D.C. Sports Bog

(By John McDonnell - TWP)

That was kind of unfortunate. Leading and shutting out Dallas in the Cowboys' ridiculous home stadium for most of the game, then losing by one at very end after two missed field goals feels more nauseating than losing to Detroit, I think.

"There's no loss tougher than this," Doc Walker said at the end of ESPN 980's radio broadcast. "This makes you sick to your stomach, to be here in this cesspool and lose."

A few quick reactions.

Bleak

"I really believe this is a special team of players who will not just chuck things in," Jim Zorn said. "Being 3-7, it is bleak. You know, being 3-7 is bleak. And yet we're gonna come back, we've got another big name next week, we're gonna look at our roster, and patch it up and go again."

All that being said, I'm going to focus on "it is bleak," not just because I'm a negative person. Well, largely because of that, but also this weekend, the Caps lost twice, the Wizards lost twice, Terps football lost, and this happened. For a lot of local sports fan, it was a bleak weekend during a bleak year.

(As always, apologies to the Caps; you're not bleak, and even this weekend wasn't so bad, but still.)

Defense did enough

It's pretty common for reporter types to say that "the defense did enough" or some such, when you go on the road against a previously explosive offense and keep them to seven points. It's less common for defensive personnel to say that. London Fletcher hinted at that to Comcast SportsNet's Kelli Johnson, and defensive spokesman Jerry Gray came right out and said it.

This was predictable, but when I posted the other day how Dexter Manley and Darryl Grant still hate Dallas, out came the comments about how those were the good old days when real men knew how to hate The Star, when winning was more important than making a few bucks, when various organs would be left on the field, etc.

And maybe so. Certainly those guys won a lot of games, and certainly they helped elevate the rivalry to the point that it would star in strange athletic ad campaigns, as seen above. But I figured it was worth pointing out that there are plenty of current Redskins who at least know how to hate the Cowboys. For example:

"I've been playing against them for so long, it's pretty much the same emotion every time: you hate em, period," Mike Sellers told CSN's Kelli Johnson. "If you have to get up for this game, then you're not a Redskin."

"Every guy looks forward to this week, all the fans look forward to this week," Phillip Daniels said. "Fans always say, if you don't win no other game, win this one."

(AP archives)

If you've ever heard Dexter Manley talk, you know that it can be a sometimes baffling yet thrilling experience. His answer to one question will quickly veer to something else entirely, then something else, then something else, then a plug for Certified Building Services, then a sharp dash of pathos, then an aside about Joe Gibbs, and then finally he'll be interrupted and asked something else after 15 minutes or so.

So trying to piece together two of Manley's radio interviews this week, both on ESPN 980, is a bit of a job. But let's get to some highlights anyhow. Like, here was when he was asked about knocking out Danny White during the 1982 NFC championship game at RFK, which remains one of the indelible images of this Dallas-Washington rivalry.

"I could tell as he was going down, he was whining like a baby, and I knew at that point in time this guy is done," Manley said on The Sports Fix. "He'd never play another down, and I knew that the Redskins' fan base was all excited and happy and we were on our way. But then we had to keep coming back, because they brought in a guy named Gary Hogeboom. I couldn't pronounce his name at the time. I was pronouncing his name sort of wrong, and then Joe Theismann kept telling me the correct name. You know, his name is Hogeboom. I didn't know how to pronounce the guy's name at first."

From making Danny White whine like a baby to being schooled on the pronunciation of Hogeboom; that's a Dexter Manley interview. If I can switch around here, Manley's teammate Darryl Grant was on the John Thompson Show later in the day, and he was asked about the defense during that game.

Earl Boykins man is listed at 5-foot-5, 139. His max bench press is 315 pounds. This makes him the Wizards' strongest pound-for-pound player. And a lot of people, I told him, are surprised by that number.

"I think they should be," he said. "I think they should be."

Teammates, too. I guess to NBA veterans and longtime observers, the 315 number is sort of legendary, but to newcomers, it's still a shock. If Shaquille O'Neal could bench a number in the same proportion to his weight, he'd be hoisting 736 pounds.

"That's amazing for a guy that little in stature, but he's got a big heart," said Randy Foye, whose all-time max was about 290. "It's just amazing to think about It like that, a guy that small can bench that much."

"That's a lot of weight," said Mike Miller, who joked (I think) that his max is 105. "He's strong. It's been well known throughout the league, and that's why he's able to do the things he does on the court, because he can guard guys, he's strong enough to keep guys off the block. At that height, it's impressive."

"They say he can bench like 315, but I've got to see it, I've really got to see him get up there and do that weight," Brendan Haywood said. "I've got to see it to believe it. I don't remember my max this year, I don't know man, but it's got to be close to around there."

"He benches more than you, they said," Flip Saunders noted, as he walked past Haywood.

"Yeah, that's what they say, though, that's what they say," replied Haywood, although he noted that Boykins has "midget arms" which means the weight has to travel a shorter distance.

(Unrelated: Despite his pledge not to Tweet until he got to a million followers, Gilbert Arenas posted a video on Twitter showing himself whipping Nick Young with a belt or something. Seriously. Watch it here.)

(By Frank Franklin II)

Since this has obviously been declared Matt Bradley Week, I'm gonna take another crack at this thing.

Bradley was on Mike Wise's 106.7 radio show earlier this week, and since Wise is never shy about asking exactly what he wants to ask, the interview turned into a nice extended discussion of the fighting ethos. (Listen here.)

"I don't know, it's just one of those things, it's just part of the game," Bradley said. "You know, to people who don't play the game, I know it seems kind of weird. But it's something we've grown up doing, and I guess it seems normal to us. I guess it does seem a little odd to other people....

"There's still nerves. I mean, any time you go into a fight, whether it's just spur of the moment or you want to go out and get a guy or whatever it is, in the back of your mind you're always thinking about it. And you obviously don't want to embarrass yourself out there. I think the key is just going out there and kind of forgetting about everything and just going on instinct. You punch him, he punches you, and you hope you get the best of it."

That's a slogan for you. Anyhow, I don't think there's any question that the Bradley fight doesn't get the same amount of focus and appreciation minus the blood. And Bradley again said that the bleeding thing seems to be a part of his constitution. He only ended up needing six stitches the other day, and he dismissed the bloodiness of his face.

Gilbert Arenas's quest for one million Twitter followers has now been going on for about two days. He's got about 2,300 followers. If he can maintain this pace, he'll reach a million followers in about two-and-a-half years, by which point no one will be using Twitter any more. (Sign up here.)

The quest--with Arenas saying he won't begin tweeting until he nabs his millionth follower--has already led to a very brief AP brief:

Asked why he picked that number, he said because it's "so far-fetched." When someone pointed out to Arenas that the way people tend to accrue followers is by tweeting, he replied: "I'm trying to do the opposite."

Shocking. My friend Bethlehem Shoals also discussed the issue at The Baseline, correctly noting that "If LeBron tried a stunt like that, there's no way he would get away with it."

I was interviewing Earl Boykins Thursday afternoon when Gilbert walked by. (Smiling, for the record. Angry Gilbert really seems gone. "Where you coming from, walking around like you just doing something wrong?" Boykins asked him.)

As he walked past, I asked Arenas if he thought he'd make it to a million.

"Hey Dan," read the e-mail from Reader Matt. "Do you know where to find a video of the Caron Butler commercial that they run on Comcast during games this year?"

This is now a full-service Wizards blog, so here you go, Matt. Special bonus: the Antawn Jamison video, from the same series, after the jump.

And here's the bonus question: where is Caron walking during the gritty urban jungle portion of this ad? Come on, D.C. people, impress me with your knowledge.

Hey, all you people who've been bugging me for more Wiz and Caps and less Redskins radio transcriptions better be happy. And better be hitting refresh.

Anyhow, one of the most jarring aspects of Wednesday night's Wiz game was undoubtedly the one-armed sleeves worn by Mike Miller and Antawn Jamison.

"Pretty sure the Wizards lead the league in asymmetrical undershirts," twoeightnine observed.

"Antawn Jamison looks like a mummy," Michael Lee noted.

"In solidarity with Tawn, intern Ken cut his Jahidi thong in half. We support your rite 2 murder fruit & keep 1 appendage warm !!!" the Wizznutzz wrote. Don't worry, no one understands.

Anyhow, when you weren't staring at the white man with the black sleeve and the black man with the white sleeve, maybe you noted some of the celebrities who were in the house. Not real celebrities, maybe, but D.C. sports celebrities, at least.

Some people might ask whether this LeBron hatred stuff ever gets old, this reveling in the Wizards scoring one home win over another against a top-flight Cavs team no matter what their own record is.

No, is your answer. I mean, do fall Sundays ever get old? Do Dogfish Head limited releases ever get old? Do truth and justice and liberty ever get old? Does watching the final few seconds of George Mason's win over U-Conn. ever get old? Does staring at this absolutely perfect photo above ever get old?

"DeShawn meets LeBron," wrote the brilliant Paul Rovnak. "Sums up the game. DeShawn played can't-feel-my-face defense and LeBron's head got too big."

And yes, the Wiz were really handing out I-Can't-Feel-My-Face bobblehands Wednesday night. So anyhow, let's take a look at LeBron's night.

You'll notice that LeBron's first deployment of the arms-akimbo outrage came exactly 2:19 into the game. This, though, would not be his final instance of outrage over the officiating. (Note: A commenter points out that this is actually a reverse akimbo. Apologies for the oversight.)

Maybe you listened to Tony Kornheiser's ESPN 980 radio show Wednesday morning, hoping that Tony would respond to Mike Wise's comments on Tuesday about Kornheiser's comments on Monday. Well, if that's why you were listening, Tony was willing to briefly play along.

"We are THRILLED at the ratings lately, where we are SOARING and ZOOMING past all competition from 10-12," he began. "We're ABSOLUTELY thrilled at that. I want to begin on just a slightly personal note, and I guess a lot of people are waiting for me to do this. I want to talk about a columnist at The Washington Post, someone that I knew a little bit for a long time but I wouldn't say that I was friendly with on any level, and I want to discuss something that he had written in today's paper. So if you're tape recording this, get ready. Courtland Milloy wrote a GREAT column today...."

Hahahaha!