The Team Formerly Known as the Senators in the World Series

The World Series starts tomorrow, and all I care is that New York and Philly are out, so who to root for? Well, to drop a little knowledge on you, the Texas Rangers were once the Washington Senators. For those of you too lazy to click the link, the Senators existed from 1891-1899, took a 1 year hiatus, and then were back in DC from 1901-1960, before moving to Dallas and becoming the Texas Rangers. A new Senators franchise then came to DC in 1961, and lasted until 1971 before moving to Minnesota to become the Twins. So what does this all mean? Well, the Kirby Pucket Twins won a world series, but for the team that was a running joke, maybe some kind of weird curse is being lifted.....or maybe DC really is the worst sports city.

I wish I got to make jokes about Josh Hamilton falling off the wagon during a postgame champagne celebration (yes, I know they used ginger ale) and Ron Washington dying to get a 'sniff' every time the game gets tense (or boring). What does this mean for your rooting interest? I have no idea.

Week 7: Redskins 17, Bears 14: Knee Jerk Reactions

Football season is almost at the halfway point! The hair pulling, TV-screaming, remote control throwing and furious cigarette smoking are in full swing. Before I let rationality cloud my judgment, here are my knee-jerk reactions from the seventh game of the season:

Lucky anybody? In a game that will be remembered for turnovers, the Redskins fumbled 6 times and only lost 1 of them. Not to mention McNabb's 2nd pick-6 that was called back only for McNabb's miscue of letting the play clock run out, and Jay Cutler's goal line fumble looked like a game-winning (losing?) TD to me. I watched this one in an NYC bar so didn't get to full appreciate(?) this one, so will keep this relatively brief.

• I should probably give credit to D******* Hall and I will, he had an incredible game showing the playmaker he is; I seriously considered typing his first name. 
• I will stop there though, because one must remember that truly elite cornerbacks almost never even have the chance for 4 INTs because they are thrown at so infrequently. For example, Nnamdi Asomugha was targeted on average about 1.5 times per game last year by Football Outsiders stat tracking, whereas Hall is getting targeted constantly playing across from Carlos Rogers.
• Hall is also the 12th highest paid player in the league this season, ahead of Asomugha and Darrelle Revis. 
• Those INTs do make up for a lot of completions, and I believe vault him into the NFL lead for INTs this season.
• Hall was tied for Cutler's 2nd leading receiver, behind only Johnny Knox's 6 catches.
• Hall isn't great at covering, but clearly has amazing hands......can he play WR?

• McNabb was bad again, meanwhile Jason Campbell quarterbacked the Raiders to 59(!) points.
• Sure glad we didn't trade the house for Cutler before last season.
• We are a New York Giants loss in Dallas away from being in 1st place again. 
• Rak is currently tied for 3rd in the league in sacks, and on pace for 16 this season. I kid you not when I say I expected more than that coming into the season.
• Tana and Cooley keep chugging along, each having a great season while no one else steps up.
• Remember the time against the Colts when Fat Albert didn't play and we were one play away from winning the game? At least 3 great plays today and a reminder why the Skins were the #1 1-yard-to-go defense last year.

 Flying Fat Albert to 'Stop' Cutler

• We have already matched last year's win total, but given how much this team has mortgaged for this season, we want and need a lot more.
• In what may be the most parity driven season in NFL history, where the pathetic Bills can almost beat the preseason Super Bowl favorite Ravens, the Skins just might have a chance.
  

(Hall image courtesy of www.suntimes.com, Haynesworth image courtesy of DC Sports Bog)