Looks Like Someone Has a Sixpack of the Mondays

1. I know some of you grow tired when you read stories on here about the exasperated nature of many fans when it comes to the antics of our favorite football team. We can tell by reviewing the analytics that a portion of readers on here don't live in the DMV region. It tends to be those folks who have the least amount of patience with this kind of material. While I do apologize for that, sometimes it is necessary to be frank about the way things come off locally. After all, the rest of us get our noses rubbed in the mess that the organization leaves in the corner or the room on a somewhat constant basis. Anyway...I suppose today's Sixpack is a bit dark, but it is honest. Can't have highs without lows...but this elevator just keeps finding lower levels.

2. If you ever feel like the Redskins can't roll out of bed without creating some kind of controversy, you aren't alone. Take the recent letter Bruce Allen sent out that talked about the core of our team and left out the quarterback that they announced as the starter just a matter of days later. A letter like that is supposed to keep the passionate fans impassioned, and to inspire fans to keep the faith. Instead, this letter became just another in a long line of PR gaffes...but there is at least some part of that situation that is unfair. Before I attempt to offer any kind of defense for the Redskins, let me just underline that, yes, this was another in A LONG LINE of public relations nightmares that could have been avoided. That is the key part of it all--the manner in which these kinds of things can be avoided, but are not.

3. As much as I hate to say it, we absolutely read way too much into the things that happen in and come out of Ashburn. We are quick to develop a federal case from words uttered by a guy like Bruce Allen, even well after we have come to grips with his...style. Seriously, how banged up can we legitimately get over things Bruce Allen does anymore? It's like a puppy with a bladder condition--what do you think is going to happen on your rug?

4. We talk about this team going in a new direction, pointing out the hire of Scot McCloughan, and then the team force feeds us a turd sandwich with the announcement that there will, in fact, NOT be a competition leading up to camp for the starting quarterback job. I don't care how you characterize this move--I firmly straddle both sides of the fence when it comes to the arguments--you can't say that this move gels with the notion that we are "going in a new direction." All at once, it has the flavor of head coach-subversion, superstar-catering and head-scratching timeliness. Avoidable? Uhhhhhhh...yeah.

5. I think part of what makes this never-ending cycle difficult to endure is the downright insulting nature of the manner in which the Redskins engage the outside world. They race to say what they think we want to hear and and are just as quick to change message for reasons that stem from what at least appears to be an unprecedented level of apathy towards what we actually think and feel. It's like listening to someone try and play Beethoven on a Fisher-Price toy piano...with their toes...while wearing boots. Anyone watching can observe the inherent futility of such an endeavor, yet there they are, looking at us like we're idiots for not being able to recognize the tune.

6. If you truly cared about what your fans thought, you wouldn't send out ANY letters trumpeting moves and changes and the future. We have hired competent people before. We have drafted and signed good players before. We have had the "right idea" before. You have to let people work. You have to let people do their jobs without interference from people who have repeatedly proven that their involvement is detrimental to long-term success. Jay Gruden did not strike the tone of a man who felt "empowered" when he named RG3 the starter last week. McLovin' still reports to Bruce Allen. Until proven otherwise, all these men at this point are potential Mike Shanahans...coming back years later to remind us how we have learned absolutely nothing.

P.S. Yeah, all that to get to my disgust over the Shanahan interview. I'm not even sure I can feel anything anymore in my loins. They have literally been beaten to a pulp by this shit. I suppose I'll just be joining the rest of the faithful this spring...with a bag of frozen peas on the ol' bean bag and a cold washcloth over my face...praying that evidence eventually materializes that points to justifiable hope.