NFC East

In life, and in sports, nearly everyone experiences prolonged periods of both success and failure. Of course, the 2014 sports year was far from different, as fans were treated to some truly memorable performances, of both the good and bad sort.

Madison Bumgarner, for example, had a downright iconic year, establishing himself as one of baseball’s all-time greats with the type of postseason pitching we’d never seen before.

Material for articles is never-ending. There is always something to write about when it comes to the world of sports.

Even on a quiet news day, a player or team can be analyzed. That’s what makes sportswriting in particular great.

On this day, three unrelated topics came to mind, two of which I would have known little to nothing about had I not hopped on twitter.

DeSean Jackson has been finding himself in the headlines a lot this week.

One interview with The Sporting News has turned into a giant fiasco, pitting Jackson against his former quarterback and his offensive coordinator.

After two years of uncertainty, the Big Kid is gone.

It's certainly difficult to fault the Eagles for doing so, but from where I'm sitting, releasing Shawn Andrews doesn't seem to make much sense.

He has missed the past two seasons with back injuries, both of which required surgery, but by all accounts he's finally healing up the way he should be and has a legitimate shot at coming back full-strength in 2010.

It’s insanity. That’s what fantasy football is when it comes to the playoffs. Jonathan Stewart and Jerome Harrison become huge fantasy steals in the final two games, and studs that you’ve depending on all season like Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers clam up and shut down early, even in blowout wins. At least Chris Johnson has continued to be magical every week.

I forget how bizarre it really becomes until it’s this time of year again.

D.C.’s best rapper and confused basketball fan, Wale’, will likely be the best thing to happen to the Redskins this December, as he is scheduled to perform at halftime of the ‘Skins-Cowboys game on Dec. 27.

Immediately, two possible scenarios emerge from this performance.

One, Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff drunkenly question, "What the hell was that at halftime?"

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Two weeks ago, it wasn’t a stretch to assume that the Redskins would lose the balance of their schedule, finish 2-14, and pioneer new ways to draft everything other than offensive linemen. But a funny thing happened on the way to national ridicule and complete fan revolt.

Washington scored more than 17 points for the first time all year. And they won.

I was all set to pen a post about how John Riggins was nothing more than a bigger, more popular version of Brian Mitchell; a former Redskin hardwired to blow hard for fast money.

It’s hard to tell what is a sicker part of the entire Washington Redskins-Jim Zorn saga, the fact that Daniel Snyder is arrogant enough to publicly humiliate his head coach without firing him, or that Jim Zorn has enough resolve to stick it out for the money.

Obviously, Snyder’s foolishness has the staying power of 10 years of futility, but there is something admirable about Jim Zorn’s refusal to buckle to the whim of a petulant billionaire .