Sunday Smorgasbord 11-26

• As noted in the earlier post, I was at the Redskins 17-13 victory over the Carolina Panthers today. First things first, Jason Campbell was ok, but certainly had Carolina concerned because in the second half I noticed that they were using Julius Peppers as a spy for him. I don't think teams would be doing that with Mark Brunell. The key to the Skins victory today was forcing Carolina to work with a long field on offense all day long. However the Ron Jawarski article in the (Com)Post on Friday vindicated my opinion of the Redskins offensive line (it stinks). The Redskins would be well served to figuring out a way to get better linemen and they can start by dumping the vastly overrated Chris Samuels. Now at 4-7 the Redskins have a decent shot at putting together a respectable record.
• Congratulations are in order to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons who earned a spot in the ACC Championship game last night by beating Maryland 38-24 for the Atlantic Division Title. I saw a lot more offense last night than I thought I would see and I have to give credit where credit is due, Wake Forest is a legitimate football team folks. Of the Tobacco Road schools in the All Carolina Conference, Wake offends me the least (but that isn't saying a whole lot). The Terps were done in by three first half interceptions by Sam Hollenbach that forced Ralph Friedgen into conservative play calling in the second half. While the ending of the 8-4 regular season is a disappointment, you have to remember that this is a team that was coming off two consecutive 5-6 seasons and wasn't expected to be much better than that mark this season. The Terps have a bright future ahead of them and are likely headed to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. to face Navy on December 30th or the Music City Bowl in Nashville on December 29th which is nothing to sneeze at.
• In other ACC Football news, N.C. State's Chuck "The Chest" Amato became the third ACC Head Coach to be fired joining John Bunting from North Carolina and Larry Coker from Miami. Amato was an overrated coach who was living off his resume from F$U and his recruitment of Phillip Rivers. And even when he had Phillip Rivers, he didn't do as well as he should have. Larry Coker though is the victim of circumstance. He was 59-15 at Miami winning a National Title and playing for another. Coker should have been given more time to "turn the program around." Bunting however suffered from working at a basketball school.
• On Frozen Blog deserves credit for breaking the news that long-time Caps Equipment Manager Doug "Sluggo" Shearer had been quietly replaced with Brock Myles who had been the equipment manager for the Portland Pirates of the AHL. Well, I tapped into my vast network of spies and informants and all I have been able to uncover is that Sluggo "was relieved of his duties." No reason as to why in any general or specific manner has been uncovered by the likes of myself.
• My vast network of spies and informants also report that the Atlanta Journal and Constitution's report of Caps Head Coach Glen Hanlon heading towards the Atlanta locker room after Wednesday night's cheapshot and fight filled hockey game is more or less accurate. According to what I've been told, heated words were exchanged between the coaches and both men had to be restrained. Hanlon by arena security and Hartley by his own players. Kudos to Hanlon for following in the tradition of George McPhee for continuing to stick up for his team after the game was over. Odds are that the return bout on December 15th is going to leave Ultimate Fighting On Ice fans bitterly disappointed.
• Just how bad is Darwin's Waiting Room? Well, they finally got under Ted Leonsis' skin this week. There's a reason why I have very little use for those people anymore. If I wanted to I could do a daily post attacking the rank stupidity that dominates that place, but this would become a very boring blog. My advice to Mr. Leonsis is to ignore them, they're idiots and no amount of administration is going to change that. The fans that think this team is soft and has no identity aren't interested in watching hockey, they're interested in watching Ultimate Fighting On Ice. These are the fans that the NHL desperately needs to leave behind if they ever want to grow the game to become as big as the NFL. It should also be noted that Ted felt the need to respond to this nonsense one day before the Caps and Thrashers had their little disagreement on the ice.
• Sorry, once again I just can't resist, but did the Jints blow a 21 point lead in the fourth quarter and lose to the Titans???? BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
• And on that note, this week, the Caps once again have three games on the schedule but they don't play them in four nights. They visit the Ning on Tuesday at 7:30 pm before coming home to games on Thursday night vs. Dallas at 7 pm and Saturday night vs. Buffalo at 8 pm. The Terps Men's Basketball team takes their 7-0 record to Illinois on Tuesday night for the Annual ACC Smackdown of the Big "Ten" on the Basketball Floor. ESPN televises the game at 7 pm. On Sunday they play the third game of a triple header in the one day BB&T Classic at the Phone Booth against Notre Dame around 6:30 pm. The Redskins are back home on Sunday facing the Atlanta Falcons and I'll be there once again for the 1 pm kickoff.
• As always folks, please send all comments, questions, criticisms, corrections, suggestions, and the location of the Holy Grail to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com. Once I get some sleep, I'll check the e-mail and if I don't throw it in the spam file right away, I might just respond.