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Brett Favre’s gone, so Michael Vick talk dominates.
Vinny Cerrato yesterday told the Washington Post that the Redskins will not pursue Vick, doggedly or otherwise. But Cerrato has fibbed so many times about personnel matters, most blatantly while acquiring Jason Taylor from Miami last summer, that his credibility in these situations is less than zero. So over at Dan Snyder’s message board, extremeskins.com, the should-we-or-shouldn’t-we talk raged on. Vick has a surprising amount of support among the Skins fan base, probably from a combination of loyalty from Virginia Tech alums and Jason Campbell’s lack of a strong following.
But the anti-Vick crowd around here is much more passionate. The poster Bostic Hog spoke for a bunch of folks when he wrote: “Do you think Danny will offer us a refund on our season tickets if he signs Vick? Kind of like a breach of contract thing, or maybe a morals clause, like the players have.”
I’m guessing the chances of Vick signing with the Redskins are better than the chances that Snyder will offer refunds to fans if he does. And no matter who Vick plays for, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should make him wear jersey #K9.
(AFTER THE JUMP: Vick programs cable TV? Nats feel more thunder? Weequahic High School was a bunch of losers?)
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Vick may not be a great role model for America’s youth, but he’s already had a profound influence on our grownups, or whomever’s running the media.
The show biz trade bible Variety reports that Animal Planet has begun production on a series of investigative documentaries for next year as a result of the boffo ratings the channel got with last year’s special about history’s most famous dogfighting quarterback: “Animal Witness: The Michael Vick Case” in 2008. The show gave Animal Planet its biggest adult audience of the year.
The new series of hour-long shows will be called “Animal Planet Investigates.”
Animal Planet president and general manager Marjorie Kaplan explained her channel’s inspiration to Variety: “We thought the Michael Vick special would do well, but we were blown away by how well it did out of the gate,” Kaplan said. “We looked at [the ratings], as well as the success of something like ‘Whale Wars,’ and were moved [by] the passion our audience has for these kind of things.”
“Whale Wars?” Geez.
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Update on Us: The Washington Times, awesomely offbase, tries to give credit for the new winning ways to manager Jim Riggleman’s postgame talks to the team. Please. Riggleman, as this article points out, was giving these speeches as soon as he got the job. And the Nats lost his first four games in a row. But since Cheap Seats Daily foisted “Thunderation” on the Nats as the team’s unofficial official fight song on July 21, the team, which could boast a five-game losing streak at the time and a winningless new manager, has gone 6-1 in games that went the full 9 innings.
The Nats are now on a four-game winning streak in which they’ve outscored the opposition 38-12.
As both my readers know, Riggleman’s Rockets of Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville posted more than 20 consecutive winning seasons with “Thunderation” as their cheer.
So once more with feeling, we’ll SING!:
Thunder, Thunder, Thunderation
We’re the Rockets Delegation
When we fight with determination
We create a soul sensation!
Now, if only the Nats can keep this “Thunderation”-inspired winning streak going for 40 games, not only will we have a Soul Sensation on our hands, but the team will be .500!
True story: My momma, a huge Nats fan who I’ve never burdened with my “Thunderation” fetish, was so excited after last night’s win that she chimed in, unsolicited, with two of her own cheers, recalled from the football games at Weequahic High School in Newark, NJ, in the 1940s: “Our team is red hot! Your team is all shot!” and “We play football, We play Soccer, We keep matzoh in our locker! Yay, team!”
She admitted that her school had the worst team in the city. Sorry, Ma, but we’ll stick with a proven winner. We’l stick with “Thunderation!”
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The Washington Mystics lost in Indiana. I’m not happy about this, but: I have trouble working up interest in the WNBA unless players are brawling or fans are kissing. From a spectating standpoint, DC Divas games are a far better live product, I swear.