By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
LANDOVER,
Md. – At least Washington’s offense has the season-opening first half to
remember. The number of forgettable quarters since then is now six and
counting.
The ‘Skins’ scintillating 30 minutes against Philadelphia were a distant memory by Sunday as they hosted the Dallas Cowboys in a 31-21 loss. Quarterback Case Keenum reverted to a pumpkin-like journeyman. The young receiving corps resembled meek mice per its preseason projections.
One
similarity was halfback Adrian Peterson. Like Derrius Guice in Week 1, Peterson
might as well have donned glass slippers for his carries (10 for 25 yards),
though he passed Jim Brown on the all-time list for rushing touchdowns.
It
just seems like the clock struck midnight at halftime in Week 1 and the
Redskins’ offense woke up from a fairy tale beginning.
“We’d
all like to throw touchdowns every play and throw deep bombs to everybody,”
Keenum said Sunday, after connection on two of the former and none of the
latter. “It’d be great if we can throw it to (tight end Vernon Davis) in the
flat and he jumps over people. Those are incredible, incredible plays that
those guys made.”
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Three
cheers for the California State Assembly.
Select
college athletes have tried standing up against the NCAA syndicate. For the
most part, those individuals were swatted down like pesky flies. Incremental
gains have been achieved – cost-of-attendance stipends, “guaranteed”
scholarships, less-stringent transfer rules, more food – but only through pulling
teeth, public shaming and court rulings.
The
few appeasements haven’t hurt the NCAA, which views them as pocket lint more
than pocket change. As long as the core shams of amateurism and
student-athletes remain intact, the billion-dollar industry keeps humming, even
as naysayers occasionally nibble at the margins.
But
on Monday, California lawmakers took a welcome and long overdue step in the
fight against the NCAA’s unrighteous business practices.
By
a vote of 73 to 0, the State Assembly approved the Fair Pay to Play Act, which had
already cleared the Senate. The measure would
allow athletes in California to be paid for the use of their name, image and
likeness, wresting that lucrative stream from schools, conferences and the NCAA
– all of which bar athletes from signing endorsement deals.
The
act falls short of paying athletes a share of the loot they generate, but it
allows them to capitalize on themselves when the opportunity exists. Civil
rights advocates and free-market proponents cheered. The NCAA Board of Governors
booed and on Wednesday sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has 30 days to
sign or veto the legislation.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
After
showing contempt for Adrian Peterson before Sunday’s loss at Philadelphia, Redskins
coach Jay Gruden doubled down on the disrespect afterward, claiming that having
the future Hall of Famer in uniform will be a “week-to-week” decision.
That
was the insult on top of the indignity, the put-down on top of the affront. Peterson
was fit but declared inactive against the Eagles, making him a healthy scratch
for the first time in his 13-year career.
Week-to-week?
With
players’ availability being so fickle in the NFL – where a change of plans is
always one play away – Peterson’s odds of suiting up for the home opener improved
exponentially by Monday. Turns out that starting halfback Derrius Guice has a right
knee injury that could keep him out for multiple games.
But
Guice’s misfortune doesn’t let Gruden off the hook for flagrant malpractice
against Peterson.
That’s
not how you treat the eighth-leading rusher in NFL history. That’s not how you
handle a player who rushed for 1,042 yards last season and was the team’s
offensive MVP. That’s not how you manage
a position where the alternatives are unproven and/or injury-prone and/or pedestrian.
Gruden’s
chosen three halfbacks for the Eagles game were Guice, making his NFL debut; Chris
Thompson, a fine third-down back; and Wendell Smallwood, a Sept. 1 pickup who also
plays special teams. No offense to those gentlemen, but they didn’t provide
sufficient reason to keep Peterson in street clothes.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
PHILADELPHIA – Washington got off to a fast start Sunday in its season opener against Philadelphia. The home team took a while to get in gear, perhaps due to excessive confidence and insufficient motivation against a division foe predicted to dwell in the cellar.
But by afternoon’s end at Lincoln Financial Field, normalcy had returned. Philly resembled a Super Bowl contender and the ‘Skins looked like candidates for the No.1 draft pick. The Eagles put Washington in its place and coasted to a 32-27 victory.
The
difference between the first 30 minutes and latter 30 minutes was stark,
highlighting the gulf that separates these teams. In a sense, it mirrored last
season, when Washington started 6-3 but won just once down the stretch.
The
culprits in 2018 were an injury at quarterback and a collapse by the defense.
On Sunday, starting QB Case Keenum escaped unscathed but defensive end Jonathan
Allen was hurt in the first quarter and didn’t return, while both sides of the
ball caved during a second half dominated by Philly.
Of
their seven possessions after Allen departed with a sprained left knee, the
Eagles scored five times. Making matters worse, backup defensive end Caleb
Brantley suffered an ankle injury that ended his day, too, leaving the D-line
with just three healthy players.
“They
took our bulls off the field,” cornerback Josh Norman said. “When you don’t
have that surge up front, (Eagles QB Carson) Wentz is just back their freaking
and extending drives.”
For a squad among the league’s most injured in recent seasons, and a medical/training staff facing internal and external criticism, this was a most inauspicious start. But the ‘Skins did themselves no favor with self-inflicted wounds like penalties and blown coverages, pillars of losing that are all too familiar.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
I
don’t envy commissioner Rob Manfred and his fellow MLB decision-makers, trying
to make baseball more appealing to younger fans while not alienating older fans.
The
goals appear diametrically opposed at times.
Even
developments like live streaming – intended to make games more accessible – can
move the needle in opposite directions for the demographic groups. For instance, take Wednesday afternoon at
Nationals Park, when the Mets and Nats played the rubber match of a three-game
series.
Washington
was still abuzz over the seven-runs-in-the-ninth-inning comeback victory Tuesday
night. But residents hungry for more were sorely disappointed when they tuned their
TVs to Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Wednesday afternoon. They expected to find the
usual fare when the Nats play: Dan Kolko and Bo Porter on the pregame show, and
Bob Carpenter, F.P. Santangelo and Alex Chappell on the broadcast.
Instead,
the local baseball fans were treated to drag racing, the Lucas Oil NHRA
Nationals.
Turns
out that Mets-Nats was on YouTube, which earlier this year expanded its MLB
partnership to include an exclusive 13-game streaming deal. The slate began July
18 with a Phillies-Dodgers contest and has included one game in each week
since.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Mike
Locksley passed his first big test as Maryland’s head football coach: He didn’t
get UNLV’d.
The
Terrapins played host to Howard over the weekend and pounded the visitors in a 79-0
season-opening rout. UNLV likely anticipated a similar breeze when it hosted
Howard in Week 1 two years ago. Instead, the Bison pulled off a historic, 43-40
upset that garnered national attention and helped freshman quarterback Caylin
Newtown emerge from his older brother’s shadow.
As
if losing to a 45-point underdog wasn’t enough humiliation, UNLV also cut a $600,000
check for Howard’s troubles. Conversely, Maryland paid the Bison only $350,000 to
make their 25-minute commute from D.C.
Both
of those “guarantee” games amount to peanuts in college football’s grand scheme.
USA Today, in a recently published rundown of appearance fees for more than 250
games involving at least one Football Bowl Subdivision school this season, reports
that $150 million will change hands.
Some
of those games involve one FBS school against another, ostensibly fair matchups
like Oregon-Auburn ($3.5 million apiece from the promoter) and California at
Mississippi ($450,000 to the visitors). But other contests are pure “payday”
games, in which FBS schools invite Football Championship Subdivision foes to
campus for an expected drubbing.
No
other Week 1 tilt was as spectacularly lopsided as Maryland-Howard, but some honorable
mentions are in order.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
The
National Collegiate Athletic Association cares about colleges a whole lot more
than it cares about athletes. No debate there.
The
only shock is how often the organization goes above and beyond to prove its
true colors.
Maintaining
the sham of “amateurism” while coaches, conferences and assorted stakeholders rake
billions of dollars is the foundation. Preventing players from profiting off their
labor or likeness are the walls. Forbidding
unfettered movement among players – opposed to the freedom for job-hopping coaches
– is the ceiling.
Well
the NCAA raised the roof and lowered itself even further in ruling against offensive
lineman Brock Hoffman, who was seeking immediate eligibility this season after
transferring to Virginia Tech last winter.
Hoffman,
who started for Coastal Carolina the last two seasons, applied for a family
medical hardship waiver. He appeared to have a slam-dunk case, wanting to be two
hours closer to home to help his mother, still suffering aftereffects from surgery
to remove a brain tumor two years ago.
The
application originally was filed in late March and rejected a month later. On
Tuesday, after several appeals filed by Virginia Tech and extensive documentation
of doctors’ notes and Hoffman’s trips home, the NCAA reached its final decision
on the Hokies’ projected starting center playing right away:
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
There are two schools of thought regarding quarterback Andrew Luck’s sudden and shocking retirement from the NFL.
One is an enlightened view that values intellect over emotion and considers everything we know about pro football and the exhausting toil on its players. The other is a remnant of Cro-Magnon thinking and Neanderthal reasoning, full of archaic thoughts that limit masculinity to grit and toughness.
The latter paradigm was evidenced Saturday night at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis, after news of Luck’s startling decision spread during the Colts’ exhibition game. As the four-time All-Pro walked off the field for, conceivably, the last time, fans said goodbye with a chorus of boos and steams of obscenities.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hear the reaction,” Luck said during his retirement news conference later that evening. “It hurt.”
Words hurt? That only proved the point for everyone who parted their lips to curse Luck for retiring a couple of weeks before the season opens – and everyone else who criticized him for leaving three weeks before his 30th birthday.
They consider him soft and selfish for the act. They couldn’t care less about the cycle of injuries, pain, and rehabilitations that Luck said has “taken my joy of this game away.”
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
His
XFL franchise had yet to be named and he had been on the job for less than a
month. But in April, Washington team president Erik Moses received a sign that
his latest venture might resonate among folks in the nation’s capital.
Confirmation
came at a business event where the longtime D.C. sports executive bumped into a
woman he’s known professionally for more than a decade. After telling her about
leaving Events DC and his new job, he says they had a 30-minute conversation
about football. “Her excitement about us bringing in this team was surprising,
and startling in a good way,” Moses said Wednesday in a phone interview.
Now,
19 months after Vince McMahon announced he was resurrecting the XFL, we know
the eight teams’ names. Locally, fans will root for the D.C. Defenders, whose
logo includes a nod to the District flag.
“They
drew from a lot of resources, nationally and locally,” Moses said shortly after
the league’s live-streamed reveal event. “There was a lot of inspiration for
what the nation’s capital represents to the country and the world.”
(“Defenders”
will provide a wealth of material for cynics and comics, but we digress. It’s
still exponentially better than the name of its NFL counterpart.)
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Granted, I might be biased as a graduate of Howard University. But even objective observers have to agree that Howard is arguably the nation’s most prestigious HBCU (Historically Black Colleges & Universities).
The long list of distinguished alums include notables in law (Thurgood Marshall), politics (U.S. Senator Kamala Harris), acting (Chadwick Boseman), writing (Toni Morrison) and much more. As noted on the website, Howard is among the highest producers of America’s black professionals in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, nursing, architecture, religion, law, music, social work and education.
But
golf?
Not
so much.
Future
Bison might never roam the links on the PGA Tour or LPGA Tour. Fortunately, that’s
not the ultimate goal of NBA superstar Steph Curry in his generous gift to the
school. Like other sports, golf offers its participants a host of benefits that
don’t include a paycheck.
That’s
why Curry is making a seven-figure donation as part of a six-year partnership
to sponsor Howard’s first Division I golf team.
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