Dear Sarge

Om said:

Er ... the Colts had the #1 pick and used it to take Manning. Not sure how the Chargers, picking #2, "had a chance" to draft Peyton?

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Whoops, brain fart. Well, I suppose you could argue Manning fell into the Colts laps and Bill Polian is just lucky...poor Cerrato just didn't have any luck in his tenure.

Manning did fall into the Colts' lap. They sucked---bad. Bad enough to land the #1 pick. And lucky enough to have it in a year a Peyton Manning came out.

That's luck.

The Wiz sucked---bad. Bad enough to land the the #1 pick. Not in a year a Shaq or Tim Duncan came out, but in a year where Kwame Brown was considered a legit #1 pick by many "experts" at the time.

They suck again---bad. And got lucky enough to land the #1 pick in a year they really didn't deserve it. In a year where a potential Franchise guard is available. Maybe their "luck" is about to change and Leonsis will be a genius times two.

Om said:

Manning did fall into the Colts' lap. They sucked---bad. Bad enough to land the #1 pick. And lucky enough to have it in a year a Peyton Manning came out.

That's luck.

The Wiz sucked---bad. Bad enough to land the the #1 pick. Not in a year a Shaq or Tim Duncan came out, but in a year where Kwame Brown was considered a legit #1 pick by many "experts" at the time.

They suck again---bad. And got lucky enough to land the #1 pick in a year they really didn't deserve it. In a year where a potential Franchise guard is available. Maybe their "luck" is about to change and Leonsis will be a genius times two.

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Actually, if you want to talk bad luck, the Wizards are the shining example. They've sucked bad enough to have the number one overall pick several times over the last decade, but were outdrawn in the lottery by teams with lesser chances at least 3 times. This year they actually won the lottery as the third worst team - the Nets were by far the worst team in basketball.

Om, Dan Snyder was luckier than Ted Leonsis.

One of the things being bantered around is the level of "luck" that Snyder has had as owner of the Skins, especially when compared to Leonsis. Om, my question is this: By opining that Snyder has not been "lucky," are you asserting that Snyder (and the Skins) have been "unlucky" in his tenure? Aside from the tragic and senseless murder of Sean Taylor (which to my knowledge no other team has had to endure), I don't think we've necessarily been "unlucky." Thoughts?

MikeSr619 said:

cooley stepping in a divit in the field and out for the season
gibbs' grandchild getting lukemia
alstott's being down but getting the TD anyways

many more but thats off the top of my head.

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Cooley was on a team that was going nowhere last season. Players get injured all the time. Whether the Skins have a penchant for getting bit more than other teams is a possibility.

The Alstott call was horrible and would've meant a playoff game at FedEx and a possible trip to the NFCCG but in all likelihood would've just delayed a trip to Seattle another week and we saw how that turned out.

The Gibbs family situation is the most touchy. I know Om mentioned he was going to write about it at some time, but although there is no doubt that Gibbs loves his family and grandson very much, I think that there were other factors that led to his decision to leave at the end of 2007.

If a referee's call decides the outcome of a game, you can't blame that on luck. You don't want the ref to decide it, then play better. And neither that 2005 team or 2007 team was going anywhere, I think we all know that. And yes, that game cost us the division, but then again so did Casey Rabach when he decided to hold, negating the game-winning 42 yard field goal. John Hall missed the subsequent 52 yarder (EDIT: against the Chargers).

I agree with hail - players get injured all the time. With the amount of injuries in the NFL, I'd argue that we were more lucky that Cooley had not missed a single day of even practice in his previous 5 seasons, but that's just me.

The final argument against any kind of "luck" going against ANY team, is that there are a handfuls of plays in every game that can change the outcome. I contest that the talent level of your players has more to do with them going your way than any kind luck. For example, if we'd had a more talented free-safety against the Saints last year, maybe he doesn't get the ball stripped and taken the opposite direction for a TD.

Look fellas here's the deal,

We're stuck with Snyder like it or not for years to come. Some us have the deep hatred for the man like Sarge does, others not so much.

He's not entered Peter Angelos territory with me just yet but he's come damn close- especially last year with those final pathetic games against NY and Dallas. If the day ever does come where Snyder hits that level, then I may just be done with football. I quit baseball for a long time and it wasn't until recently (last year) that I started to watch baseball again and root for the Nats. I love the Skins too much to ever start rooting for another football team.......

I hope the man has finally let somebody like Shanahan run the show and he can stay in his suite and jump up and down like the rest of us Skins fans when we score.

There are two main problems with Dan Snyder as I see it:
1. He's a fan who thinks he can run a team. This is the least of the two problems I see with him. You can see with his All Pro moves (re: 2000) and even signing guys like Haynesworth are moves that people would make in Madden (I make them too). I love the Skins, have been a fan for close to 30 years and have a good knowledge of football but I would be the last guy to be running this team and despite considering many of you fellow BGOers as highly intelligent football minds, I wouldn't have any of you running the Skins football ops. either. Nothing personal but I think we just don't know how to do it despite many successful campaigns in franchise mode in our favorite football games. Same can be said for Snyder.

2. Part of him is power hungry and wants to bleed as much money out of the fans as possible. I said part of him. I don't know Dan Snyder personally and probably never will. I also know that Snyder donates a great deal of money to charities and seems to really take care of his players when then need him- he'll overpay, provide the team plane, whatever as long as they don't piss him off (Re; Arrington, Coles etc.). So Snyder isn't Satan or Hitler or what ever evil figure you would like to compare him to. That said, there have been (and will still be) times when the man likes to flex his muscles just because he can or sneak some new fee/price/gimmick over on the fans. When it gets to a point, there is a fan revolt and some bad press and the Redskins reverse the move. Perfect examples over the years are the charging for training camp and the banning of signs during games. I expect that to happen again sometime down the line.

Now some may think that it's not Snyder at all, but the people that work for him and that could be true, but as hands on as he has been with this franchise over the years I just can't see others doing stuff that would cause a ****storm without his ok.

So nothing that happens with the Skins shock me that much anymore, it's just a matter of how much they push the fans until they get pissed off enough to make a stink about it. But I'll keep buying my tickets and jerseys and other merch. because I am still a fan and like to rep. my team and watch them play live.

Not much of an alternative in my opinion.

Lanky Livingston said:

Actually, if you want to talk bad luck, the Wizards are the shining example. They've sucked bad enough to have the number one overall pick several times over the last decade, but were outdrawn in the lottery by teams with lesser chances at least 3 times. This year they actually won the lottery as the third worst team - the Nets were by far the worst team in basketball.

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And who is the recipient of said change in fortune?

Ted "Lucky" Leonsis.

Elephant said:

Om, Dan Snyder was luckier than Ted Leonsis.

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Dammit! I lose.

hail2skins said:

One of the things being bantered around is the level of "luck" that Snyder has had as owner of the Skins, especially when compared to Leonsis. Om, my question is this: By opining that Snyder has not been "lucky," are you asserting that Snyder (and the Skins) have been "unlucky" in his tenure? Aside from the tragic and senseless murder of Sean Taylor (which to my knowledge no other team has had to endure), I don't think we've necessarily been "unlucky." Thoughts?

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I think this is another epic thread idea. I see Mike already ticked off a few possible examples below of what one might call Snyder's "unluckiness" ... lemme see if I can come up with an expanded list sure to make Sarge and a couple others' heads explode.

I'll throw my hat in the game. Leading the league in injury minutes per man (we've done it something like an insane 3 out of 4 years at one point) and losing our starting lineup to the degree we have is certainly a run of horrible misfortune that is anything but typical. No doubt Snyder has made some horrible moves, but there's also no doubt we've had some impressive possibilities derailed by devastating injuries.

I don't buy into the luck thing so much as I do misfortune. Luck implies there's some phantom force that keys in on some of us and not others. Misfortune is dictated by circumstance.

I think the "luck" issue has gone beyond what I was speaking of. I was merely suggesting that as a new owner, Dan Snyder could not have been luckier than to walk into this situation he did. In his first season as owner, he had a winning team who made it to the playoffs and then had the #2 and #3 overall picks in his first draft. The subsequent years were less about Snyder's luck as his poor decisions that drove a team on the rise into a team that has been a laughing stock for the past 10 years.

Oh and Om, glad you have seen the light! I knew if I repeated myself over and over again you would agree.