The UDC Firebirds are 9-1, with the only loss coming last month to D-1 and Atlantic 10 squad Duquesne.
It's not too early to start buzzing about a return to March mini-Madness: In 1982, UDC won a NCAA D-II national title with a team that was coached by Dunbar alum and local playground legend Willie Jones [...]

Mike Shanahan has to win out the last two games of the 2011 season to pass the winning percentages racked up by Jim Zorn and Steve Spurrier during their two-year stints as Redskins coaches.
But as cruel as the standings have been to Shanahan's reputation as a coach since he got here, the recent box scores [...]

Via a pop-up ad on my laptop, I learned yesterday that the catchphrase for the Obama 2012 presidential campaign is still: "Are You In?"

"And, yes, and you can have a college degree..."
When I heard via the Louisville Courier-Journal that Joe Jacoby had gone back to school and was getting his sheepskin today, that's the sentence that popped into my head.
That's because whenever I hear anything about Jacoby, among the most beloved and successful Washington Redskins of all time and [...]

Yet another sign of the Washington Redskins' reduced hold on the hometown: Big businesses are scheduling events during Redskins games.
Time was, the city had a reputation for shutting down on any Sunday afternoon whenever the Redskins were playing.
But all week long, WJFK-FM has been promoting an appearance this Sunday by Brooks Laich of the Washington Capitals. [...]

Fantastic interview on The Mike Wise Show on WJFK-FM this morning with Lamont Peterson, the new world junior welterweight champion.
Peterson came to the studios with brother and fellow pug Anthony Peterson and trainer Barry Hunter to relive Saturday night's fight, in which Lamont took away Amir Khan's world title belts.
Early in the interview, Wise, who wrote [...]

Vincent Abney's draft stock keeps going up.
On kiddie football's biggest stage, Abney was a bigger boy among boys, scoring on 50-yard and 8-yard runs in leading his Marshall Heights Bison to a 34-6 rout of the East Bay (Calif.) Wildcats in the Pop Warner Super Bowl for Pee Wees (no more than 12 years old [...]

"...and new champion of the world..."
With those words, ring announcer Michael Buffer set off a crazy celebration inside the Convention Center on Saturday night. Nobody needed to hear Buffer say anything past "new" to figure out that the local kid, Lamont Peterson, had taken all the junior welterweight title belts from overdog Amir Khan.
Peterson's win [...]

Steve Czaban went all ground and pound on Dan Snyder on ESPN 980-AM this week, and all the while made the Redskins owner look bigger.
Czaban, longtime co-host of the afternoon drive-time show "The Sports Reporters," began with a rant about Snyder staying invisible during the Trent Williams and Fred Davis pot suspension saga and having [...]

 
If Andrew Luck really is gone by the time the Redskins get a turn in the next NFL draft, maybe they can use the pick on Vincent Abney.
Sure, he's a little kid — scouting reports and Pop Warner rules put Abney at less than 12 years old and no more than 120 pounds.
But still.
Yesterday afternoon, [...]

How big a deal is Saturday's Khan/Peterson fight?
Jim Lampley's coming to town for it! That's how big!
And top this: Michael Buffer's doing the announcing! We get to hear "Let's get ready to rumble!" live!
Oh, right. Buffer's pretty possessive and he's got good lawyers: What I meant was, We get to hear "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!™" [...]

In between stoner jokes, Redskins fans and some media are making "character" the big issue in the Fred Davis/Trent Williams situation.
This kills me. One of my lifelong friends recently happened upon a huge bong in the possession of his college-going son, a fabulous kid who he'd never known to smoke pot. I was very impressed at [...]

Everybody's telling Harry Thomas Jr. stories now. Here's mine.
Back in 1996, I wrote a column for Washington City Paper about the only goal I ever had: I wanted to hit a home run in softball.
A real home run.
Not an inside-the-park thingee any punch-and-judy swinger will occasionally get out of a good bounce or an [...]

As reported in this space earlier, former Redskins d-lineman Phillip Daniels has been posting on the message board Extremeskins this week asking fans to help him rig a player-of-the-year poll back home in rural Georgia.
Daniels' followers listened and tried, yet the burgundy and gold faithful apparently got outrigged by the locals.
Daniel's cousin, running back Chris [...]

Former Redskins d-lineman Phillip Daniels has built up tons of goodwill over at ExtremeSkins, the club-owned message board, by regularly posting alongside the hoi polloi both when he was with the team and even since he got cut last preseason.
Now he wants something in return.
Daniels, who now lists his hometown as Chicago, went on the [...]