I'm sure there's more than one American watching NBC's unending servile behavior towards the ruthless hosts of this Olympiad with barf bucket in hand. From the constant panoramic vistas of the tranquil countryside leading in and out of every commercial break, to the endless coverage of a single Chinese runner who had to pull out of the 110 hurdles, NBC deserves its own gold medal for blithering propaganda. 

In a perfect example of the completeness of the pathos NBC hopes to evoke for the ham fisted Chinese henchmen, Mary Carillo went to interview the poor schlep that created the Olympic logo.  Seems this hapless chap had spent a good deal of time in a Chinese prison.  Ms Carillo just breezed right over her own astonishing comment!  Here is a perfect example of how the Charismatic Leaders of this zombie society instill terror in even the most docile individuals. Why not ask how he ended up in that prison?  Why not ask if he respects those who put him there?  Sure he claimed all he wanted was to love his country and honor it's past, with his handlers mere inches away.  Did that past include forced labor?  Guess we'll never know.  Never know that, or if the guy went back to the prison camp after the interview.

But the coup de' grace is the insulting, nauseating picture of the GutlessLeader, Chairman Mao Ze####  directly over the shoulder of motor mouth Bob Costas in EVERY studio shot.  EVERY time we go to the studio we get to see both midgets in center screen.  One in the foreground and one in the back.  Both clearly identifiable.  Was this required by the crackpots in Peking, ah, I mean Beijing? What is the purpose of such purposeful display of one of the worlds greatest dictators and murders?  Is there no end to the cynicism of this broadcast network? Are we supposed to now equate pictures of the nut job Mao with world camaraderie?

NBC by way of GE, ought to be ashamed of thee.

By now everyone interested in golf has formulated an opinion of Michelle Wie’s attempts to play on the men’s your.  Today her career mark is 0 for 8. After her collapse in the second round of the Reno-Tahoe Open, the question on many minds is what’s the purpose?  By now the effort clearly is to just make the Saturday cut. Okay. And if she ever does that, what then?  Is she going to apply for regular status on the PGA by simply making a cut?  Regardless of all the PC mumbo jumbo being bandied about, it is the men’s tour.  Only so many invites can be extended to Michelle before the painfully obvious becomes comically obvious; She can’t compete with the men.  Is Tim Finchem awake out there?  Hello?

There is a women’s tour and if there is ever going to be any consideration of letting women play on the PGA, they better be ready to dissolve the LPGA since the men will be coming. And when they do, no woman will win another tourney there.  Certainly there are more than a few lawyers chomping at the bit to sue the LPGA to grant men access.  Just because it’s in their bylaws that men can’t compete doesn’t make it legal.

The LPGA isn’t much of a Michelle ally either.  With Wie’s recent public dressing down by Annika Sorenstam, the ultra-technical DQ for not signing a scorecard in the proper geographic zone and the general lack of respect from the rank and file, it’s no wonder she would rather play with the men.  Words like immature, aloof, arrogant and mismanaged are often found in the same sentence with her name.  And that’s a shame really.  She’s a pretty girl, obviously talented and she had a full lap head start on career earnings over every other player on the LPGA with her massive endorsement deals.  Certainly there is some envy there, but had she gone to work with them, she could have won them over.

To golf purists there is a serious concern about the integrity of the game if popular, yet unqualified, people continue to be invited to play in sanctioned PGA events. A case could be made for a certified phenom that gets invited and then proves to be a serious challenge to the best in the profession.  However, that’s not the case here.  What we have is a curiosity that helps to sell tickets to the tournament.  Is that what the PGA is all about now, selling tickets?

In the British Open at Turnberry in 1977, after two days of going head to head and leaving the entire field some 10 strokes back, Tom Watson turned to Jack Nicklaus as the two were tied on the 18th tee of the final day. Tom said to Jack “This is what it’s all about isn’t it!”  Jack responded, “It sure is!”  That is what it should still be about.

Even though she was playing in Europe, with a vastly depleted field due to the Ginn Tournament here in the States, Michelle Wie managed to post a performance that defies her ongoing golf struggles.

For the tournament however,  the second place finisher in last weeks Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open, is this weeks winner of the HypoVereinsbank Ladies German Open, South Korea’s Amy Yang.  Yang shot a lights out total of 21 under par to take the title.  Then, showing as much maturity as talent, Yang announced during the award ceremony she was donating the entire purse, 36,000 euros, to the Chinese earthquake victims.  I'm not really sure that was necessary given China's position as one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, but it was a nice gesture.

It should also be noted that Yang became one of the youngest winners on the LPGA when at 16 she won the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia.  That's how you make your bones on the tour;  Win, place and show.  Not with marketing buzz.

As for Wie, she did manage to shoot 67 on the final day and come in at a respectable 6th place with a 14 under par total.  Not bad considering she hasn't sniffed the leaderboard since her second place finish in the Evian Masters in France in 2006.

After the tournament Wie was full of her usual introspection and graciousness, never once, according to reports ,congratulating Yang on her winning performance.  Instead she regaled the press with recaps of her shots and her building confidence. 

Michelle Wie may be able to overcome her game's frailty, but will she ever outgrow the atrophied ego planted and nurtured in what has been so far a barren field?  We can only hope.

No, not Tiger’s recent surgery, but the consistent knee-jerk reaction by some in the media any time the name Tiger Woods is mentioned without the proper genuflection and reverence ascribed to it by the converted.

In wannabe writer Barker Davis’ most recent attempt to get invited to Tiger’s house for dinner (“Ochoa not there just yet”, Washington Times,  April 24) he amazingly tries to diminish Lorena Ochoa’s stellar accomplishments in her brief time on the LPGA Tour with comparisons to Tiger.  He attempts to dismiss her dominance of the LPGA with scant reference to her tournament history, a history that would cause an objective observer to pause. Many knowledgeable analysts compare Ochoa’s skill with that of Woods. However Davis bristles at that sort of blasphemy. His breathless assertion that neither Ochoa nor Annika Sorenstam is “on the same once-in-history plane as Woods” reveals him to be not only drinking the Kool-Aid, but also mixing and pouring as well.

Those with an understanding of the game can empirically dispel the “once in history” ululation about Woods if they are willing to look at facts and not emotions.  Monsignor Davis further writes “And then there's the madness of Tiger comparisons.” Madness?  Well, let’s compare the two.

In Tiger’s first five years on the PGA Tour he won 24 times, and of those, 5 wins were majors. In Ochoa’s first 4 ½ years she has 22 wins with 2 majors. By the end of this, her fifth year, Lorena will have won more tournaments in her first five years than Tiger did. And if she wins another major or two, she will have done as well or better than Tiger. Where is the madness in comparing that?

But the most magnificent hypocrisy comes at the end of the piece when by some cosmic, unknowable logic he declares “the fact that two players have dominated the LPGA to such a degree almost concurrently says nearly as much about the lack of depth in the women's game as it does about their individual greatness.”

Lack of depth? At least on the LPGA there are TWO great players.  On the PGA there is only ONE.  Now Mr. Davis, tell me, where is the lack of depth?

It's that time of year again.  Time to shake off the cobwebs of winter , pull out the big stick and head for the course.  That means it's also time to renew the sad commentary about the pitiful competition Tiger Woods faces each year on the PGA tour.  Until someone, ANYONE can rise to the challenge I'll keep posting this each April.

There are many things people agree upon regarding the phenomenal career of Tiger Woods: his dominance in golf, his high "Q" rating for TV and especially his work ethic. However, the claim he's "the best golfer ever" always begs the question: Is he that good, or is his competition that weak?

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus, always gracious in his comments about Tiger, said, "Somebody is going to dust my records. It might as well be Tiger, because he's such a great kid." However, when Tiger broke Jack's 1965 Masters record by a mere one stroke in 1997 he did it using all the new fangled high tech equipment Nicklaus couldn't even dream of in his day. Also, something few people realize, the Augusta National course was longer when Jack set the mark than when Tiger broke it.

But more to the point, if Tiger is today's Nicklaus, then who is today's Gary Player (9 majors); Tom Watson (8); Lee Trevino (6); Seve Ballesteros (5) Ray Floyd (4)? They all fearlessly stalked Nicklaus throughout his career. How many of Jack's incredible 19 second place finishes in the majors would have been firsts if they were not around?

Take Tom Watson. Tom beat Jack in a classic head-to-head British Open duel at Turnberry in 1977, only sealing the win with a must make birdie putt on the final hole. Watson beat him again winning the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach when he chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole in the final round. Consider at the height of Nicklaus' dominance in 1971 Lee Trevino won the U.S. Open, Canadian Open and British Open championships in a four-week span. At that U.S. Open Trevino defeated Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff and was named Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year". Who compares to Trevino, the "Merry Mex", on today's PGA tour?

Now you have Phil Mickelson, with 3 majors, Ernie Els with 3 and Vijay Singh with 3. And the only players to push Woods in a major have been Bob May and Chris DiMarco. Anyone seen those two lately? Gary Player, a regular Nicklaus nemesis, has more major tournament wins than Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk and Davis Love III combined. Yet they were considered at one point or another serious competition for Woods. Now their careers are winding down without ever mounting a serious challenge.

With todays seemingly uninspired competitors it's very possible that Tiger will win 25 or 30 major tournaments before he's done. Unfortunately he will have won them against a cast of Lilliputians unable to challenge him like the talented players of the past challenged Nicklaus. It's a shame for the game really and certainly no fault of Tiger's. Many of today's golfers can shoot low scores on Thursday, but when they collapse on Sunday, they blame it on Tiger's game, and not their own.

As Dinky Dan Snyder wrestles with the choice of a new coach for the Washington Redskins, he still has the depth of character to come to the rescue of others. Given that the Washington area has millions of devoted fans pensive about the direction of the team now that Gibbs has re-retired; that the team was on slow recovery from years of inept managing and that the obvious successor, Greg Williams, architect of one of the best defenses in the league, is on the way out the door; Dinky can still take time out of his busy day to pen missives to his little buddy Tom Cruise. If there was any doubt that Dinky is a loser, this should put that to rest.

Cruise, a certified laughing stock, has been the butt of innumerable jokes in the last few weeks for his bizarre adherence to Scientology. He has a video tape circulating recently in which he rambles like a loon, laughing out loud with no provocation and espousing gibberish on unrelated topics at length. A sight that should make Dr. Phil forget all about the train wreck that is the Spears family. But here comes Dinky to the rescue.

Dinky, who has a financing deal with Cruise/Wagner Productions, springs like a puma to little Tommy's defense. "Tom is a winner. That's a fact," Dinky wrote in an e-mail. "He is a terrific actor, a terrific father and a terrific person. I'm proud to be his friend."

It would be funny, if it weren't true. Is there any wonder Snyder can't judge talent on the field? Look who he chooses as friends. And now he's on the verge of naming Jim Fassel the new coach of the Redskins? Looks like I may have to get some black and gold jersey's.

Clearly this is a man desperate to be liked by the "in" crowd. From his immature insistence on being called "Mr. Snyder" by people much his senior in both age and maturity, to his continued attempts to prove he knows anything at all about the game of football, Dinky Dan Snyder is the epitome of, no, the definition of , nebbish.

Is there a process to impeach owners? If not there should be.

A lot can be said for people acquiring a boatload of money during their lifetime. They were in the right place at the right time, they innovated new and exciting products, maybe they inherited it all or were just dumb lucky and hit lotto.  But one thing that cannot be said is that having gobs of money somehow automatically conveys you have an intellect greater than the average gnat.

As an ardent fan of the Washington Redskins I have watched the new coach search debacle on a daily basis.  Dan Snyder is looming as possibly the worst owner of a professional sports franchise in the history of professional sports.  I struggle to think of another more meddling, more confused, more uninformed person at the helm of any other team. I mean really, who has been a bigger bust?

As for how Snyder came about his millions, one only has to look to Snyder’s fairy godmother, Mort Zuckerman, who funded his business failures time and again. It was Zuckerman’s billions that were the basis of the Redskin purchase, not Snyder’s.  If it weren’t for Mort, Danny boy would never have gotten his hands on the team. And once he did get a grip on them, he’s chocking the life out of the fans.

The issue at hand is the selection of a coach to continue the slow march back to contention in the NFC East. With Greg Williams at the helm, the Redskins defense ranked in the top ten two of the last three years.  Not coincidentally, the same years they made the playoffs in Gibbs version 2.0.  And had the brain trust that is Snyder et. al. had the candle power of at least one candle, they would have resigned Antonio Pierce and would probably have made the playoffs in that third year as well.  Oh, and don’t get anyone started on that flop Archuletta.  Who’s brilliant idea was that?  And Jason Campbell? He will NEVER grasp the offensive scheme of Al Saunders. Repeat, NEVER.

The fact that Greg Williams has not been named, and that the “search” goes on to this day, proves conclusively that Snyder is clueless, arrogant and in need of a reality check.  Danny, you were not that great a businessman to begin with.  Stop pretending to know the game and give the reins to Greg Williams before he bolts.

Dan Snyder made his fortune through a paternal relationship and the riches of the Internet bubble; a bubble that made billionaires out of more than one ####. He does not have the knowledge or acumen to run a professional sports team. The league owners were bamboozled by his bid because of Mort Zuckerman’s success as a businessman. I’m sure they thought Zuckerman would have a bigger say in the operation.  To the chagrin of the Redskins fans, we got shackled to Snyder and his ego.

With Todd Collins ascension to now legendary bench warmer, finally getting another shot at playing in the NFL after 10 years, the clever prognosticators and erstwhile observers are calling him the surprise of the season.  Well, had any of them bothered to actually watch the Redskins training camp this summer, they would have seen exactly what they are seeing now. A smart, quick thinking and rugged player with the ability to see the field and avoid stupid mistakes.  He did it every time he took the field.  To those who now sing Collins praise, I quote Howard Cosell: "You sir have a tremendous grasp of the obvious".

Many in the D.C. area knew Todd Collins skill set all along.  But they also know that for whatever reason, Joe Gibbs will hitch his wagon to someone and come Hell or high water, will stick with that person to the detriment of the team and the season.  Witness Mark Brunell two years ago, who by the way will earn $3.5 million as the third string QB this year, and this season's disappointment, Jason Campbell.

In training camp it was declared Jason Campbell would be the starter. Period. On it's face that made a lot of sense; quell the rumor and conflict at the start and proceed to the game plan. But any wise coach would have incorporated memory into his decisions.  Campbell had a very mediocre last half of 2006 after replacing the woeful Brunell. Campbell's struggles continued through camp.  He played like a backup and was constantly out performed by Collins.  Little matter there, Jason was given the job and has been the case for the Redskins recently the defense initially pulled the weight.

But after 12 games the Redskins were a pitiful 5 and 7, including 5 losses where they led the game at halftime.  Hell and high water had arrived.  If it wasn't for Devine intervention and a minor injury to Campbell, the Redskins playoff hopes would be over. After that injury, Collins has been nothing less than the best of the three QB's on the Washington roster. Is he a Tom Brady or Peyton Manning?  No.  Not yet.  Maybe never.

But given Collins years of experience with the architect of the Redskins offense, Al Saunders, and his superior performance in training camp, coupled with the futility shown in Jason Campbell's second half swoons during at least 5 games; a Hall of Fame coach should have seen the light a little bit sooner.

If the Redskins do it this year, it will be in spite of Joe Gibbs, not because.

It’s Up To The Redskins Defense Now.

What can you say about the play of the Washington Redskins defensive unit? Tossing around accolades and superlatives like great, excellent or fantastic just doesn’t seem to capture the Herculean effort they’ve been putting forth week after week this season.  Time and again they have either actually scored touchdowns or put the offense in tremendous scoring position.  If you were to remove the points scored by the defense this year the Redskins would be 2-4 instead of 4-2.

Football is a team sport, but this season the team is all defense.  With the continued ineptness of the offense, an ineffectiveness that ironically coincides with the arrival of Al Saunders “book”, it is now up to the defense to win the day.

It isn’t likely that a defensive unit can win a Super Bowl, but it has been done. For the last time it happened you only need look 30 miles north to Baltimore. Led by perpetual Jabba the Hut impersonator Tony Siragusa, the Ravens defensive unit of 2000 ranks as one of the best ever assembled. Called on time and again to rescue the impotent bumblers on the offensive side, a Ravens offense that went 21 consecutive quarters without scoring a touchdown, they finished 12-4 to make the playoffs and go on to win the Super Bowl.

You must admire the level of game day preparation by Greg Williams, the play of London Fletcher, rookie LaRon Landry, Sean Taylor, the whole defensive front four. The overall attitude of this bunch should give pause to any team, New England Patriots included, that may think the Skins are a team to be taken lightly. They held Green Bay to just 10 points.  They played well enough to beat New York. Despite the apparent aberration of the Detroit Lions game, where the offense exploded for 34 points, the defense has played well enough to win every game.  They only lacked a little help from their friends on the other side of the ball.

It’s a shame Washington fans are forced to endure perfunctory play calling on offense. You can only imagine what would be going on around here with these coach’s salaries and George Steinbrenner were the owner. But there’s a reason to be excited this year.  There’s a new Wild Bunch in D.C., and this time around, it’s on defense.

 

 

Well, well. It didn't take but three games for the Redskins magic to wear off. After two respectable games against middling opponents, the Skins clock struck midnight and the plump pumpkins covered the field once more. Al Saunders, Assistant Head Coach Offense (is that title irritating or what), needs to be benched for a few games to get his mind right about what plays to call and the proper personnel to use in pressure situations.

For those not familiar with the plight of the Redskin faithful, each season starts with tremendous fanfare, good words delivered down to the shivering masses by the charismatic leader and a city willing to testify.

And then... they play a game.

The Redskins defense appears to have healed itself from the hammy it suffered last year with great acquisitions in the off season and the rapid development of LaRon Landry into a quality defensive back. So far, so good. The wretched labor in the fields with stooped backs could look up and see a glimmer of light to herald the true second coming of St. Joe, not the false prophets of three years previous.

But then there's the offense. On that side of the ball, the tools are there in the box but the carpenter is either drunk or demented, or both. If play calling were an art, Al Saunders is smearing a canvass with finger paints. Time and again there is no rhyme or reason for the disjointed play selection on a series of downs. With several key offensive linemen out with injuries, he insists on running the ball up the gut behind a hodge-podge of replacements. With Antwaan Randle El and Santana Moss, arguably one of the best wide receiver tandems in the league, Chris Cooley, the superbly gifted tight end and a galaxy of running backs with great hands, he can't find a play in his 700 page doily to get the ball to any of them for an entire half of football.

Five consecutive three and outs equates to at least three fumbles in my book.

When players fail so obviously on the field, they are quick to feel the splinter of the ole pine bench. When a coach performs as incompetently, he should be reaching for the tweezers as well.

When the powers that be change the rules of the game, are they in fact creating a new game?

Many a pugilistic endeavor at the local pub began from a perceived knowledge o####ame at a certain point in time and the memory (or lack thereof) of participants in that game at that particular point in time establishing marks of achievement. Most home runs, most points, most goals, most touchdowns and the like are quintessential examples of marks of achievement for those games. In the vast universe of knowledge these are some of the easiest things to know.  Just add them up.

But what happens when the rules for that game, those ironclad definitions of what is acceptable and what is not during the competition, change?  Should that close the books on records for that sport, if players from here on out no longer play by the same rules? To be fair to one set of players before, and the next generation of players after a significant rule change, should there not be a clear demarcation of the great divide between the two?

In 1978 a basketball player at Baylor could make 10 shots from the floor and record 20 points. Today that same player could record 30 for the same number of shots. It’s a different game today.  Should there be a different set of records?

Used to be you had to play a position in the field to bat in the major leagues.  Not any more. In the American League there is now a Designated Hitter, someone who does not play except to hit.  When looking at all the records prior to that monumental shift in rules does one not see the galactic inequity of comparing the before’s with the after’s?

What if horse racing allowed cheetahs to run with a gibbon strapped to it’s back?  Provided you could keep the cat from eating the #### on it’s back (pun intended), I dare say we would see fewer and fewer horses and more and more felidae at the track.  Maybe make the field goal in football worth 10 points. Any doubt there would be a scrum over signing English soccer players to the NFL and attempts from 70 yards commonplace? Scoring records? Sky’s the limit.

Of course there is the mewling of those who have not lived under the dramatic shifts in the game as the rules have changed.  But at some point rule changes have had such a dramatic affect on the sport, that it may not actually be the same sport anymore.

 

With the ascension of Appalachian State as the latest George Mason, a team that truly did enjoy the upsets of the century a couple of years back, it's time to adjust our thinking about college athletics and the players participating there. 

With more emphasis on academics and moral turpitude, (i.e. The Ball Coach at USC ) anyone can see the downward migration of extremely talented kids to division II and III institutions.  With that migration logically there are more and more previously unknown schools challenging on a national level.

Is it any surprise that teams like ECU and Appy State are attracting solid potential first rounders who may not be able to spell Deuteronomy but can split a coconut with their forehead? Like the amoeba that adapts to the use of bacterial soap, players who may be less than Mensa material are applying to programs that allow just a bit less than stellar accomplishment in the classroom.

It was in a movie that I first heard the expression "Chaos Theory".  As the days go by, that expression is gaining legitimacy. To make a complex thought somewhat easier to comprehend, let's leave it at "whatever you expect to happen, won't."

In a world where the top flight colleges are making strides to insure student athletes are really students, the division II campuses are beginning to bulge with the rejects that use to make the big time.  And when enough of them settled on the second tier, it wasn't going to be long before that second tier began to take on the personality of the majors.

And here we are.

As the year progresses it won't be a shock to see a few more "upsets" of the century as the top caliber athletes that didn't make a major division I program make a major statement on  the II field.

 

Well, it didn't take long for another professional athlete to continue the downward spiral of personal behavior. Today we get DeShawn Stevenson of the Washington Wizards.  Looks like this wonderful amalgam of a man was at a club at 4 am, picked up someone else's lady and took her and a few of his posse back to his ranch for the sunrise sermon.  On the surface, nothing wrong with a little female companionship in the wee hours after a few highballs. Been there, done that.  It's what happens next that screams my brothers have lost their minds.

Seems this other guy, driving, what else, a Cadillac Escalade,  follows them through the gated community gates to Stevenson's home.  He should get a rebate on the gate guard's salary.  And after getting out to squabble with one of the dames at Stevenson's house, this interloper goes to his vehicle and pulls out the requisite Escalade option everyone orders nowadays, the 9 mm and begins ventilating everyones cars. One guy gets hit in the leg.  Pretty serious stuff. But as we are seeing more and more in the black community, when police arrive, no one will talk.  Only one person out of the group gives a statement of any kind.

Stevenson does what any right thinking person would do in that situation; when police showed up he claimed he was inside asleep when it all went down.

There is now some bravado, some sort of code of ethics on the black street not to "snitch" on criminals.  Don't want to lose that street cred by talking to the man. Seems people would rather cavort with the thugs than clean up the neighborhood. We saw some of that in the Michael Vick ordeal; curse the snitches who copped a plea, not Vick.

And the guy who took a pill in the leg? He had no comment to police. He does however have a rap sheet that contains multiple arrests for cocaine possession and distribution.  And my man DeShawn?  He only has one conviction for statutory rape of a 14 year old for which he got probation in 2002.  Probation ain't such a bad thing DeShawn, if you can stay alive to get through it.

So tonight barry bonds hit the "historic" home run many have been waiting for.  Waiting for the record to be set, waiting for the complaints to be over, waiting to continue ignoring MLB.  Tonight we got our wish.

I did not see it, don't care about it, and for the most part will amble on my merry way ignoring the game I used to so love.

Thanks Sammy, Raffy, Marky and Barry. You've returned a generous portion of my life that I would have frivolously spent at the ball park.  Now I'll spend those hours at another sort of park;  the kind that prohibits the likes of you smashing a ball about.

Many may want to speak only of the bonds dilemma. But the fish stinks ffrom the head down.  Start with Selig and work your way all the way down the tight spiral forming at the base of the loo.

 Hasta la vista ####...

 

It's been a full 11 hours since it was first learned that perennial Pro Bowl defensive end Simeon Rice was released by the Tampa Bay Bucs.  That's a full 10 hours and 59 minutes longer than it should have taken for the Washington Redskins to sign the still potent player.

Washington's defensive unit, recently confused with the Keystone Cops at a press conference locally, is in dire need of a pass rush from someone, anyone, on that side of the ball.  Rice would be a welcome addition to that line.  You could put Rice in a bishop's frock, wearing wingtips and he would still perform with the best in the league, and certainly better than anyone currently on the Redskins roster.

But where is ol' Danny boy? His legend is one of a man with a check in his hand. A big check, for just about any player, with or without skills.  In this case it would be money well spent.

The Redskins, a team bloated with quarterbacks, linebackers and safeties, can write off another season if they don't get help pressuring opposing QBs. Maybe Greg Williams will go with three down linemen and 8 safeties. Who knows.  But when a player of that caliber hits the market, and he fills a need, it deserves a real close look.

Danny....Joe.... Are you out there?