Last night I stopped by the grand opening of Spinfire, a new Rosslyn, VA, pizzeria owned by Pierre Garcon. Most Redskins fans probably recall Pierre Garcon's commercials for Paisano's pizza. Well, Garcon's partner in his Spinfire venture is the owner of Paisano's. Ryan Kerrigan also stopped by, so it was something special seeing all the young Redskins fans stand there in awe looking up at their heroes.
Kevin: You must get tons of business offers and opportunities from friends and family...what made Spinfire stand out?
Garcon: Yea, I get countless of them. But with Spinfire, I own it. It's the partners though that made this one stand out.
Will you go as far as Ryan Kerrigan did dressing up in a sun outfit for his commercials?
I could!!! Sometimes you have to go places where people want to go to make things work, but I'm sure Ryan enjoyed doing it and it's not as bad as it seems.
Did the infamous Eastern Motors ever come to you?
They did...but I couldn't dance or sing so they didn't want to do that. But they found Orakpo and Alfred so that was definitely a good thing for them.
Being a 6th round pick what was your draft day like?
Very nerve wracking. You don't know what's going to happen especially waiting the last day to get picked. You never know what's going to happen. That's the worst apart about it.
Did you have a party?
We had a gathering (laughing). Not a party. We wanted everyone to be around because if it happened it was a special moment but if it didn't happen, it was something you could look back on and enjoy it.
You were blessed to play with Peyton Manning your first four years...working with Robert the last few years ...what can he do to improve his game because you've seen the master?
Robert's just got to be consistent. Keep working hard. Studying film. Studying ourselves. Studying teams. Being consistent and getting everyone on the same page and making things happen.
With salary cap and the NFL being business, when you see guys like Bowen and others get cut, do you ever get nervous about being cut?
No, you can't worry about it because any day anybody can get cut. It's part of the business and we signed up for it. You just have to make a play when your opportunity is called upon you. You can't worry about anything else you can't control.
When I talked to you a couple years ago, I remember talking to you about how Shanahan really had you guys going over the middle quite a lot. I remember Josh Morgan getting bent over backwards. How are you adjusting to the Gruden offense and is it more vertical and your style?
Well, it's a job. You just got to do it. If you don't do it someone else will do it. Whatever the coaches call you make sure you win that play. If it's a short pass, vertical, over the middle...you just have to make the best of it and make the play.
OK changing gears...so you were born in New York, grew up in Florida, went to college in Ohio...who is your NBA team?
I like the Lakers (laughing). I'm a Kobe Bryant fan.
Ahh Wizards!! Don' tell me you're a Duke fan too?
Nah nah. I don't like college basketball as much.
Whew. There's too many Duke and Lakers fans in this town. Thanks again to Pierre for the time and best of luck in his new venture. I happen to live a few blocks from this place and I can say the pizza was quite delicious. SpinFire specializes in made-to-order individual pizzas, gourmet salads and hearty calzones, all freshly served in 90 seconds. I'm still confused to how a pizza made to order came out in 90 seconds, but it did and I ate every bit of it. They serve beer and ice cream which is a welcome addition in anyone's book.