Redskins Rasputin laid to rest... right?

Say what you will about the Redskins-- good or bad, they're entertaining. Even when they're not entertaining, they're entertaining precisely because they're not entertaining. So with the Wizards and Capitals out west, the Nationals making minimal noise on the hot stove league, college hoops dormant with examtime and college football done until signing day-- the Skins moved papers off the shelves once again.



The Vinny Cerrato era came to an end Thursday morning when it was announced the Skins Executive of Football Operations would be resigning...followed by a day-long deluge on both DC sportsradio stations and super-duper pullout sections in both Washington area papers the next day (TV tempers Skinsationalism with Blizzard Watch 2009--this time it's seasonal!).



What amazed many was that it took this long for Cerrato to meet his demise... this is a guy who has been massively unpopular and disrespected for quite some time (you could trace it to Marty Schottenheimer firing Vinny in his first move as coach/czar in 2001... only to have VC return when Marty-seen by many as the best coach/director of ops with the current owner-was fired).



The book Catch-22 features a character named Major Major (played by Bob Newhart in the highly underrated film of the same name) and reads "Some men are born mediocre. Some achieve mediocrity in life. Others have mediocrity thrust upon them. Major Major was all three." The Skins have tried several different approaches over the last decade...and there's been little sustained success. For whatever reason, things just didn't seem to work with Vinny at the helm (or sharing the helm with owner Dan Snyder)...



They tried to outspend teams-- and the gorging at the free agent buffet table resulted in a roster of indigestion... an 8-8 campaign and a swift end to the Norv Turner era (to be fair, the Snyder/Turner tandem wasn't going to work longterm).



They tailored the roster to resemble a Gator Alumni event-- and the signing of anyone with a Florida connection save Erin Andrews transformed a blue collar offense to one that was incredible in Osaka... but not so in this hemisphere. Even more depressing was the fact that the Gibbs Skins of 2004 would have been much better off had he inherited Marty's bunch than Spurrier's material.



They invented the phrase "Jetskins"-- remember the frenzy to bring in former New York Jets as free agents or through trades? What was with that? It wasn't like Herman Edwards' crew was tearing things up (although they did go 9-7)... the Jetskins crashed to a 5-11 thud that included a faxed resignation.



Subtraction by addition-- after making the playoffs the trade for San Francisco WR Brandon Lloyd and signing of DB Adam Archeletta were supposed to put this team over the top... instead both went down as huge disappointments on the field and in the locker room.



Finally the Draft-- in 2008 the Skins had a wealth of picks... and although they ignored the need on offensive line their 3 second rounders appear to be contributors a year later...in fact every player remained with the team last year. But neglecting the OL over the years finally caught up with the burgundy and gold.


Coaching carousel-- Vinny's procured players for a hot college coach (Spurrier)... an underrated pro assistant (Zorn)... plus a living legend (Gibbs). Their records : 12-20, 12-17 and 31-36.

One hundred years ago in Czarist Russia there was a mystic named Rasputin who held the Romanovs fancy; the cleric was in effect the power behind the throne... and developed many enemies. Conspirators poisoned Rasputin with cyanide laced cakes and wine... shot him four times and then when he still showed signs of life beat Rasputin to a pulp and threw him in an icy river while bound up in a carpet. Autopsy reports at the time said Rasputin broke free of his bonds and tried to climb out of the freezing river-- only to drown. Somehow icy water had the power that cyanide, blunt intstruments and four bullets did not.


Vinny was fired when Marty came on board in 2001, leading many to think he was gone forever... and after the Spurrier error/era he survived Gibbs' return... and dodged any and all bullets after the disastrous 2006 offseason that almost sunk the Skins--and would have pink-slipped almost any other front office type around the league.


So is this it for Vinny? Some reports have him remaining with the team in another capacity... in theory it's to keep him from talking about his time with the Skins, but if we've learned anything from Czarist Russia and the Redskins-- stranger things have happened.