Alcohol, sex, and cigars? Excuse me, but are we talking here about a football hall of fame or the taprooms next to a NASCAR racetrack? I just knew there was something strange about the Catoctin District. They have no alcohol, sex, or cigars there (not counting the upscale wineries of course). Another funny thing. I never knew Kurtz to give a crap about what happens in Eastern Loudoun anyway.

BarbaraN, why do we need 4000 people trained in hospitality for TJTHG? No details, no information, just rushed through. It should have been vetted to see if all these people will in fact be trained IN LOUDOUN for LOUDOUN, or if they are going to be trained in PA and MD to promote things like Gettysburg…. the TOT funds to TJTHG were simply not justified, and in my opinion, not legally allocated under the strict guidelines of the State law on the use of TOT funds in a locality. And to rant and rave about the Redskins, when their proposal HAD BEEN vetted and through the legal process, and when it would have legally met the state requirements for disbursal of TOT funds, is simply STUPID.

Barbara,

JTHG follows 15 from Gettysburg down through LoCo. There a few wineries off of 15 , but most are further west.

Here’s a map :

http://www.hallowedground.org/content/view/98/1/

The bottom line on this is a point Jeanne West made at the Park View public hearing :

A disproportionate amount of LoCo tax revenues are funneled into the western areas of the county.

When you come to think about it, just how much of a “tourist” draw would a Redskins Hall of Fame be? I would wager that most visitors to Loudoun County, if they are football fans at all, are fans of some other team and not much interested in Redskins history. Yes, the Redskins were once the NFL team of the South; but that is now a thing of the far past — with a present taken up by Panthers, Titans, Falcons, Dolphins, Jaguars, Saints, Bucs, Ravens, and the like. The ranks of Southerners who do remember the days long ago when their loyalties were to the Redskins are probably thinning very much as we speak.

I suspect a Redskins Hall of Fame would wind up being mostly an occasional attraction for local fans and not much of a magnet for out-of-towners. It would not have the wider appeal of the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton or, on a different plane, the Udvar-Hazy complex. About the only thing I can see which might alter this somewhat is if induction ceremonies were held at the Hall of Fame vice Fedex Field (don’t see that happening) or if an accompanying stadium was built to host an annual Hall of Fame Game a la Canton (don’t see that happening either).

Don’t get me wrong. It would be nice to have a Redskins Hall of Fame as part of the Ashburn complex. I have to ask myself, however, how often even I, a diehard fan, would go there after having seen Art Monk’s jersey or Sammy Baugh’s old cleats once or twice. Moreover, I have absolutely no interest in making a hall of fame for the Cowboys or Steelers or New York Giants a principal tourist destination for myself. Shoot, I must have driven right past the hall in Canton itself a dozen times in the last decade and never even thought of stopping, other than taking a curious glance as I went by.

If we are talking about having a Redskins Hall of Fame because we are fans of the team, fine. But I would not try to translate our local loyalties into a tourist draw. After all, we haven’t even been able to get Joe away from his precious Cowboys!

I heard that there were talks of making this a more unique tax-generating enterprise, something along the lines of a Redskins Hof with a sports bar/restaurant component – something like a Redskins Hard Rock Cafe type of establishment. That would have been awesome and been able to attract repeat visitors, along with significant tax revenue for the county.

Why do so many locals think that the Redskins are something, anything special? For Pete’s sake, it’s only a football team, not an especially good one, at least the last several years.

Think about it! What does the word FAME mean? What does one see in a LOCAL so called Hall of Fame? Old jerseys, old helmets, cleats used by someone who was once famous in the DC area.

REALLY !!!! How many Americans know that a Redskin team exists?

Only a football team ? It is obvious Lovisa, that you are not of this Earth.

“If what I read about a lot of fans’ behavior,”

Here she goes again, stereotyping the whole based upon the actions of a small minority.

Bigot ?

Lovisa, although I have spent much of my life exhorting my brethren to acknowledge the insignificance of the Washington Redskins, I must say you are taking it a bit too far. Maybe you should get out a little more?

After the way the Skins played last night, Snyder should pay us to put a museum here in LoCo..

Campbell and Rogers have got to go. Why do they insist on putting these guys on the field to lose gotta win games ? The Skins will NEVER make the playoffs with Campbell at starting QB.

“reports I read”

Examples Lovisa ?

Cmac,

A couple of things on Campbell :

Compare the zip on Campbell’s passes to those of other NFL QBs. Campbell does not have an NFL arm.

Watch the replays very closely and you will see that Campbell misses an open receiver almost every passing play. Campbell does not see the entire field, and does not recognize developing opportunities. Bottom line, the game is playing faster than he is. This is his 4th year, and he is still unable to play at NFL game speed. Not playing at game speed and not seeing opportunities downfield is why he holds the ball too long, inviting what is perceived as heavy QB pressure. Same reason for many of Ramsey’s sacks.

Campbell is not a leader. We never see him trying to rally the offense. He has a very business as usual attitude and brings little if any energy to the offense.

The Skins should heve learned a lesson last year after Collins led them to the playoffs.

Zorn is a terrible play caller, what concerns me with him is he keeps insisting the problems are all execution. Until he accepts that many of his plays are stinkers for the game situation, this is not likely to change. The worst part of his play calling is that he makes tough defenses like Dallas, NY, and Philly only have to defend the first 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. Part of this could be Campbell’s inability to consistently throw the deep ball.

Zorn is head coach for one reason and one reason alone. He is a stop gap as Snyder was unable to get a head coach after hiring O and D coordinators. Any head coach worth his salt will insist on building his own staff with his people. Unfortunately, Snyder learned this lesson after the fact.

Portis is in as Betts doesn’t match his level of productivity. Portis banged up is a better back than Betts. The problem with Cooley this year is he seems to not know where the first down marker is.

Hall has played better that Rogers, and he has only been here for what, 3 games ? Remember, Rogers is the guy that gives up most of the late go ahead touchdowns. This bum should be thrown out.

Imho, what the Skins need to do if they lose another game :

Consider the season lost, and put Brennan to give him some game experience.

Bench Randle El and Rogers, in prep for their off season releases.

Spring needs to be cut as with injuries and age and injury related loss of speed, he is no longer able to perform at the required level.

Thrash, what does he do but take up a roster spot ? He too should be cut.

Bottom line, the Skins will finish at best 8-8, losing out save for Cinn, which remains a ? considering that they lost to St. Louis.. My preseason prediction for the Skins was 7-9.

Cmac,

The Skins rank 13th out of 32 teams with sacks allowed. 31 sacks for 13 games I think the number is..

Yes, Rogers and Campbell both were injured last year, coincidence we made the playoffs ?

“What has changed? ”

It’s is now the second half of the season, and is the playoff run. The second half is when the real season starts, when the contenders distance themselves from the wanna bes.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree”

That’s allowed on this blog isn’t it ?

Dan, We agree on 2 things – Portis fumble call was bad and the special teams are stinkin lately!

What you said about the second half vs first half of the season is correct, which is why I think the Skins offensive line is sucking so bad. Most of Campbell’s sacks have been in the last 4-5 games. Seperating men from boys so to speak, which is not Campbell’s fault.

Snyder is a schmuck. Just out to make more and more money. Redskin Park (sorry FedEx) is the most expensive arena in the NFL. Do you really think he “loves” Washington? If he did, he would have put his arena in DC, don’t you think? He suffers from severe “I” desease IMO.

Lovisa,

You can’t blame the location of the stadium on Dan Snyder. Jack Kent Cooke built it in MD because the mayor of DC at the time, Sharon Pratt Whatshername, thought she held all the bargaining chips and it turned out she didn’t. Cooke truly wanted the stadium in the city.

Snyder got the stadium as part of the deal when he bought the team. Despite the terrible location and traffic, I imagine there is no way in hell the Redskins are getting another new stadium for decades.

Joe,

My apologies to Snyder about the location. What happened to Jack Kent Cooke’s son after he was given his share of the sale to Snyder?

Then there’s the story about JKC’s one and only child?

It’s a tough life for those up in the stratosphere.

I forgot all about “Raljon” and the Laurel MD situation, H.E., thank you for the history lesson. I always thought of JKC as a good guy, despite hating his football team. When he hired Norv Turner my feelings about the Redskins changed, I must say. Although my feelings about the fans generally did not.

Like tonight at the bar: OK, I am wearing a Tony Romo jersey, mainly so I will stand out so the NVTH folks can find me, but also to be a dickhead, to be perfectly honest. It’s just my way.

But what do you know about midnight as I am up at the bar minding my own business ordering another round some guy starts giving me sh-t about “so has Romo been to jail yet?” the implication being all Dallas Cowboys are criminals. We eventually agreed only Pacman and Tank Johnson on the current team have had prominent brushes with the law, but my feelings were hurt. So I still have trouble warming up to the Skins.

Five glasses of wine over five hours, well within my range of metabolization.

Oh, don’t kid yourself, I am by nature an uncontrollable beer drinker, but mortality dictated I switch to wine about 8 years ago. Digestive issues. So my modus operandi became cabernet with a side of club soda. On any given evening you can expect to see me with a dainty glass in hand. Word.

Five hours is kids’ stuff for me. A good bar is a place to live in.