Redskins happy to avoid media hype for once - Alex Marvez

The stealth bombers protecting the White House have company.

The Washington Redskins are flying under the radar, too.

The franchise returns almost all the key components from a roster that made the playoffs in 2007. Yet in a division featuring the defending Super Bowl champion (New York Giants) and the conference favorite for this year's title game (Dallas), the Redskins are considered an NFC East afterthought. Oddsmakers have even installed Washington as a bigger underdog to reach Super Bowl XLIII than Philadelphia.

That suits the Redskins just fine.

"We appreciate flying low," Redskins running back Clinton Portis said Saturday night after his team's 17-14 preseason victory over Buffalo. "We want to make noise when it comes playoff time."
Added left tackle Chris Samuel: "Nobody is really paying attention to us right now. That's a good thing."

Redskins general manager Vinny Cerrato couldn't agree more.
"There's no (national) focus on our team, so the players can just concentrate on what they have to do to get better," Cerrato said. "All the media and everybody else are talking about the Cowboys and Giants, which is fine with us."

The Redskins are usually in the headlines because of splashy offseason acquisitions. But 16 years removed from an NFC Championship appearance, the club took a different approach this offseason after hiring a new head coach (Jim Zorn) and promoting Cerrato from a vice president's role.

Instead of frantically working the phones at midnight when the free-agent signing period began, Cerrato said the Redskins had only one serious personnel conversation. It was with the agent for Todd Collins, the backup quarterback who was quickly re-signed to a three-year deal.

"We weren't in a position where we felt there was a dire need to go get somebody," Cerrato said. "There was nothing we really had to have. There's less and less available every year in free agency. When we evaluated it, there was nothing we felt was worthy of what those players were going to be paid."

Does Dan Snyder still own this team?

The Redskins, though, couldn't resist making one blockbuster acquisition during training camp. On the same day defensive end Phillip Daniels suffered a season-ending knee injury, Washington traded with Miami for Jason Taylor.

A six-time Pro Bowl selection, Taylor should greatly improve a pass rush that produced a pedestrian 33 sacks in 2007. Plus, the 33-year-old Taylor has committed to playing through 2009 after previously teasing retirement at the end of this season. That convinced Cerrato to send Miami two draft choices (including a 2009 second-rounder) and absorb Taylor's $7.5 million base salary in 2008.

"He said everything that he's gotten and wants to get comes from football," said Cerrato, referring to Taylor's offseason flirtations with Hollywood.

Offensive players are just as excited about Zorn's hiring. Having spent the past seven seasons as Seattle's quarterbacks coach, Zorn has installed a similar system to what he learned working under West Coast offense guru Mike Holmgren.

Samuel said the biggest reason Washington couldn't advance beyond the first round of last year's playoffs was an "average" passing attack. Judging by Zorn's first two preseason games, that should no longer be a problem.

Portis raves about a scheme where receiving targets can no longer "cruise" when knowing a pass isn't coming their way.
"The ball can go anywhere," Portis said, "So now you've got three receivers, a (running) back and a tight end working to get open."

While he doesn't have a star quarterback like Matt Hasselbeck running his offense, Zorn's tutelage of Jason Campbell is already paying dividends. Not only does he look sharper with play-fakes and throwing on the run, Campbell also is being more assertive entering his fourth NFL season.

"The biggest (change) is his leadership," Samuel said. "He's taking charge and is comfortable in that role."

While the Redskins could be improved in 2008, that doesn't guarantee a postseason return. Zorn enters the season as one of the NFL's most inexperienced head coaches, having not even served as a coordinator, let alone play-caller, in Seattle. Injuries on a veteran roster have mounted during the preseason, especially along the defensive line. Playing in what may be the NFL's toughest division doesn't make matters any easier.

The media attention Washington received last season following the murder of safety Sean Taylor has faded. The focus will be on the New York Jets and quarterback Brett Favre's starting debut in Saturday night's preseason game. Washington also will receive short shrift in its Sept. 4 regular-season opener with the Giants beginning defense of their Super Bowl title.

The Redskins are enjoying this time out of the spotlight — for now.

"That's just life. All we can control is us," Redskins defensive end Andre Carter said. "In due time when we're winning and successful, everybody will see what the Redskins have to offer."

Congratulations Michael Phelps

Move over Carl Lewis/USA Track & Field, Mark Spitz/USA Swimming, Paavo Nurmi/Finland Track & Field and Larysa Latynina/USSR Gymnastics. Michael Phelps just blew by and is now the all-time greatest Olympian and he's not finished yet. The Baltimore swimmer still has more swimming, in this years games. Phelps has more gold than any other athlete, in just his 2nd Olympics, and he more than likely will be back 4 years from now.

Asleep at the Wheel?

I don't know what happened here but it sure makes you worry about that truck driver in the next lane though. You know the one; he's been driving for 18 hours straight and rides your ass all the way up 95.

No More Chocolate Salty Balls!

Can You Dig It?

Singer/Songwriter Isaac Hayes died at his home today, at the age of 65. The pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose "Theme From Shaft" won Academy and Grammy awards, was been found dead at home near his treadmill. The cause of death is not immediately known.

In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. He also rapped before there was Rap. He was most recently known as the voice of Chef, the level headed school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show "South Park."

A King of Comedy Passes

In a continuing string of bad luck for well known celebrities this year, actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away today from complications due to pneumonia; he was 50. He and his brand of charming yet grumpy humor will be sorely missed.

What Would Ronald Reagan Do?

As we draw closer to the 2008 Presidential Election, let's watch a timeless message from Ronald Reagan during Barry Goldwater's 1964 run.

Enough About Farve

Here is some real news about an important topic...

New Soap Star Takes Act to Broadway

JETFAVRE

King Evil Theo Reaches Milestone...

...of 5000 Views

Since Opening the Kingdom, to the Public, in February 2008 King Evil Theo's Spawntifications has had 5000 guests.

The King Proclaims this day to be a Happy Day! Have a Drink on the King at any of Your Local Saloons, Pubs or Watering Holes. Just Tell the Barkeep to put it on the Kings Tab.

The Dark Knight Reaches Milestone in Record Time

$400 Million in 18 days; 1/2 the time

of previous record holder, Shrek 2

Get Well Soon...

...Christina Applegate

Terry Bradshaw; Making Sense? - Did Howie Write This For Him?

What the heck are the Packers thinking? - By Terry Bradshaw

There has to be more to this whole Brett Favre story than we really know right now. Because how is it possible that one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, maybe the greatest Packer ever, isn't given at least a chance to compete for his old job?

I have the feeling that Brett must have been pressured into retiring. When I retired, I was done. I couldn't throw. My body said I was done. I had no choice and never looked back, but Brett had a great year last season. I know he threw that interception against the Giants at the end of the NFC title game, but that isn't enough to say he's a declining player. I don't how you can label him a loser because they lost to the Giants and he didn't play well in the second half. As I recall, Tom Brady lost to the Giants, too.
I was at the Hall of Fame luncheon today in Canton and most of the former players I talked to thought it was insulting that the Packers are offering him some marketing deal worth $20 million not to play. How dare they do that simply to keep him from playing?
The other thing is: How can Packers coach Mike McCarthy really believe that Aaron Rodgers is better than Brett because of how Rodgers has performed in seven-on-seven drills in mini-camps? That's how he won the job — on the practice field!

What's wrong with allowing Brett to come back and at least compete for his old job? Let the fans and coaches see who is the better quarterback. And if they are so worried about letting him compete in Green Bay, then let Brett go play somewhere else even if it means Minnesota.

A lot of great quarterbacks — Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Bert Jones and Joe Montana — finished their careers with another team. So what Brett is asking to do — to play somewhere else — is not that unusual. It didn't work out for all of those guys, but they still wanted to play and I think that's every player's right to make that decision.

I don't know how this is going to end. I still can't believe that the Packers aren't going to allow performance on the practice field, in training camp, to decide who gets the play. In the NFL, I thought the best player played.

The Packers have a real dilemma on their hands. If Brett doesn't take this money, still asks to play for the Vikings and Green Bay doesn't let him, that franchise jeopardizes its relationship with one of its greatest players.

I mean, if Brett leaves the game angry, he may stay away from Green Bay forever. The hope is that within five years, he will be going into the Hall of Fame and the Packers would want to be a big part of that. But right now, it looks like the Packers have a lot of patching up to do.

Congratulations Art Monk & Darrell Green

2008 Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductees

of the Washington Redskins

Todd McFarlane Finally Made It

"The Diesel"

I have been waiting for years for Todd McFarlane to make my football hero, John Riggins, into one of his statues. Yesterday I got the first one available in my town and it's awesome.

John Riggins was the perfect old school football player in the new football system. He was a "Bull in a China Shop" and defenses were broken cups and saucers, laid in waste. Watch Super Bowl XVII; he was the MVP. The China was painted ass wipe blue and orange.

John Riggins was a 1st ballot Hall of Famer.

John Riggins told Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, while he was lying drunk under a banquet table, to "Lighten up Sandy Baby".

Ford Motor Company put John Riggins' name on the side of one of their diesel F-150's, painted it Burgundy and Gold and sold them to eager buyers.

John Riggins just sold an apple that he had taken a bite out of for some ridiculous amount of money, on ebay.

John Riggins is my football hero. Hail to the John Riggins and the Washington Redskins.

State of the Eco-Nomy

If Green Bay Isn't Careful...

...The Next Time They See This Combination Will Be In The Pro Bowl

Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool Economics

Hey Norm! Let me tell you how the US tax system works.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings). The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics University of Georgia
For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

I'm away this week.

The Dark Knight

Here it is Folks; My Favorite Comic

Hero and Villain are Back

Say! You look similar to your brother; don't you?

We should have called this movie "The Two Jakes".

Great! The Brokeback Humpty Hump wants to steal THAT from me too!

JibJab's Newest Video

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

President Bush Calls On Congress...

...Lift the Ban On Domestic Oil Drilling

World Domination in About a Month by...

...

Carlos Brito and InBev have gotten what they wanted; Anheuser-Busch has agreed to a buyout by the Belgian world beer distributor making the company the world's largest.

All it took was $52 billion, the company name on the new logo, the promise of Budweiser being the new flagship beer and some seats on the board of directors. Hitler should have had Brito on his advisory team as he is able to conquer the world, as quickly as he does beer bongs.

Hybrid Battery Life Span

The first hybrid on the road, the Honda Insight will reach its 10th birthday in 2009. Despite early fears about battery failure, Honda's hybrids have held up well.

Will Hybrid Batteries Last?
Nothing lasts forever, but hybrid batteries continue their charge.

iPhone 3G Goes on Sale Today

iPhone 3G Reviews: It's Fast, Hungry, and Still Pretty
By Tom Krazit, CNET news.com

The first iPhone 3G reviews have been released, and if you've been paying attention to the news for the past month, you won't be surprised.

Walt Mossberg of All Things Digital, David Pogue of The New York Times, and Edward Baig of USA Today were the chosen few selected to review the iPhone 3G ahead of its launch on Friday. There wasn't nearly as much suspense about the reviews this year, since we already knew the iPhone 3G was -- with the exception of the faster networks, GPS, and third-party applications -- essentially the same phone.

Still, some interesting details were revealed. Mossberg didn't seem very happy about the battery life. "In my tests, the iPhone 3G's battery was drained much more quickly in a typical day of use than the battery on the original iPhone, due to the higher power demands of 3G networks," he wrote. "In daily use, I found the battery indicator on the new 3G model slipping below 20% by early afternoon or midafternoon on some days, and it entirely ran out of juice on one day."

Pogue didn't address battery life, but Baig thought the iPhone 3G consumed roughly the same amount of juice as its predecessor. "I started receiving low battery warnings toward the end of a busy workday; I found myself charging the device overnight, the same as with the older iPhone."

One big addition to the iPhone 3G was GPS, but according to Pogue, Apple has said the antenna is too small to permit useful things like turn-by-turn navigation. Baig, however, didn't think it was that bad: "I was pretty impressed by the accuracy on the new device as I drove along in my car, searched for nearby pizza places, and requested directions," he wrote.

As far as nits go, that was about it. The outstanding issues remain: The touchscreen keyboard doesn't work for everybody, the cost of operating an iPhone has risen despite the drop in the starting price, and it doesn't have things like voice-dialing or MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

On the plus side, all three reviewers thought Apple dramatically improved the audio quality of the iPhone 3G, both in terms of the built-in iPod and the phone. All were enthused about the new applications that would be coming to the phone; Pogue wrote, "Above all, the iPhone is about to become a dazzling hand-held game machine." And, of course, downloading Web pages over a 3G network is much faster than over an EDGE network, which you probably already knew.

So, what was the final verdict?

Pogue: "So the iPhone 3G is a nice upgrade. It more than keeps pace with advancing technology, and new buyers will generally be delighted. But it's not so much better that it turns all those original iPhones into has-beens. Indeed, the really big deal is the iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store, neither of which requires buying a new iPhone. That twist may come as a refreshing surprise to planned-obsolescence conspiracy theorists -- and everyone who stood in line last year."

Baig: "While not everything on my wish list made it onto the new device, Apple has raised the bar with iPhone 3G. To which I offer an enthusiastic thumbs up."

Mossberg: "If you've been waiting to buy an iPhone until it dropped in price, or ran on faster cell networks, you might want to take the plunge, if you can live with the higher service costs and the weaker battery life. The same goes for those with existing iPhones who love the device but crave faster cellular data speeds. But if you already own an iPhone, and can usually use Wi-Fi for data, you probably should hold off and get the free software upgrade before deciding whether it's worth getting the new hardware."

OH YEAH!

Some movie called Hellboy II opens this weekend. What a handsome leading man. Too bad about those horns though. He could never be King with that appearance.

OH CRAP! Screw You King Evil Theo!

Lean Green Machines

Stingiest Sippers: The 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Vehicles in the U.S.

Your leanest and greenest weapons in the battle against the $4 gallon.

Ladies & Gentlemen...

...Princella Smith

Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.

The G8's Green Plan Orchistrated by France...

Camouflage the problem

In 2005 the Group of 8 (G8) summit leaders made a promise to increase foreign aid, by $50 billion, by the year 2010. Half of those dollars were to go to Africa.

Activists, at this year's Japan summit, are protesting that the G8 nations are skimming on the proceeds for Africa. In particular France, Canada and Italy. Go figure. We're talking about France and Italy. Canada may as well be France and they were an after thought to the G8 to begin with. It was originally the G7. None of these nations have ever paid their debts to the world.

The truth is France, Italy and Canada have devised a new "Green Earth" initiative and will unveil it during this summit.

They have devised a plan to melt the polar ice caps and let them drain into Africa's great land mass. Problem solved.

The idea struck French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi while they were vacationing together in Indonesia in 2004. They were still working out the details during the 2005 summit, when they made the foreign aid promise, but they knew it might work before they had to fulfill it.

While frolicking together in the Sumatra surf on December 26, 2004, they all had a revelation. Why not flood Africa? Out of sight out of mind solves everything; doesn't it?

Thank a US Soldier and...

It's Now Time to Declare Independence From Foreign Oil

What's On Your Mind?

I've Got an Oscar Buzzzzzz.........

It's not your pervert uncle Pat's Speedo

Michael Phelps

I don't know if it's the swim suits, the training or both but the American swimmers are already impressive breaking world record after record. Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff, both of Baltimore, MD,are leading the pack.

Katie Hoff

The Fastskin FS-PRO, designed by Aqualab and sold by Speedo, is drawing tons of interest. Many countries going into next months Olympics, in China, are ditching their sponsors and switching to the Speedo. Check out this video about the suit: