Gamblers Anonymous: A Moment of Silence for Vinny Cerrato

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Redskin fans can breathe a huge sigh of relief this week. The brain trust of Cerrato-Snyder is no more, with Vinny Cerrato finally resigning in shame this week. I can now return to rooting for the Redskins. Some of you might be saying, "What kind of real fan gives up on their team in their darkest hour?"

Look - there comes a point where your team reaches such a laughable level of embarrassment it is acceptable to turn on them out of love. All Knicks fans are allowed to hate the team under this fan rule. Bengals and Clippers fans have been doing it for years. At a certain point, you can't take it as a fan anymore and just snap. The only way to fix it and come back to simple 'disappointed fan' is some cathartic cleansing of the major problem. That's what the Cerrato resignation is. Will my preseason purchased Darrell Green throwback jersey make its first appearance since the Skins tragic loss to the Lions? Stay tuned.

What I like about what the Skins are doing:

• Bruce Allen has had great success building football teams with John Gruden. At least we have someone credible in our front office...although I'm surprised to hear that Gruden isn't the front runner (Gruden and Allen are good friends). BUT...
• Rumors of Mike Shanahan coming to coach the Skins are very exciting. Another guy with credibility, Super Bowl wins and a history leading a top NFL franchise.
• We keep losing to teams we should (I was fine with the Oakland win). We don't need anyone being a hero out there. Where you pick in the draft matters, especially since we need to trade down and fill as many holes as we possibly (unless we have a slam dunk at the top of the draft). What about pride you might say? The 2009 Redskins left their pride with the skid marks in Jim Zorn's pants. We are way past salvaging this year.

What I still don't like about what the Skins are doing:

• They are letting Jason Campbell play well enough to earn a new contract to stay in DC. It seems like 4 out of every 5 'experts' say that Campbell will be a very solid NFL quarterback. Are we winning a Super Bowl with Campbell? Absolutely not. Let's not waste our time...cut him loose and rebuild.
• We still have the same old crappy roster. Trying to clean up Cerrato's mess will take (gulp) years. I'm convinced most of the people I know who play the Madden franchise mode could have done better than Cerrato. I know the NFL is the easiest sport to turn things around because of the competitive balance, but we have so many holes we are going to be bad for at least two more seasons.
• Dan Snyder still owns the team (on second thought, definitely not breaking out that Darrell Green jersey on Sunday...I'm still too embarrassed by this moron).

A few columns hoping to hit the press soon - Dexter Season 4 recap (waiting till more readers watch the finale - don't want to spoil it), the best and worst 'type' of gamblers and how to manage your 401K with junk bonds, high yield mutual funds and money under your mattress.

My Week 15 NFL Picks:

Saints -7.5 vs. Cowboys - Dallas can't hang with the top teams in the NFL, and there is no reason to believe they will be able to handle a ruckus Super Dome crowd on Saturday night football.

Steelers -1 vs. Packers - I think the Packers are giving fans false hope, and I don't see the Steelers losing their 6th straight at home in December.

MNF - Skins +3 vs. Giants - Wow the Skins still got a Monday Night Football game? Post-Cerrato era anything goes!

-Steve Lugerner

P.S. Peyton Manning is better than you at football. This statement is for all mankind past, present and future.