[sportscurmudgeon]

As I recall, the prevailing wisdom here on The Warpath was that this would be the offseason of continuity. No changes to coaching staff and minimal changes to the squad...

When I "suggested" that Danny Boy could not possibly allow a Feburary/March to go by without him becoming the centerpiece of a story, I was told that Danny Boy had learned his lessons and had turned things over to Joe Gibbs and all would be well. Hello?

If Gibbs is in charge of football decisions, please tell me what Danny Boy was doing at dinner talking to Coles' agent? Or is the keeping/bouncing of Coles something other than a football decision? What was Danny Boy doing at the Senior Bowl - or was it the Hula Bowl? Right, it was just vacation time and not anything to do with scouting college players for the draft. He doesn't do that anymore...

The Skins PR machine is at work dropping hints about how Coles was "disgruntled" and how he wanted more passes thrown his way - making him sound selfish. This is the standard operating procedure for the Redskins when they are in the process of getting rid of a player who has a following in the area. It is exactly what they did to Brian Mitchell and Champ Bailey.

Riddle me this. The team is on the prowl for "true Redskins" who play hard and play hurt and leave it all on the field. We want good citizens and reliable folks who do what they need to do in order for the team to win. That's what we're asked to beleive.

Now in this offseason, there is the possibility that Smoot AND Coles will be gone. And how many other "true Redskins" can we point to from last year's squad?

Here's what I believe - - but certainly do not know to be factual so let me admit that up front:

Gibbs is NOT running the football operation except that he MAY have the ability to tell Snyder something like "if you do that, I quit and I'll go back to NASCAR and you can explain to all those fans why you know more about the NFL than I do." But he only gets to do that on major things, not everything.

And as usual, Danny Boy needs his publicity fix about this time of year so it's time to fuel up Redskins One and go out and sign somebody flashy so the news conference will be well attended.

If I'm right - notice I said IF - , the single best thing that can happen to this franchise is for sonebody to hi-jack Redskins One with Danny Boy aboard and land him on some desert island in the middle of the ocean with a pup tent and a lifetime supply of fishing line and fish hooks...