After All These Years, It’s So Sweet 0

Hail to the Redskins, Hail Victory!

All seriousness aside, many times, when a coach gets fired in big league sports, it’s really not the coach’s fault. The team just can’t afford to fire all the players.

Joe Gibbs is an exception (not that he was ever fired–but that he is a coach who can change a team). When he left the Redskins the first time, the team was basically the same team the next year. And they fell into the cellar and stayed there for what seemed like forever.

Gibbs has the ability to take good players–and good players are a dime a dozen in the big leagues–and turn them into a great team.

No, this year’s Skins are not a great team. I will be surprised if they survive the first round of the playoffs. But the difference between the Redskins of the past decade and the Redskins of this year is the return of a great coach, a coach in the tradition of Amos Alonzo Stag, Knute Rockne, Joe Paterno, Weeb Eubank, and Bear Bryant.

(aside to you Eaglettes out there–the T. O. decision shows how corrosive choosing the wrong person can be. Great coaches look to the long term. It’s as true in sports as it is in politics.)

And, oh yeah, did I mention? The Redskins are the only NFL team with a fight song that anyone can remember.