Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless are among if not THE most stubborn sports analysts on this planet. They constantly argue and debate in every corner of the sports world, and will always make sure that they get their point across. Their most recent argument was about the preseason power rankings of the Washington Redskins football team. Stephen A. had placed the Skins (along with many other analysts) in the number 10-12 range. But Bayless went far out on a limb, chiming in that he placed them at the number 3 spot.       

Bayless raved about the two star pro bowl pass rushers the Skins have in Ryan Kerrigan and Brian Orakpo. He also said that the offense now has their stud tight end Fred Davis back, who was somewhat of a reliable pass catcher for quarterback Robert Griffin III. On top of that, add second year running back Alfred Morris, who was second in the league in rushing yards as a rookie. With all this, he argued, everything is still in question with RGIII coming off an ACL injury.

Stephen A. brought into question the wide receiver position. Behind established starter Pierre Garcon, he argued that the Redskins have no real number two wide receiver. 12^th year veteran Santana Moss is sure handed, but with him aging, they need someone younger who can be more of a threat. Besides Moss, the rest of the wide receiver corps is young and inexperienced. Another concern he argued was with Robert Griffin the Third and his recently repaired left knee. He also brought up the other teams in the league who may be more set at these key positions than the Redskins are at this moment.

The two sports analysts are usually supposed to have differing views. We see here that Skip Bayless favors the Skins to do great things this year, while Stephen A. Smith does not have as much faith as Bayless. Their main arguments obviously hinged around the fact that star quarterback RGIII is coming off a serious ACL injury that most athletes struggle to come back from. This type of argument draws in not only sports gurus who want to see the Bayless vs. Stephen A. battles, or even fans of the Redskins, but also other people concerned to see a star player recover from an injury.         

This post is mainly a show of two highly recognized sports analysts arguing over the future of the Washington Redskins football team. With a sound bite of the argument located in the middle of the blog, the readers (or listeners) can hear the argument from the actual men themselves. This gives the reader a chance to feel as though they are in the room with Bayless and Smith, and can take a first hand account of both sides of the story. This is good for fans who want a more in depth discussion so they can make their opinion based on the specific evidence.

Throughout the blog, you can see the incorporation of a very popular ESPN television show into the post. This makes readers interested in it because it is not just some random guys debating something for no reason. These is two of the top analysts in the world, and to have them debating over YOUR team would make any fan of the Washington Redskins proud. In a sense, using the ESPN show in the post almost makes it official.

The post mainly uses excerpts from the argument to further explain the current ranking of the Skins. It presents the information from the analysts themselves in the fourth paragraph, using their direct quotes to further show the argument.

I think that this blog speaks to fans who are like me. We are always on the hunt to see what other people think about our team. And that’s even when the team is doing terrible! We like to see the glimmer of hope that other people may give to us. This is why we are fans. We look for reasons why we love who we love, and true fans will always stick by their team no matter what.

Now for this blog, it may not just appeal to Redskins fans. Near the very end of the blog, readers get a glimpse of the rankings of the Redskins archrival, the Dallas Cowboys. This is important to all Redskins fans because we want to see the enemy fail. This may not just be about the Redskins entirely though. Fans of other teams around the league may be keeping up on their research on other teams just to see how their own team compares. This is something that I think is essential to being a super fan of sports. You have to know how the competition is doing to see where your team lies in the spectrum of the league. 

To me, having Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith speak in such regard for my team makes me proud to love who I love. To be on television with millions of people watching and listening to their commentary gives me the feeling of superiority, as if to say “we (being the team) ARE one of the best, and we WILL live up to the expectations and challenges that we have been given.” And the greatest feeling ever is the feeling you have after you realize that your team has succeeded. There is no moment like jumping up and down and yelling at the top of your lungs in happiness. When you truly care about something as much as this, be it anything in this world, not just sports, you feel as if you are a part of it, and that you belong. And I believe this blog can be give fans like me the very same feelings I have described throughout the paper.

I think the overall theme in this post is that the Washington Redskins have impressed enough after years of failure to be ranked among the top teams in the league by some of the top analysis minds in the world. The author of the blog has made it clear of this. If you look throughout the entire blog and not just this one specific post, you can clearly see that his analysis is of every part and corner of the Washington Redskins football team. He is good at putting enough detail in each of his posts to make it feel real.

Overall, the blog is a good representation of a typical analysis of a sports team. The author adds enough information to at least wet the appetite of an average fan searching for some information on the Washington Redskins. And although the blog may be somewhat short, enough information is in it to draw in enough readers. I am happy that I was able to see this blog, because for a fan like me, it made me proud to be a fan of the Washington Redskins.