Following yesterday’s pathetic loss to the lowly Rams, a poster on Extremeskins.com writes:

A few of my friends and I had bad omens happen to us. I laughed them off at first but there’s no ignoring them after the fact we loss a game we should have won.

First example, My good friend and fellow Skins fan, who lives in Colorado sent a mass email Saturday night saying, a long haired sheep (ram) jumped out in front of his car and almost killed him and we shouldn’t take this game lightly.

He sent the email to the same 20 or so friends as we do every week. We talk about the game pre and post. Most of us laughed it off.
I was glad he was okay. But I told him the ram wanted to be put out of his misery. Jokes on me.

Then, as I do every week, I nerd out and simulate the game on Madden. I always play as the Skins and play next weeks opponent. I got the game around week two and have won against the computer on the first try every time, not against the Rams. I lost 4 in a row. I had to turn down the difficulty but I knew I was cheating myself.

So question is, anybody else have any bad signs?

To all Redskins fans about to call in: “Can we ban the SB word?” — Brian Mitchell on 980 at 3:22 p.m.

Last Sunday, the Redskins trumped trends, history, and conventional wisdom, with a victory over the hated Dallas Cowboys (”opening up the windows of heaven and letting God pour out his blessings“).

Was this a moment for gloating? Yes. Was this a moment to pump fists in your car as you listened to the locker-room interviews? Yes. Was this a moment to look deep into your friend’s eyes and allow yourself to wonder aloud if it’s time to start up some kind of Bandwagon? Yes.

Was this a moment to broadcast a racist remark about turban-wearers?

Well, no. That’s a violation of even extremeskins or sports-talk etiquette. As the Examiner reports (key parts bolded for your pleasure):

“A Metro operator’s Monday morning attempt to celebrate the Redskins’ win over the Dallas Cowboys offended riders who heard him equate turban-wearers with terrorists over the train’s loudspeaker system.

‘Don’t be afraid if you see a bunch of people wearing towels on their heads today,’ the Orange Line operator said to a train full of people, according to riders. ‘They’re not terrorists; they’re with the Dallas Cowboys. Go Redskins.’”

The Redskins may have the most racist name in all of sports. But fans need to comport themselves better! I love that the Examiner tries to explain the remark as something that just might be non-racist, non-offensive:

“Athletes whose teams are nearing defeat can often be seen throwing towels over their heads as they slump on the bench. But the allusion to the derogatory term ‘towelhead’ for people who wear turbans, and the implication that they are terrorists, offended at least two riders, who lodged complaints with Metro.”

Thanks to DCist for aggregating(!) this item.

Steinberg’s got the memo.

Anyone who’s been to a preseason game got any reports on the effectiveness of the new policy so far?

Here’s another idea: Ban alcohol sales within the stadium and consumption outside the stadium. Last Redskins game I went to offered remarkably good arguments for such a policy—from the guys doing “Sean!” “Taylor!” call-and-response beer shotgunning (it’s how 21 would have wanted it) in the parking lot to the creepy grit lady passing around the booze she smuggled in via her socks to the guy who tried to stomp his seat to death after Gibbs’ plan to freeze Buffalo’s kicker hit a snag.

In my experience, Scottish soccer stadiums don’t sell alcohol, mostly to prevent fans of opposing “sides” from amplifying their everyday mindless violence.

Then again, this might be a bad year for Skins fans to stop drinking.