Tonight, George Michael, by far Washington’s best known and most dynamic sports reporter, leaves his post at Channel 4. The move, announced in November, comes amid a swath of cutbacks at NBC which claimed fellow sportscaster Wally Bruckner along with Susan Kidd, Arch Campbell, I.J. Hudson and Clay Anderson. While Michael was offered a generous deal to stay, it would have come at the cost of cutting half his staff. After 27 years at Channel…

>> Tony Snow, Dan Bartlett and the White House Press Corps turn a routine presser into a Christopher Nolan movie for morons. The Pledge: Snow and Bartlett begin an ordinary conference on the record. The Turn: Halfway through, the two make their ordinary act seem extraordinary by suddenly becoming Anonymous White House Sources. The Prestige: Everyone assembled acts as gallingly obsequious as possible to enforce the illusion that the American people are children that should…

Here’s the good news: Jason Campbell looked good in his first game as, well, anything for the Washington Redskins. The descriptives you’ll hear all week will be “poise” and “command,” traits that he showed in abundance both on the field and, with an easy charm mixed in that’ll only make you want to root for the kid more, in his post game interviews. His stat line isn’t world-changing: 19 of 34 for 192 yards only…

Down in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, there remain plenty of reminders that the Carolina Panthers haven’t quite taken over as the top team in the region. Even at a tremendous distance from DC, Redskins flags still wave from the houses on Virginia Dare Road and autographed photos of Skins luminaries such as Brian Mitchell and Art Monk are still prominently hung on the walls of local BBQ joints. Of course, the distance to…

For three quarters on Sunday, the Redskins rode a solid gameplan, gritty defense and a scintillating performance from Mark Brunell, taking a lead on the visiting Seattle Seahawks. In the end, however, it took some late-game heroics and a few lucky breaks to secure the win and remain undefeated as the team pulled out a 20-17 overtime win. What’s to be done when your team has a peerless defensive side but an offense that’s…

We hope you had a good weekend and a happy Easter (if you were celebrating). It was sort of a glum, cloudy weekend, and now it’s raining. Check Capital Weather for the latest on the dreary forecast. Here’s what you may have missed on DCist the past week. — Is there off-season trouble for Coach Gibbs? — Living wage hunger strike at Georgetown ends. — Making caesar salad, the right way. — Wow, people have…

Late season improvement, a top caliber defense and the end of the Mark Brunell Experiment bred some hope among the faithful in the late weeks of the 2004 season, and a thorough dismantling of the playoff-bound Vikings the final week had some Redskins fans feeling renewed in their faith in Coach Gibbs. But two months into the offseason, some Redskin enthusiasts are wondering if Coach Gibbs’ best work is being undercut by another important personage:…

If I was a passionate Redskins backer—and I am—I’d be watching this game very carefully. Because if there was ever a week for the Skins to begin a reversal of fortunes it’s now. This week’s home game is a rematch with our divisional foes from New York, so there’s an opportunity for comparison. When these two teams last met, the Giants won by virtue of seven Redskins turnovers—the most takeaways for New York in a…

Just what does a Redskins fan, slogging through another season in which the playoffs are not in the cards, have to be thankful for? Well, just about every Redskins fan I talked to on Thanksgiving day said the same thing: that Coach Gibbs will not forsake us. When next season comes and the win-loss record is back to 0 and 0, he will be there on the sidelines, guiding us to the promised land. Now…

Coaching legends Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells squared of once again last night as the eyes of the nation, not to mention a Redskins record crowd of 90,367 at FedEx Field, were focused in on their Monday Night Football clash. The result? Same old, same old. The Cowboys used a halfback option late in the game to pull out a 21-18 win. Parcells has now beaten Gibbs seven straight times (granted their last meeting…