Thank You, John Riggins.

The latest chapter in the continuing soap opera that is the Washington Redskins pits Hall of Fame running back John Riggins against his former team, and specifically against owner Dan Snyder.  Riggins told Showtime's "Inside the NFL" that Snyder "is a bad guy" and that his "heart is dark".



Harsh words.  It's never easy to see anyone outside of Adolf Hitler to be called essentially evil - especially when you're discussing an entertainment product.  Football is a pastime... a luxury. Snyder is not a political dictator.  He owns a football team, and he hasn't broken any laws, as far as I can tell. 

But still, as a Redskins fan, I am heartened by Riggo's words - essentially because it ensures that the frustration of Redskins fans are being heard and felt in Ashburn.  It's bad enough that the Redskins stink on the field, but it's even worse that we rarely receive any sense of feedback from the team's management.  Dan Snyder simply does not acknowledge the fans who buy Redskins merchandise,  fill the seats at Fed Ex Field and watch his team on television.  John Riggins' voice is too big to ignore, and he knows that. 

And now,  the drama continues.  Assistant head coach Greg Blache showed up in the press room at Redskins Park yesterday and spent four minutes defending Dan Snyder and attacking Riggins for his comments.  You can see the video and read a transcript of those comments here.  Blache praised Dan Snyder for being a kind human being, and as someone who has done plenty of good deeds for Blache personally. 

I respect Blache for speaking up, but I don't think he's helping the boss' cause.  First of all, Blache is never ever going to win over Redskin Nation by attacking John Riggins.  That was a losing battle from the moment Blache opened his mouth. Blache's comments also failed to address many issues that directly relate to fans - from restricting tailgating, to lawsuits against season ticket holders, to banning fans from bringing signs to games, to barring TV stations from interviewing fans on Fed Ex Field property.   The Redskins have an awful relationship with their customers, and Blache's comments addressed none of that. 

Not that they should have.  It's not Blache's job to address the way the team does business off the field - But considering that Blache is the only person from the Redskins' management to speak out, his comments put a spotlight on the team's biggest public relations problem - a glaring lack of communications skills.

In speaking out, Blache broke his own self-imposed media blackout.  He decided a month ago that he was not going to speak with the media for the rest of the season - something that senior coaches are not allowed to do under NFL policy.  In fact, the Redskins had to get a waiver from the league to accomodate Blache. 

When Blache did speak with the media, he did not take any questions from reporters - a move that only served to weaken his statement.  If Blache's words can't stand up to the scrutiny of a few questions from the media, how valuable can they be? 

I hope Riggins continues to speak out.  At least to this Redskins fan, his words speak louder than the team's actions.

Thank Goodness For Inertia!

If it wasn't for inertia, I'd have up and moved out of Montgomery County by now!  Just a quick folo to yesterday's story about the county's broken traffic light computer system.  As you'll recall, my main rant was that the county was providing free commuter bus service - a move that cost the county thousands of dollars to no apparent benefit. 

Well, today, there's good news!  The traffic lights are fixed!  And to celebrate, guess what the county is doing?  It's providing free commuter bus service again today!  More money down the drain!  But it's OK... This is Montgomery County, where the streets are all paved with gold! 

Spare me.

Another Shining Moment For Montgomery County!

It's been a frustrating couple of days for commuters in Montgomery County. The 30-year-old computer that controlled more than 750 traffic lights in the county crashed the other night, leaving the lights with no way of adjusting their timing to account for rush hours. The lights still operated, but in many cases, their timing patterns made no sense, and thousands of commuters were left sitting through series of frustrating short-cycles.

This really falls into the unfortunate category of "sh** happens". No one likes it, but really - what are you going to do, other than frown and bear it until the problem is fixed? Well, here in the peoples' republic of Montgomery County, our leaders are loathe to sit on their hands and do nothing. Better to provide some kind of "fix", even if it does nothing and costs the county a lot of money!

The county, in all its wisdom, is providing its Ride-On commuter bus service for free today. Is this really supposed to provide some sort of relief? How many cars is this going to take off the roads? Are people who normally drive going to abandon their cars in favor of riding on unfamiliar buses? Will this get them to work any faster?

The answers are no, none, no and no. Regular Ride-On riders are getting treated to freebies today, and county managers are getting the opportunity to show they are doing "something" to address the traffic issues. I don't know what an average day's revenue is on Ride-On, but it has to run in the 10's of thousands of dollars. But now, we've given up that money, all to allow some bureaucrats to demonstrate they are "on the case".

Hey, Montgomery County! Sometimes NO solution is a better solution!

Excuse me... WHAT?

One of my current projects is finding a contractor to replace the railing on our deck. The current rail is 13 years old, and truth be told, it needed to be replaced probably 7 or 8 years ago. See the picture - you'll see I'm not kidding! I've been told the railing is made of untreated wood, and really should never have been used. We have a "model" home, which we've learned is both a blessing and a curse... It's a blessing because everything inside the home was decorated to the nines. It's a bad curse because everything else in the house was installed on the CHEAP! But I digress...


So I've been collecting estimates from builders, and they've generally been coming in within a couple of hundred bucks of each other - with one MAJOR exception. Builder X has sent me an estimate that is more than THREE times the cost of all of the others. THREE times! I thought perhaps that he has made a math error, but I added it up, and yes - he apparently wants to charge me nearly $7,000 for a job that others are asking $2,000 for.



I started to wonder whether he wanted to price himself out of contention - that for some reason, he didn't want the job... But then he dropped me an email to make sure I had received his bid. In fact, he was the only contractor who has followed up his initial visit.


A question... Do you think I should let the guy know that he has grossly overpriced himself, or should I let him hang? Very odd...

Moderation In All Things

One of the reasons I decided to start blogging again is so I could discuss topics that I just won't opine about on Facebook.... first and foremost - POLITICS! In our polarizing society, people are just far too quick to judge others based purely on how they vote, and I just think that is stupid. To me, Facebook is for sharing common interests, not driving a wedge between friends.

With that in mind, here on the Beach, I am eager to discuss this year's elections, which saw big victories for the GOP in the Virginia and New Jersey Governor's races. I found the outcome to be fascinating on a couple of levels. First of all, the spin-doctoring is hilarious. The Huffington Post this morning was essentially leading with "Voters Don't Blame Obama", while Drudge's lead was simply "Uh O".

The fact is that voters largely don't blame the President. Obama is still drawing a 50 percent approval rating, after all. However, I think the outcome DOES tell us a few things about how Americans want their government to be run - from the middle.

Folks - this is a moderate country. For all of the ranting from the right and the left, most Americans - 70 percent of us, myself included - are really in the muddled middle. And we like it that way. If the power in Washington goes too far in one direction, America will find a way to make a course correction, and I think last night's results in Virginia and New Jersey are just a symptom of things to come. Given that Democrats are in power right now, and also given that the quality of life is not getting much better very quickly, it's inevitable that 2010 will be a very good year for the GOP. This is not to say that Republicans have better ideas than the Dems - it's just their turn to gain momentum. The same independents that put Barack Obama in office 12 months ago voted 2 -1 in favor of the Republican candidates last night.

It's time for the Democrats to come to grips with the reality that last year's election of Barack Obama was a cultural phenomenon... a media moment... the coronation of a rock star. The election drew people to the polls who have never voted before and may never vote again. They were not voting for a party - they were voting for a brilliantly marketed brand name - Barack Obama. The fact that he is a Democrat is besides the point, and any politician who thinks he can use the Obama name to win an election is a fool - just ask Jon Corzine.

Both parties need to start listening more to constituents. The left has labeled those "tea party" and "town hall" protesters as right wing whackos, but the fact is that the GOP has only been able to tap into that anger because the Republicans are not the party in power. People who take the time to go to public meetings and to march on Washington are angry, and they are tired of useless debate - they want action.

Ironically, we could see a LOT of action in Washington in the coming months, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Pressure to pass a health care reform bill has just been turned up several notches, because the Democrats have to prove they can get something done. If health care fails to pass, then we might see a whole flurry of bills from the Democrats flying through Congress.

It'll be a fire sale to end all fire sales - getting those "pet" bills turned to law before the other party takes back Congress a year from now.

And the big wheel keeps on turning...

Back From The Wilderness...

I have, for some time, been trying to conjure up exactly what I would say when I returned to my blog. I have not posted in about five months, so you would think that I have plenty to say - and I do. It's just that to say it all here and now would be pointless, dated and, no doubt, more than a little self-centered (As if blogging one's thoughts wasn't already self-centered enough!).

I won't bother picking through my navel lint to search for a cause for my long break, either. If I did that, I'd likely never blog again... Therefore, I shall offer a quick recap of life, and then hopefully resume where we left off back in the summertime!

I had a very busy summer, working nearly full time at my various freelance gigs - in fact, for a while there, it almost felt like the good old days when we were truly a two working-parent household. It felt - gasp - normal! The family also enjoyed a 10-day vacation in California and Las Vegas, thanks to my favorite hobby of creative frequent-flyer mile collecting!

Of course, with the economy being what it is, it was fairly inevitable that life would raise its ugly head and kick me in the arse. Early last month, ABC News Radio essentially scrapped its DC bureau, and laid off eight full-time employees. I am still technically an ABC freelancer, but since all the people I used to fill in for no longer have jobs, it's kind of hard to say when or if I'll be getting any more work there. It's a real bummer, too, because I had a lot of work lined up at ABC between now and year's end that is now gone.

But life goes on... I still have my other gigs. I'll be on the air at XM next week, hosting "The Press Pool" on the POTUS channel - Sirius 110, XM 130 - and I have some other stuff lined up at both XM and WMAL next month. I also auditioned yesterday for another freelance gig that could keep me quite busy if I get it... More on THAT later (hopefully)!

Oh - and before I go on - a shout out to my friends on Facebook - you've certainly seen plenty of me these past months, and our daily visits will certainly continue. I think you will find this blog to be somewhat more sober than my flights of fancy on Facebook. I don't "do" unhappy topics over there - except the Redskins, of course!

And now... The Rest of the Story!

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Camp!

Young family Ham Spencer Matthews strikes again... He is performing as Erronious in "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" at Camp Airy... (He's the one in the light blue toga with the dark blue sash...) Mom and Dad are SO proud!