When Did United Become the Redskins? (Should We Be Afraid....Very Afraid?)

[RayWhitney]

For the past several years, one thing you could count on was that the Redskins would "win" the offseason.

Going back, and in no particular order, there were the major Coaching changes (Schottenheimer, Spurrier, and Gibbs), the major player signings (Deion, Bruce Smith, Big Daddy, and the current receiving corps), major drafts (Arrington, Samuels), and a litany of other off-season activities.

The results? Squat. Doodley-squat. And a whole lot of angst for the fans.

And here we are in the 2006-2007 off-season for DC United. I think it is safe to say that we had already "won" the off-season with the Adu trade. Add to that the Nowak/Soehn change, and we have won it running away.

This scares me a little. Not a lot, because I have faith in Kevin Payne and the core of the United players. Even so, I get nervous. I tend to being paranoid; and this may be a manifestation of that. Nevertheless, I wanted to get it out there and see if anyone else shares my concerns.

Just to clarify; it is not any one of the changes, it is the aggregation of the changes that concerns me: Adu gone, Rimando gone, Prideaux gone, Nowak gone, new coach (system?), allocations coming in (based on previous system?), ownership flux.

Thoughts, concerns?

[ZoomZip]

I quibble with the premise: I don't think we've won the off-season by any stretch. We've opened the potential for making some interesting moves, but given that we haven't added a field player yet, I don't know how we can say we've won it. It could happen, it just hasn't yet.

That being said, last year United pretty much stood pat for the offseason, with the only major movement being the departure of Dema. Part of the copious amount of activity now could be a sort of "regression to the mean" where, to some degree, we are making moves now because we didn't make moves a year ago. In a way, we might have wanted to make a move a year ago, but the proper package wasn't together (I seem to recall that Prideaux was considered to be on the trading block after 2005). Now things have aligned more, so the team seems to be making more deals, but in reality it has the same mindset as it did when it did nothing.

I will agree that there will be more change than usual to manage, but we've also seen in United's history that change is manageable. We do not need to fear it, we must simply acknowledge it and deal with it.

[Sachin]

We've been in the news, but I don't think trading away a potential star and proven reserves for essentially spare parts constitutes "winning" in any way shape or form.

[Aaron Stollar]

For the past several years, one thing you could count on was that the Redskins would "win" the offseason.

Going back, and in no particular order, there were the major Coaching changes (Schottenheimer, Spurrier, and Gibbs), the major player signings (Deion, Bruce Smith, Big Daddy, and the current receiving corps), major drafts (Arrington, Samuels), and a litany of other off-season activities.

The results? Squat. Doodley-squat. And a whole lot of angst for the fans.

And here we are in the 2006-2007 off-season for DC United. I think it is safe to say that we had already "won" the off-season with the Adu trade. Add to that the Nowak/Soehn change, and we have won it running away.

This scares me a little. Not a lot, because I have faith in Kevin Payne and the core of the United players. Even so, I get nervous. I tend to being paranoid; and this may be a manifestation of that. Nevertheless, I wanted to get it out there and see if anyone else shares my concerns.

Just to clarify; it is not any one of the changes, it is the aggregation of the changes that concerns me: Adu gone, Rimando gone, Prideaux gone, Nowak gone, new coach (system?), allocations coming in (based on previous system?), ownership flux.

Thoughts, concerns?

First off, let me say "God Bless Our High Standards." It is a good thing for this club that we consider two trips to the playoffs and one trip to the Conference Finals "flops." I feel the same way.

But as a Redskins fan - I'd give an awful lot to have those kind of "flops" recently.

I don't think your analogy holds for the reason above a few others:
- Our organization is in flux right now, sure. But you don't really get the sense of dysfunction. Our coaching staff hasn't changed (at all?) since Nowak arrived.
- We have an established "soccer" guy running our front office (Payne) and another soccer guy (Kaspar) beneath him on personnel matters). At this point, I'd trust either of them with Skins' roster a lot more than I'd trust Cerrato.
- Our organization treats its fans wonderfully. Daniel Snyder treats them worse than just about everyone other than Bill Wirtz There should be no argument here.
- On the personnel side, we aren't going around hemorrhaging cap space on overpriced bums like some of the guys you mention in the above post. The Redskins, on the other hand, have Adam Archeleta.
- Ownership flux? I with the Redskins had some ownership flux? But to the point, how is our current ownership (or its flux) affecting our on the field play. I bet it isn't. Not as long as Payne is still there.
- Focus on offseason? Remember when Nowak arrived, he didn't make that many changes from Hudson's roster and freaked people out. He turned out to be right and the changes he did make worked out. I don't think DC wins the offseason by being splashing like the Skins do. They do it but having the sense and in some cases guts to make the moves they feel they have to make to get better. Most teams wouldn't have had to guts to trade Freddy because of the PR hit they could take and because he has the perception of being great. (Though he isn't yet). We made the move, and we'll see if it works out. I think it will.

Yeah, just like with the Redskins, these last few years have been really frustrating. But we've been really close here with DC. The Skins haven't really been that close. And, even worse, seem to have no plan to fix it.

Keep the faith my friend. We'll get through this offseason, at worst, at the same level as last year; and far more likely with an improved team and maybe even coach.

[BigKris]

As someone who has evolved over the past 10 years from being an ardent Redskins superfan to having an attitude somewhere between apathy and resentment towards that team, I dislike the comparison. Fortunately, I think the argument is overreaching, so I don't take it too seriously. DC over the past few years has "discovered" and developed young, cheap talent such as Boswell, Gros, Carroll, and Perkins. They have also locked in (and remained loyal to) such long-term stalwarts as Olsen and Moreno. The football team doesn't do anything of the sort.

[Lowecifer]

We've been in the news, but I don't think trading away a potential star and proven reserves for essentially spare parts constitutes "winning" in any way shape or form.

Compared to what the Chesapeake Watershed Region Indigenous Persons are doing on the football field, anything looks like winning.

http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/BAF11012171955.jpg

:D

[Frog Boy]

As someone who has evolved over the past 10 years from being an ardent Redskins superfan to having an attitude somewhere between apathy and resentment towards that team, I dislike the comparison. Fortunately, I think the argument is overreaching, so I don't take it too seriously. DC over the past few years has "discovered" and developed young, cheap talent such as Boswell, Gros, Carroll, and Perkins. They have also locked in (and remained loyal to) such long-term stalwarts as Olsen and Moreno. The football team doesn't do anything of the sort.

Agreed. Plus, DCU is managing the salary cap a heck of a lot better than the Redskins.

[Topo]

We've been in the news, but I don't think trading away a potential star and proven reserves for essentially spare parts constitutes "winning" in any way shape or form.
I don't really think of Rimando as a "potential star."

[uniteo]

Compared to what the Chesapeake Watershed Region Indigenous Persons are doing on the football field, anything looks like winning.

http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/BAF11012171955.jpg

:D

What a handsome uniform

[DCFAN96]

We'll we haven't improved the team one bit yet, if anything we've gotten worse. We've lost starters and solid reserve players and gotten money/allocations in return. Until we actually sign new players we haven't done anything to improve the team. I for one am starting to get just a little worried, I really hoping we bring in two potential starters and at least one solid reserve player pretty soon.

[RayWhitney]

It seems that a clarification is in order.

When I posted "winning the off-season" I was referring to the team that makes the biggest splash in the off-season.

That is what the Redskins regularly do, and I am using the terminology used throughout the sports media regarding the Washington DC gridiron franchise.

So, in this respect, I believe that my premise is still sound. And my concern is that the team that makes the biggest splash off-season often does not perform when it counts.

I particularly apprecate aaronstol's response, as it is the one that most directly addresses the issue.

[DangerMouse37]

As someone who believes that the Redskins' greatest contribution to the DC area has been leaving RFK to us, I hardly think the comparison is apt.

Rather than spending a lot on overpriced whining veterans (Orioles, Skins), we're offloading overpriced (for our market) reserves with talent while we still can -- and helping players get more PT. Especially for Nicky, that's a class move.

Adu wasn't staying, or at least not happily. Rimando wasn't going to start. Nor was Prideaux. Any time there's a coaching change, that's big stuff but the most seamless transition possible is from a well-known and liked assistant like Soehn.

We need to see some new bodies and fast, but I haven't heard anyone describe 2007 as a "rebuilding year" just yet. Right now I think our biggest "loss" has been Dyachenko.

[Grasscutter]

We need to see some new bodies and fast, but I haven't heard anyone describe 2007 as a "rebuilding year" just yet.
It better not be a "rebuilding" year if your GM says trades away your 17-year-old prodigy because he's "never" going to play withdrawn forward behind your 33-year-old stiker.

Very glad we have Jaime back, but given the players we made available in the expa draft, plus those we've released--plus my gut feeling that Boswell is gone after this year--I'm kind of thinking this team is built for the short-term.

Win now, Tommy.

[DCSharksFC]

i am certainly shocked at the amount of activity within a month of the mls cup

however, its too early to say how are off-season is going, its certainly been busy, keeping tom soehn means holding onto a similar or even the same coaching mentality, which i believe is good, u don't have to get the players to buy into a new system, which makes the transition smoother, and depending on the talent we get in the upcoming months, i'd say we'll get a lot of no-name bargain basement internationals, a la gomito, and it'll work out just fine, as in another playoff run

the difference b/t us and the 'skins:

stupidity

kp knows what he's doing, we've been contenders in the playoffs except for a few dark years, a solid fan base, and a great team, snyder wants to win a championship now, and has lots of money, he's been tossing it around since he got to town, and it hasn't really done much of anything, there are a lot of yellow and red seats being shown during skins games on tv, a lot of ppl have lost interest in the team, hell i just found out yesterday jason campbell was starting, although, 'round here, every1 follows god, excuse me, micheal vick

[Foousic]

We've been in the news, but I don't think trading away a potential star and proven reserves for essentially spare parts constitutes "winning" in any way shape or form.

Thank You Sachin! I also love how KP said that he is confident that "Tommy will build a team".....!!!!???!?! This is what gets me about this offseason... why in the name of god do you need to build a team after the one you just had won the regular season, and was hands down one of the most talented sides in MLS history. You should be tinkering, NOT rebuilding... and right now that appears to be just what United is doing... it's just frustrating.

[Foousic]

kp knows what he's doing, we've been contenders in the playoffs except for a few dark years

Yeah but we have to remember that the last time that this many high profile moves were made we entered the dark ages. Here's to hoping that this time goes better.

[DCFAN96]

Yeah but we have to remember that the last time that this many high profile moves were made we entered the dark ages. Here's to hoping that this time goes better.

Good point, this offseason does seem similar to the one where we had the big trade with the Metros, hopefully the upcoming season doesn't turn out as bad as that one did.

[tallguy]

We'll we haven't improved the team one bit yet, if anything we've gotten worse. We've lost starters and solid reserve players and gotten money/allocations in return. Until we actually sign new players we haven't done anything to improve the team. I for one am starting to get just a little worried, I really hoping we bring in two potential starters and at least one solid reserve player pretty soon.

Well, compared to the turnover we had during the first half-dozen of so years of the league's existence, the current core group has been together about as long as any group we've ever had. I think that, at the current level of MLS stability and competiveness, even successful teams have to rebuild every three years or so.

And, remember that Prideaux, Adu, and Rimando all pretty much asked for a trade and our FO, to its credit, accommodated them. For that matter, Filomeno asked to be released last season as well and the FO did the honorable thing. Have to say that I am getting anxious to see which, if any, international players we'll be signing up for next year . . .

[RayWhitney]

Yeah but we have to remember that the last time that this many high profile moves were made we entered the dark ages. Here's to hoping that this time goes better.

DING DING DING

That was the point of the thread. Thank you for addressing it.

Not sure why no one else gets it. I read and re-read my posts. They surely seemed clear to me!

[Daniel le Rouge]

I'm still trying to figure out how "Supporters' Shield" and "Eastern Conference Final" equate to "Squat. Doodly Squat."

Apart from my confusion on that matter, The notion that a competently run organization can somehow compare to an organization run by the #1 fanboy and fantasy football manager in the western hemisphere is one that boggles the mind, frankly.

Surely, if nothing else, Snyder has proven the delusional nature of treating fantasy football as somehow meaningful.