Yesterday, Ken posted up his full video of the DC United goal kicks between Robert Henson, Lendy Holmes, Ken, and myself. I included my video below, which has a much better angle and clarity from the one I posted several days ago. It was equally great catching up with the Redskins during the game. They had good things to say about draft pick Perry Riley, who is seeing a lot of action with the 2nd team (he's backing up Rocky). All those updates after the jump.
As for the kicks...I'm in goal first. I'm getting ready to lean one way when Henson toe-kicks a ball right at my head. Definitely wasn't ready for that, which is obvious from the tape. Lendy Holmes is up next and nearly kicks it into the 400 level. Ken Meringolo uses my height against me and kicks a low corner kick as does the 4th kicker, the CEO of n-tieractive. Ken then hops in goal and catches breaks on Henson's crossbar smash and Holmes 2nd attempt in putting it into the upper level. I come in and boot a smash in the upper left corner leaving Ken on all fours (insert joke here). Ken's brother, Joe, then comes in for a cleanup kick and puts it home. Great night all-around, except for me losing the bet and thus having to buy drinks for all Hogs Haven members in Canton that Friday night.
Lendy and Henson have some history together. They both went to Prime U together, Deion Sanders' pre-draft program. I asked how much Deion helped their game in regards to trash talking and blowing obscene amounts of money, but didn't get much more than a laugh there. Hen and Holmes also played against each other from their times at TCU and Oklahoma. TCU had beaten OK the previous meeting they played so Rob was saying they came into their house with Oklahoma having everything to lose. Not so much the case since Oklahoma put a major pounding on the Horned Frogs. When Lendy's smile was getting real big, I reminded him that one of the top YouTube search results for his name is Jordan Shipley's crushing side block on him. His facial reaction was priceless...check out the video and you'll see the hit I'm referring to.
I asked Lendy how much the Redskins' pinged him regarding Trent Williams' character pre-draft, and he said "oh yea, they talked to me." It's an interesting point, but Henson chimed in, "I could never talk bad about one of my boys if they asked about him." Fair enough. I've had many friends who have no business being hired for some jobs, but I'm more than happy to be their reference when whatever suit calls me asking about their dedication.
I of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask Lendy about Malcolm Kelly...a much debated topic here on Hogs Haven. When I asked if he is making progress and what his deal is - if he's going to make that jump, he just kind of shrugged and said "I dunno...we'll see." He of course won't talk bad about his boy....but let's just say my optimism did not go up a notch.
Lendy said he knew Jammal Brown, also a former Sooner, for some time so that's another great bond on the team. Lendy of course played Corner at Oklahoma, and when I asked if he'd rather compete at that position than being 3rd on the depth chart at Strong Safety, he replied "It doesn't matter to me, I just want to be out there." Lendy is 6'1"...not sure his 40 times these days though.
I asked Henson if he could have any player go across the middle on you for a hanging pass, who would it be? Ken chimed in with, "And that includes Haynesworth." Henson laughed and immediately responded Brandon Pettigrew. "Can't stand him..and tell him that. He'll know why!" So the story goes, in a High School game (both from Texas), a key moment in the game Pettigrew ran this route on Henson...as Henson described it, it was like a down, out, sideways, slant, long....the ball was thrown up in the air in the end-zone and Henson pushed him out of the end-zone while Pettigrew was securing the ball in the air after getting good separation on his route. More to come.