Tuesday, November 10: Talking About Champ Bailey Makes Fred Smoot Nostalgic
This 2003 picture was the only one I could find of Fred Smoot and Champ Bailey. Standing between them is Matt Bowen, who does not get mentioned again in this post; he's doing great work over at National Football Post, though, and you should go check it out.
Anyhow, the reason for digging up a picture of Smoot and Bailey should be pretty obvious: Bailey now plays for the Denver Broncos, who come to town Sunday. But he and Smoot were young cornerbacks together on the Redskins, and they became good enough friends that Smoot agreed to break his recent media boycott just to talk about his relationship with Bailey.
Barring a fluke practice injury, this Sunday will mark the first time Bailey will actually play against his former team (he was injured for the 2005 matchup), but Smoot doesn't expect it to be unusual to see his old mentor. "I see him all the time in the offseason, so it'll be nothing to me," Smoot said. "Like seeing one of my brothers."
Discussing Bailey made the usually upbeat Smoot turn a bit melancholy. "I do miss playin' with him," Smoot said. "Those were some of my golden years of playin'. At the time, a lot of people didn't realize, me and him had one of the best young tandems that was out there. We took a lot of people on, and we did it. I think if it wasn't for Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, man, both of us could've got a little Pro Bowl action. We just weren't winning at the time, and the Eagles were dominating."
He continued, "You meet so many guys in this league, there's just gonna be a guy here and there that y'all really gonna become friends. Y'all really got stuff in common, y'all really gonna talk to each other after football. Luckily, I met one of those guys the first day I stepped into the NFL: I had Champ.
"He kinda showed me the ropes on everything, showed me the city, showed me everything I'd need to know. Kinda schooled me up on what the career was gonna be like: blink twice, and before you know it you'd been in the league six years."
Smoot seems to have been thinking about his age a fair bit this season, all the way back to training camp when he talked about being "the elder" of the defensive backfield. So I asked the obvious question: had Bailey proven to be correct?
"Everything he said was legitimately right," Smoot said. "Because I remember walking in here as a rookie -- only NINE YEARS ago -- and I feel like ... I blinked and it's gone. I blinked and it's gone. It's crazy."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-10-2009 @ 8:35AM
wdhart3 said...
Well, if I blink, will this offensive line be gone??
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11-10-2009 @ 8:45AM
egirardin71 said...
Gibbs was a great coach but many of his personell moves were questionable at best. The Portis / Bailey trade was not a terrible deal but did not favor the Skins.
Do you recall when the Skins 3 CB's were: Darell Green, Champ and Primetime (even though he was well past his prime at the time).
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11-10-2009 @ 8:44AM
egirardin71 said...
I just heard the Skins are expressing interest in signing Larry Johnson. That is just what they need another primadonna / locker room cancer. I hope they do sign him as that will most likely open the gates of hell and consume all of Ashburn in fire and brimstone.
In case it is not clear to everyone, I am trying to say I think that this would be a bad idea. I know what you are thinking that they could not possibly sink any lower and while I would tend to agree I think signing johnson might actually drop them even lower on the respectability scale. While we are at it lets see if we can sign LT to a deal as a PR guy.
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11-10-2009 @ 1:57PM
Mike said...
Thank goodness I moved from Ashburn to Leesburg then lol!!
11-10-2009 @ 9:20AM
icarpe1 said...
On the main LJ article today on ESPN, it said we have no interest in him. I think at this point in the season and with all the crap the team is getting, I'm thinking they are at least smart enough not to pick him up.
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11-10-2009 @ 10:07AM
bobby said...
matt,
is it a done deal that JC17 will not be throwing for the skins next year? i just have a feeling, he's going to get picked up somewhere and really shine. would he even want to play in dc after this ridiculous year?
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11-10-2009 @ 10:10AM
kaneslam570 said...
Totally unrelated to this article,but can someone within the orginization please tell Snyder to stop hanging out with Tom Cruise?Tom Cruise is the biggest douche on Earth.Did you not see him on Oprah?Or did you know he is a scientologist?Thetans and E-meters for crying out loud!Whenever Im watching my beloved Redskins and I see his stupid face I get real embarressed for my team.No more celeberty bs Danny.Fire Vinny then keep a low profile for a few seasons and see what happens.
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11-10-2009 @ 1:56PM
da_wagner said...
Great article on Smoot, Matt. He's fallen off the radar a bit this year but it's good to know he hasn't lost his fire...
Speaking of Smoot, though, with Horton out for a few weeks I would hope that, as Zorn hinted, Landry moves closer in to play his natural SS position. That way he can deliver the hits and tackles without having to run 30yds before he does it; he's a better blitzer than even Doughty, and that plays to the entire unit's strengths:
Horton is the more athletic of our safeties, better suited for the FS cover position. But while The Predator is out, start Smoot. He may be too old to play much CB anymore, but he still has the speed and coverage skills to play safety and stop the big gains. In any case, he's a more dependable tackler than Landry so far and has better coverage skills by a mile...
Any thoughts?
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11-10-2009 @ 4:37PM
rjt_ny_487 said...
maybe if we still had champ bailey we could get some f*cking tackling from out secondary
11-11-2009 @ 1:43PM
da-doo said...
When did sports become such a preppy sock hop. The whole LJ thing has been blown way out of porportion. wasn't it just a few months ago that a NBA player said that if he knew if someone was gay on his team that he wouldn't play for that team. ok i don't condone his actions but really? i can guarantee that every single guy here has told a gay joke in one way or another. i can also guarantee that every guy here has made a derogatory comment toward gays, or even other races. let's all calm down, if vick got a job, im pretty sure a team is going to call him. and he is right Todd Haley has no idea how to run a team. its like having Pete Sampras coaching a basketball team.
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