Busy day for D.C. sports scene

Lots going on in the local sports world yesterday, both good and bad, including lots of injury news and a local media guy breaking into rarefied air. Biggest news, though, of course, is that Redskin RB Clinton Portis is now "uncertain" for the start of the NFL regular season. And that just sucks. I knew training camp was going just a little too smoothly. And now, here's the other shoe dropping. Portis' injury bascially amounts to the shoulder popping out of the socket for a second, which is quite painful and leads to the arm basically being useless for about a week afterwards and weakened for a long time. This same injury used to happen to me (it's call subluxation) fairly regularly. I couldn't even get my arm up on the keyboard for days after the injury.


The face of the franchise is sidelined and unhappy

Anyway, I don't buy Portis' complaint that he shouldn't have been out there. Yesterday, he said:

I don't know why myself or any other player of my caliber would be playing in the preseason. I don't know what's the question. I think over the last four years, I've done enough to show the world I'm going to be ready for the season.

No question he's an elite player, but he was only in there for one freakin series! One. He carried the ball one time. It's not like he was Jason Sehorn, out there covering kickoffs. So, sorry, Clinton, but no sale. Maybe next time you should dress up as Shoulderlicious the Disgruntled Cadillac Salesman. That could help drive your point home more strongly. But either way, he's a true pro. I know - I hope - he'll be able to be there when they need him.

In other Skins news, they traded WR Taylor Jacobs to the 49ers for CB Mike Rumph. All I have to say about that is, WOO-HOO! The Redskins are stacked at receiver and thin at corner. And Taylor Jacobs gets injured if the sun shines on him the wrong way. I know Rumph is injury prone, too, but seeing as how we got more for Jacobs than, say, a bag of leg warmers, I'm calling this one a steal.


Taylor Jacobs prepares to board a plane for his new home in San Fran. Good luck, 49ers!

Third on the docket is the unfortunate groin strain of Gilbert Arenas, the Bullets' star guard and the NBA's most underrated player. This means he'll miss the World Basketball Championships, which really is a shame. Here's hoping he'll make a future world team, and heals up in time to start the regular season and disprove the notion that he's LeBron James' bitch. Get well, Gilbert.

Last but absolutely not least, the Post's own Tony Kornheiser debuted last night as a Monday Night Football commentator. While he's clearly picking up philosophically where Dennis Miller left off, Tony is different in that he's not afraid to dissent. The Post gave him a pretty bad review, but I saw inklings of that trademark Kornheiser irrascibility. When QB Aaron Brooks was 0-4 after the first quarter, and Joe Theismann began his customary defense of crappy quarterbacks, Tony said, point-blank "those are bad numbers! Come on!" Miller basically just used big words to rephrase whatever Al Michaels said, and in boring times of the game got into the insufferable habit of repeatedly plugging various corporate sponsors. I expect TK to turn the volume up on that voice of dissent - hopefully without becoming abrasive. Overall, I thought it was a pretty solid debut, and I'm not even much of a Kornheiser fan.

Hyperlinks:
- Portis Will Miss Rest of Preseason [Washington Post]
- Redskins Trade Jacobs for Defensive Back [Washington Post]
- Arenas Sidelined By Injury [Washington Post]
- Kornheiser, Not Yet in Game Shape on "MNF" [Washington Post]

Technorati tags: Sports, Washington, D.C., Redskins, football, Clinton Portis, Taylor Jacobs, Tony Kornheiser, Washington Wizards, Gilbert Arenas, World Basketball Championships, Monday Night Football