RICHMOND, Va. – The hard times test your character.
So it is telling how Mayor Jones refused to do what a Mayor is suppose to do and back up your guys when the going gets tough.
I am speaking about the Washington Deadskins aka Redskins who finished an awful season last weekend with an unbelievably pathetic performance.
The Mayor had an open field, an easy run into the end zone. But as Graham Moomaw points out in today’s RTD, the Mayor was anxious to start “putting distance between the teams performance and the city where the road to the 3-13 season began.”
Why is it, for so many pols in Richmond, always a “me” thing and never a “we” thing except when it benefits them?
Like anyone is going to blame the Mayor or Richmond for the Deadskins terrible season?
It isn’t about the Mayor or City Council or the pols all the time, or is it?
“Putting distance” between himself and a controversial issue or event is what a “pol” does when campaigning or when a scandal breaks while in office.
Take the scandal last year during the mayoral campaign with the city’s social services agency.
The Mayor quickly put distance between himself and those folks he had hired but now needed to fire. He played that one perfectly.
But Mayor Jones isn’t running the Deadskins.
He didn’t hire the coach, he didn’t pick the team name, he isn’t the majority stock owner.
But he is the Mayor of the city who hosted the team for summer camp, who paid millions for the privilege and who celebrated their arrival this past summer.
Are we simply a fair weather town, led by those who love to bask in reflective glory, but who cut and run when there is no glory to hog?
Sure, the Deadskins played worse than the replacement players in the strike season years ago. I played better QB than that in High School, even at 140 pounds. I had a better shot at tackling the New York Giants than those guys stuffing twice as much weight into those Washington uniforms.
If Kirk Cousins is tradable for a first round pick, then you should get the whole New England franchise for me, even today I can still throw better with more velocity.
Plus you should get the cheerleaders thrown in. And soda money too just as in the great movie “Moneyball.”
Okay, that Brad Pitt movie is about baseball. Let me try this one, even the rejected walk-ons in the great football movie “Invincible” played better than the Deadskins in the last game. That better?
Here is what Moomaw wrote in today’s RTD:
“And while we don’t take credit for the way they’re playing this year, we did bring the training camp to the city and we’re excited about the fact that we were able to do that,” Jones said at a Dec. 5 town hall meeting.
Say what?
Apparently the Mayor would have claimed the Lombardi Trophy if the Deadskins had won the Super Bowl.
Plus, that was several weeks ago, before the team tanked even worse. He probably would put more distance today.
The Mayor was all smiles this summer praising City Hall and City Council for getting a playoff team to relocate summer camp to Richmond.
What now, we ask for the $10 million back?
He wants to spend over $100 million in your money to pay for his plan to build Jones Stadium in Shockoe Bottom.
But what happens if the Richmond Squirrels finish last, do we ask the team to change the name and keep Richmond out?
Mayor Jones shouldn’t be doing a crack-back block on the Redskins.
Quite the opposite.
Now is the time for Richmond to embrace the Deadskins, become cheerleaders.
Either we want them here, or we don’t.
I am no big fan of the Deadskins.
But I am a big fan of Richmond.
Mayor Jones wants to play punter. That’s okay.
But right now, we need a QB who isn’t afraid to lead in the huddle.
We are “all in” with the Deadskins for at least the next seven years based on the deal made by the Mayor and City Council.
So we either “man up” or we will embarrass ourselves to the whole nation.
Mayor Jones needs to make a New Year’s Resolution, from now on Richmond is going to be the Deadskins best cheerleader.
We can still criticize management, we aren’t going to be patsies.
But we will not leave our guys wounded on the battlefield. They are our team.
Come to think of it, now might be a good time to change the name. Start fresh with a new product. But either way, they are our team now.
Man-up Mayor Jones. It’s a “we” thing, not a “me” thing.
Paul Goldman is in no way affiliated with WTVR. His comments are his own, and do not reflect the views of WTVR or any related entity. Neither WTVR nor any of its employees or agents participated in any way with the preparation of Mr. Goldman’s comments.
