The Toughest Day Ever in Redskin Nation

Most of the time, this blog is all NASCAR. But as a long time, passionate fan of the Washington Redskins, today is different. Today is bigger than NASCAR, bigger than the NFL and bigger than sports.

A man many thought of as invincible was shown to be a mere mortal.

He is a freak of nature -- carrying a size with speed rarely if ever seen.

He is one of the most fearsome players to ever don a uniform.

He is larger than life in so many ways.

The idea that 24 year old Redskins Safety Sean Taylor is now "clinging to life" after being shot in an apparent home invasion is nothing short of unbelievable.

You can read the full post at Epic Carnival.

UPDATE:  The Washington Post is reporting that Taylor has opened his eyes and is responding to doctors requests.  This is the first positive news on Taylor so far. 

Mad Props and much love to the Post's Jason La Canfora for the outstanding job he has done using his blog to keep this story updated.

Do Changes and Leadership Problems in the Family Business Signal a Change in 2008?

This is an issue alluded to earlier this week in my piece on the pending marriage between Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.

J.D. Gibbs, the president of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), has had his hands full this season.

From the outside looking in, Joe Gibbs Racing has appeared to suffer from a significant lack of leadership.

The issues came crashing into the headlines in July when Tony Stewart wrecked team mate and then race leader Denny Hamlin from behind in the Pepsi 400 then promptly started trashing Hamlin from his car radio.

As soon as he pulled into the garage, he proceeded to rip Hamlin and blame the wreck on him.

Drama ensued. J.D. Gibbs wasn't able to get the problem resolved in house. He had to pull in one of the greatest team builders in history to fix it. Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs.

Gibbs took a detour from his pre-training camp vacation to straighten up the mess J.D. Gibbs couldn't (not an insignificant sacrifice).

Hamlin later said he'd never seen the Coach that angry. You have to wonder, angry at who? Stewart? Hamlin? Both? Or was he really just upset that the guy he left in charge couldn't get the job done?

Even with Gibbs intervention in Chicago, you have to wonder based on a column Hamlin wrote this week if Hamlin is really over it.

Now, JGR is adding Kyle Busch to the team for 2008.

If you thought you had drama with Stewart and Hamlin (someone who had never publicly said anything short of glowing about Stewart prior to the Pepsi 400), what do you think is going to happen when you pair Stewart with someone he has been feuding with since he came into NEXTEL Cup racing?

What are they thinking at JGR? Look, Busch couldn't play nice with Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Stewart couldn't play nice with Hamlin. Do the math. JGR has smart people on board. You know somebody over there knows what is coming.

Do they really think they have what they need to handle team chemistry in place under those circumstances?

There is only one way they do. If they don't, the Gibbs family business is about to experience some serious upheaval in 2008.

Joe Gibbs has to retire from the Redskins at the end of this season and return to NASCAR.

If Gibbs leaving the Skins wasn't in the plans already, it is hard to see how JGR makes the effort to sign Busch.

JGR is also in transition in other areas as well. There are reports the team is leaving Chevy for Toyota. The team also needs to grow from three cars to four in order to stay competitive.

From the perspective of the Redskins, they are already stocked internally with prospective new head coaches. It isn't a devastating loss to Washington from a football perspective.

When Gibbs came back to the NFL, it was with a five year contract. This season will put him just one year short of that.

If the Redskins miss the playoffs this year, change may be coming regardless at the "suggestion" of team owner Daniel Snyder. If they do make the playoffs, it might be Gibbs opportunity to go out on a high note.

Either way, Joe Gibbs does have a family business to think about.

Is a Day Trip to Massachusetts in the Future for NASCAR's Two Baddest Bad Boys?

Dave Moody at Motorsports Soapbox reports that Kyle Busch will be moving to JGR in 2008 putting Busch under the same roof as Tony Stewart.

At this point, this report is merely a blog report without any sources quoted for attribution.

Although there is no confirmation as of this writing, there is no marriage I have hoped to see more than this one.

If it happens, I will be crashing the wedding and shamelessly shedding tears of joy.

Juan Pablo Montoya (although he has been behaving himself lately), Tony Stewart and the Busch Brothers comprise The Holy Trinity for any good NASCAR blogger.

If one of them isn't making news, it's usually because two of the others are.

Having Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch in such close proximity of would be my wildest dream coming true.

It isn't like they have gotten along that well publicly till now either. There have been plenty of signs that they needed to get a room and just get it over with.

Short of Jimmy Spencer leaving SPEED to sit on top of Stewart's pit box, there is nothing I can imagine that would be a more explosive mixture of dangerous chemicals.

Unless of course it was Jimmy Spencer becoming Kyle Busch's crew chief at JGR. It'll never happen, but I didn't think this one would either.

It's a real interesting choice at an organization founded by one of the greatest team builders in history.

J.D. Gibbs had to call his Daddy to bail him out just to prevent a homicide between Stewart and (by all accounts a relatively easy to get along with) Denny Hamlin.

If he couldn't make the chemistry work between Stewart and Hamlin, how is Gibbs the younger going to handle Stewart and Busch?

I'M JUST HOPING HE DOESN'T.

The image that keeps popping into my mind is the video from the 1960 Daytona 500 where they started 68 cars and took out 37 in one wreck.

That's what I'm counting on here.

Then again, maybe what J.D. Gibbs is counting on is the current head coach of the Redskins retiring at the end of the coming NFL season and being available in time for Daytona.

Just for the record, I'm not saying anything about Stewart or Busch like what Junior fans like to say about Jeff Gordon.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

For Just 80 Cents a Day, You Can Change Someone's Life

You don't know his name. You don't know where he lives.

But you can see he lives in an unforgiving world, where one day is the same as the next. A day without much hope.

No, I'm not talking about the world of a starving child in Africa.

I'm talking about the world of a Tony Stewart Fan.

A world where, as Tony himself said on national television, his fans "have to take all the #### from everyone else."

But who cares. You're not a Tony Stewart Fan.

Sure, his crew chief says, "He has matured so much." So why should you care, it'll get better. But we know Tony is still a cry baby and the anger management classes really didn't do much good.

Why should you care? Because he is NASCAR fan and he takes a lot of #### for supporting Tony Stewart.

When you call the NASCAR Children's Fund, you'll know why. You'll know he'll be safe from those mean bloggers and reporters asking obvious questions. But most of all, you'll know he won't die from #### like thousands of other Tony Stewart fans did last night.

When you adopt your Tony Stewart fan, the NASCAR Children's Fund will see to it that he doesn't have to worry about people laughing at him because his driver to fat to climb the catch fence anymore.

He'll be protected from his so called friends giving him a hard time because Tony wrecked a teammate or someone else on the track and then started whining about it and blaming the other guy. What's more your Tony Stewart fan will stop taking #### questions about why Smoke dropped his super hot girlfriend supposedly so he could start spending time with a NASCAR race official and former engine builder.

Just 80 cents a day means the NASCAR Children's Fund can save your Tony Stewart fan from taking so much ####.

All you have to do is stand up and say, 'I'm going to help.' Not your problem? Once you and your Tony Stewart fan start getting to know each other, that'll change -- because you'll probably start taking ####, too.

All you have to do is step up and say 'I'm going to help this Tony Stewart fan.' Because you can and because he needs you. Call the NASCAR Children's Fund today and ask us to send you a picture of a Tony Stewart Fan who needs you.

Not only will your generosity help your Tony Stewart fan, but if we can meet our goals and help enough of them, the NASCAR Children's Fund will be able to move on and begin giving male fans of pretty boy boy toy Kasey Kahne somewhere they can get a bit more help than the only place they have to seek refuge right now.

NASCAR Children's Fund is committed to easing pain and suffering caused by #### and with your help, together we can do it.