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For years, Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column has been a must-read for all NFL fans. For Redskins fans, it was a hard column to have to read, as King was a major obstacle for Art Monk's Hall of Fame chances for so long. But that all changed when he used his column a few years back to openly endorse Art's candidacy. The results speak for themselves. Few fans can appreciate the power of Peter King's perspective better than us. So when I was given an advance copy of Peter's book to review for Hogs Haven, I relished the opportunity to get a peak into whatever it was that King felt the need to write a whole book about.

Turns out almost 2 million people click onto his weekly MMQB column. That is a pretty ridiculous number. Especially when you consider almost a quarter of the content is dedicated to his daughters' softball and field hockey exploits, coffee talk, and television reviews (to name but a few of the more personal items Peter King includes regularly in his columns.)

I have taken my "swings" at Peter King through the years, riling up the literally tens of readers at Ahern Inquirer, where Kevin and I started. It is hard enough being a Redskins fan without having to hear a guy with King's voice remind me how bad a team we are, or why Art Monk is not deserving of the Hall of Fame. Yet each week, there I am, staring at my computer, taking in every word King writes.

Because of fantasy football, the Internet, satellite television, and office pools, we have all turned into fans of the whole NFL, not just our one hometown team. Peter King--despite his occasionally obvious bias--brings us behind the scenes each week with behind the curtain-type stories that feed our insatiable appetite. The Monday Morning Quarterbackbook is the same kind of read. There are classic articles, such as the one back from March 2003 when King attended an exhibition baseball game, retrieved a foul ball hit by Miguel Tejada, and infamously assured a young kid that the "True Ball" was the one that the kid had. The margins of the book are lined with short anecdotes, coffeenerdness bits, "Factoids That Only Interest Me", "10 Things I Think I Think", and travel notes. You could flip through this whole book just reading the margins and be thoroughly entertained.

Interspersed throughout the book are a few very interesting lists: Top 100 Players of All Time, Best and Worst of the NFL (featuring stadiums, traditions, bars, and pet peeves), and Hall of Fame Snubs. The highest ranking Redskin on the 100 greatest list comes in at #7! I won't steal too much of King's thunder here, but I will say that there are a few players that we signed late in their careers who make the list in the 30's. King also lists his 100 Greatest Players of Today. Suffice to say the current Redskins team is not exactly over-represented (Haynesworth checks in at #21, while Carlos Rogers, LaRon Landry, Clinton Portis, and Chris Cooley check in at #'s 65, 69, 87 and 94, respectively.)

This book is one of those books you can read a little here and there without worrying about losing the plot or storyline. It is jam-packed with the kind of insight and perspective that we have all come to expect from anything Peter King writes. If you have a close friend/family member that is a football fan or football junkie, this book is a must-read and great gift idea for the holidays.

Click here to purchase on amazon.

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As the hostility between Redskins' fans and Dan Snyder reaches new levels hourly, I was quite surprised to find an article stating Dan Snyder was one of the investors trying to move the Expos to Washington DC back in 2003. 

[BET founder Robert] Johnson plans to purchase 51% of the Expos, leaving baseball with the remaining 49%. Over the next three or four years, he and the remainder of his ownership group, which includes Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, would purchase the remaining 49% of the team. Johnson and Snyder would also form a joint venture to create a regional cable television sports network delivering professional football and baseball content to the Beltway.     

My head is about to explode trying to visualize what the Nationals and Nationals Park experience would be like today if Snyder owned the Nats. Here's what I'm thinking:

- The "Red Loft" and "Red Porch" bars would of course be named something idiotic like the "Geico Loft" and the "Taco Bell Porch"

- Inaugural season roster would have been in the $180 million range and included everyone in the steroids era, much like when Monty Burns put together his softball league.

- The pick used to draft Ryan Zimmerman would not have existed because it would have been traded for the rights to acquire Albert Belle

- Additional $2 "transportation" fee added to every ticket since majority fans avoid parking and take the Metro 

- Rain coats are not allowed in the stadium, but umbrellas and ponchos are available for a nominal $4 each.

- Local food varieties such as Ben's Chili Bowl, Five Guys, and Hard Times Cafe will be replaced by Johnny Rockets and Hooters

- Pictures with the Nationals Mascot, "Screech brought to you by Bank of America," cost: $5 for adults....$3 for kids...$1 if it's the kid's birthday

- Deion Sanders signed to play center field. 6-year deal for $62.2 million ($44 guaranteed)

- Anti-Nationals Foam fingers will not be allowed since they could result in someone getting poked in the eye

Today kind of feels like the scene in Anchorman directly after the rival news teams had a gang fight in the alley.

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Hogs Haven on Sprint NFL Mobile Live

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There is now another way for you to follow all the action here on Hogs Haven.  Sprint - the NFL's official telecommunications sponsor - is also now a proud sponsor of SB Nation and our content.

What's in it for you?  As part of SBN's deal with Sprint, many of our posts are now being fed to Sprint's NFL Mobile Live program that is available on most Sprint phones.  To access our content, just go to the Washington Redskins section of the program - where you will see "SB Nation" labeled as one of the headings.  Pretty cool, if you ask me.

As cool as that is, it only scratches the surface of what you can do with the NFL mobile live service. You can listen to live radio play by play of Redskins games, watch NFL Network live, as well see highlights from every game throughout the day. It's really an embarrassment of riches for NFL fans and if you're a big fantasy football guy it's absolutely invaluable. You can set alerts for all your players and it will keep you up to date on scoring, injuries, everything you'd want to know about them. That said, my fantasy team is in first place in the Hogs Haven Fantasy league at 5-1...my only loss being the week I forgot to set my lineup (had 4 guys on BYE. I have Favre, Adrian Petersen, Vikings D, and Matt Ryan).

Best part is NFL Mobile Live is free for Sprint customers.

Obviously Sprint is a sponsor, but I wouldn't be endorsing the product if it wasn't so impressive. I also am in no way forced to plug them. I think anyone who will use/has used the service will back up everything I've said about it. If you are a Sprint customer and have used NFL mobile live, let me know what you think in the comments.

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Renaldo Wynn returned to the Skins to add experience and depth to the defensive line. The emergence of some of the younger players rendered Wynn expendable four games into the season.

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In a move we expected to go down at the end of training camp, Renaldo Wynn was cut from the Redskins roster. The move was due to the Skins needing space for the punter, Glenn Pakulak. For the first time in a while, the team actually has some depth on the defensive line. The emergence of Jeremy Jarmon as an active contributor certainly aided the decision.

Renaldo had not been active in any of the season's four games thus far. You know everyone thought very highly of Wynn. Kevin and I met him at an offseason event and he sat and spoke to us at length about a wide variety of subjects. He talked to us about his time with the Giants: "That defensive line had zero respect for the offensive line here." He was a likable dude with an easy-going, approachable demeanor.

What stood out most to me was that when you shook his hand, he had these gigantic club hands. Clearly a big and strong dude, he was not a factor in our immediate or long-term future. When the punter situation settles, I wonder if he'll be back.

Thanks for your work here Renaldo.rena

Allelujiah!! The pitcher of Kool-Aid is now half full! Like we've all agreed on for weeks here, Jim Zorn officially has help with the play-calling with the addition of Sherman Lewis.

[Lewis] coached running backs and wide receivers with the San Francisco 49ers, learning this style of attack from Bill Walsh. He moved on to Green Bay and was the Packers' offensive coordinator under Mike Holmgren for eight years, earning his second Super Bowl ring.

 - As Holmgren's offensive coordinator, Lewis put together the game plan and ran the offensive practice. 

- Lewis had play-calling responsibilities with the Vikings and the Lions. The 2000 Vikings reached the NFC championship game.

- In San Francisco, Lewis worked with Jerry Rice and John Taylor. In Minnesota, Randy Moss and Cris Carter.

- Lewis has worked with Blache (in Green Bay) and Jim Zorn (Seattle) in the past.

My first thought is, "What a perfect fit!" while at the same time, "What took so long!?" The big question now is exactly how much pull he'll have in the play-calling with Zorn and Sherman Smith already in the captain chairs. Will Lewis be in the booth or just involved in game-planning? We'll find out on Sunday.

*This statement has been confirmed by multiple sources, Florio-style (which is to say I polled my wife, my 2-year old son, and the leftover spaghetti in the fridge.)

We are proud to say that, in addition to going over 1 million visitors, Hogs Haven membership is cruising toward 1,500, and rising fast. With all the new folks coming through and checking us out, we thought it would be a good idea to set a season-opening tone to kind of spell out what it is we all do here and what we think it is important people know.

1) First and foremost, this is a fan-based community. We are in this because we love rooting for the Redskins and following our favorite team. Being a fan is about lovin', not hatin'. Criticism of the team and the moves it makes are welcome and necessary, but we try to refrain from hating on Skins here. You do that and you pretty much have identified yourself as a Cowgirls or Eagles fan.

2) The community theme is very important. Once you sign in as a member, we encourage everyone to engage in the various discussions and themes being posted. Kevin and I aren't the only ones offering thoughtful pieces to read and comment on. The FanShots and FanPosts are constantly updated with new material by all our members. We encourage you to post there--we often promote those to the front-page when they offer a fresh take or a cool thought that adds to what we have been talking about most recently.

3) This is a big one. When you read anything on this site that you like or would recommend, click the "Rec" link at the bottom of the article. A lot of newer folks don't know about this (it took me forever to figure it out as well.) The more "Rec's" an article gets, the higher profile the discussion becomes. You can "Rec" articles written by Kevin and I (you know, for the effort), but you can also Rec FanShots, FanPosts, comments, etc. If someone makes a good point, uses a well-reasoned argument, makes you laugh, or writes/links something that you would recommend someone else check out, "Rec" it.

4) Profanity is a part of all of our lives. There is a huge difference though between dropping the occasional 'shit' or 'damn', and peppering your commentary with f-bombs. We consider ourselves a bit more clever here and would like to think that instead of dropping f-bombs, we could all be a little more imaginative with our language. Excessive or pointless profanity is likely to get you at least warned. Racial slurs, threats of physical violence, or other forms of verbal harassment are grounds for getting banned. Chances are, the guy you are passionately debating the issue of the day with loves the Redskins as much as you do. If he's not, chances are pas493 (longtime member and commenter) either has already or is in the process of bashing this individual.

5) Aside from pas493being our resident bouncer of obnoxious opposing team's fans, we should all be respectful to anyone stopping by to check out our dialogues or chime in from time to time. We have drawn a lot of other team's fans to this site and I know from reading the comments sections of other blogs that the general consensus is that our discussions here tend to be more rational, fair-handed and even than a lot of other sites.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of etiquette but this covers the basics. In addition to this, we have a few things we will be looking to get accomplished this season that will involve pretty much anyone who wants to be involved.

1) Call-in podcasts- Kevin and I will be hosting a semi-regular call-in podcast that has Ghetto-Fabulous written all over it! We look forward to adding that facet to this site ASAP. Keep your eyes open for that.

2) The Inquisition - This will be a regular mailbag feature that will cover topics as wide-ranging as the questions you ask. We are of course a Redskins-centric site, but the fun of seeing what kind of things you will ask is simply too tempting to restrict anything. There will be a post coming out soon getting this set up.

3) Road game-watch events - We are working with a few bars in the area to try and nail down a Hogs Haven event for at least one road game. As soon as we have details, you will hear from us. Ideally, we would basically be doing our tailgate at a bar.

To everyone that makes Hogs Haven fun to be a part of, Kevin and I thank you very much. Keep up the good work and HTTR!

via static.nfl.com

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Thanks to Ed over at Big Blue View for coming up with the idea, but all 4 NFC East bloggers for SB Nation started an email chain emailing their predictions for the 2009 season. Records are below and explanations are after the jump. I can understand the Giants' and Eagles' bloggers being optimistic since their teams made the playoffs last year, but the Cowboys' blogger I have to laugh at. The Boys have a great offense, no one can deny that, but their defense is way too suspect, and I don't think the Cowboys WRs will be productive 17 weeks. Not to mention Wade Phillips still looks confused as ever on the sidelines.

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