It would be unfair to name each and every blog that I have grown to love over the last two years, because the frailty of my mind would not allow for the most exhaustive list possible. But if you track the history of the more than 1700 posts I’ve written, you’ll recognize the regular cast of characters I follow and in whose mold I have tried to model my semi-career as a blogger.

I still feel like there’s a lot left for me to write about in this niche. Behind me are a few hundred links, a few hundred subscribers, and a few opinions that actually made some sense. But there’s an enjoyment and a responsibility that I’ve found in one of my other blogging projects, one that means as much to my culture as it means to my personal pursuit of a professional blogging career.

And to do that project justice, it requires much more of my time than I’ve been affording it.

So that’s about it. For your readership, your comments, your advice, your links, your mentions and your support, I thank you sincerely. I won’t kill the domain or the site, so feel free to peruse my two-year long diary of Baltimore-Washington sports fandom anytime.

As for my Baltimore-Washington sports fix, hopefully you’ll find me as a guest or contributing blogger on some of my favorite sites. That’s of course, if they’ll have me. And if you’d like to keep up with the blog that I pray will become a legitimate news source and lifelong career path, visit www.hbcusportsblog.com. Often.

God bless you.

Unfortunately, this would be the most solid performance out of D.C. on the night.

Technorati Tags: Wale', Washington Redskins

What is weird is that his agent let the world know via Twitter, which I guess is the new press release.

“Ravens QB Troy Smith, Ohio State alum, native + Heisman winner wants playing time. Ravens notified. Will seek trade after play offs, SB run.”

It remains to be seen if Ozzie Newsome jumps off a #ROTFL trending topic in response.

Technorati Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Troy Smith

And once again, Snyder has made the calculated mistake of playing to what he perceives are the emotional ties of his flock of fans. He has hired Bruce Allen as GM, son of the beloved former Redskins coach George Allen, who made it cool for Jim Zorn to strike up the ‘Hip-Hip-Hooray’ chant before it all fell down.

But there’s one sure thing that Daniel Snyder could do to make this team immediately better, and reintroduce it s community value beyond concession and parking fees. A man whom Snyder trusts inherently, and while he has turned down the offer to be a team builder, would not reject the prospect of being a team owner.

Synder should sell a minority stake in the Redskins to Joe Gibbs.

We know Gibbs has the money, and continues to be a central figure of Redskins culture even without being a formal member of the executive team. Gibbs doesn’t strike anyone as the type to be a day-to-day, suit-and-tie guy driving the direction of the franchise. But if Snyder offered him an ownership stake, and exclusive involvement in personnel and coaching decisions, it would be an irrefutable play for the love of the supporting public.

The hardest thing for Snyder to do, were he to make Gibbs a partner, would be to stay out of decision making. But you have to believe that Snyder would be more willing to stay out of Gibbs’ way than anyone else’s; after all, Gibbs has proven he could build a champion without Snyder, and can at the very least, build a playoff roster in spite of him.

Gibbs should be the executive face of the franchise, because his brand is the only one more bulletproof than the burgundy and gold itself. His Christ-fearing, ‘awww shucks’ demeanor paired with his tireless work ethic and ability to reach people are the perfect antidote for Washington’s football malaise. No fan revolt, no reporter and no rogue administrator would dare leak a bad word about Gibbs to anyone; and more than anything, the Redskins could use quiet surrounding their operation just to go about rebuilding without national scrutiny.

Players trust him, sponsors trust him, fans trust him and Snyder trusts him. If Snyder can learn to get out of the way but can’t get Gibbs back on the payroll, the next smartest step is to have the man signing the checks of the people he picks to bring the Redskins back to respectability.

Technorati Tags: Daniel Snyder, Joe Gibbs, Washington Redskins

The bad news, they got out-rebounded by a much smaller team.

The good news is that Cliff Tucker contributed 11 points in the win and looked aggressive on offense.

The bad news is that Tucker saw more minutes because Sean Mosley was out with an ankle injury.

Fortunately for those rocking the Terrapin red, there’s more good news than bad for this year’s edition of Maryland men’s basketball. They’ve looked sporadic, but not lost. They’ve looked out of sorts with their guard-heavy rotation at times, but never out of control. Even against higher competition in Cincinnati, Wisconsin and Villanova, the Terps have yet to be outclassed by a comparable D-I opponent.

And that, in comparison to the last few seasons, is great news.

Technorati Tags: Cliff Tucker, Maryland Terrapins, Sean Mosley

For all the things Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts did well in their CBS telecast of Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, I can’t get past Enberg repeatedly referring to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as “Big Ben.” I stopped counting after the tenth time he said “Big Ben” instead of Roethlisberger in the first half, and I would have turned the sound off right then, If I didn’t have to review the telecast.

Technorati Tags: Ben Roethlisberger

So for this year at least, pretend its 1989 and Bernard King will soon be coming back from a knee injury. It won’t be a playoff berth, but it’s something more worth the brain power than trying to figure out why this team is so bad, and why its leadership is so unwilling to blow it up.

Technorati Tags: Washington Wizards

Are they so unsure of their blocking technique that they have to hold or block in the back at the most inopportune times?

Whatever the case may be, the Ravens are a franchise marred by penalties, and whether they are disciplined enough to care about it or not, it will make all of the difference if they have the chance to play in the 09-10 post-season.

Forget all of the previous complaints about the refereeing; the Ravens effectively box themselves into corners with uninspired lapses in logic; each one more poisonous than the previous dart to the eye. The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t take out the Ravens with great play or great coaching; in fact, the lack of the same on the purple bench ultimate led to the Ravens’ heartbreaking 23-20 demise.

How many years, how many coaches, how many seasons have to be plagued by penalties costing close games for a playoff worthy team? 11 for 113 today, and shadows of Detroit and Cincinnati were well within plain view throughout the second half.

The playoffs have been reduced from a nearby shout to a pronounced whisper, and even if they were to make the tournament, the guarantee of not knowing which team will show up to play is scary enough.

Technorati Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers

But even if the Redskins’ defensive scheme was the worst in the league, is it a stretch to ask one of the best defensive players in the league toiling in it to suck it up and roll with the punches?

I mean, what does he have to lose? Pride? Nothing he couldn’t rebuild with a couple of Five Guys franchises to his name. Stats? His is a career not built on numbers, but physically impressive play that game film hugs like his Christmas sweater from 2001.

And if it’s any consolation, it’s something that most of the Redskins defenders are likely used to. They’ve got a non-tackling tongue ring model at safety, and the best defensive end in the last decade echoing Haynesworth’s sentiments. There’s a lot wrong with the Redskins’ defense, apparently. And yet, they are among the best in the league.

Besides, Haynesworth is about one second-quarter TV timeout from setting the Guinness world record for most feigned injuries in a season.

So, for the preservation of his own personal timeouts, and for the maintenance of a good thing going with the Redskins’ defense, it might be best that their biggest investment remain a silent partner in the process. If not for the fans, than for the luckiest defensive end in the league, Andre Carter.

Technorati Tags: Albert Haynesworth, Washington Redskins

NBA all-star.

Is it his right as an American to do so? Absolutely. But anyone whose lived the life of Gilbert Arenas – particularly the last three years – should be self-aware about what they might be prone to do with firearms at their disposal.

Again, it’s not a discussion about rights as it is who is a right fit for a gun. No one wants those who don’t value their intended purpose to have them, but for Bible-thumpers and thugs alike, the law trumps the common sense of the common man when it comes to weaponry for the citizenry.

And then you have Gilbert Arenas; a man whom basketball angels have blessed, and the world’s demons have tortured. His recent struggles – private and professional – seemed to have found a safe harbor to dock, and his play has shown the effects of a beaten-back emotional tide.

And then he gets caught with a gun in a Verizon Center locker. His reasoning, the safety of his daughters, is the most notable and respectable you could extrapolate from a potential concealed handgun charge in Washington D.C. But it speaks to the dichotomy of Arenas’ maturity; primarily through his ignorance of the nationally-famous gun laws in the nation’s capital.

And frightfully, its speaks to a fear or concern about why his children might easily locate handguns in a sprawling suburban estate.

Arenas could’ve easily called his local police department to inquire about disposing guns. He could’ve asked the Wizards about resources to accomplish the same objective. Instead, he brought them to work.

And why have guns that he suddenly needs to get rid of? Citing the birth of his second daughter doesn’t shoot very straight; the same guns shared a residence with his four-year-old.

In tandem with his well-documented on and off-the-court struggles, this situation seems to be wrong all the way around. There’s no reason to spell out the scenarios in which guns can lead to a very bad turn of events, but the Arenas household seems all the more volatile an environment for those kind of events.

Maybe its more responsible to come out and say it – if you read a headline in the Washington Post that began “Washington Wizard involved in accidental shooting,” Arenas would be the name that would immediately come to my mind. The eccentricity, the documented adversity, it would all seem, from the outside at least, the perfect storm for tragedy.

Everybody has the right to own guns. Not everybody knows how to do the right thing with them. Fortunately, the wrong actions for the right reasons might have prevented a tragic fall from grace for a well-intentioned NBA superstar.

Technorati Tags: Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards