Stop Shuler -- Keep Heath Shuler Out of Washington

Attack Blogger?

That's what the Mountain Xpress called us. Just doesn't have a good ring to it, does it? Anyway, this is what the alt-weeklies in Asheville and DC wrote about us. Some good quotes, some bad ones, but all in all, plenty of reasons to hope that our employers and family don't use Google.

The interesting things about these articles is that they both got reaction from Shuler's camp. The City Paper interviewed him directly, and the Xpress talked to his press guy. The press guy even talks specifically about us:

Shuler's press secretary, Andrew Whalen, says the campaign is familiar with the blog but brushes it aside good-naturedly. "Fans will be fans," he says. "It's humorous. Football fans get very passionate about their teams. They say nothing about Heath's politics; it's purely about football." But Whalen adds: "[Shuler's] not going back to Washington to play football – he's going back to fight for working families in Western North Carolina."

A couple of things. First of all, we applaud Heath Shuler's bold stance to be FOR working families. Most politicians don't have that kind of courage. Second of all, it makes us think we should actually contact the campaign. Dave from the City Paper even said that he thought Heath himself would talk to us.

But should we try to talk to Shuler? On one hand, if he ignores us, it could be a whole "Roger & Me" type situation, and that worked out pretty well for Michael Moore. On the other hand, if he does talk to us, what would we say? Would we just boo into the phone? Ask if Gus Frerotte could take over the phone call? Ask for our money back for the November 26, 1995 game against the Eagles?

We'll have to think about this one.

Photo Caption Contest

From the Cherokee Sentinel:

We'll start:

"Must... not... fall... asleep..."

"You'll see over here, Heath, that we have a fine -- man, did you suck with the Redskins."

T.O. is a bad man

The Dallas Cowboys signed Terrell Owens yesterday, causing much glee at the Stop Shuler HQ. You see, T.O. is a certified team killer, a cancer that destroys locker rooms and, ultimately, teams. So we ask you, is there any better team for him to destroy than the Cowboys? While we thoroughly enjoyed watching him blow up the Eagles last season, the Eagles are mostly harmless -- you can't help but feel a little sorry for their futile efforts to win Super Bowls. The Cowboys, of course, are another matter -- they are the manifestation of evil on this world with an actual history of winning it all.

And our mortal enemies.

So, good luck, Jerry, Bill, and company -- we'll be watching with great amusement. We can't wait to see that first sideline argument with Bledsoe, or even better, how T.O. blasts Drew Henson if Bledsoe gets injured. Our money is on a "he should have stuck to baseball" comment. And Parcells? Ooh boy -- he'll be tolerant of Owens's antics. We're hoping for Parcells to pull a Woody Hayes and drag T.O. off the field by his face mask.

This is going to be fun.

Stop Shuler, Chapter 2: The Media Pays Attention

We've gotten some notice from the AMSM (Almost Mainstream Media):

• The Henderson Times-News had a column by Jon Fogle titled "Let's all sack that quarterback" that mentioned our site, and agreed with us that we should Stop Shuler. The things we learned by reading that article were A) We're not the only ones that the Shuler camp is ignoring -- still no "Blogger Connection" info for us, and they won't return the columnist's emails, and B) The Henderson Times-News serves "Henderson, Transylvania, and Polk Counties." That means that there is a Transylvania County in North Carolina, which certainly seems like something we should have come across in our lifetime.
• We had a nice long conversation with Dave McKenna from The Washington City Paper, the alternative weekly paper in DC (which we're big fans of). Look for something as soon as this week's issue.
• In an effort to corner the alt-weekly market, we have also been corresponding with a reporter from the Mountain Xpress, which is based in Asheville, NC. The people of the 11th shall hear from us and tremble mightily! Or something.

Return of the Posse = Good; Return of Heath Shuler = Bad

We've been taking some time off, spending time worrying about the NFL labor deal, and watching the Redskins free agent signings. The most interesting news, from our perspective, is that  Redskins will apparently be going to a three-receiver set, like the glory days of the Posse, with Santana Moss playing the role of Art Monk, Brandon Lloyd playing the role of Rickey Sanders, and Atwaan Randle-El filling out the Gary Clark part.

This, of course, is very exciting. Not so exciting would be the return to Washington of a representative of the dark days, this so-called "Heath" Shuler.