Having lived in a variety of locations across the United States, I can tell you from experience there are a few guarantees concerning what people will inevitably mention when they discover you are a Washington Redskins fan.

Joe Theisman’s broken leg, John Riggins carrying helpless defenders across the goal line, and most ineluctably, the Hogs and the Hogettes. The visual of grown men dressed as zaftig and porcine females has insinuated itself into America’s consciousness concerning the DC football franchise as has no other. No doubt national television broadcasts played a major role in terms of their widespread recognition, but there is something almost archetypical about them. Everyone loved them.

Now the Hogettes have publicly declared their retirement after 30 some odd years of fighting for ol’ DC.  A formal announcement was made on their web site:

“After 30 seasons, the Hogettes® are hanging up our pig snouts & dresses,” the statement read. “It has been an honor being a part of the greatest 12^th Man fans in the NFL. We will forever be Redskins’ fans and cheer for our beloved team. It is a new era and we will continue to support RG3 and his teammates. HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!! We will also continue to help (incognito) raise money for Children’s Charities.”

No one knows if or when a new era of notable fans will emerge, but I can assure you, we will cover it here. Hail!

Here is the post- surgery statement given by Dr. James Andrews, following his repair of Robert Griffin III’s injured knee:

“Robert Griffin III had successful knee surgery early this morning. He had a direct repair of his LCL and a re-do of his previous ACL reconstruction,” the statement said. “We expect a full recovery and it is everybody’s hope and belief that due to Robert’s high motivation, he will be ready for the 2013 season.  The goal of his treatment is to give him the best opportunity for a long professional career.”

Hail!

After his 2 hour visit with Dr James Andrews at the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze, Florida yesterday, the decision was made to take star quarterback Robert Griffin III to surgery to repair the lateral collateral ligament ( LCL ) in his right knee. It will be determined in the surgical suite whether his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL ) requires further surgical repair or not. Sources say that procedure was scheduled to commence at 7 AM this morning.

Complete tears of the LCL cannot be repaired arthroscopically, and require an open incision. In general, surgeries that are performed with an arthroscope require less recovery time than do open procedures.  It is unclear at this time whether Griffin injury was a complete tear of the LCL or not. 

 I’m in one of the five stages of grieving over my Redskins. Not denial; I know they lost. There’s no bargaining in the NFL. Not in playoff games, anyway. I’m all done with being angry at the result. Perhaps I’m moving toward acceptance. I did briefly harbor a resentment that Seattle was the beneficiary of an astoundingly bad call that won the game for them against Green Bay earlier this season. For sanity’s sake, I knew I had to let that go.

For those of you that haven’t heard or seen for yourselves, here’s the 10 second capsule: the Redskins got out to a quick 14-0 lead over the Seattle Seahawks and then were derailed offensively by Robert Griffin’s ailing knee. The defense played better than we had any right to expect, really, but were unable hold on in the end, with Seattle taking the game 24-14.

There will be endless deconstruction of this game, endless questioning. Was Griffin left in the game too long? How is his health now? He will get an MRI today, and with any kind of luck the Redskins loss will get Griffin what he needs most: rest.

What I want to say now is to the members of this team, who gave their heart and soul to turn this franchise around: You have made us all so proud. There are countless fans like me. We’ve cheered for old DC all of our lives, stuck with you through the hard years. Believe me, it would have been easy and perhaps understandable if we found some other team to root for.  But none of us did.

It’s now the off-season for our team, but as NFL observers can tell you, professional football is a year round affair these days. If there’s Redskins news to talk about, you’ll find it here, I promise. Thanks for being a reader here, and if you liked what you saw here, tell your Redskin loving friends.

Hail!

The Washington Redskins dominated the first quarter of their home playoff matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, but were dominated themselves in the second quarter, leaving the home team hanging on to a one point edge at the half 14-13.

Rookie phenom RG3 threw a rare interception in the second quarter with a late throw under pressure that ultimately led to a second Seattle field goal. Griffin has run several times, but looked uncomfortable wearing the bulky brace placed on him by team medical staff.

Should the Skins advance past our trash taking, coffee-loving opponents to the west today ( and we believe that they will ), they will face the Atlanta Falcons in the conference semifinal next week at 1 PM in Atlanta.

The matchup was decided last night after the Green Bay Packers eliminated the Minnesota Vikings from playoff contention 24-10. The Falcons are the NFC’s top seed and have a first-round bye, and will host the conference’s lowest-seeded remaining team next Sunday at 1 p.m. After the Vikings were eliminated, that team is the Redskins.

That also means that todays game against the Seahawks will be our only home playoff game this season. It also guarantees the Skins will face teams with avian-themed names two week in a row. I’m already thinking of the headlines. Skins Ground Seahawks? Skins shoot down Falcons? I’m open to suggestions. Let me know.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 1,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 3 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Playoffs, baby. Division winners. We haven’t heard those terms used in conjunction with a Washington Redskins team in too long.  They belong now, though. There were joyful tears being shed in the stands at Fed Ex last night, as Washington’s standout rookies, quarterback Robert Griffin III and running back Alfred Morris led their team to the long awaited promised land. Even Chief Zee looked a little misty- eyed.

Morris in particular was unstoppable last night, chalking up 200 yards and three touchdown as he bulled his way down the field against would be Dallas defenders. Griffin added a rushing touchdown of his own from ten yards out.

Washington’s opportunistic defense was exactly that, coming up with three interceptions of Romo on the night.

All this leads to a wildcard playoff game at Fed Ex against Seattle at 425 on Sunday. The tailgating should be especially awesome. Hail!

Chris Cooley has played Tight End for a number of different quarterbacks during his long career as a Washington Redskin, but none have performed  anything Robert Griffin III. Here’s what the Redskins record holder for catches by a Tight End had to say about RG3 recently.

“He does so many things that incorporate an 11^th player on offense that the defense has to account for,” Cooley said. “Defensive schemes have always accounted for 10, and that’s just not the case anymore. He’s changing it completely.”