Art Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=11294 Wow, what insight . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted October 14, 2005 Author Share Posted October 14, 2005 ExtremeSkins Fan View: Fan Friction By Arthur Mills ExtremeSkins.com October 14, 2005 I'm the author of anger. It's Dallas week. I'm "amped up" to write the super rivalry piece to get ExtremeSkins fans pumped up with me. Joe Gibbs puts Mark Brunell in for Patrick Ramsey and my story suddenly changes. I'm the creator of controversy. We've beaten Dallas now coming off a bye week preparing to face the Seattle Seahawks. I'm ready to write an article about how the Redskins need the Seattle game more than even the Dallas game given recent seasons of witnessing the team's inability to build momentum to break through mediocrity (or worse). Then, a little note to fire up the fans captured their imagination bringing Bush Leaguers to life and causing my story to change. I'm the messenger of melancholy. Proud of the Redskins after a tough loss to the Denver Broncos, I aimed to discuss the solid 3-1 start and becoming of the team as a team, finally, maybe, and then...LaVar. LaVar Arrington is undoubtedly drama's queen on this team. I have become the dramatist. Though I long for the days I can crack open old Webster's and print you out some definitions (cheap, yet fulfilling, shot at "junior" columnist Mark Steven), being I'm a slave to the rhythm of this team and ExtremeSkins fans, I give you LaVar. (Deep sigh). Where to start? A few weeks ago after the Redskins beat the Cowboys, I was pulling together fan questions to use in a chat with coach Gregg Williams. It was the best of times. We laughed. We carried on like buds (or so I tell myself in my delusional fan mind). He gave me various ideas for barbeque joints in Kansas City, where he's from, as I'll be there this weekend. The neatest part is I had a couple hundred questions and almost all of them expressed adoration and gratitude. This was, as I told Coach Williams, the easiest chat he'd ever take part in. He laughed and told me something his youngest, funniest, son said to him recently. "Dad, how did you go from a dummy in Buffalo to a genius in Washington?" A couple of radio spots by Arrington later and guess who's back? As you can imagine, there is quite an extreme division among fans on this issue. On one side you have "the-world-is-flat" types certain the lack of playing time for Arrington has something to do with contract grievances, vendettas, mythical personnel packages, dishonest intent, malevolent owners and just about anything else, while denying any objective statement from anyone involved in the situation who may dare suggest LaVar isn't playing because LaVar isn't ready. The champion of this side seems to be a formerly great columnist for the Washington Post who currently plays with hand puppets on television while being kind enough to generate out five- or six-sentence thoughts branded as commentary despite a pressing schedule of watching television a lot and describing the effort it takes to change the channel. I miss the old bald guy. On the other side, you have people who actually like LaVar without having an obsessive man-crush. People on this side believe LaVar is a rare talent possessing unique physical gifts while accepting those physical talents may not always negate some apparent flaws in his game. These fair-minded people are willing to accept informed comments as to the possibilities of LaVar's limited playing time based on trust earned by and trust of the coaching staff. I'm over here with this group. This past Friday on ExtremeSkins, we ran a conversation with Marcus Washington where we asked about the situation with LaVar. Why isn't LaVar in there? "You know what? I think it's just him having confidence in that leg--just confidence in the system," Washington told us. "After he hurt his leg, he kind of missed a lot of stuff, but we were able to be in there and learn Coach Williams' defense (while Arrington rehabbed). So it's definitely a defense where you have to be in there and kind of be around. But when he hurt his leg, I think it kind of set him back. But I think the better his leg gets and him being around and putting that extra work that he puts into it, I think he'll be fine. He'll definitely come up to speed and I think he'll have more confidence in the defense. He'll do well and he'll be the player that everybody's used to seeing out there." This seems pretty reasonable. No one is assaulting Arrington's intelligence. Arrington was out while the bulk of the defense was put in and he has been working to catch up within the defense to get better. These statements marry perfectly with statements from just about every person involved in the situation in one way or another. Everyone's saying the same thing. LaVar Arrington isn't playing because LaVar Arrington isn't quite ready to play, but he will play more when he is ready and his mistakes diminish within the system, demonstrating his readiness. Everyone seems pretty clear as to why Arrington's not playing that much. Except LaVar, of course. On Tuesday, Arrington went on the radio and suggested he didn't know why he wasn't playing as no one had really addressed it with him. To many of us this seemed awfully strange. I mean, we saw reports of an "animated" conversation between Joe Gibbs and LaVar Arrington right in front of reporters. Gibbs told the media during his Monday press conference the conversation that happened in front of everyone was a good one in which it was explained to Arrington that he could help the team and how he could go about doing so. When LaVar stated the following day people were not telling him what was going on, we couldn't quite grasp how that could be the case. So, LaVar helped clarify. Almost as if he looked on his wrist band for assistance, Arrington was quoted in Thursday's Washington Times as saying, "There are so many different things that I've heard, I don't know which one to pinpoint. Somebody knows the truth. I don't happen to be that [someone] and I don't know for sure what I suspect." Ahh, so, it's not really that no one was telling him why he wasn't playing. It was that everyone was and he didn't happen to like what he was being told, so he suspects something else is really at play. Another flat-earther. For the first time in LaVar Arrington's career, he's playing for coaches who are bigger than him, despite the overwhelming fan rebellion backing efforts to relive the glorious days when Arrington was the face of the team and the team was 5-11. For the first time in LaVar Arrington's career he's playing for coaches who can demand he be everything his physical talents allow him to be by dictating that he cannot become that as long as he has the reputation as an undisciplined player. The Redskins are a better team because there is a strength in those running the franchise that allows them to keep an ultra-talented player like Arrington on the bench when many of the concerning areas for this team are those naturally within Arrington's abilities to improve. It is this strength--the same strength that allowed the hard moves of trading away Laveranues Coles, or replacing Patrick Ramsey against the popular views of fans and the "expert" insight of the media--that is at the core of this team's chances to improve. So, some day, I may be the scribe of success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLongshot Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 I'm the author of anger. Sure you aren't the "Arthur of anger."? :laugh: Good article, Art. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 :doh: ANOTHER Lavar thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCMONEY Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Still contradiction on Lavar's side and the coaches also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte51Coleman Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 merge please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted October 14, 2005 Author Share Posted October 14, 2005 Still contradiction on Lavar's side and the coaches also. Really, uh, no. Lavar said no one is telling him why he's not playing. Then after realizing there's proof people are, he says, well, yeah, they are, but I don't believe it. That's contradiction on Lavar's part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gusthecat Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Clear thinking! How's he do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaganaut Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Great write up on Arrington Art. I also think that there is value for coaches in benching superstars to get the 7's and 8's to play above their heads. "If they're benching Lavar what will they do to me???" The Redskins needed an attitude adjustment and after a decade of mediocrity, this team needed pumping out like downtown New Orleans. People are upset because in the draining process, they think the baby (Arrington) is being thrown out with the bathwater. He may BE THE PROBLEM that needs to be fixed on this team. Let me repeat: Lavar may be the problem here with his own version of the "me first" attitude. I personally think that Lavar plays on nothing but emotion. He's been moved around so much because he can't play within ANY system. Coaches try to figure out how to use him and all end up frustrated. So Williams finally benches him because he's so frustrated. He shows us a defense without Arrington that thrives, so he has all the justification he needs from last year. I think Lavar might be worth more as the goat in getting average players to play over their heads than he is on the field. This is just my $.02. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Monk Fan Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Damn, Art you stole that "mythical personnel packages," line from me! I demand satisfaction, Sir! And I DO NOT believe the earth is flat, it's more of an oblong spheroid, thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCMONEY Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Really, uh, no. Lavar said no one is telling him why he's not playing. Then after realizing there's proof people are, he says, well, yeah, they are, but I don't believe it.That's contradiction on Lavar's part. Yeah and the coaches say there was no situation in the Bronco game that fit putting Lavar in. Oh the term their using is package. I don't believe that. Lavar isn't clean in this but neither are the coaches. Both sides need to stop this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-Dog Night Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Just another mediot who has no idea what he's talking about. Ok really? A great job as always. But as far as the "LaVar camps" go, where was the mention of the third group...the "we didn't like LaVar at Penn State, Marvin Lewis is right, he's overrated and not a team player" group? They are out there, to be sure. Am I one? Honestly, I don't know what to think anymore. I will say this, and I have been sparing the board this little anecdote mainly because it doesn't really define anything, and there have been so many LaVar posts lately that I feel like getting reverse Lasik surgery to make me blind so I don’t have to read this stuff anymore (I could just ignore them, but what fun would that be?). So here goes: at the Seattle game, I've got my binoculars out during warm ups, checking out the Skins as they do their stretches and calisthenics. It looks like any football team in such a circumstance; neat rows of players engaged in uniform exercises to prepare their muscles for the upcoming battle. But wait - there's one guy, the lone maverick, who's not doing what everyone else is...it's LaVar of course. While his teammates are all engaged in the same exercise, LaVar is...dancing? Say it isn't so. I look again. Sure enough, Mr. Arrington is jiving to the beat of the hip-hop tune being pumped through the loudspeakers. No stretching, no twisting, just movin' to the beat of the music. By itself, this is no big deal. But with everything else thrown in that is going on with LaVar right now, with accusations of a “me-first” attitude, this just speaks volumes, IMO. I know that the man-crush crowd will rail against me saying "You saw him dancing for a minute and you are using this as an example of why he's not playing? You're an idiot". But this is just the type of little thing that coaches notice. When the rest of the team is stretching, they want to see the supposed team leader stretching too - not getting jiggy to the latest from 50 cent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Great article, but then you go and invite a few thousand more rubes to start new LaVar threads:whippin: Perhaps it should be re-phrased to say, "Come to ExtremeSkins and look over the many thousands of threads on the LaVar situation" :2cents: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted October 14, 2005 Author Share Posted October 14, 2005 Damn, Art you stole that "mythical personnel packages," line from me! I demand satisfaction, Sir! And I DO NOT believe the earth is flat, it's more of an oblong spheroid, thank you very much. It's a representitive sample of fan thoughts. I try to work in ONLY the best . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead Money Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 please merge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Monk Fan Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 It's a representitive sample of fan thoughts. I try to work in ONLY the best . Flattery worked in as a back-handed insult -- I take it back, you're much more tactful than I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Skins Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 The only area where I will question the coaching staff right now is this: I don't think the apparent policy of not speaking publicly about player moves is working. You leave the fans in the dark, carefully making only positive comments about a player, and then all of a sudden people realize what you've been saying in public doesn't match up with what you actually intend to do with that player. Happened with Ramsey, happening now with Arrington. "Oh yeah, he's great. Oh yeah, we want him to be a big contributor." Then all of a sudden, he's on the bench. Even if there may be positive intentions behind it, it clearly doesn't work in this era of "new media". Maybe somebody should try to get that point through to the staff. They've done a lot of good things to create a state-of-the-art media operation, but the info coming from the coaches right now is not very "adept" or "savvy" at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntotoro Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 It's a shame that a great thread such as this is getting eclipsed in terms of traffic by the last gasps of Boobiemiles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burger35 Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 I don't agree with this article at all. The fact the skins would allow an article on their own site that bashes Lavar is outrageous. Other fans from other teams visit this site. It's like screaming at your wife during a dinner party. This is a sensitive subject that involves the team and Lavar. If he had such a problem with Free-lancing and was undisciplined why sign him to an extension and tell him he is the franchise player. If the coaches don't want to play him fine. They kow more about football then I will ever know. But I refuse to bash a person that has been as loyal as he has to the franchise and played as hard as he does. The person 95% of Redskin fans called "A TRUE REDSKIN" 3 months ago. :2cents: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Well, you didn't get in as many big words as Om would have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntotoro Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 They've done a lot of good things to create a state-of-the-art media operation, but the info coming from the coaches right now is not very "adept" or "savvy" at all. It appears to me their reason for keeping hush-hush or less than 100% accurate with the public in this matter (in particular) is more about keeping the players from being embarrassed by having their names dragged through the mud publicly by the Coaches. That should be their concern. They should be more concerned with doing their business in-house than trying to keep us informed of the apparent shortcomings of their players. If LaVar were smart enough to realize that, he'd stop his weekly pity parties with those enablers of his at 980. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris 44 Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 I don't agree with this article at all. The fact the skins would allow an article on their own site that bashes Lavar is outrageous. Other fans from other teams visit this site. It's like screaming at your wife during a dinner party.This is a sensitive subject that involves the team and Lavar. If he had such a problem with Free-lancing and was undisciplined why sign him to an extension and tell him he is the franchise player. If the coaches don't want to play him fine. They kow more about football then I will ever know. But I refuse to bash a person that has been as loyal as he has to the franchise and played as hard as he does. The person 95% of Redskin fans called "A TRUE REDSKIN" 3 months ago. :2cents: Wait a tick. I thought that Redskin.com was going to take away any and all desention directed against the Washington Redskins; and that extremeskins would become a puppet to the "organization". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottlo34 Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Redskins have a paltry 4 sacks after 4 games.........that is not going to cut it. Get lavar in there Williams and set him loose after the QB. Period. End of story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntotoro Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 This is a sensitive subject that involves the team and Lavar. If he had such a problem with Free-lancing and was undisciplined why sign him to an extension and tell him he is the franchise player. 1) His contract extension was done before Coach Gibbs was hired. 2) They believe he'll be great within this system once he's 100% all-around. They just don't feel he's there yet. Where's the mystery in that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Prime Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Art you moron, use the search feature muahahahah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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