This video turned up on YouTube recently, and it really is transcendent. It's also remarkable, because somewhere underneath the circa-1986 outfits, the awkward dance moves, the dated synthesizer sound and canned beats, and Jay Schroeder looking like he'd really rather be anywhere else on Earth (at the 5:01 mark), this is a really nice message from a team to its fans. Also, Willard Scott shows up, and Darrell Green sports a horrible sweater.




After the jump, some then-current songs redone with Redskins lyrics and highlights, for the late George Michael's NBC-4 sports segment.

(UPDATE: Looks like Steinberg had dug up this video a couple of years ago. I Googled to check, but missed it somehow. Since he forgot also, I don't feel quite as bad.)

So Russ Grimm is headed to the Hall of Fame. In case you missed this news because of blackouts, snow emergencies, or just general aversion to weekend internet, here's a few of the relevant links:

• On this blog, we had the announcement, quotes from other Redskins, and an old Washingtonian Magazine profile.
• Mike Wise had a good column in the Post.
• Dan Steinberg recounted Grimm's pranks.
• Mark Maske wrote a news story including some reaction from Grimm.
• Even Peter King was complimentary of the selection.

So the question at this point is always the same: who -- if anyone -- is next? Who's the next Redskins player who has even a chance? Some people suggest Joe Jacoby -- although I think the Grimm selection is probably going to have to stand for all the Hogs -- and you occasionally hear Brian Mitchell's name come up, but it's a thin list.

The comments section at Mister Irrelevant offer an interesting suggesiton, though:

As the 1988 NFL season got ready to kick off, the Redskins were riding high in D.C. Coming off a Super Bowl win, they were the toast of the town, and part of being the toast of D.C. in the eighties was a lengthy profile in Washingtonian Magazine. For the Super Bowl XXII champions, what this meant was a dozen of the players providing first-person accounts of what it was like to play in the NFL, each essay accompanied by a revealing portrait of the subject.

Russ Grimm, who was elected yesterday for enshrinement to the Hall of Fame, was one of those dozen players.

At this point in his career, Grimm had played in three Super Bowls and won two. He was an integral part of one of the greatest offensive lines in NFL history (which also happened to be one of the most famous), in a town that had learned to adore offensive lineman.

The Russ Grimm of 1988 had no way of knowing it, of course, but he also had one more Super Bowl ring coming to him as a player, another as a coach on the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers staff, and would coach in still another with the Arizona Cardinals. Plus that whole Hall of Fame thing from yesterday.

So what did Russ Grimm elect to talk about? It wouldn't come as a surprise to Donnie Warren or any of his other teammates: Grimm talked about pain:

Courtesy of the Washington Redskins crack media relations staff, a whole bunch of congratulations and kind words for newly announced 2010 Hall Of Famer Russ Grimm. Read on, for the true origin of the name hogs (according to George Starke), high praise from Doc Walker, a heartfelt reaction from Joe Jacoby, and a great story about blood from Don Warren.

Back when Russ Grimm was an anchor on the great Redskins offensive lines, this is what February football looked like for him:


Because, if you were involved with football in February, you were talking about the Pro Bowl. (The first February Super Bowl wasn't held until 2002.) February football was for the best of the best, and Grimm went to the all-star gathering four times.

Grimm was involved with some significant football last February as well, as he was coaching the offensive line for the Arizona Cardinals in last year's fantastic Super Bowl.

And on February 6 of this year, he was named one of the best of all time as Russ Grimm was named as part of the 2010 class for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. This makes him the first member of the great Hogs offensive lines so honored, although it's possible that without the Hogs, John Riggins, Joe Theismann, and maybe even Joe Gibbs wouldn't be in Canton.

(UPDATE: Not sure where that Theismann mental lapse came from. I'm blaming snow madness.)

So Clinton Portis has been making the TV rounds lately. He was on ESPN, as you might expect, talking about the offseason, his relationship with Jason Campbell, and so on. He was on NFL Network, as you'd probably guess, talking (in third person, no less) about the offseason, expecting to be back with the Redskins, how great next year could be for Jason Campbell, and so on.

And, as you would immediately assume, he was on Man Vs. Food Live on the Travel Channel, eating a whole bunch of chicken wings and watching the show's host, Adam Richman, eat an enormous steak.



Of course he was. This is a guy whose previous TV credits include appearances on America's Next Top Model and MTV Cribs.

Portis is still in Miami pending the Super Bowl, so I wasn't able to ask him about this. Fortunately, there are plenty of other people in Miami who were willing to ask him on my behalf. And he was more than happy to explain.

Last post on Bruce Allen's appearance on ESPN980 yesterday, following on his reminiscences about the past and discussion of the current offseason.

After all that serious talk was done, co-host Steve Czaban jumped in with one last question, one that is very important to the fanbase, at least based on my web traffic and the emails I get featuring helmet mock-ups (such as the one up top of this post): he asked about the possibility of a change to the Redskins uniforms.

Czaban tends to be very good about asking these kind of voice-of-the-fans questions, which is terrific. Unfortunately, as we'll see, this time he didn't actually feel like listening to the voice of the GM for the answer.

(Let me interject here as I always do, to clearly state: I am hearing that there will be NO change to the uniforms. The helmet above is a fan creation. All the rumors and speculation are just that. But it's been a subject of much discussion, online and off, and Czaban saw an opportunity and wisely went for it.)

"I've gotta add one last thing," Czaban said. "The uniform. A lot of people are really into the uniform--"

"Like you," co-host Andy Pollin interjected.

"-- and have very particular ideas about it," Czaban continued, "some more traditional than others. Is there anything going on with the Redskins uniform that we should know about? Redesigns? Tweaks?"

"Oh, no," Allen said. "No."

For the record, that seems pretty clear and unequivocal. And, just to be even more certain, Czaban asked the obvious follow-up: "No?"

New Executive Vice President/General Manager Bruce Allen didn't just talk about banana splits and the old days during yesterday's second radio appearance on ESPN980. Hosts Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban freely admitted that their opening "hey, remember when" questions were mostly preamble to the things that people really wanted to know; eventually they got to the meat of it, to the questions that the fans ask in their emails and blog comments and things like that.

Sometimes they didn't get much in the way of specifics. Take a look at Allen's comments on the offseason so far, for example:

"We started from the coaching end," he said, "and are really pleased with the staff that Coach Shanahan has put together. We're gonna blend a lot of new ideas into our new schemes that we're gonna be running. I think that's gonna lead us into free agency and then our offseason program where all of our players have to learn their new jobs and the work ethic that we expect from them, and the level of commitment that we demand from them."

A careful review of that statement will reveal just about nothing beyond the most basic, obvious football stuff: work ethic, commitment, offseason program, etc. Which is not a bad thing, by the way -- I certainly don't want the team's general manager explaining his plans in specific detail on the radio -- but it makes it all the more notable when he does elect to reveal specifics.

His comments about his draft philosophy, for example, I found telling -- and telling in a way that was probably not very reassuring to a lot of the aging players on the roster.

"Well, I'm not afraid of trades," Allen said.

The last two segments of Redskins Broacast Network's excellent "The Legacy" video.

Part four, featuring George Allen, Ken Houston, Joe Gibbs, and John Riggins:




After the jump, part five, featuring the most recent Redskins Hall of Famers (although just for the moment, I hope): Darrell Green and Art Monk.

One thing I get horribly sick of during Super Bowl week is the endless parade of retired NFL players circling media row, answering the same questions on EVERY sportstalk radio show under the sun. It's like Groundhog Day for Barry Sanders, the one week of the year that he pokes his head out to see the sun, and I could not possibly be less interested in what he has to say or whatever product he's selling.

Which isn't to say that there aren't some interesting guests. It's always nice to hear from former Redskins, for example (and, to be fair, I imagine the Detroit fans get pretty excited for Barry Sanders), and it's also good to hear what actual current players and front office types have to offer.

So I had no problem with new Redskins Executive Vice President/General Manager Bruce Allen making the circuit yesterday. He turned up at least twice on ESPN980, first on the John Thompson Show (which Gary Fitzgerald wrote about over at the Redskins.com mothership) and later on The Sports Reporters with Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin.

I'll have more on Allen's comments there later today (or you can listen yourself in the Corona Audio Vault), but he started off answering a question about the worst loss in Redskins history. And it was clear that -- for him -- there was no question: Super Bowl VII. That's him after the game in the AP photo above right, head in his hands, a portrait of abject misery.

The Redskins lost to the Dolphins 14-7 that day, and it changed Bruce Allen's life -- and his diet -- irrevocably.