virginia, the locked cabinet of one hundred dollar plus bourbons alone is larger than the entire bourbon section of my local ABC Store. Look at the smug motherfucker, that is the look that says yeah that's right, shit tons of bourbon right here, welcome to my neighborhood.

So we bought a bunch of whiskey and headed back to Lee's prop'ty in Union. Once we got there I reacquainted with Lee's family, we ate a great home cooked meal, afterwards Lee took me on a tour of the prop'ty, out in the barn, yes he has a real live barn, he showed me his homemade Obama '08 HOPE sign.

This puppy was out in the yard for the whole campaign, Lee tells me there was not a lot of Obama action happening in Union.

Last picture of the night, one of Lee's old Farmall tractors, he actually fixes these things up and tools around the prop'ty on them.

We finished the tour of the property, headed back in, we had another couple of whiskeys, Lee then wen off to bed, I fired up the laptop and finished the preview for tomorrow's game, then sat on the deck for a while and took in the quiet of Union Kentucky, very different than life in the nation's capital.

Not pictured: The rest of the property tour, including the chicken coop, the garden and the bonfire, then bunking down in the guest room slash craft workshop where there were enough glass tubes, beads and rods that I was looking for the furnace.

Tomorrow: The game.

All photos and video by me unless otherwise credited.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:57:00 +0000

Ohai guise. Curly R is calling Super Bowl 45 for the Packers over the Steelers by 27-24. Enjoy the game, this is a Super Bowl open thread.

Why Does this Keep Happening?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:30:00 +0000

Is he stupid? Or just mean.

Every so often in Washington we hear about how the Redskins and owner Dan Snyder are lashing out at the media, or creating their own internet to give unfiltered or grinding axes by firing people or lamenting media coverage of the team by people that just don't know shit. Hell, even I have gotten email from the team challenging my coverage.

There is another spasm, and it is a good one and happening right now.

Background: Back in November 2010, just two and a half months ago, The Washington City Paper's excellent Dave McKenna, something of a bete noire to Dan Snyder, see here, here, here, here, here and here if you still are not sure, published an enterprise piece called The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder, complete with an embellished photo of the owner with a unibrow, drooping mustache, pointed goatse and best of all, devil horns.

It is long and mad and beautiful, go and read it (op. cit.) right now before you go any further.

Present Day: Dan Snyder's legal apparatus, featuring the onmipresent David Donovan and newcomer Hollywood attorney Patty Glaser, have threatened legal action against the City Paper and or its ownership hierarchy, it did not go unnoticed by me or Huffington Post's / DCist's Jason Linkins that the lawyer letters did not go to the writer, nor to the editor, nor to the publisher of the City Paper, nor to the holding company that owns the paper, but in fact went to the hedge fund that owns the company that owns the paper.

Not only is Dan Snyder threatening legal action, he wants the City Paper to fire the piece's author, Dave McKenna (op. cit.), though I cannot find that reference in the legal letters being exchanged amongst the parties (links below).

Today Amy Austin, Publisher of The Washington City Paper, posted an open letter to readers summarizing the story, the paper is standing by the reporting and does not properly acknowledge Dan Snyder's arguments because, frankly, the paper has not formally heard of them, what with the legalese being directed at organizations above the paper that have no direct involvement in the production or vetting of the paper's content. As of this moment, Dan Snyder nor his representatives have accepted the paper's invitation to write a response or meet with editors.

What It All Means: Let me give you the tl;dr up front here for a change: DO NOT PICK A FIGHT WITH THE GUY THAT OWNS THE INK BARREL.

I really do not understand what the possible benefit could be from this action by the team. Why spend so much time and energy to squash one ant, or one anthill? Surely Dan Snyder understands it is not Dave McKenna per se, it is the suckitude. As long as the Redskins keep looking incompetent year after year all those Dan Snyder missteps and fuckups cannot get into the rearview and we can never really joke about those bad old days, a notion Dave himself motivates more eloquently in the introduction to his November piece (op. cit.)

And reading through the first of the three legal exchanges posted in their entirety on Amy's post today (op. cit.) reveals a very interesting tidbit: Dan Snyder is essentially accusing Atalaya Capital Management, the hedge fund that owns the holding company that owns the City Paper, of manipulating coverage of the Redskins to harm Dan Snyder's Red Zone Capital Equity investment operation, which competes against Atalaya in restaurant and media operations.

Returning to the content of Dave McKenna's piece, it is pretty damning, most of it recognizable by me, some I had never heard of, like Dan Snyder leaving cartons of vanilla ice cream to melt in former defensive coordinator Mike Nolan's office to protest his schemes, and all of it backed by links.

Kevin Ewoldt at Hogs Haven, a Redskins insider since he landed top level interviews during the ticket fiasco of 2009, posts up the crux of the biscuit, that while Dan Snyder may pretend to be mad about contrived attacks on his cancer survivor wife and blatantly laughable charges of Antisemitism in the devil image of the owner, the main issue appears to be a reference to a legal settlement by Snyder Communications for large scale forgery of customer signatures, thousands of them, effectively switching the victim's telephone provider without his or her knowledge, the settlement was in the millions.

Kevin actually spoke to Redskins attack dog David Donovan, who pointed out that Dan Snyder had sold Snyder Communications more than a year before the settlement, leading Kevin to wonder if a rewording or fact check on that one line of the piece and all this might have been avoided.

There is some question and some wiggle room here, the Hogs Haven provided link to the legal settlement dates it in April 2001, and does not mention Dan Snyder by name, so every reference in this legal news brief to quote Snyder unquote is referring to Snyder Communications, not Dan Snyder, and this would include payments, they do not appear from the wording of the piece to be coming from Dan Snyder personally.

The other Hogs Haven provided link is to the sale of Snyder Communications to a French firm, dated February 2000, yep, fourteen months before the settlement. Of note in this piece is a reference to Dan Snyder's planned departure... after the transition to new ownership. That date is unknown by me.

Therefore it does leave some question as to Dan's involvement with the operation while the thousands of slamming offenses were taking place, it is established in law that leaving a concern does not absolve you of malfeasance undertaken prior to your departure, and the fourteen months between the sale of Snyder Communications and the legal settlement minus the transition time before Dan actually left, well he may have been there and still had an executive position when the bad stuff was happening. That would make him a party to the case.

If so, that would make David Donovan's statements to Kevin Ewoldt on the matter misleading at best and inaccurate at worst. The only way to know is to know exactly when the transgressions in the lawsuit occurred and when Dan Snyder left the company, something we likely will only find out if it goes to court.

Which it will not.

And The Washington City Paper will not fire Dave McKenna.

As expensive as the Dan Snyder legal machine want to position litigation to be, the courts do not look favorably upon free speech cases replete with factual evidence to the public figure subject's incompetence, simply because the subject got all butthurt when he read it.

Dan, stop attacking the media, stop trying to build your own media fortress, just run the frigging team and give us a winner on the field. All the attacking will stop if the team wins, just look at the trainwreck that was Jack Kent Cooke's family and no one gave a shit. Just give us a winner and it all goes away.

Dan Snyder: Getty Images from here.

Sheep Go to Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Goats go to Cleveland

Someone had to go in Baltimore, after the Ravens defense gave up a long drive and score to seal the Steelers win over the Ravens in the AFC Division playoff round, after receivers Derrick Mason and TJ Housmandzadeh both dropped passes in the final moments, Ravens team leadership huddled up and... decided to fire the quarterbacks coach.

That would of course mean former Redskins head coach Jim Zorn is once again out of a job.

As the firing became news over the past two days there have been two distinctly different threads on why it had to happen, both originating from the Baltimore Sun's Ravens Insider blog. One thread says they were unhappy with coach Zorn's self-admittedly unorthodox teaching methods.

And it is true, coach Zorn approaches the job of coaching quarterbacks truly from the inside, as a former NFL QB that achieved a measure of success under difficult circumstances in Seattle, coach Zorn is projecting himself and his experience onto his students, there is very little out of the Standard Coaching Manual in coach Zorn's approach. Think about it:

The slip and slide (with video), the pad drill (photo), flying yoga balls, get smaller in the pocket not larger, slow down time, if you do not buy into coach Zorn's methods he probably seems pretty corny.

Now look at his success in Washington. In 2007, Jason Campbell's third pro season, his first full season as Redskins starting quarterback and his second year with Bill Lazor as quarterbacks coach, Jason threw eleven interceptions and fumbled thirteen times in thirteen starts, twelve full games. Jason was pretty widely considered at that point a questionable decision maker in the pocket, toss in ball security problems and you have a recipe for a short term NFL starter.

Jim Zorn arrives in 2008 after a long and drawn out selection process, and amidst the optimism of a 6-2 start is another bit of good news: Jason Campbell has shown remarkable improvement as a quarterback in just one year. Take a look at a couple of things from Jason's final 2008 numbers:

No interceptions in the first six games, a 2008 total of six in sixteen games, Jason cut his per game rate of interceptions from 0.9 in 2007 to 0.4 in 2008, a year over year drop of 55%.

Seven fumbles in sixteen games, down from thirteen in thirteen starts, a per game rate drop from 1.0 per game to 0.4 per game, nearly a 60% drop.

I did at the time and still do attribute this improvement directly to the tutelage of Jim Zorn, professional development from which Oakland is now benefiting, with their perennial commitment to a downfield passing game, Jason Campbell will be a good fit there.

Now let us look at coach Zorn's time with Baltimore. In 2009 Joe Flacco was in his second year and already a two time playoff quarterback, and while I will argue Joe benefited from Jim Zorn's coaching, we can agree Joe maybe had less headroom for improvement. In 2010 Joe continued his progression as a professional, his passer rating went up along with his touchdown passes, his interceptions went down and he only fumbled once more than in all of 2009.

Was this all due to Jim Zorn? Not necessarily, maybe not even likely, just looking at it though, at minimum coach Zorn held serve and did not allow his pupil to regress, and at best he contributed materially to Joe Flacco's maturity.

You have to ask yourself, does it matter what are the methods if the Sunday finished product sells?

The other thread in the firings story is that the Raven organization, presumably specifically head coach John Harbaugh, was worried about coach Zorn being or becoming quote insubordinate unquote. Insubordination of course is a serious accusation, it means the person in question cannot or will not follow orders or has his own agenda at the expense of the team's or team leadership. Not a team player is the kind of thing you say about someone when you to damage their standing in their profession as they head out the door.

Here in Washington, Jim Zorn was anything but insubordinate. In fact he went much too far in order to keep his job and please his bosses: Acquiesce to consultants, relinquish playcalling authority, basically submit to all ownership demands because they brought a lawyer into the room and said you have to.

As Tony Almeida pointed out last night, the philosophy and insubordination issues may well be one and the same, one story creating team cover for the other. John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron may have cornered coach Zorn and said basically, come on dude, get with the program, we do not want to be known as the team that throws yoga balls around and calls it practice.

The coalescing conventional wisdom in all this appears to be that offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, himself a former Redskins quarterbacks coach under Norval Turner, and quarterback coach Jim Zorn were not compatible, perhaps it is a personality matter, perhaps it is a legitimate
difference of philosophy, Cam comes from the Don Coryell slash Joe Gibbs slash Norval Turner coaching tree while Jim Zorn is straight Bill Walsh slash George Seifert slash Mike Holmgren west coast offense.

Whatever it was, the end result is Cam Cameron has more authority over the Ravens offense and Jim Zorn is out of a job.

And Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not happy about it. According to the Baltimore Sun, Joe met with owner Steve Bisciotti and coach Harbaugh and advocated for Jim Zorn, lauding his teacher for what coach Zorn had done to help Joe with his game, and left the meeting thinking the team would retain Jim Zorn next season.

They did not and have now opened a legitimate rift in the team, Joe wondering aloud if the starting quarterback's opinion matters for anything. I guess it is a good thing for the Ravens that this happened in January and not July, still plenty of time for it to blow over, and Joe Flacco is a professional.

As for Jim Zorn, stories are already emerging that he will wind up as Pat Shurmur's offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach in Cleveland, reuniting Jim Zorn with Mike Holmgren, the man that passed him over as Seahawks coach of the future in favor of Jim Mora, who by the way was fired after one season.

Good luck on your next endeavor coach Zorn, I wish things had turned out differently for you in Washington.

Jim Zorn: AP Photo from here.

Championship Games Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Your Super Bowl teams are playing today, we just don't know which

The last epic football Sunday of the year, yeah the Super Bowl is cool, teams fight harder in these games than the big day, hold onto your hats and pour a drink, it's Championship Sunday!

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, 3:00pm ET, FOX

Consensus point spread: Bears plus 3.5
Curly R spread pick: Packers
Curly R straight up pick: Packers

Although this may not be the better game, it is the one to which I am more looking forward, the Packers have turned out to be a scrappy bunch of winners and at this point I cannot bet against them. The Bears are no slouches though, I just think the Packers have come to Chicago to win while the Bears are here to play a game. Bonus points for this game featuring the biggest poseur quarterback and the biggest wanker quarterback left in the playoffs. Double bonus points for the Division Championship rematch. Triple bonus points for both teams losing to the Redskins this year (oh I know you just dint).

New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers, 6:30pm ET, CBS

Consensus point spread: Steelers minus four
Curly R spread pick: Jets
Curly R straight up pick: Steelers

This is the better game, the Jets have an historic head of steam here and despite all the naysaying, my god I am so tired of hearing Tim Ryan attack any Moving the Chains callers that evince an appreciation of the competitive fire from which the Jets' trash talk comes, I love the cockiness. You talk shit, you go back it up and if you cannot, then you shrug and say I lost, see you next year. New York may be the better team here this week, the Steelers find ways to win, do not bet against them at home. Take a drink every time Jim Nantz or Phil Simms mentions Ben Roethlisberger's season opening suspension, and finish your drink if they mention the allegation was sexual assault.

The wife and I are heading over to watch the early game with friends, a married couple, they are united in puerile mutual frat love for the University of Georgia Bulldogs, but on the pro gridiron she roots straight Green Bay and he loves Da Bears. Indeed, marital vows will be tested today.

This is the Championship gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Sunday Division Playoffs Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Wouldn't it be hilarious if...

Two more football games today, in the traditional playoff timeslots, another great day of NFL playoffs.

Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears, 1:00 pm ET, FOX

Consensus point spread: Bears minus ten
Curly R spread pick: Seahawks
Curly R straight up pick: Bears

The Bears have really come together as a team since the bad old days when the Redskins beat them on four DeAngelo Hall interceptions of Jay Cutler, in fact since that October game leading into the Chicago bye, the Bears only lost twice, once to the unstoppable Patriots and in the season closer against the Packers when Chicago's playoff seed was set and the team had nothing to play for. As for Seattle, the story comes down to this: All the football trolls of the world like me are desperately hoping to see a 9-9 team host the NFC Championship just to piss off those butthurt over a losing team getting into the playoffs.

New York Jets at New England Patriots, 4:30 pm ET, CBS

Consensus point spread: Patriots minus 9.5
Curly R spread pick: Patriots
Curly R straight up pick: Patriots

This is the heavyweight match of the weekend, and another Divisional playoff rubber match to boot. Jets players have been running their mouths, emulating head coach Rex Ryan, make no mistake I love the Jets' devil may care attitude when it comes to giving bulletin board material to the other team, the game would be much more enjoyable for fans if the players would talk a little more trash. The problem with this strategy is the Patriots are assassins and assassins cannot be reasoned with, cannot be intimidated and take no prisoners. I expect this game to look more like the Patriots 45-3 blowout from December than the Jets 28-14 September win.

This is a playoff gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Saturday Division Playoffs Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 18:30:00 +0000

Grudge match

Best football weekend of the year here kids, time to wallow.

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers, 4:30 pm ET, CBS

Consensus point spread: Steelers minus three
Curly R spread pick: Ravens
Curly R straight up pick: Ravens

Two teams that flat just do not get along, I love to see Division matchups in the playoffs, this is the third time these teams have met this year, with the road team winning each game. The Steelers, who many thought would be dead out of the gate missing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the first quarter of the season on a suspension, look more like they do now than they did before, that receiver Mike Wallace would look pretty good in burgundy and gold. I just think Baltimore is peaking now and with Ray Rice and that defense Baltimore will overwhelm Pittsburgh.

Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons, 8:00 pm ET, FOX

Consensus point spread: Falcons minus one
Curly R spread pick: Packers
Curly R straight up pick: Packers

Time to put my pretend money where my real mouth is, I have seen the Packers play a lot this year and I have not seen the Falcons so much. The Packers are simply a team that is in every game, I heard a stat on Sirius NFL Radio this week, I have not confirmed it but it sounds plausible, the Packers have never been down in a game this season by more than seven points? Wow, even if that is not a real stat it sounds like these Packers, they are not a dominating team, they are simply well put together. As far as Atlanta goes, surprise me guise.

This is a playoff gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Sunday Wildcard Playoffs Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Road trip!

Two great games last night, two more good ones today, in the traditional NFL playoff timeslots, belly up and let's watch some football!

Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs, 1:00 pm ET, CBS

Consensus point spread: Chiefs plus three
Curly R spread pick: Ravens
Curly R straight up pick: Ravens

The Ravens are a serious Super Bowl contender, maybe the team with the best chance of getting past the Patriots, Todd Haley had his one year turnaround in Kansas City, driven entirely be bringing in Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, two guys that are much more football smarter than Todd, with Charlie's inexplicable departure to the University of Florida the Chiefs will sink back to a more comfortable 6-10 level, I think Baltimore wins this one in a walkover.

Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles, 4:30 pm ET, FOX

Consensus point spread: Eagles minus 2.5
Curly R spread pick: Packers
Curly R straight up pick: Packers

Thanks to my game partner lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, I will be attending this game in Philadelphia, as I write this he awaits me downstairs so we can hit the road. I will pick up the thread from Tim Ryan and pat Kirwan on Sirius NFL Radio Moving the Chains from Friday, I think the Packers are the more complete team, but if I am wrong on any game this weekend, it is this one. Oh, this is not my first Packers-Eagles playoff game, I was also at 4th and 26 in 2004.

This is a playoff gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Saturday Wildcard Playoffs Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The good, the ugly and the bad

The playoffs are here kids, we got an afternoon tilt and an evening affair, pour a drink(s) and let's watch some football.

New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks, 4:30 pm ET, NBC

Consensus point spread: Seahawks plus ten
Curly R spread pick: Seahawks
Curly R straight up pick: Saints

The defending Super Bowl champion Saints must travel to play the first ever 7-9 playoff team, the Seahawks who are in head coach ~~Jim~~ Pete Carroll's first year, boy that guy hightailed it out of Southern Cal while the getting was good didn't he? For those butthurt football elitists that are arguing the playoff team with the better record should always host the game, stop and use your idiot brain, the current system IS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO REWARD TEAMS FOR WINNING THE DIVISION. If you want to see the quote better unquote team host the game, then just do away with Divisions and let the teams all just compete as a Conference.

New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts, 8:00 pm ET, NBC

Consensus point spread: Colts minus 2.5
Curly R spread pick: Colts
Curly R straight up pick: Colts

I have seen the magical Peyton Manning this season, as in the game he played against the Redskins, and I have seen the human Peyton, as in the game he played against the Eagles. I think we will see the magical Peyton tomorrow. I love New York coach Rex Ryan's enthusiasm and bravado and how he seems to capture the essence of the Jets, meaning when he finally leaves town it will be in disgrace.

This is a playoff gameday open thread.

Composite image by me, NFL logos from here.

Game 16: Redskins (6-9) vs. Giants (9-6)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

vs.

My Take in 60 Words or Less: All that is left is spoiling. So go do it. I'm going to the Eagles-Cowboys game. /2010season

You Stay Classy Brandon Lloyd

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Back at you dude

Thanks to lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery for the tip: As current Broncos and former Redskins receiver Brandon Lloyd heads off to the Pro Bowl, his team's lone representative, he has a message for his three old clubs, the 49ers, Redskins and Bears:

Fuck you.

Gee who could ever have seen that coming.

Brandon Lloyd: Getty Images from here.

Game 15: Redskins (5-9) at Jaguars (8-6)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 17:30:00 +0000

at

May Take in 60 Words or Less: The notion that Donovan McNabb's agent could go on the attack and not be representing his client is total bullshit. Donovan is simply trying to avoid confrontation so he lied to Kyle Shanahan. Simple as that.

NFL helmets from here.

Season's Greetings from The Curly R

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 19:00:00 +0000

From all of us at The Curly R, best wishes for this holiday season, and I hope Father Christmas brings you some special gifts too.

-Ben Folsom

Other Curly R season's greetings: 2006 :: 2007 :: 2008 :: 2009

Lantern Waste from here via here.

Game 14: Redskins (5-8) at Cowboys (4-9)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Folsom) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 17:30:00 +0000

at

My Take in 60 Words or Less: For the first time since 2003 I am taking the opponent to win. That's right, I switched both my pool picks to Cowboys.