Bring A Children's Book To Sunday's Game; Redskins Recommend Green Eggs And Ham. Again.
At this Sunday's home game against the Kansas City Chiefs, there will be Redskins Read collection bins set up at every gate into FedExField. If you're coming to the game, please consider bringing a new children's book to donate; all books received will be redistributed to needy children throughout the DMV.
Last year at about this time, I went around the locker room asking players about their favorite children's books. In the process, I learned that Fred Smoot was the only guy on the planet who had fond memories of a book called Sun Up, and virtually everyone else like Green Eggs and Ham.
This year, instead of thinking of something new, I figured I'd ask the same question to some of the guys I had missed last season.
Pretty much nothing had changed.
"Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham," said DeAngelo Hall. "That's the only one I really remember from that age. Middle school, I liked Huck Finn and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I was a big Mark Twain guy. But from that age? Green Eggs and Ham and the one where the substitute teacher is a witch or something. That was a good book."
"Favorite children's book has to be Dr. Seuss," Brian Orakpo said. "That's the favorite. Everything he did."
Let me guess: especially Green Eggs and Ham? "Yeah, that one was all right. But really, everything he did."
Rocky McIntosh was pretty much the final straw for me. When even the quirky linebacker -- usually the last one to follow a party line -- said Green Eggs and Ham, I finally asked point blank why this was everyone's favorite Dr. Seuss book.
"Well for me," he said, "It was cheap -- I think I got it for free. And it came with a little folding bookcase ... I had the whole set of Dr. Seuss, though."
Fine, then. Do his kids have a favorite book, maybe? "Oh, yeah," McIntosh said. "They love books. They get a book or two before bedtime each night. We have a nice little bookcase in there."
Anything specific, or just more Green Eggs and Ham. "No," he said, "My son likes Goodnight Moon. He has it in English and in Spanish. Buenas Noches ... Moon?"
Close enough. At least it wasn't Huevos Verdes con Jamon.
In any event, if you're coming to the game, please bring a new children's book to donate; if you're stuck for a selection, I think Green Eggs and Ham might be a safe choice.