For a Night, Landover Becomes a Steel Town

By Dan Steinberg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; E01

During the second quarter of Monday night's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington Redskins center Casey Rabach told Jason Campbell they would have to use a silent snap count. Rabach estimated that the offense went on to use the silent snap count a half-dozen times over the course of the night. Why was it necessary?

"I couldn't [bleeping] hear him," Rabach said.

Excessive noise by opposing fans might not be unusual during a road game, but one Redskins player after another said he couldn't remember a similar moment at FedEx Field.

"Never," guard Randy Thomas said when asked about using a silent count at the team's home. "First for me."

Monday night, though, was not a typical home game. Steelers fans filled buses that streamed into the stadium's parking lots, set up giant banners and flags, waved their trademark Terrible Towels and left some Redskins players disoriented.

"I'm like, 'Are those yellow towels for us or for them?' " wide receiver Santana Moss said yesterday. "I really scratched my head about it, because I've never seen it done, especially at FedEx, to have someone come into our home and almost have more fans than we did."

"It was something we discussed on the sidelines," Thomas said. "Like, 'Damn, are we giving away free towels tonight or something?' . . . For a [visiting] team like that to be able to get a hold of tickets, I mean, how can you do that?"

Fans and ticket brokers offered several explanations. Thousands of western Pennsylvania transplants live in the D.C. area, and they had not had a chance to see their team play a regular season game in this market since 1988. This was also a manageable road trip for a fan base that is legendary for leaving home to support its team. "The best traveling fans in the country, by far," said Jeff Greenberg, the owner of Gaithersburg-based broker ASCTicket.com.

Many Redskins season ticket holders have said they resell high-demand game tickets to help pay for the rest of their packages, which include mandatory preseason games. Others say they are most likely to avoid weekday night dates, when traffic can be abysmal both before and after the games.

More than 7,000 tickets were purchased on StubHub for the Redskins-Steelers game, the highest number for any NFL game this season, according to Sean Pate, a spokesman for the online ticket vendor. He said 9 percent of those buying tickets were from Pennsylvania. As of yesterday, around 3,000 tickets were available on StubHub for Washington's next home game, against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 16.

Pate said the Redskins are among six NFL teams that have a contractual agreement that promotes StubHub as the official site for fans to resell their tickets. The remaining 26 teams have a similar arrangement with Ticketmaster.

Redskins Coach Jim Zorn was asked at his news conference yesterday about the number of Steelers fans at Monday's game and said the Redskins also had a fervent fan base and noted that many of their fans had attended the team's game in Detroit against the Lions on Oct. 26.

Even though the Redskins annually lead the NFL in attendance and have announced sellouts for every game in FedEx Field history, players were left debating the proportion of Steelers fans in the stadium Monday night. Some guessed 40 percent. Others said 50, although two veteran ticket brokers estimated the number at closer to 15 or 20 percent.

"It sounded like 50-50 from the noise they were making," cornerback Fred Smoot said. "I'm disappointed. FedEx has never had that many other teams' fans. I don't know, it kind of shocked me when I seen all those Terrible Towels. I know Pittsburgh ain't but a couple miles away from here, but we've got to keep them out of our place. I'm not disappointed on the fans, but somebody let 'em in there. It wasn't me, and I know it wasn't [owner] Dan [Snyder], so somebody let 'em in there."

For as many players who remarked upon the incongruity of FedEx Field filled with twirling gold towels, none suggested it had a major impact on the game. Zorn said the team regularly uses silent snap counts in shotgun formations both at home and away, and that the Pittsburgh fans' noise didn't factor into the result.

Still, "I think that'd be highly unusual, and it would kind of tick me off," he said of the visiting influx. "I don't buy it if we're gonna use that as a reason for having a disruption, but if it's a statement of fact, yeah I think it's pretty unusual that a home team would have to have enough opponent crowd in the stands to have to use a silent count."

Players used words like "shocked" and "surprised" to describe their reaction, and Smoot suggested the faltering economy might be to blame.

"I mean, that's not the reputation or the expectation I had of the fans here, but who am I to begrudge somebody from making a profit by selling their tickets?" guard Pete Kendall said. "I'm playing for money, and they're watching, and it's their right to do what they want with their tickets."

Which didn't make the idea of resorting to a silent snap count at home any less strange.

"I'm sitting there saying, 'We're not away, why are we doing some of the things we're doing?' " Moss said. "But you know, that's why we play this game. You've got to be ready for whatever. And they showed us [Monday] night that they brung their whole Pittsburgh over here just to help them win that game."

It was a tough defensive struggle in week 1 for the Palm Beach Punishders.  Last year Palm Beach lost 63-0 in the beginning of the season to Miami.  We were looking to change that this year.  With a high number of new players, both sides of the ball came together quickly to play some solid football against a veteran team.  The first half consisted of both offenses moving the ball but not able to put up any points. PBP's defense stepped up and post a first half shut out, their first against a tier 1 team.  The offense, behind rookie QB Melissa Savage, improved as the game went along having some success in the air and on the ground.

The second half started with a fumble on opening 3rd quarter return by PBP which gave Miami's offense a short field for the first TD of the game but the PBP defense prevented the extra point to make the score 6-0.  Field position became the key for PBP, and still in the third quarter we got the chance to take the lead.  with a 1st and goal instead Miami's 10, the offense began a strong push to get in the endzone.  But with a 4th and 1, we were denied and turned to ball over on downs.  The defense took care of matters then with a safety by Ann Marie Johnson to make it 6-2.  In the 4th, PBP's offense had another chance moving the ball deep into Miami territory, but an interception at the 10 halted the drive with very little time on the clock.  PBP drove down the field again and got down to the Miami 20 but time ran out on the Palm Beach Punishers as they lose 6-2 in a very hard fought game.

On April 26, Palm Beach takes on visiting Carolina Pheonix at Palm Beach Central High School for the first meeting of these two teams.  Game time is at 7pm.  Go to http://www.palmbeachpunishers.com/ for more information.

well, it is getting closer to football season.  Game time is quickly approaching.  here is just a little PBP video

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/mplayer/pbpostsports/79329

..> ..>

Regular Season
Apr 12	Miami Fury
Apr 19	@ Atlanta Xplosion
Apr 26	Carolina Phoenix
May 3	@ Orlando Mayhem
May 17	Miami Fury
May 31	@ Orlando Mayhem
Jun 7	@ Miami Fury
Jun 14	Orlando Mayhem

The entire IWFL schedule for each team is located at http://www.iwflsports.com/teams.php

I think many of you know that I have been trying to find a job for a very long time now here in Orlando.  Well that search expanded when it seemed the Orlando job market did not want me here.  Part of that expansion was down in the south Florida area.  As of today, that streak is over, but not here in Orlando.  The job is down in Weston, FL near Ft. Lauderdale.  Today it was made official.  I will eventually move down there which means I will be leaving behinds friends in Orlando.  I am sorry to leave the Orlando crew, but I am still in Florida and my cell phone number will be the same for long while, so you can still find me if you need to.   I will be starting the job on Nov 19^th but will be here on the weekends until my place sells.  For those of you who know me from women's football, maybe you will see on the field again since the people who helped me get the job are on the Palm Beach team and they may expect me to return the favor J J.  We shall see what the future holds.

comapany site of where i am going http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/

            It is playoff time in the NWFA!  After a great deal of changes to the playoff format to include the Erie Illusion and the Phoenix Prowlers, finishing 7-1 and 8-0 respectfully.  Both were given a #7 seed. 

Erie had to face one of the best teams in the league, the Pittsburgh Passion.  Erie was given an easier schedule this year than previous years and they walked through most of that schedule.  The playoffs proved to be much different.  Superwoman Lisa Horton and Tonia Henley crushed them in the air and on the ground racking up 63 point on Erie.  Erie did get on the scoreboard in the 4^th but it made little difference in the 63-7 score.  This game was more of a feather Erie's cap in their first winning season and first playoff appearance.  Hopefully this will help in recruiting players for next year.  This was also Pitt's first playoff game and will get another home playoff game for the fans next week against Western Michigan Mayhem who had a tough battle against Baltimore Burn.  Baltimore had the lead at half 6-0, but could not stop the continuous ground game of the Mayhem and wore the Burn down and put the game out of reach for a final of 33-14.

The Phoenix Prowlers were allowed into the playoffs late because the Western Conference was not originally allowed in the playoffs.  The league gave the unscored on Prowlers a chance against the St. Louis Slam.  There was a lot of Pheonix trash talking in the weeks before the game, but the Slam quieted all of that getting out to a 21-0 lead in the first half.  Still in the first half, the Prowlers got on the scoreboard helped by two 4^th down penalties against the Slam on the series to make it 21-7 at half.  St. Louis scored twice and Pheonix scored once in the 3^rd for a score of 33-15.  With 3 minutes left in the game, Pheonix starts closing in on the Slam scoring 2 more TDs making it 33-29.  The Slam get the ball last and just take a knee to end the game at 33-29 ending the Prowlers undefeated season for St. Louis first playoff win.  St. Louis will face the defending conference champs OKC Lightning next week whom they split with during the season.  OKC faced a New Orleans Blaze team that is returning to the playoffs after Hurricane Katrina knocked them out of playing last year.  Illiana Calderon gained 203 yards against N.O. running wild for 3 TDs.  OKC deal a huge blow to the Blaze winning 42-12.

The Connecticut Crush had their first home playoff game ever, but had to face a determined Cleveland Fusion team that has a point to prove that they are the best.  They took all their aggression out on Connecticut scoring 53 unanswered points for a shutout (53-0) with the 2^nd, 3^rd and 6^th leading rushers for the week for 400 yards total.  Mary Dietrick added another 180 yards in the air.  Cleveland will now face the #1 seed Mass Mutiny who has not been really tested like this. 

The last playoff game was a rematch of a playoff game from last year between the Columbus Comets and the Pensacola Power.  Much like last year, the Comets shut down the Power offense keeping them off the scoreboard.  The Comet offense was only able to put up 10 points, but it was all they needed to end Pensacola's season once again 10-0.  Columbus will face an untested Chattanooga Locomotion team.

                    Playoffs Rd. 2 (6/30)

West Michigan Mayhem @ Pittsburgh Passion

Columbus Comets @ Chattanooga Locomotion

Cleveland Fusion @ Mass Mutiny

St. Louis Slam @ Oklahoma City Lightning

For overall team/league stats go to http://www.webgamestats.com/nwfa.aspx

For Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=nwfa

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.

IWFL week 9 consisted of everything from blowouts, forfeits to close games and playoff sensitive games.  The biggest playoff related game was the battle for the Northeast Division between the Manchester Freedom and the Montreal Blitz.  This was a must win game for Manchester to remain in the race.  A Montreal win would have given them their first division title and a playoff appearance.  Both teams have won a game each in their previous 2 meetings. There was much to play for for both teams.  Montreal got on the board first with a 2 yard TD run to make it 0-6.  From that point on Manchester took over.  On the kickoff return, Manchester returned it 70 yards to make 7-6.  The Freedom never looked back with a steady stream of running.  Pashkevitch scored a TD for Manchester in each of the next 3 quarters.  Manchester's defense kept Montreal out of the endzone for the rest of the game for a 28-6 win.  This win put an exclamation point on the entire series of games between these 2 teams.  Both teams are 5-2 with Manchester winning the tiebreaker.  The Manchester Freedom must win next week against the New England Intensity to win the division.  Last week New England beat Manchester.  Needless to say, Montreal will be cheering for New England.

            A much improved Palm Beach Punishers team almost had their second win on the season when the Miami Fury came into town.  They were able to keep it very close for the entire game and almost got a win over a local rival that was in the playoffs last year.  Miami won the game 7-0.  This will set up for a great rivalry next year.  The California Quake kept themselves out of the cellar by shutting out Tucson Monsoon 20-0.  They scored 14 in the first quarter to force Tucson into an uphill battle that they could not recover from.  The Carolina Phoenix held their own this year after losing in week 1 to the Shreveport Aftershock.  Carolina went undefeated for the rest of the season, finishing their season this weekend with another win over Cape Fear Thunder 29-6.  This will be a good lead into next year since they should be full members then.  Kansas City Storm added another win to their playoff season by defeating the Iowa Crush again 19-0. The Seattle Majestics continued their success on the Northwest division by dominating the Corvallis Pride 23-0.

            The rest of the games were really large point margin wins I consistantly do not talk about them.  Those scores can be found on the IWFL website:  http://www.iwflsports.com/scores.php

For this weeks Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=iwfl

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.

The final week of the NWFA season did have its share of drama on the field and some off the field.  All of it related to the playoffs. 

The biggest game this weekend turned out to be the St. Louis Slam and OKC Lightning.  It was also the biggest upset. OKC slammed into a wall in St. Louis ending a regular season win streak that goes back to June 05.  The stingy defense of the Slam kept the high powered OKC offense out of the endzone for the entire game to win 7-0.  That catapulted St. Louis to the #2 playoff seed with a 7-1 record and dropped OKC (7-1) to #3.  Another game with an impact on the playoff seedings was between the Cleveland Fusion and the W. Michigan Mayhem.  The Mayhem's spot was secure, but the number of points they scored determine the seeding fate of Cleveland and the Connecticut Crush.  Shutting out the Mayhem would give the Fusion a home playoff game, but W. Michigan put a damper on that with only 6 points.  They may have lost 22-6, but they send Cleveland on the road for the first round of the playoffs.  The last game that had any chance of impacting the playoffs was Pensacola Power and the New Orleans Blaze.  N.O. just had to keep Pensacola's point total from getting out of control to make the playoffs or N.O. win the game by more than 15 to win the division.  In a very high scoring game by both teams, Pensacola walked out with the win 37-28 and the Blaze kept the score down enough to earn another playoff spot.  This puts them back where they were before Hurricane Katrina. 

Other close, notable games were the Kentucky Karma squeezing out a 14-6 win over the Milwaukee Momentum to go 4-4 for the year.  Nashville Dream get revenge on the Alabama Renegades 6-0 for their earlier loss in the season.  For all of this weekends scores go to http://www.womensfootballassociation.com/Schedule.html

The Playoffs are now set in the NWFA.  Below are the seeds and games for next weekend.  The Conn Crush get their first home playoff game ever against a team they have never faced before.  Erie finishes with their best record ever and get playoff appearance out of it, but must play the powerful Pitt Passion.  Both the Baltimore Burn and the Mayhem had one common opponent during the year, the Fusion.  Now they get to square off against each other to see who the better divisional winner is.  In the South, the Pheonix Prowlers get a chance to prove themselves against the rest of the league in the first playoff opportunity by the Western Conference.  Two very tough defenses in this battle.  The Blaze are back, but must face the defending conference champs in round 1.  Columbus Comets and Pensacola Power game is a remake of a 1^st round match up from last year.  Who will win it this year?

NORTHERN CONFERENCE

Round 1 June 23

Mutiny #1 - Bye

Fusion (#5) @ Crush (#4)

Erie (#7)  @ Passion (#2)

Burn (#6) @ Mayhem (#3)

SOUTHERN CONFERENCE

Round 1 June 23

Locomotion (#1) Bye

Prowlers (#7) @ Slam (#2)

Blaze (#6) @ OKC (#3)

Comets (#5) @ Pensacola (#4)

For overall team/league stats go to http://www.webgamestats.com/nwfa.aspx

For Massey team ratings http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=nwfa

Courtesy of http://www.w2ce.com, gift buying made easy.