The stock market is dropping hundreds of points every day.

Gilbert Arenas claims he will be healthy in November or December (we’ll see–count me among the skeptics).

Alex Ovechkin has only 2 goals in 7 games.

Guns ‘N Roses has set a release date for Chinese Democracy.

I repeat: GUNS ‘N ROSES HAS SET A RELEASE DATE FOR CHINESE DEMOCRACY.

I have posted on the blog once again.

Tulsa football is ranked in the top 15. TULSA FOOTBALL?!? Sheeeeeeeeeeeee-it (stolen without remorse from Clay Davis of The Wire), I didn’t even know Tulsa had a football team.

We just wanted to take a few quick sentences to give boys a pat on the back. Four in a row since the trade deadline. We know it ain’t much, but when your previous best day of the year was the first of the season, well we’ll take what we can get.

Since officially becoming the youngest team in the league, the boys in red, white, and have neither resembled nor played like the team that is baseball’s worst. Infused with nifty glove-work and speed at the middle infield positions, and what seems to be a genuine leadoff hitter, we’ve actually been looking forward to rather than dreading the standard 7:10 first pitch.

Emilio Bonifacio, left, and Alberto Gonzales walk together after their 10-6 win against the Cincinnati Reds in Washington.

We especially would like to give props to new second-basemen Emilio Bonifacio. He’s young, unproven, and it’s a small sample-size, but this slap-hitting 23-year old is one of the more exciting players we’ve seen step on the field for the Nats in a while. Bonifacio’s blazing speed has helped him produce 2 doubles, 2 triples, and a stolen base in his first 4 starts for the Nats, all wins. Now, not to say that Emilio is the next Jose Reyes, as he’s yet to draw a walk, has a tendency to swing and miss, and doesn’t appear to have much power, but hey, at this point, we’ll take what we can get (it’s been thaaat bad). You can’t teach speed, and he is fucking fast.

Regardless of the negatives and the impending slump that is bound to happen, Bonifacio, along with Alberto Gonzales, and a steady if unspectacular pitching staff has given us in Washington something to cheer about these last four days. Yes, we know, it’s the Reds and the Rockies, but in a year where our last opportunity to watch the home team win 4 straight was in April, we’ll take what we can get. we know it’s cliche, but it certainly is a breath of fresh air to watch a young team hustling their way to a few wins.

Joe-fan wants to be entertained.

When we begin to examine this statement, we come to realize that the recent history that we started this post off with becomes even more relevant. Based on the lack of support for losing (the Wizards) and winning (the ever playoff-bound, defensive-oriented, boring Capitals of yesteryear), and the sudden influx of ‘entertaining’ talent, it begins to become clear how important it is for teams to entertain first, and win second. That is how tickets are sold today. That is how jerseys are sold. And that is how children are won over for life. Oh sure, the winning still needs to come, but it needs to be done in style for it to be embraced.

Alex Ovechkin, Gilbert Arenas, and Clinton Portis

Why else would the Wizards throw Gilbert Arenas a blank check worth well over $100 million coming off a knee injury? It’s certainly not just for his on-court antics (he missed about 60 games last year). It’s more about the entertainment value. We watched last season. We saw the empty seats night after night for a winning, but Gilbert-less team. We saw the biggest single ovation that the Wizards got all of last year was when Gilbert Arenas jumped on the scorers table before game 3 against the Cavs to pump up the crowd. Arenas played about 20 minutes and the Wizards lost, but goddammit those fans were entertained.

During hockey season, do you think fans show up strictly hoping for a win? No, they want to see Alex Ovechkin score sliding on his back away from the net. They hold their breath every time he has the puck, and it has nothing to do with hoping he’ll score the winning goal. The Capitals have done winning before. They made the Stanley Cup finals in ‘97 behind a gritty defensive team. That team and all the other ‘gritty’ Caps teams were quickly forgotten, and then-MCI Center became nothing more than a nice ice rink, with few fans sticking around to see what had become a boring, and losing effort.

Anyways, this post has rambled on much longer than it was supposed to. We aren’t really sure what to make of this ‘new’ sports fan. We’re kind of old school. We love seeing our team win, and we are sickened when they lose (try being a Nationals fan, it’s like being a Cubs fan pre-this year, but without Wrigley field). We would much rather sing ‘Hail to the Redskins’ than even the catchiest commercial jingle. We would be happier never seeing Coach Janky Spanky ever again if Clinton Portis were to run for 2,000 yards and a Super Bowl MVP.

We do know that sports have been forever changed, and the decisions of the powerful men in suits will now take into account the ancillary things like entertainment value more and more as the dollars increase, and that we think is kind of unfortunate.

Washington Redskins' QB Jason Campbell

We watch a lot of Redskins games (we are DC-area natives), and hear a lot of Redskin-reporting, and we like Jason just as much as the next fan. We tend to think he is fully capable of one day becoming a very good NFL quarterback. Do we think its guaranteed? Has it already happened? Well, call us a little skeptical, but not for the reasons you would think.

Are we skeptical of Campbell’s potential and/or abilities? No no no no. We haven’t really soured on him as of yet (though that is a fun pastime in the nation’s capital…Todd Collins, Colt Brennan, be ready!), but we have become extremely dubious of the nation media, and the jinxes they tend to fling at us.

Maybe it’s just the years of being beaten down by the constant losing these last 15 or so years, but it seems to us that everytime one of the media-schlubs decide to open their big fat mouth, and praise something that the Washington Redskins have done, it is met immediately with the unmistakeable sound of said team, choking it’s goodwill away. Immediately. Like in the next game, or the on next play. It always happens without fail.

So Peter King, let us use this as our own preemptive “Eff you.” If Campbell struggles this year. If he gets hurt tomorrow. If he is already hurt before this blog post makes it out onto the Internet, then we place the blame squarely at your feet.

You, who year-after-year has derided (often rightfully so) our pint-sized owner, and his often-times ridiculous decisions. You, who has decided that this is the year we have done ‘it right’ in the off-season. You, who liked the Jason Taylor trade, and who seems to love Jason Campbell right now. You are one torn-hammy/three sack season and one 20 INT season from getting the old middle finger from us.

Consider yourself warned.

Source

Chris Cooley at Washington Redskins Training Camp

We love football. Love it. And we’re not just talking about ourselves here at 9cherries. We as an American people FUCKING LOVE the sport of football. We love high school football; We love college football; We love pro football to the point of scary, creepy obsession. We use football terms as euphamisms conversationally as much as humanly possible.

Watching steroid-addled freaks (don’t even try to tell me that shit is limited to baseball, that’s a whole ‘nother rant) line-up to commit attempted murder every 35 seconds for 3 1/2 hours has unquestionably become the highlight of our collective lives. We obsess over the numerals that are sewn onto the jerseys these ‘men’ wear into battle. We cheer broken appendages, jeer our neighbors, and lose our fortunes while doing it. We ready ourselves for the season more sometimes than even the teams we watch, all-the-while studying stats and ‘fantasy’ implications far harder than we ever did for the SATs. Apply this same enthusiasm to most any other life pursuit, and you’d be labeled as a ‘geek,’ ‘nerd,’ or ‘blogger’; attending ‘cons’ of the comic variety; and quite frankly, being the opposite of whatever cool is in this day and age.

What does all this say about us?

What does it say about our country/civilization/society’s collective mindset?

Have we in fact become Ancient Rome?

Is it bad that we think this a good thing?

We say this: training camp has started, the countdown has begun, so bring it on fucktards.