Ok, I have to admit it…. there have been at least three or four “stories” (if you can call it that) that Lee and I have skipped this week, one of which is actually mildly important. No, not Mathis being let go… we didn’t even have time to see him in a real practice! No, not a number of UDFAs being released, and other signed, after minicamp. No, not Chris Cooley’s wedding. No, not Front Office movements. The only mildly important one was that WaPo actually posted about something (AGAIN) that I mentioned, oh, sometime during last season.
The Redskins may move training camp. To my home town, Virginia Beach, literally, down the street seven miles from my house. Now, you may say “Ok, Bill, but how does that help ME?” And of course, the answer is that it would help because you could get close, first person write ups of the team during training camp. Problem with that is that it’s almost certainly not going to happen now (hey, JaLa at WaPo must read this blog to pick up a few stories after they’ve been put up here, as this isn’t the first time we’ve scooped him). However, in the nice write up, he neglected to talk about the situation with some of the folks here in Virginia Beach…. who have decided that the money needed by the city wouldn’t be offset by the extra tourism. The area they would be practicing at has a couple of good practice fields, AND there is a nearly new high school less than a mile away that also has good facilities at Landstown High School, which WaPo didn’t tell you. So the facilities need work in the COMPACT sense, but counting the meeting rooms at the Higher Education Center (directly across the street from the high school, and with a lot of large meeting rooms and classrooms), and a medical facility that’s being converted even now into a hospital between the two, there’s more there than you heard from WaPo (maybe they should send someone down to look? Just spitballing, here, but I bet a reporter doing small couple day off season story might enjoy the trip, and Tourist Season doesn’t start until tomorrow… oh, wait, too late, then I guess). However, as the site is a good 15 minute drive from the resort strip, the tourist impact would be minimal; most tourists wouldn’t go out there since the area around the Oceana Naval Airstation is “lowly developed”, it looks like you’re going out in the boonies, even if you are surrounded by huge development areas just another 1/2 mile away. So the city probably wouldn’t spend large to get the Redskins. In the WaPo article, you hear the other side, that it would take a 6 figures to get the Redskins down there… and then the city leaders say that it doesn’t make sense unless the Redskins are paying the city… it’s not likely to happen (never say never, but….)
But that’s a story we didn’t cover….
Here’s the REAL story tonight.
The Annual Redskin Report Pigskin Pick’em contest is ON. It’s going to happen, and yes, there will be some prize(s?) for the winner. I’m telling you this early, because last year we did it late… and we didn’t have as many folks play as we hoped, and yet a lot of folks who wanted to play couldn’t. I’ll be setting it up in a few weeks, once it becomes available (think mid-July to early August), and there will be copious announcements of how to get there before then. To that end, however, I need your help (via comments!). While they haven’t started it yet, traditionally we’ve used ESPN’s Pigskin Pick’em as a framework for our pool. Last year, with the confusion and quick close of ESPN, we had some folks use a different program, and I combined folks. Now, I did that last year because at least some of the problem was my fault… but I want ONE spot this time. There are advantages to both, with more control, more reporting, “Robo Picking”, advanced picking (you can pick weeks far in advance, if you need to!), full season looks, automated email reports of standings and statistical pool breakdowns, etc., with the Pool Tool. ESPN, however, has a slicker interface, is hosted by a corporate entity, as occasional “expert” advice and breakdowns (although that said, last year 1/4 of our players beat their best expert……) and is easier to use, and manage. But we give up some control.
So, what’s it going to be folks? Use ESPN, or use one of the great Pool Tools out there to manage it? Please, PLEASE, let me know…. just comment on the post, and we’ll get the info
I have to say it was pretty demoralizing seeing A. Fishman’s name right up in the top 15 of the hundreds of thousands of ESPN contestants all season long. But then it was nice to have a yardstick to compare results against (and see how much smarter Redskins fans — or at least Redskin Report readers — are.) So I guess I’d vote ESPN, although the Pool Tool last year was really easy to use.