Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Putting on a Game Face to Tackle Cancer

by Roxanne Roberts from The Reliable Source

Photos by Ned Dishman

Tanya Snyder always kept a low profile: The wife of Redskins owner Dan Snyder hasn't had much of a public persona, hardly ever got in front of a microphone.

But that was before she got breast cancer. Tanya Snyder, 47, just agreed to become an NFL national spokeswoman, talking up the cause to football fans. "I have to speak out about this through the NFL and reach as many people as possible," she said Tuesday at a luncheon for cancer patients at Redskins Park. "It's a great opportunity."

The elegant blonde received the diagnosis last year, five years after her mother battled the disease and two months after her own annual mammogram came back normal. Snyder said she found an undetected lump ("I just knew something was wrong") and persisted until doctors found Stage 1 cancer. After multiple surgeries, Snyder said she's "as healthy as I've ever been." Her message: "Pay attention to yourself. Put yourself on the calendar. This is something that's treatable."

Snyder spent the day with 20 local women fighting breast cancer who were invited for pampering -- lunch with players and wives, and gifts of wigs, makeup and jeans. "Today is about you," said guard Derrick Dockery, who hosted the event on the team's day off with wife Emma and tight end Chris Cooley and his wife, Christy.

Dockery's mom, Sheila, is a breast cancer survivor, his mother-in-law died from the disease, and Cooley's mom, Nancy, received her diagnosis last year. When her hair began falling out from chemo treatments, she asked Cooley to buzz the rest. "It was really emotional," he told us. "It made it more real than it already was." After a double mastectomy, she's in remission and doing well, he said.

To raise awareness, Tanya Snyder has asked players to wear something pink for Sunday's game against Tampa Bay. (Cooley will sport pink shoes and gloves.) The ladies at the luncheon were surprised with tickets and pink-and-burgundy jerseys. They'll appear on FedEx Field as the players emerge for introductions before the crowd.

"If you want to draw red-zone plays and leave them on the board..." Cooley joked to his guests. "Have a blast."

For more go HERE and HERE

Monday, September 28, 2009

TC: Post Game Press

Zorn's press conference


Chris's press conference

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Picks of the Week 3

Sorry we missed out on the picks last week. We had a large crowd in town for the game and really we just slackers. Anyway, we are still looking for someone to pick 100 percent so we can send out some mini helmets. We will take any and all picks for this week as long as they are in by half time of the Redskins game. (cooleyfans@gmail.com)

Also, we have a very special guest in our pick em challenge. Ryan Zimmerman joins us for the fun. Hopefully we can get him on board as a regular.

Good luck and thanks for sending your picks!


And don't forget to tune into NFL RedZone on DISH Network this Sunday to see us play the Lions. You'll get all the action from the game in HD

Friday, September 25, 2009

The Redskins Rap

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Photo Contest Finalists Part 1

Like we said in the initial blog about the photo contest. In order to win the game worn jersey, you had to have purchased items from our online stores. We are going to allow the fans to vote on the 15 finalists we have selected. This was a very tough process and want to thank everyone who submitted a photo. Please vote for your favorite at the bottom of this post. The contestants are numbered from top to bottom from 1 - 15. Good luck! Part 2 of the contest will be posted over the weekend.

#1
This guy actually bought a shirt and it wouldn't make it in time so he sent us his receipt and this photo. Since he's from Canada we cut him some slack.

#2
Anyone wearing the shirt on the job (and a dangerous job at that) was definitely considered. Thanks for fighting fires in your Cooley gear.

#3
In Afghanistan with a Life Coach shirt, a Riggens jersey, and Redskins logo painter on the helicopter. Deserved finalist for sure

#4
This one made it for multiple reasons. 1. She is adorable 2. She has both a hoodie and a hat. Double score.

#5
Location was one of the requirement along with creativity. These two are on the 103 floor of the Sears Tower.

#6
Gotta love the creativity here. Wearing the shirt is a must when placing the Dallas helmet where it belongs.

#7
Made the contest for multiple reasons as well. 1. Location. Which I believe was the Kenny Chesney concert. 2. She sent in photos in a different life coach hoodie which means she owns 3 Cooley originals.

#8
A couple holding a shoe...They are super creative or not at all. Either way, they look great in the gear.

#9
Another submission from someone serving this fine country. Not only is he wearing the Life Coach shirt, he is hundreds of feet above ground in a helicopter.

#10
Redskins fans in Dallas that Hate Dallas. I love this family and they deserve to be finalists.

#11
This guy is currently at the U.S. Naval Academy and "snuck" out one night to take this picture on the statue of his mascot, Bill "The Goat" while the M.P.'s weren't looking. Risky because he has now exposed his crime.

#12
Cooley fan in CC47 gear at a different stadium with a sign. Meets all the requirements of the contest. Location and creativity.

#13
If they win the prize will go to the girl in the middle considering she's the only one in Cooley gear. Either way, this is very creative and they are at the Jimmy Buffet concert.

#14
Direct quote from him "Throughout the day I must have been stopped atleast 500 times. I posed for pictures with random people, slapped high fives, and had people yell that they too hate Dallas. I had fans of other teams approach me to tell me they hated Dallas too. Best part was all the free beer that I got walking around from tailgate to tailgate in the lots!!" Finalist for sure.

#15
Last but not least, the family of Cooley fans. They have anything and everything Cooley. Shirts, jerseys, bobble heads, and playing cards. They have more stuff than they can wear so they have to hold it up. Get work.

After reading the stories and seeing the pics, please make your choice wisely. Here's what the winners will get.
1st Game Worn Cooley Jersey
2nd Game Worn Cooley Cleats
3rd Game Worn Cooley Gloves
4th Autographed 16x20 photo
5th Autographed 8x10 photo

1000 Questions

Alright, I've spent the last two days listening to never ending gripe about how terrible the Washington Redskins are. Our coaching is dreadful. Zorn is on the hot seat. Our play calling is outright awful. Anyone can call better red zone plays. Our team is a bunch of overpaid bums. Getting booed by a bunch of "dim-wits." And I don't even need to mention the way fans despise our ownership. IT'S ALL BULLSHIT.

First of all we lost to an outstanding Giants team in New York. Bummer, yes, but not the end of the world. Secondly, we actually won the Rams game. A win for us is like a Van Gogh, it doesn't matter if it's pretty, it's having it. Now, of course it's obvious that we didn't score tons of points, but by no means were we terrible. We put together five different drives of over 10 plays. It doesn't matter who your playing, that's hard as hell to do in the NFL. We work our asses off and we can play!

With that little rant over I would like to add that we're fine as a team. I listened to DeAngelo Hall say we were gonna turn this thing around (assuming he means the team and keeping in mind were 1-1). Well, there is nothing to turn around - we just need to get a little bit better.

To lighten things up a little bit I figured it would be a great time to open the blog to 20 questions. Just ask them in the comments and I will pick what I think are the most interesting. As everyone knows I'm not gonna dodge anything so ask whatever you want, the more creative the better. Here are a couple successful examples.

- note - paragraph contains outside references and sarcasm. - thanks.

-One of the 20 questions was a celebrity offense. I looked no further than Clinton Portis to field this question. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

QB - Uncle Rico
FB - Mr. T. (Actually looks like our current fullback)
RB - Kung Fu Joe (Clinton choose him to fill his shoes)
TE - The Joker
WR - Forest Gump
WR - Sam Rockwell (Actually his character in The Green Mile)
T - Dewey CoxG - Shrek
C - Rambo
G - The Terminator
T - Hightower (From Police Academy and did play in the NFL)


-For a million dollars would you be willing to not have sex for a year (this is with or without a partner)? (If no, how about 10 million)?

I would have to turn down a million for the no sex thing (Christy would be pissed). Offer me ten million and Fred Davis might have a new job.

- Does it irritate players when a fan refers to his favorite team as "we"
"We" are the fan's team. That's why we are here playing football. I think it's great to have loyal fans that feel like we are their team. The only time guys get tired of the "we" thing is when fans tell us what we should and shouldn't be doing on the field. There is a reason that fans are fans. My job is to play tight end and yours is to cheer loud. To be the best "we" all gotta play our roles.
-7. Who would win in a tag team match between Chris and Christy and Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson?

The tag team match would start off with Christy and Jessica in the ring. Someone would come out of the stands with a cooler of beer and a couple of stools for Tony and I. We would proceed to sit ringside and high-five while clothes were furiously ripped off. In my world the match would end in Jes tapping out to a vicious choke hold, and I wouldn't be surprised if Christy dropped an elbow on her before she poured beer all over herself to celebrate.

And finally, don't forget to set your DVR for Sunday's game. With Dish, you can even set your DVR timer remotely. I use my iPhone. If you don't have Dish, you can sign up here.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

TC: Suisham After Rams Game

In all honesty, I was joking with Shaun before and throughout the interview. This should be taken light heartedly.



Yoder is good in cameo roles.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Post Game Interview



For now, enjoy the post game interview and the win. Tomorrow, I will post a full recap of the game which will be much easier cause I was able to go home and re-watch the game and highlights on Dish's new Redzone channel. If you haven't already checked it out, do it. Its a great way to watch the games.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Redskins vs Rams

For those of you enjoying the game at home today on Dish Network, take some time to give your thoughts in the comment section. As always, we will post the Twitter feed from local media during the game to give you an inside feel for what is happening. Lastly, if you haven't seen the Ram hunting video, it's worth a watch.



Friday, September 18, 2009

Strong Character

This past Tuesday, Christy, my cousin Ryan, and myself, along with the film crew from E!, attended The Greater Washington Sports Alliance Sneakerball VI. The event is hosted every year to recognize a number of different athletes/mascots in the Greater Washington area, one of which I was being nominated for, The Solid Character Award

I felt that not only did I meet all the requirements, but I surpassed them by miles. The competition was some what stiff, going against athletes such as Serena Williams and Ryan Zimmerman, but I cant say I was sweating over the ordeal. After winning the award and gracefully sitting in my seat I continued with an interview.

Ok, to tell you all the truth. I had no idea that I was up for an award until a few days before the event. After seeing who the other nominees where, I was honored to even been put in a class with not only great athletes, but amazing people as well. I am honored to have been chosen to receive the award and was 100% surprised when the selection was made. Thanks to all those involved.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

"Fan" Mail

Chris,

Before I say what I'm about to say, I've been a Skins' fan longer than you have been alive. I'm pissed right now. I saw a bunch of SOFT, OVER-PAID, B**** MADE MUTHAF***AS on Sunday play against the G-Men. Yes, I'm talking about the whole entire Skins Team. First, the defense got their a**es handed to. Again, the d-line looked like s*** most of the game (Haynesworth is soft and not worth that large contract) and the secondary couldn't stop d***. Landry is always late with the help, he needs to shut the f*** up and learn how to play. Sure, he is a hard hitter but he sucks a d*** at saftey. D-Hall is the softest b**** on the team, next to Portis. He looked like a high school CB out there among men on Sunday. Shouldn't have let Springs go for this sorry a** b****. Smoot is straight up the worst CB in the league. The only thing he could cover is a d*** with them big a** l**s......LOL. Offense looked like s*** but what else is new. You bamas can't seem to do s***. Moss, is NOT a number 1 receiver. If he was on any other team he would be a number 2, maybe even a number 3 receiver. Portis had that one good run to start the game and didn't see s*** after that. Oh, wait a minute, the camara caught him s*****g your d*** on the sidelines..... Damn, we need some new players cause you guys are not getting s*** done and I can't believe management keeps bringing the same soft s** b****es back every year thinking this year will be different. YOU GUYS f****** SUCK.... just a bunch of b****es out there not caring if they lose cause they know dumb a** is going to pay them and then over pay again when they are free agents......YOU B****ES NEED TO START PLAYING WITH SOME HEART, PASSION, AND LOVE FOR THE GAME instead out there collecting paychecks. The only team I see out there with some heart are the cheerleaders. TELL BIG SOFT A** ALBERT HAYNESWORTH TO GIVE BACK HIS PAYCHECK THIS WEEK BECAUSE HE DIDN'T EARN IT.....MATTER OF FACT ALL YOU B****ES SHOULD RETURN YOUR PAYCHECKS CAUSE NONE OF YOU EARNED IT.
Dare Greatly

It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)

Joseph,

First of all the letter is up in the locker room for the entire team to see.

Secondly, it's amazing what a complete moron you are. You could never know what this team means to myself and my fellow teammates or the amount of work that we put into playing for the Redskins. For someone to say the Redskins didn't play hard is a joke. You're a joke and should be embarrassed to call yourself a fan.

Oh and by the way, I reserved your last name and email address, but I would be more than happy to post it tomorrow per your request. Also, if you really wanted to be accountable for your outstanding piece of literature, I would love a picture so we can all see your shining face. :)

Thanks for the note,
Chris

Sunday, September 13, 2009

FP: Coping With A Redskin Loss

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Redskins lost to the Giants…I know it sucks, I feel your pain. But, it was the 1st game of the season, it was the Giants and it was in New York. Sure it would be nice to get a win there, but 1 game does not make a season. As a fan that can remember games back to the 81’ season, I’ve suffered thru 213 losses…that’s a lifetime of heartbreak. However, the key is learning how to deal with the loss and recognizing certain symptoms that come from the losing. You may be suffering from some of the conditions that I’m going to discuss in this post…the first step is admitting you have the problem. Ladies and gentleman, the stages of a Redskin’s loss.

DAY 1 (Game day)

Disbelief – During this stage you take a few moments to review your thoughts. You say things like “we didn’t just lose, did we?” “WTF happened on that WR option play with Randle El?” “Are we really the only team in the division without a win?”

Anger – Oh yeah, your pissed now. You text, email or call everyone in your cell phone that will listen to you, even the ones who won’t listen to you! You say things you really don’t mean, things like “Portis is over the hill, put in Mason” or “F Campbell, sign Garcia or Jeff George” and “We’ll never win under Zorn, I want Shanahan.”
Your wife/girlfriend asks you “what do you care it’s only a football game” you reply something really stupid like “I’ve loved them longer than I’ve loved you.” This will haunt you a lot longer than the loss to the Giants!

Numbness – After you’ve gone thru your Rolodex and contacted everyone you can, you sit in your Lazy-boy and drink and eat everything in the house. You barely speak, in fact you're only forms of communications at this point are mumbling and grunting (maybe an occasional fart, your wife/girlfriend is really happy with you at this point.) The day ends with you passing out in your lucky jersey (which is no longer lucky) and your wife’s diary looks like this.

Day 2 (The day after)

Game Hangover – You wake up, groggy and trying to collect your bearings…and hoping the day before never happened. You get on the Internet and confirm that yes, the Skins lost! At this point it’s time to take your thoughts to the mainstream media, I mean all your friends have already heard your BS…let’s post it on the internet message boards and call sports talk radio shows! At the Cooley Zone you say something like “Chris, here’s my email address, tell Zorn to call me…his play calling sucks!” or you call Lavar and Dukes to say “the Skins will go 6-10, it’s time to start planning for 2010.”

Day 3

Rest – On day 3, you rest. You re-watch the game…but you’re not angry. You cuddle with your wife, you watch some Housewives show on A&E.

Day 4

Coming out of the fog - The Dallas fan at work greets you in the morning with a jab about the Skins, without thinking you tell him to go F himself. You start rambling on about how we were a couple plays away from beating the Giants in New York and how we’re gonna sweep the Cowgirls. You sit at your desk and you feel…peace.

Drinking the Kool-Aid – You look at the remaining schedule and all of the sudden…the Skins are going to go 15-1. You start texting, calling and emailing your friends and say things like “I think Portis is going to to rush for 150 this week” and “JC’s going to have a Pro Bowl year, just wait and see!” It’s time to go mainstream again so you head back to the Cooley’s message board “Zorn’s going to be the Coach of the Year” you call L&D “the Skins will win the Super Bowl this year with a last second option pass…Randle El to Cooley.”

Day 5

On day 5 you go back to your normal self, and I guess what I’m trying to say to everyone is…just pretend like it’s day 5. Don’t get too high when we rip off 4-5 wins in a row and don’t bash the team after this loss. The Skins played hard and it was a tough situation that they went into. I’m a diehard and I’m sure you are too, let’s support the team and move forward. I mean…I looked at the schedule, I don’t think we’re going to have to deal with another loss this season.

Redskins vs Giants #1



Make sure to tune in to Comcast's Post Game Live show. I will be on for a brief minute discussing the chat.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

"Throw me the Alley Hoop"

This is a great interview with Jason Campbell. It is something I have never seen done with him before and I felt like it was a crime not to share it with you.



And if that wasn't enough, check out Jason's locker with Mike Sellers.

Friday, September 11, 2009

The Curse and Picks of Week 1

I will start by addressing the fact that the power of the Madden curse is amazing. That thing has been a serious stand-by for predicting either a terrible season or a major injury . Madden must shell out crazy money after the career crushing effect it has on players year after year for guys on the cover. After watching the game last night, Polamalu is lucky he is a freak ant that his body can contort in such ways after that lineman, I mean Alge Crumpler fell on him. Almost any normal person would have been looking at all kinds of knee tears. I also wish the best for Fitzgerald!

More importantly, picks of the week are back and strong this season. I feel like last year I was the foremost expert on the subject, as I should be, so I will continue this season to include my picks as a post every Friday. There will also be a couple twists added to the picks of the week:
  1. Todd Yoder, Tanner, and my cousin Ryan will be weekly panelists.
  2. A different player or prominent member of the football media (probably from the Redskins, but hopefully the occasional movie star/singer/radio host.) So anyone super famous reading, just email us your phone number and we will go ahead and give you a call and add your picks.
  3. My wife will be the final panelist. What's funny about this is that she will probably win the whole thing.
We also want to include the fans. So please send your picks to cooleyfans@gmail.com in the exact order the games are listed below and anyone picking 100% wins an autographed mini helmet. Pittsburgh is a freebie this week, but we need your other picks to be sent in noon on Sunday.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

TC: Sleepers from 2004 Draft Class

The NFL kicks off tonight, finally! Over the past six months, we have been bombarded with coverage of the Combine, Draft, Senior Bowl, OTA's, training camp, and preseason football. Added to the normal coverage, this year has also been filled with headlines of tragedy, scandal, tweets, and blogs. Of course those things help keep us in the loop and entertained, it's just fluff until we get to watch and enjoy the real deal. With only hours to go until kickoff, why not add another piece of fluff to the onslaught of media coverage of the NFL, a breakdown of a "sleeper" draft pick from 2004.

There is hype that surrounds each and every NFL draft and the 2004 had its fair share of drama. This was a class that has produced 24 Pro Bowl players, 2 Super Bowl quarterbacks, and plenty of guys that have produced much more than experts expected. Obviously, one of those players was Chris, after he was picked as the 6th tight end in the draft.

As you can see, the stats don't lie. Chris has played in more games and caught more passes for more yards and touchdowns than all these guys. In all honesty however, had Kellen Winslow Jr. not been injured for much of his time in the league, he would undoubtedly top that list. Fortunately for the Redskins, they decided against picking Winslow. From that decision they were able to get from Chris double the games and nearly triple the touchdowns, making Chris the obvious sleeper of a pick in his draft class.

It is easy to look at this in hindsight, but each year has its sleepers. The others from '04 would have to be Michael Turner, Jared Allen, Nathan Vasher, Wes Welker, and Willie Parker. To continue the amount of speculation that already takes place, who do you think will be the sleeper picks of the '09 class?

By Tanner Cooley

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

October 20th Art Show

Finally, I have gotten enough balls to show my stuff and have combined that with the right people to put together a Chris Cooley art show. Over the last six months I have been spending a lot of my spare time to painting, drawing and throwing pots. The collection in my house is now over 15 finished paintings and somewhere between two and three hundred clay pots. I also have about 25 different sketches I will put out. I have now become Serious Sam about this project, I mean, I'm talking about my own hard wired kiln in the back of my house serious.To backtrack about a couple things - this spring I spent a couple weeks visiting schools speaking on behalf of education. I discussed with high school kids the importance of an education and what it has meant in my life. I then donated 5,000 dollars to eight different schools as well as eight 25,000 dollar scholarships to seniors attending those schools. This is a project that I really enjoyed and would love to continue in the future, but it takes a large amount of money. Thus the art show.

Now, I don't want art to jump out as something completely off the wall so I will briefly explain. I could have put together a golf tournament or luncheon, but how unoriginal would that be? And damn if I want to do something lame for charity, so I figured art would be awesome. I was an art major in college and I thought doing something I love and am interested would be so much more real for the public.

Every single dollar raised from selling my art will be donated to back to the Redskins Charitable Foundation, subsequently going into my education fund and scholarships to underprivileged kids. The event will be Oct. 20th which is a Tuesday night. We will begin to sell tickets on my site as well as the Redskins site sometime this week at 100 dollars a ticket. The night will include hanging out with my friends at the Ritz in Tysons Corner, eating and drinking all night for free and hopefully taking home some of my art. We will also have an auction run by the players for autographed items. This really means a lot to me so please help out.

Also, I would really like to thank the Ritz Carlton. They have been unbelievably accommodating and completely cut the charge of the room. The only cost is an 8,000 dollar charge for food and drink. (Again, if you buy the 100 dollar ticket it's open bar.) If any business would like to partner with us on this and sponsor some or all of this cost we would really appreciate it. Please contact us through our email. (cooleyfans@gmail.com)

Friday, September 4, 2009

Hunter Smith is Good at Holding it

For some, the final preseason game has many ramifications. The last two or three spots looming over the heads of twenty different players. But the amazing thing is, in our line of work, the competition for a spot is almost always indirect. Tight ends are competing with linebackers, receivers with DB's. It really comes down to who the better special teams player is. What's funny is the idea of whats going on is always fuzzy.

For me, Jacksonville was a mundane as possible. I checked into my room at the Omni hotel around three on Wednesday only to leave for an hour while I walked around in awe at a lackluster downtown. After the tour, I proceeded to watch nearly three hours of stunning pottery throwing videos on YouTube. Which sadly, was by far my most productive use of time the entire trip. I was, however, able to complete one and a half crossword puzzles and a few sudoku puzzles out of the local Florida newspaper.

The night came and went and after forcing myself to sleep in until sometime after 10, I was woke up just in the nick of time to begin a movie marathon. The problem with the hotel movies is that the hotels only having 15 or 20 movies in their on demand selection. Since I have spent countless hours sitting in hotels during preseason, I have watched practically all of them. So it should come as no surprise that I chuckled when I pressed the order button to the Miley Cyrus movie. I figured what the hell, I don't have to tell anyone about this. After finishing a gem of a movie I didn't bat an eye before putting on "Year One." I think I can explain how much I liked both of these movies by saying that I was seriously disappointed when my third movie "17 Again" with Zach Efron was cut short by some hotel glitch. I guess I'm gonna have to just ad that one to netflix!

As restlessness had completely set in, I headed to the the stadium around 4 o'clock. The highlight of my day, getting all the rookies all over the field and playing punt, pass, and kick games. We were so serious by the end of the games that we actually had Josh Scobie (Jacksonville's kicker) giving us tips and drawing X's on the bottom of the balls where to hit it with our foot. For some reason the p p n' k never ceases to draw an awe inspired group of onlookers out of the other football players. Maybe it's the idea of a complete nonsense warm up effort, but who cares, it's always worked for me.

Finally the game. I could not have been more excited to get home. Really I felt like I would take nothing from my three hours of field standing, team judging effort, but then this masterpiece of a story came to me.

As the the game went into the second quarter Casey Rabach, giddy as ever, asks if I know what happened to Hunter. With a priceless smirk he says "You're not gonna believe this."

Hunter is standing on the sideline and makes the decision that he definitely has to take a piss. Now I've seen a variety of urinating options on the sideline ranging from taking a knee while a guy or two blocks off crowd vision, to offensive lineman being so lazy that they will actually just piss their pants. Usually they make the excuse that their legs are already soaked with sweat so it really doesn't matter. Yes this really does happen, I'm not using this for effect. Hunter chose what would have been way down my list and went with a more labor intensive effort.

The punter turns to Ethan Albright says to "I really gotta go piss, I hope I have time." He then proceeded to walk to the near tunnel entrance, which is also the entrance furthest away from our locker room.

"Stadiums always have bathrooms in the back tunnel so I just went to grab the security guy and was going to have him take me to the nearest one."

Well the security guy is a little dumbfounded. Not only that Hunter has made his way all the way off the field and into the tunnel, but that he is asking for a bathroom. The dude says, "Sorry man, we don't have any extra bathrooms you can go anywhere in this tunnel."

Hunter then explains "Look, I've played here before, I know there is a bathroom back here somewhere." Hunter later went on to tell me that he scopes out all where the bathrooms are in different stadiums and while I would never do this, I'm not surprised because Hunter seems like a very thorough guy.

With no tunnel bathroom the security guy looks at Hunter's anxious face and says, "I guess...follow me man." He then proceeds to walk Hunter around the tunnel, up a couple stairs and into the main concourse. Hunter is still in full gear, he even has his helmet with him.

"I was completely strapped up!" Hunter laughs. "No, but the helmet was still perched up on top of my head. I always have to be ready for a sudden change." Still chuckling. "The guy actually takes me into to public restroom and there is a line of fans waiting to take a piss blindly staring at me. I then make the decision that there is not enough time to wait for the line and I run back out to the field."

Amazing! And within two minutes Hunter is booming a punt down the field. For some reason, this is the most exciting story of my preseason. Just the thought of a player, in full gear, waiting in line in the public bathroom. So amusing. I can't imagine being one of the people looking on wondering what in the world is happening.
- Quote of the night by Hunter Smith.

"A dad waiting in line with his little kid actually points at me and asks, "Don't you need to be in the game right now?"

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Redskins vs Jaguars

TC: Who's ready for some Football

The Washington Redskins wrapped up their two-a-day practices with joy and tears in their eyes (kidding). But what is interesting to me is that not only was the team ecstatic, the media was as well. Although there would be no wrap party, or special gathering, most members from the local media expressed nothing less than exultation that camp was over. Most of them said that they were going to do one of two things to celebrate. Either A. Treat themselves to a nice dinner or B. Have one, two, or maybe seven cocktails.

And deservedly so. Like the players, they spend 12 hours a day in Ashburn away from family grinding it out. Digging for a story in a camp that hasn't produced one big headline. No Jason Taylor, no torn ACL, and really no big position battles. So if you cover the team, how do you make it interesting? One media member went as far as interviewing a player in the infamous ice tub. Others? Well they stuck to more conventional methods. Either way, the work they do is not easy.

As Dan Hellie put it, "You have two weeks where it's kind of a grind. You're here at 8:30 and you're not done until 7 or 7:30." Immediately followed by cameraman Dan Buckley, "Thank God it's the last day. We'll break down the tent and finish off all the gatorade and water. I'm gonna get loaded on G2. Thats how we do it at Channel 4."

From here on out, for some, the job gets easier as far as covering the Redskins is concerned. For others, it's the old 'one door closing while another one opens' sort of thing. The real story here is, that door that's opening, is only a week away. It's what we as fans, and as members of the media, have been waiting months for. No more nonsense of evaluating players that aren't going to be on the team come September. It's finally time to get to the magical 53.

Ryan O'Halloran won't be the only person who is "elated" when the season starts, so will every football fan in America. But for now, we can keep speculating, evaluating, and wishing for September 10 to get here. Because water cooler coaches and radio shows alike still need something to talk about until then.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Put your money where your mouth is

When you put something out there on twitter and facebook and get over 100 fan photos in under an hour, it shows that the fans care. To thank you, we are going to give away Chris's game worn Eagles jersey from 12/21/2008 contest in which the Redskins pulled off the sweep of the Eagles in 2008 along with plenty of other game worn and autographed items.

So here are the rules:

To become eligible for the jersey:

You must send a photo of yourself wearing an article of clothing that you bought in our store. Either here or here. That is your entry fee.

We will pick the finalists based on creativity and location of where the photo is taken on Wednesday, September 23. That is three weeks away which should give you plenty of time to order a shirt and take a photo if you don't already have one.

For those of you who sent in photos early not knowing the full details, you are automatically in the running for 1 of 10 other autographed or game worn items (gloves, cleats, photos, etc.). If you don't have the money for the new products but already have Cooley gear, send us a photo (cooleyfans@gmail.com). You will be entered to win the other items.

The rules here are that you must be wearing anything Cooley. It can be store bought or handcrafted. The finalists for these 10 items will be chosen the same way they are for the jersey, creativity and location of where the photo is taken.

Once the finalists are picked, we will let the fans and readers vote for the winners for one week. At the end of the week we will mail out the prizes. Thanks and good luck!



Email all submissions to cooleyfans@gmail.com