The summer heat must be getting to everyone. Chairs upended, curses flying and more bumps and bruises than the Filene’s wedding dress sale. And Congress isn’t even in session.
Good thing Barbaro is safe in Pennsylvania. The Kentucky Derby winner can’t come near this region without a Red Cross wagon. Problem is, too many players are jumping aboard it.
Clinton Portis is hurt. In fact, nearly the entire Redskins backfield is on the disabled list along with most of the Nationals pitchers. Even Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was hurt halfway around the globe.
Some people even want to put a Band-Aid on Tony K.’s mouth after his Monday Night Football debut. Tsk, tsk people, he was fine. Save that Band-Aid for Joe Theismann’s mouth if you really want to enjoy the game. Or Larry Michael’s for Redskins games if you can hear the Red Zebra signal, which many people couldn’t. Dan Snyder needs to buy some signal boosters for every beltway exit and paint Six Flags signs on them for the tax write-off.
Why, even some of the more frail media folks are on the disabled list after incurring bad words from Nats catcher Brian Schneider, who used four-letter ones to describe not being hurt. Now there are bruised feelings among the press. Guess those scribes would have melted if they’d heard former Redskins running back Terry Allen regularly use the f-word on me at his locker.
It seems everything has quickly gone south on the local scene. Teams are losing, players are upset and fans are wondering whether they should throw chairs. I’d have thrown mine on Sunday when watching the Nats pull several dumb plays to blow the Mets game, only the bleacher seat was busted. (Kudos to stadium management for responding within two hours of my e-mail on fixing the seat. That was impressive.)
Maybe it’s the hot weather that’s irritating folks. Maybe it’s the realization at RFK that this team is headed for 100 losses no matter how hard the Nats are playing. They’re the knife at a gunfight. The only reason the team remains watchable is because players are still trying.
Hey, if you want a real reason to be mad, did my fellow Comcast subscribers notice a $2 fee for the Nats’ MASN games in September? I don’t mind the $2 bump, but then there’s six months of whatever we still have to pay until the Nats games return. It would have been better if Comcast waited until spring to start. But then, that wouldn’t have been as profitable.
People, it’s time to take your rage on the road and head to the beach before summer ends. Maybe we can all meet back after Labor Day for the Redskins’ opener. The heat will subside. Injuries will mend. Then we can just argue with bone-headed Cowboys fans. And life will be good once more.
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
