Mood: Thrilled

I am a Washington Redskins fan. That means, for all intents and purposes, the other three NFC East teams fall somewhere on a continuum that reads "Despise" on one polar end and "Utter Hatred" on the other. But last night, I found myself rooting --and rooting hard -- for a New York Giants win. (By the way, can guys like Chris Berman stop saying "The New York Football Giants." You'd have to be as old as the guys who signed the Declaration of Independence in that confusing Fox pre-Super Bowl segment to think the New York Giants were a baseball team. Chris Berman's act is tired, though. I wish they could find someone else to do the NFL stuff on ESPN.)

It's true. I was in an unenviable position last night. Root for a New York team. (I still shudder at the thought.) Or root for the despicable New England Patriots, a team of liars and cheats. A team with a quarterback who exudes unparalleled arrogance. No, that's not supreme confidence. I don't want to hear it from Pats fans. It's unmitigated arrogance. And it's annoying. I don't care what Tom Brady does the rest of his career. I'd take Joe Montana instead of Brady every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Hell, I'd take Doug Williams, too. Give me a classy quarterback who appreciates the game, his abilities and his teammates. But, I guess Brady simply follows the lead of his coach. The just-as-egomaniacal Bill Belichick. What really grates me about the whole Spygate affair is that he didn't need to cheat. Everyone knows the Patriots are good. No one can deny it. I think 18-1 (haha) speaks for itself. Yet he still needed to get that extra edge. And sure Sen. Arlen Specter (R.-Penn.) is now sticking his nose where it doesn't belong to salvage the integrity of the Philadelphia Eagles, a team that lost to the Pats in Super Bowl XXXIX. But a part of me is ecstatic to see someone argue that commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL did not take a long enough look at the spying scandal. The NFL will continue to coddle this Pats team until it starts to lose more often than it wins. The league wanted a 19-0 team. Stripping the Pats of their first round pick? Hardly punishment enough, considering they'll still select at No. 7 in the college draft this spring by virtue of a trade with the San Francisco 49ers.

But here I am -- a Redskins fan celebrating in the residual euphoria being emitted by Giants fans everywhere. I couldn't feel any dirtier. But then again, I couldn't feel any happier that the Patriots were served their comeuppance. (Well, that's not true. I'd be happier if the Redskins had served it to them.)

Now that Super Bowl XLII has ended, Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will interview for the Redskins vacant head coaching job, a position that should've gone to Gregg Williams. Spagnuolo had a tremendous game plan against New England. The Giants gave up only 14 points to the best offense in NFL history. But I think he'd be the wrong hire for the Skins right now. They need to find someone more offensively inclined. Greg Blache can run the Skins defense by himself. Bringing in a defensive minded head coach will only cause conflict on that side of the ball, while the offense toils under first-time coordinator Jim Zorn. It's imperative that the Skins give Jason Campbell a fair shot to be this team's QB for the discernible future. Hire an offensive head coach and tag team the kid so that he finally develops. Of course, forcing him to learn his third NFL offense isn't exactly the kind of continuity and stability that will spur a young signal caller to success. But give him a large enough support staff so that he does perform well. And please, give him a tall wide out. Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle-El are nice changes of pace. But Campbell really needs a WR that's considerably taller than the Lilliputians he typically has lining up next to him.

So Washington, interview Spagnuolo, but in the end, give the job to someone else. No, not Jim Fassel. That would be a disaster. I can't believe I'm saying this, but if I had to choose between Fassel and Steve Mariucci, I'd take Mooch. Ugh. The choices are undesirable. But a Skins coached Mariucci team is more appealing to me, not because I'm a Mariucci fan, but because I really dislike Fassel. (It's like the 2004 presidential election. People didn't vote for John Kerry because they were ardent Kerry supporters. They voted for him because they didn't want another four years of George Bush. Well, Fassel is the Redskins George Bush. Let's just hope this hiring process doesn't imitate the '04 election.)