washington Page 90 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

You Know Spring Training Is Here When You Read Sentences Like "Denard Span Said He Started Screaming And Making Noises To Discourage The Bird"
There is no baseball, no real, meaningful baseball for another 44 days. But the dead zone of the sports calendar has quickened considerably by the advent of spring training. Camps in Arizona and Florida stir to life, as co-workers who haven't seen each other since September get back together for som...

The Redskins Really, Really Want You To Know Their Team Name Is About Pride
Because the Redskins are relevant again, the periodic controversy about their use of a racial slur as a team name has flared up again. This time Dan Snyder and company have gone on the offensive, with a series of stories and statements about the name, and what it means to both the franchise and high...
![Michael Jordan's Former Agent Thinks John Wall Is Just The Worst [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18encb9h3pc7fjpg.jpg)
Michael Jordan's Former Agent Thinks John Wall Is Just The Worst [UPDATE]
Over the weekend, the Washington Post's Mike Wise wrote a column about Wizards point guard John Wall's recent encouraging play. For whatever reason, this made former superagent David Falk very mad, mad enough to call up Wise and go on a tirade against Wall and the Wizards organization. Lucky for us...

The Redskins Are Just Going To Hide Behind Every Single School That Uses The Name Redskins
On Monday, the Redskins launched a campaign to defend their use of a racist slur as a team name. It was weak, and centered on the nebulous concept of "pride" felt by a particular Ohio high school that also uses the name Redskins. Drew pointed out that it's bullshit, and this is all about Dan Snyder ...

Washington Redskins "Proudly" Defend Their Name In The Dumbest Way Possible
Here in the 21st century, there is a growing sentiment that the Washington Redskins should finally adopt a less offensive team name. DC mayor Vincent Gray wants the name changed. Longtime DC newsman and real-life Sugar Bear Jim Vance wants the name changed. And Mike Florio wants RGIII to want the na...

John Wall Blocks Carmelo, Jukes Out Jason Kidd, Reminds Us That He's Still Very Good At Basketball
Remember when you saw a John Wall highlight reel for the first time? My first experience with him came courtesy of this mixtape from his high school days, in which Wall fast-twitches all over various high school gyms and generally looks like a space alien come to destroy our previous notions of wh...

For The Fourth Straight Year, The Super Bowl Champs Played In The Eagles' Home Opener
These prophetic words were written way back in September, before the Eagles' Week 2 home opener at Lincoln Financial Field:...

Washington Scores Freak Goal By Banking Puck Off The Boards
Here is Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson dumping the puck into the Penguins zone and using the boards to fake out Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun four minutes into the second period. Carlson successfully got Vokoun to anticipate where the puck should have been and banked the puck into a wi...

WSU Football Player Arrested After "Shoving Two Bottles Of Tequila Down His Pants" In A Daring Robbery Attempt
Washington State redshirt freshman Drew Loftus had a plan. He was "exhibiting signs of intoxication," so it was one of those plans, but it was still a plan: He would bide his time during the evening. Maybe have a couple extra drinks, to take the edge off. Wait until about 1 a.m—just when they least...

Pro Football Hall Of Fame Calls Up Sapp, Parcells, Ogden, Allen and Carter
The NFL's next Hall of Fame class, just announced, has a few dudes the TV made famous. There's Bill Parcells, who made a coaching career of winning two Super Bowls with the Giants and then convincing other teams believe he might ever do it again; Cris* Carter, who just proved that even Jerry Rice Li...

Nick Johnson, The Nearly Perfect Baseball Player, Retires
Nick Johnson announced his retirement today after playing portions of 10 major league seasons due to an infuriating inability to stay healthy. It's impossible to read an article about Johnson without coming across the phrase "oft-injured." It will be the book on him until they close it: "Nick Johns...

How Two Newspapers Wound Up Staging The Same Sob Story About The Ray Lewis Murder Case
Richard Lollar was one of two men killed in the 2000 Super Bowl week stabbing outside an Atlanta nightclub that led to Ray Lewis's pleading guilty to obstruction of justice. For 13 years Lollar has been buried in his hometown of Akron, and in those 13 years his mother Priscilla had never been to his...

Trent Williams Is An Unkillable Force Of Nature
We found out Saturday that Redskins tackle Trent Williams would miss the Pro Bowl after being involved in a Honolulu nightclub brawl, his roster spot going to Matt Kalil. (Aside: how did Kalil drop whatever he was going, get to Hawaii, and get ready to play so quickly? I think each conference has so...

<i>Forbes</i>'s "Best Sports Blogs" Of 2003 Are A Portal To A Time You're Glad You Forgot
The shortest increments of time known to humanity are the following, beginning with the most brief:...
![Rejoice: The New Mascot In The Washington Nationals' Presidents Race Is William Taft, Our Fattest And Sleepiest President [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18cp6zbk5fvosjpg.jpg)
Rejoice: The New Mascot In The Washington Nationals' Presidents Race Is William Taft, Our Fattest And Sleepiest President [Update]
At a fan fest today, the Nationals will announce the addition of a new American president to their much-beloved mascot race, which already saw a shake-up late in the Nationals' season when Teddy Roosevelt won for the first time ever. Crowd-pleasers that the Nationals are, they understood that fans ...

Redskins OL Trent Williams Will Miss The Pro Bowl Because A Nightclub Patron Tasered Him And Cracked A Bottle On His Head
Yesterday, the Vikings announced that Matt Kalil would be taking over for Redskins offensive lineman Trent Williams in this Sunday's Pro Bowl. The Vikings couldn't supply any details and, as the Pro Bowl is an especially inessential exhibition, some speculated that Williams was merely resting from i...
![<em>Washington Post</em> Drags Victim's Mother To His Grave To Remind Us That Nobody Is Paying Attention To The Ray Lewis Murder Case [Update: The <i>Buffalo News</i> Too!]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18cm3rrxpzoi8jpg.jpg)
<em>Washington Post</em> Drags Victim's Mother To His Grave To Remind Us That Nobody Is Paying Attention To The Ray Lewis Murder Case [Update: The <i>Buffalo News</i> Too!]
"Here he is right here," Priscilla says with a smile....

Fred Smoot, Who Double-Donged Two Hookers, Peed His Pants After Being Arrested For DUI
Fred Smoot, the former Redskins and Vikings cornerback, would like to be known as something other than "that guy who put a double-ended dildo into two prostitutes on the Vikings sex boat." He tried breaking the news that Robert Griffin III's shredded knee would keep him out an entire year, but that ...

Four Washington Redskins Nearly Got Catfished
In December, around the same Manti Te'o was supposedly learning he had been the victim of a hoax, the Redskins director of player development Phillip Daniels was uncovering a mystery of his own. Who was Sidney Ackerman, aka @RedRidnH00d, the beautiful woman who had been communicating online with fou...

Washington Wizards Approaching Double-Digit Wins Thanks To Jordan Crawford Buzzer Beater
Thanks to Jordan Crawford's last-second shot—that was reviewed and upheld—the Washington Wizards beat the Portland Trail Blazers 98-95. The Blazers got within one by the 2:21 mark in the fourth quarter and eventually tied the game with 3.6 seconds left but Washington would not be denied its ninth w...