Top 5 Most Futile Redskins Moments, 1992-2008

Jim Zorn's initial outing as leader of his "Maroon & Black" culminated in a loss at the 6-9 SF 49ers yesterday. It was the culmination of "full body dry heave" by the once 6-2 Deadskins, and a continuation of 17 years of futility and disappointment. So, before we get to any reflection of this wasted season, or, dare I say, any speculations for the off-season or next year, let's look back at the 5 most futile moments Redskins fans have had to endure since our last Super Bowl appearance:



5. January 9, 1993. San Francisco 49ers 20, Redskins 13.



Ugh. This was the last game of the Joe Gibbs I era. They were defending Super Bowl champs, but had struggled mightily. They were at different points 2-2, and 6-5. They had won most of their games very closely (except beating the Phoenix Cardinals 41-3) and lost most very badly (except a 1 point loss to close the season vs. the LA Raiders). They lost 2 to close the season, they finished 3rd in the NFC East, and things looked sketchy going into the playoffs. But, then, Coach Gibbs took the boys into the Metrodome and whooped the NFC Central champion, Minnesota Vikings. (btw, this was Denny Green's rookie season, and the team included future futility-mongers, Rich Gannon and Terry Allen) Skins fans everywhere were juiced with the possibilty of a playoff run that would lead to the successful defense of the Super Bowl Championship. That would not be.

After coming out flat and spotting the 49ers a 17-3 halftime lead, the defending champs battled back to put the game within reach at 17-13. But, a sustained drive, and a Mike Cofer FG put the game away for the 49ers.

The first of many, many, many disappointing season endings.



4. The 2001 Season.



This was the last time that the Redskins went 8-8. It was also under a first-year head coach, Marty Schottenheimer. Much like this season's version, the '01 Skins were abyssmal on offense - ranking 28th of 31 in NFL scoring. The Tony Banks, Stephen Davis, Michael Westbrook offense (plus the ridiculous 2-game tenure of Jeff George) were quite reminiscent of the Campbell, Portis, Moss version - lame.

But 2001 seemed to be the exact opposite of 2008. The '01 version started out 0-5, and, then, found their footing, and reeled off 5 straight wins. They closed out the season with 2 impressive victories - putting up 40 on the road in New Orleans, and posting 340 yds vs. 187 yds for the Cardinals in the finale. Unlike this year, the season ended with optimism of things to come.

Then...

Boy Wonder felt the need for the Steve Spurrier Experiment. The rest, as they say, is history.



3. 1999.



The last time that the Skins won the NFC East. The Norvell offense had finally - finally - started to pay off. The team finished 2nd in the NFL in scoring with 443 points. That's 443 points with Brad Johnson, Skip Hicks, and Albert Connell. They were the antithesis of the anemic ninnies that Zorny put on FedEx Field this season. Yet, when they met the Tampa Bay Bucs in the Divisional playoff game, their defense gave up a measely 14 points, and lost. It was eerily familiar watching this crew this season, and reflecting on the '99 Skins. Some of that may have to do with the fact that Mike Sellers and James Thrash played on both teams - 9 years apart!!!

Dear God, why did you make me a Redskin fan?



2. 2000.



Also a deja vu of this season, the 2000 'Skins also started off 6-2, and also finished 8-8. The '00 'Skins, though, went into week 9 having won 5 games in a row, capped off by a 35-16 shalaquing of the Jags in Jacksonville. They followed this up with a 2008-esque faceplant on MNF. They, of course, went on to lose 6 of 8, including back-to-back home division loses to the GMen & Igles. Those were bittersweet loses, for they stung, but they sang the death knell of Norvell Turner, a glorious occasion for all of us.

It seemed as if young Dan Snyder had so much promise then. If we only knew...



and, of course...



1. 2005.



This has to be the most painful for young Redskin fans, it seems that pre-Gibbs fans, like our Pops, are quite accustomed to Redskin futility. For those of us who revelled in the Gibbs I era, we were spoiled by the curse of winning expectations, but, at least, we have seen the glory of the coming of the Vince Lombardi Trophy. For those, like the Consigliere, to whom the glory days are but tales of myth and legend, the 2005 season was like a time portal. The Joe Gibbs-led Skins were back in the playoffs. They had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in Big D on MNF in week 2. They fell to 5-6, but reeled off 5 straight wins to close the season, including back-to-back-to-back division wins vs. Dallas, NY, and @ Philly. They put up 52 on the '9ers. CP put up 1500+ yards, and Tana went to the Pro Bowl. It was the Best of Times.

And, then, it was over.

The steady arm of Matt Hasselbeck, and the steady foot of Josh Brown killed our dreams. Again.



Hail...

The Alma Mater takes our lead...

www.kusports.com has produced it's own slew of 2008 Top 5's. I approve.

http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/dugan_man/2008/dec/17/top-5-kansas-football-stories-of-2008/

http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/newell_post/2008/dec/17/top-5-ku-football-plays-from-the-2008-season/

http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/heard_hill/2008/dec/17/top-5-ku-stories-of-2008/

http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/keegan_ratings/2008/dec/17/top-5-postseason-moments-for-the-2007-08-ku-basket/

Top 5 Christmas Hymns

Though the Consigliere and I are crucifixionists, the key to our faith being not the miracle of resurrection, but the superhuman sacrifice and love endured by Jesus via The Passion story, nonetheless, we are great fans of the celebration of the Christ's Mass. Thus, I am inspired to list my 5 favorite hymns which mark the Advent season, and celebrate the miracle birth of The Son of God. They are:



5. O Come O Come Emmanuel

For 700 years, the Jews waited for the coming of the Messiah prophesized by Isaiah. This innocent babe, the realization of God incarnate was foretold, and came to pass. There is no more beautiful portrayal of this story than this traditional Advent hymn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdSMM3RSv9I&feature=related



4. What Child is This

I am nothing if not a believer in second chances. Funnily, it seems that my Christian faith is envisaged in a God who portrays this belief. In fact, the gift of the Christ child was meant to be a second chance for man. Nowhere is this better than dispalyed than through this hymn. It was written by W.C. Dix, who was felled by illness and depression that nearly killed him, yet was given a second chance by God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz44GJlSPeo&feature=related



3. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

From the Gospel of Luke, "an angel of the Lord visits shepherds guarding their flocks in nearby fields and brings them good news of great joy for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.and you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. The angel is joined by a heavenly host saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." The shepherds hurry to the manger in Bethlehem where they find Jesus with Mary and Joseph. They repeat what they have been told by the angel, and then return to their flocks." This is epitomized in this hymn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shr4O1qGXB4



2. O Come Let Us Adore Him

Before Isaiah, Micah prophesizes of a savior from the line of King David, nearly 800 years before Jesus' birth. An angel in the form of a star leads The Magi across the Orient to pay homage to the newborn Son of God. Their story is exemplified, and attached to all of us, through this hymn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z-j5LetzEE



1. O Holy Night

Cooly enough, this was one of the first AM radio broadcasts. The entire nativity is summed up, for me, in this classic. It gives me chills every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFxQYbGKuYo&feature=related

It is also featured in one of my cinematic favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFynECEfw5w



Merry Christmas to all, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.



Share your Top 5's.

December Madness

Editor’s Note: We are diverging from our general Top 5 format to address the abomination that is the BCS. Francis and The Consigliere are graduates of the University of Kansas and the College of William & Mary respectively. As such, Francis is familiar with the frustrations of the BCS system and The Consigliere is well-versed in the awesomeness of the playoff system.

First of all, despite the proclamations of the most merciful, the messiah, Barack Obama, I don't foresee a NCAA Division I football playoff in any future, much less the near one. More important than the fact that the big conferences (and their blazered oligarchs) and the bowl system (and their blazered oligarchs) don't want to give up any of their power/money, is the fact that the general public, or to be precise, the television-viewing public, seems to support the current system. I don't foresee guys turning off the tube on the 1st Monday night in January, so I don't anticipate any change. Sorry, Barack.

However, it is an anathema to competitive sports in its current form. College football's champion is less legitimate than the champion crowned on Dancing with the Stars. And now, its lunacy has bled into determining the champion of my conference, the Big XII. Oklahoma in the title game of the conference has everyone up in arms- and it is baloney. But, it is no different than Oklahoma being in some artificially construed "national championship", which is what we have now.

So, the brain trust here at Top Five, Brothers, and All Things Fried has constructed our own playoff system. Yes, millions of others have done the same, and no, none of them are likely to ever happen. But, nonetheless, this is our blog, so we're doing it. The Top Five is a firm believer in not wasting valuable energy in reinventing the wheel, so we used a system that has been proven to work - that of the Football Championship Series, formerly known as Division I-AA. (It’s also substantially the same system used in every other level of NCAA football.) In doing so, we use a selection committee of 10 rotating regional ADs from D-I schools. For the purposes of our 2008-2009 tourney, The Consigliere and I will serve in their stead. In the FCS, eight conference champs and eight at-large bids comprise the 16-team field. Ours will have the 6 BCS conference champs along with 10 at-large bids. The top-4 seeds are named, and then teams 5-16 are assigned regionally. This is important in FCS because of budget constraints, a problem the BCS lacks - so regionality was not a factor for us. As with the FCS system, conference foes could not square off in the 1st round. And unlike the BCS, the two-team conference limit does not exist in our rules. In our setting, every conference would have a championship game that would have to be completed by the 3rd weekend in November. This would probably call for an 11-game schedule, maximum. First round playoff games would be played at the on-campus sites of the higher seeds. Six rotating bowls, including the Big 4 (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange) plus two others (for us, this year would be the Cotton & Peach) would serve as sites for quarterfinal and semifinal games. Cities would bid for the National Championship game, as they do in college basketball. For our purposes, we'll use the site of the 2009 Basketball Championship, Ford Field in Detroit, MI.

So, here's how our playoffs would work:

(note: we have assumed a win by the higher seeded team for hypothetical purposes.)

ROUND 1

TUE, DEC 2ND 8PM (ET): Georgia Tech @ Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, AL.

WED, DEC 3RD 7PM (CT): Ball State @ Oklahoma in Norman, OK.

THU, DEC 4TH 7PM (CT): Texas Christian @ Texas in Austin, TX.

FRI, DEC 5TH 8PM (ET): Oklahoma State @ Florida in Gainesville, FL.

SAT, DEC 6TH 12PM (ET): Boise State @ Penn State in State College, PA.

SAT, DEC 6TH 2 PM (CT): Virginia Tech @ Texas Tech in Lubbock, TX.

SAT, DEC 6TH 4PM (MT): Ohio State @ Utah in Provo, UT.

SAT , DEC 6TH 6PM (PT): Cincinnati @ Southern Cal in Pasadena, CA.

ROUND 2

THU, DEC 11TH 8PM (ET): Utah vs. Alabama in The Sugar Bowl.

FRI, DEC 12TH 7PM (CT): Texas Tech vs. Texas in The Cotton Bowl.

SAT, DEC 13TH 2PM (PT): Penn State vs. Oklahoma in The Fiesta Bowl.

SAT, DEC 13TH 8PM (ET): Southern Cal vs. Florida in The Peach Bowl.

NATIONAL SEMIFINALS

SAT, DEC 20TH 6PM (ET): Florida vs. Alabama in The Orange Bowl.

SAT, DEC 20TH 6PM (PT): Texas vs. Oklahoma in The Rose Bowl.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

THU, JAN 1ST 8PM (ET): Oklahoma vs. Alabama at Ford Field.


Imagine the possibilities. Get pissed off. Don't watch the BCS.

Comment.