Already suspended by the NBA, and the subject of an attempted disappearing act by the Wizards, Gilbert Arenas has been charged with felony gun possession-carrying a pistol w/o a license. 

The really bad news is that this almost certainly ends Arenas’ year of playing, and probably ends his time as a Wizard.   One has to imagine that once the Wizards get new management and the lawyers get a good look at this they’ll find good cause to tear up what remains the absolute worst $111 million dollar contract ever signed. 

Thankfully, the good news (although still speculation) is that although this charge can get you 5 in the nick, but the charges are being filed in an “information”-which likely means that a plea deal is being worked out.  Personally, I believe Gilbert that the bringing of the guns (and even the waving them in the face of teammates) was without malicious intent and likely in jest-which of course doesn’t excuse the law, but hopefully mitigates the situation enough that he won’t go to jail.

Frankly-this isn’t a huge surprise.  There hasn’t been any effort by Arenas to hide the fact that he did have the guns and so the hammer was going to fall.  If he hadn’t acted like a complete dope the past two weeks, it might have dropped lighter and quieter-heck, he might even still be playing.  Alas, we are well beyond that point.

Any shocking fallout will be updated here.  On another note, enough of these negative, tumultuous sports teams in DC!  I’m going to look into a few Caps posts.

Congratulations Washington, put another “Offseason Super Bowl” championship in your invisible trophy rack-you’ve managed to land the biggest free agent coach out there (except for Bill Cowher, but he’s not coaching probably and who wanted him anyway, right?) 

Mike Shanahan and the Meddlesome One have agreed to terms, and now Shanny will be Head Coach and Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Washington Redskins.  He will also, clearly, be watching  a lot of News Channel Four.  Watch this link and tell me that Lindsay Czarniak won’t be getting a “Lunch with Lindsay” interview with the new HC in the next month.

This comes just days after (officially) firing Jim Zorn and a few weeks since hiring son of a former Redskin Bruce Allen to be Executive Vice President of Football Operations.

Wait.  What?  Oh-they are co-Vice Presidents.  Well I think those of us who have watched “The Office” this season know how well co-managers work out.  Officially, reports are that Shanahan would have the final say on player personnel-but I don’t think that makes Allen in charge of the wait staff or anything.  Final accountability for whether the ’Skins sign overpriced free agents will, therefore, be with Shanahan.

Despite these “sweeping” changes, there is still plenty of reason to doubt that anything is actually different.  Despite the dramatic swing from Zorn to Shanahan, this isn’t the first time in the Dan Snyder era that the ‘Skins have been steered by a well known skipper with clout.  Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer and one Mr. Joe Gibbs are all household NFL Head Coaching names that weren’t able to do much, if any, better under Snyder than their lesser known colleagues.  If Snyder, who knows a lot more about business than football, continues to get involved in football operations don’t expect Washington football to be relevant over the next five years.   

Yes, it would seem that Snyder is finally ready to divorce himself from the field-but Washingtonians have heard that song and seen that dance before.  Shanahan’s contract may say he has the final say-but we all know that the man writing the checks always has the final say.  Given that the ‘Skins continue to make money hand over fist despite such terrible outings this past decade, the man writing those checks probably realizes he only needs to appear to be making changes rather than actually making them. 

Still-there is hope.  In Washington there always is (and only seems to be) hope for the football team, but hope nonetheless.  The Number 4 pick overall and a coach that knows what he’s doing are definitely steps in the right direction-and Bill Romanowski seems pumped up in this clip where he’s forecasting a Super Bowl for Washington.

Oh-and if you have a Clinton Portis jersey you may want to put it on Ebay, like, now.  With his spat with Jason Campbell over the last day gaining heat, he’s inability to do anything worthwhile on the field and a guy who already traded him running the team…well…let’s just say Hilary might be the only Clinton working in Washington come Spring.

Welcome back DC Sports fans and Happy New Year!  Surely, like me, you all thought we could get through the weekend (or at least until the ‘Skins v Chargers game) before we felt collectively disappointed in a professional athlete that plays for a Washington area sports team.  And yet, we have our very own Agent Zero to thank for the first blog worthy headline of the new year (and decade). 

It appears that Arenas pulled a gun on a fella named Jevaris Crittenden (you can tell how much of the Wiz I’ve seen this year) in the locker room on Christmas Eve.     The dispute (based on a variety of sources) was over money owed resulting from a card game played on the team plane the night before (That’s Christmas Eve Eve).    Funny, I would have thought Gilbert “I’m getting paid $111 million” Arenas to not need to brandish a gun to get paid-but clearly I don’t understand basketball the way he does.  I suppose it was a good thing that Crittenden is alleged to have pulled a gun in the locker room as well-you know, to defend himself…or start a fire fight, who knows? 

Side Notes

* I can’t sneak a can of Coke into the Verizon Center.  How are these guys bringing guns in? 

* Sources all seem to agree the guns were not loaded-which any Washingtonian could have told you because there hasn’t been a Bullet in the Verizon Center since 1997. (ba-dum bum).

* The NBA and the Wizards are both taking the matter seriously and have no further comment.  Thankfully, Gilbert Arenas is neither taking the matter too seriously or keeping quiet.  Follow his twitter for more.

* The one thing that no one seems to be speculating on is whether Arenas will face discipline and how that may/may not affect the team.  Of course at 10-20, even if he is the best player on the team, it seems a foregone conclusion that the Wizards could only be so hurt on the court without him. 

Here’s to the fresh start of 2010 sports fans!

Well in that case, I present something completely different.  Youtube videos of old street cars in the DC area.  A friend tweeted one of these the other day, and I then when on a bit of a hunt to find a few. I figure we’ve been hearing the same three stories in the news for the last two weeks, why not just take a break and look at something old and cool?

I think a few running street cars would be cool in the city, and I hope that the project the city is working on now is successful.

May this entertain you for at least some of the last few hours you are stuck in the office.  Note, The link is in the title and then the video should be posted below it (but the link is there just in case).  Also, some of the music/soundtrack is a bit lame-not taking blame for that.

14th Street (Early 50′s)

More after the Jump

Del Ray and Alexandria

Mail Delivery in 1903

And the Ever Popular “Georgetown to Glen Echo” Line

In 2006, college basketbal in DC was really good.  Georgetown made an elite eight, Maryland was its usual decent-to-good self, and little George Washington was running the A-10 on the way to a one loss regular season, and 26-2 overall after bowing out of the A10 tournament early.  The buzz around this GW team was insane-no one could tell how good they were.  They had been ranked in the top 10 at one point but had, admittedly, not beaten anyone out of conference worth noting.  They went on to win one game against UNC-Wilmington, before being served up to Duke in the second round in front of a “neutral” crowd in…well…North Carolina.

The “George” everyone took note of that year, however, was George Mason.   From the moment Phil’s Mom picked them in Mr. Tony’s celebrity bracket, right through beating North Carolina and UConn to get to the Final Four, Mason was the heartfelt-feel good pick of the year.  Especially in DC. 

After that-both teams pretty much didn’t do anything and American has been the biggest story with a couple of “almost wins” over Villanova and Tenn.  Mason has gone back to its role of decent CAA team, and GW just about drowned in two fairly awful seasons. 

Both teams this year do have a little something to talk about.  Mason is sitting at 3-3 , playing a lot of big programs and GWU is 4-1 with a few big wins over admittedly weak teams, and the POTUS in attendance for their one loss.

So what do two used-ta-be teams do now that the lime light is over?  Well they sell their B-list college hoop celebrity status to the fullest with a grudge match.  Behold BeatGeorgeMason.com    Yes the “Battle of the Orange Line” is underway, and there are a few tickets left for tonight’s game at the Smith Center in Foggy Bottom.  Glad to see the GW is at least trying to make this a rivalry (even if, you know…it isn’t.  Yet.)

I, for one, am behind this move and hope that this becomes a full blown rivalry.  College hoops is a strange beast that prevents a lot of would be match-ups from happening.  Teams with a pedigree like Georgetown and U-MD are loathe to play the likes of Mason and GWU because they occupy that dangerous middle ground:  Not cupcakey enough to be an easy win, but not big enough to make any statement should they win.  So as much as I would have liked to see Mason/GWU/American vs. UMD/Georgetown that isn’t going to happen. 

Cultivating these relationships though, between two teams that are roughly going to be in the same competitive level-well that’s something that (if done properly) will benefit both teams.

It’s actually already getting a little chippy!  Mason blogger over at George Mason Basketball essentially insinuated that GWU was only good because it could no longer recruit from fake high schools (called “diploma mills“) that manufacture degrees for students who wanted to play basketball-and there certainly could be some truth to that.  Given that players like Omar Williams and Mo Rice almost certainly did come from these types of schools, it’s a fair assessment.  When GW fans allegedly tried to correct the GMU blogger that fan favorite “Pops” Mensa-Botsu was NOT a diploma-mill product in the comment section (in fact, he went to St. Augustine Prep) those comments (at least according to Andrew at Colonial Hoops-and I don’t have reason to doubt him) were deleted.  Repeatedly. (Again, allegedly.) 

I wonder what these fathers of the Revolution would think of such an information war?  In any event, this can only be good for our local economy and identity as a city.  Hopefully this game will serve as a prototype for other schools to join in the fray and the local DC College Hoops Community will be better served by some intra-area competitive play. 

Also-I’m a GW Law alum so RAISE HIGH THE BUFF AND BLUE!

In case Patrick’s thinly veiled plea to go see him on Saturday night doesn’t speak to you (or, the far more likely event is that so many of you rush to buy tickets that the show sells out) I’ll throw out another suggestion for Saturday night-The Washington Wizards open their season on Halloween night. 

Maybe its a testament to how scary last year’s basketball season was that the Washington Wizards are opening the Home season on Halloween.  Of course, with the return of Agent Zero Gilbert Arenas to the floor, The Wiz are already 1/19th of the way to matching last years total and are probably “dressing up” for Saturday as the team they used to be-a low seed playoff team and early first round exiter.  Of course, making the playoffs (or just being competitive) will be a huge step up for this team and attendance at basketball games should increase.  They’ve already shown their Western Conference underachieving counter part, the Dallas Mavericks, that they mean business handing them a home opening loss on Wednesday night. 

The Wiz should play a good game Saturday night, and even if they don’t they are encouraging costumes so you’ll be able to hide in shame-unlike certain other franchises that are run as if they are a small Central American dictatorship I could name.

Free Masks, Candy and Schedule Magnets for fans as well as a contest for best costume-which will win you season tickets, so nothing to sneeze at there.  What would be a wining idea for a costume?  I’m thinking a LOT of people will go as a, wait for it, WIZARD so if you go that route make sure yours is killer.  Also, tasteless stuff is probably not going to cut it, even though I’d give you style points, it is a family event. 

My suggestion is to tape a lot of fake money to your shirt and go as the Wizards first round draft choice-CASH.  (If you have a friend, they can be “Cash Considerations.”)

Whatever you do, dont’ be a ceiling fan.  Please.  For me.

The District unveils its new "Wrong Way" sign....

I kept thinking to myself “I really have to lay of the ‘Skins.  Everything you write about them is just terrible.  I’ll wait until they do something right before I post about them again.”

Well after the Warriors of Washington lost the battle of Little FedEx Horn, I’m not sure that day is going to come. Zorn has been relieved of his calling the play duties, Campbell benched-these things are as close to  “positives” as Washington will see for a while.

At this point, I think this youtube video is about as close as I can get to something to be positive about.  Lionel Richie in the background is very relaxing to be honest.  I grieve for you Washington-I suggest you start getting interested in hockey real quick.

Hee-Haw. A seething commentary on the state of the Nats, or are these guys just a couple of Asses having some fun?

Even on the tail end of a 100+ loss season, it is nice to end with a sweep of a division rival complete with walk off grand-slam to send the fans home for the year.  It seems like years (not months) ago that the DC Metblogs crew stopped out to the stadium for opening day-and yet that is just what bad baseball is, a long season.

Over this past year though I’ve come to realize something about at least myself with regards to bad baseball-I’m okay with it.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m really looking forward to good baseball (or at least the .500 baseball we had our first season) finally coming to town-but baseball has really started to take a foothold in this town.  How can I possibly say that when the ratings are awful and the park is nearly (or more than) half empty every home game?  I think the above photo is part of that evidence.

The fact is that, good or bad, the Nationals are part of the landscape in DC now.  The new stadium isn’t ALL that new, the players aren’t all just faceless fill-ins, guys like Zimmerman and Strassburg are intent on committing to play in DC, NATS FAIL took off this year, and two fans decided to dress up like Dunn-key’s for the game.  It’s not great when your team is the joke, but at least people are laughing and not just walking out.  Apathy still reigns with regard to the Nationals and the larger DC community, but I think its fair to say that the hardcore fans are there now.  The people who want to watch baseball, rain or shine, good or bad and are otherwise committed to team are established.  That base is here now, and everyone else is at least aware that there is a team to go see if they want to.  Attendance next year probably still won’t be what everyone wants it to be, but I expect that at times it will spike (When the Opening Day, Strass pitching, etc.) and with a team that will finally, probably start playing better baseball (at least .400 I would guess) my hope is that this team is finally turning around.

And if they don’t-well they are at least a good laugh every now and then.  Something for the casual fan to kvetch about at the water cooler without really knowing what they are talking about (It’s easy to pick up on the fact that the “Nats Stink”), and a great place for the newly committed fan to go and watch a ball game and commiserate with some others that know what the score is.

I imagine later this year we’ll do a full recap of the season and a look forward to the next, but for now I just have a vaguely optimistic feeling about this club based on the appearance of a couple of jack-asses.  Go Nats.

Redskins faithful, your favorite team lost to the Detroit Lions.

I’m sorry-maybe you didn’t hear me.  The DEEEEE.  TRRRROOIT.  LIIIOONNSSSSSS…..

While I do think that Jim Zorn isn’t helping the situation, and any responsible organization would fire him from being head coach tomorrow-let’s keep in mind that this is not a responsible organization.  I think we all know who is to blame for this “bottom of a public toilet” they call a football team here in DC-but since you can’t fire him…well…Zorn is going to go.  The question is just…when.

It’s kind of like throwing out your coffee mug because the coffee tastes bad when your $4.5 million coffee pot is broken-it doesn’t really make sense, but its all you can do.

In any event-Redskins fans, prepare for endless, endless talk about what is wrong with the Redskins from now until they beat an NFC East team via all forms of local media.  My deepest condolences.

Tracking the Media Meltdown

(Note: At 8:31p I don’t see an official story on the WaPo covering the game in my RSS feed.  Sad.)

Sports Bog: Someone’s got to go.

Sports Bog: Worst loss by a DC Sports team in 2009

So the Redskins managed to win a game yesterday, a boring 9-7 affair that was supposed to be a confidence building blow out.  I even started Clinton “Fantasy Killer” Portis in my league this year (over Fred Jackson, btw) because the consensus was “the Skins were going to bounce back hard.” (Note:  I will never ever start Clinton Portis in a fantasy league again.)

Well a 2 point win with no TDs against what is clearly one of the worst teams in the league during your home opener isn’t going to build a lot of confidence in your football program.  Which may be why some fans were booing the Skins yesterday at FedEx field-to which I say good, they deserved it.

Yes, despite the effort by the NFL and its franchises to engender a truly familial feeling between its team and its fans, the brotherly love has been seeping out slowly and surely since Dan Snyder took over the team.  Sunday some paying fans decided to express their feelings about that, and I applaud them for doing so.   Not only has this team underperformed on the field, but there has been well documented mistreatment of the fan base off the field as well.  Any fan, or non-fan really, has the right to voice their displeasure in any way they see fit (See: First Amendment).

Skins fans have seen this dance before, and they’ve been watching it for years now.  Close wins in games that should be blow outs, barely losing games they have no business in all to either not make the playoffs or make the playoffs and then do nothing.  Skins fans know that a team that cannot get into the end-zone against the Rams at home, could very well lose to Detroit on the road.  They weren’t booing a victory, but that they’ve been duped into watching a rerun.  Again.

Now to the responses from the players:  I can appreciate Randle-El’s plea not to boo because the team doesn’t appreciate it.  I think Chris Cooley doesn’t really get it when he says Skins fans should try and be the best fans-my guess is that a lot of fans feel like they aren’t rooting for the best team.  What do they have to cheer for?

The Skins, as players and a franchise, need to realize that although they think they are athletes competing on gridiron of war-they are not going to war.  They are not representing and playing for our best interests in the greater wide world-they are entertainers.  We are entertained by football, and when we are not entertained by football (as when we are not entertained by anything else) we get to voice our displeasure.

Which brings me to Robert Henson, who took it upon himself to lash back at fans of the Skins for booing.  Rather than anyone saying “Yeah we can understand the teams frustration” or “we need to do better,” Mr. Henson decided to tweet that “All you fake half hearted Skins fan can .. I won’t go there but I dislike you very strongly, don’t come to Fed Ex to boo dim wits!!” Well Henson, that might be because Skins fans feel like they are cheering for a bunch of half-hearted Skins players.  Then after explaining to these “dim wits” what real Skins fans do, and how much better he is for earning more money then most people, Henson offered some half heart apology after 90% of twitter handed his moronic statements back to him.  If I was paying some-one’s salary and they weren’t pulling their weight, they’d be lucky if all I did was boo.

Point being, if the Redskins want to avoid being booed, they need to win-and win like a team that is in control of a game.  Score more points, particularly touchdowns, against weak teams (read: DETROIT this week) and then beat a team that is good.  If they want to beat the Giants 9-7, I think the fan base would be okay with that.  They aren’t in that position though.  Washington’s football club has boxed themselves out of “getting the benefit of the doubt” and as such, close wins against horrible teams aren’t going to cut it.  If they want to get back in the good graces of the sports fans here in DC they need to win in Detroit, they need to get in the end-zone more than once and they need to win by 2-3 scores.  Anything short of that and they’ll be lucky to not get booed at the gate against the Bucs the following week.

Don’t even contemplate what happens if they lose to the Lions-which for Skins fans is sadly a very real possibility.