>> The Muppet Christmas Carol isn't nearly as awesome as A Muppet Family Christmas, but for those of you looking for a little fluffy holiday cheer this evening, the AFI Silver Theater is offering a screening of the musical adaptation of the Dickens classic at 5:10 p.m. >> Hop in the way back machine and set the dial to 1992: The Lemonheads are at the Black Cat tonight. With Racoon and The New Rivals.......

As the region continues to mourn the loss of Sean Taylor, some hopeful news has come to light in the search for his killer. Over the course of the week, officials have stated that they have "no reason" to believe that Taylor was anything more than the random victim of a botched burglary. However, in a story broken by the Miami Herald, a relative of Taylor's has announced that three men have now been detained......

It appears that tragedy has struck the Redskins. Emerging reports indicate that Washington Redskins Safety Sean Taylor has been shot in an apparent burglary attempt on his home, with one source claiming that Taylor is "fighting for his life". The Redskins have just released a statement confirming the shooting.Ashburn, VA - The Washington Redskins became aware of a situation this morning in which safety Sean Taylor was the victim of a shooting at his residence......

Good morning, Washington. Have you recovered from yesterday's local sports emotional rollercoaster yet? The Nationals bid farewell to RFK, and managed to close out their time there with a 5-3 victory over the Phillies. The Redskins, on the other hand, well ... we might still not be ready to talk about that last drive. Yet despite the despondent football fans across the region this morning, we get the sense that no one is sadder than......

MONDAY: Elliott Lewis will be at Busboys and Poets to discuss and sign copies of his book Fade: My Journeys in Multiracial America. 6:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY: Daniel Levitin will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his latest book This is Your Brain on Music with Jeffrey Brown, senior correspondent from NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The book examines the always-fun subject of neuroscience and how certain music is composed to get stuck in your head.......

>> Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network's Everyday Italian was in town this weekend filming a bit for her new show, Weekend Getaways. One Flickr photog caught her picking out plump tomatoes at the Dupont farmer's market; did anyone else get a glimpse of the "Cooking With Cleavage" star? >> Oh, Clinton Portis, really? The Redskins player decided to come out in favor of dog fighting to defend embattled Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. This......

Okay. Wow. Uhm...it all boils down to this: It's the fourth quarter. There are just over six minutes left to play. Washington trails 21-16. It's been a rough day. The Redskins got in a hole early, giving up two touchdowns on, or soon after interceptions. At one point, it was 21-3. It looked like the rout was on. But, Ladell Betts kept on running. Jason Campbell, who you'd probably have forgiven if he'd simply fallen......

Despite the fact that only the most optimistic of fans bought the line this week that the Washington Redskins were still nursing the slightest of playoff chances, it was still disappointing to watch the Redskins blow a fourteen-point lead and wither away under the resurgent Falcons, 24-14. Ladell Betts and Santana Moss had the terrific games they needed to have, the defense made some inspiring plays, and no one was bagging on Scott Suisham for......

The Washington Redskins gave the Carolina Panthers all they could handle and earned Jason Campbell a win in his home debut yesterday. At the very least, the win will be remembered as one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise frustrating season. Washington gave a complete effort in beating a quality opponent; their offense, defense, and special teams contributed in significant ways. At most, the win gives supporters a renewed sense of optimism, allowing......

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......

We've mentioned our respect and admiration for Dan Steinberg and his wonderful D.C. Sports Bog in this space before. Dan's a fantastic, knowledgeable writer with a flair for great, off-beat stories that surround the events he's covering and quite frankly, if you're not reading his blog, you're missing out. That said, our respect for him has grown even more this week after his seemingly wacky idea to get as many area Caps fans out......

For the casual fan, yesterday's Washington v. Jacksonville tilt was a Sunday afternoon classic, replete with offensive pyrotechnics, lead changes, great individual performances, and down-to-the-wire intensity. For Redskins fans, however, it was a stomach-tightening affair in which the script flipped wildly between what seemed like certain victory and certain defeat. Relief finally came scant minutes into the overtime period, when Redskin wideout Santana Moss grabbed a pinpoint pass in traffic and took it to......

It took overcoming a shaky start, but the Washington Redskins wound up running away in Houston with the win they desperately needed. Led by a restored Clinton Portis and a scintillating, Billy Chapel-esque performance from Mark Brunell, Washington's offense played inspired ball, and the Texans conceded their third defeat, to the tune of 31-15. As the two teams traded opening series, Washington fans had to wonder if the team's woes were going to continue. Ceding......

Redskins Stumble out of Preseaon The Redskins dropped their fourth and final preseason game last night, losing to the Baltimore Ravens 17-10. The loss sealed the first winless preseason in Joe Gibbs' 24 years as a coach. Though common wisdom dictates the insignificance of the preseason, there should be cause for concern among Redskins fans. The team scored a meager 27 points over the 4 preseason games, their lowest total since 1961. Their first-team......

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......

This is why preseason football sucks. The Redskins travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals in what should be a routine, even dull, first preseason game, and not ten minutes into the exercise, your team’s most important player suffers an injury that could end up haunting the team all year. That’s what happened to Clinton Portis last night. Racing after Bengal Kiewan Ratliff, who had just picked off Mark Brunell (always an encouraging sight),......

Capitalizing on the playoff fever that gripped the entire D.C. metro area, today the Washington Redskins added Al Saunders to their coaching staff as offensive coordinator. Saunders, a former head coach with the San Diego Chargers, spent the last four years in Kansas City, guiding the league's top-ranked offense. Saunders was said to be in the running for the head coach position in Oakland, interviewing there multiple times, but Joe Gibbs swooped in with Daniel......

It can’t be said that they didn’t get their shot. On the road against the rested and ready Seattle Seahawks and a hostile crowd lending decibels to the cause, the Redskins forced some timely turnovers, kept Seattle’s scoring down, and managed to send all-everything league MVP runner Shaun Alexander on an unscheduled bye week. But the opportunities they created went for naught as the Washington offense underwent a second week of anemia. With Seattle......

The Washington Redskins and the Tampa “Bay” Buccaneers are interesting opponents – so many contrasts, so many links. Like a meeting between the oldest and youngest NFL coaches. Like a playoff rematch between the last team to bounce Washington from the post-season. And Washingtonians still chafe over the fact that that young coach, Jon Gruden, won his Super Bowl with a quarterback most think should have been kept in DC. Earlier this season, when the......

For the Washington Redskins, the 2005 regular season was an unpredictable series of dizzy highs and swampy valleys as the team went from looking like a playoff shoo-in to an NFL also-ran. With only the thinnest post-season hopes remaining, however, the Skins made Tony Kornheiser look like a genius and rattled off December wins even as critical competitors – the Falcons, the Vikings, the Cowboys – hit the skids. It all culminated in yesterday afternoon’s......

Going into the weekend, Redskins fans had a lengthy wishlist. A New England win over Tampa Bay, a Pittsburgh victory in Minneapolis, and Atlanta loss in frozen Chicago (which was aided and abetted by Rex Grossman, which means we can no longer say that Steve Spurrier never did anything for us), and, of course, a December victory over arch-rival Dallas Sunday evening at the Jack. So, umm…check, check, check, and, CHECK. The end result......

The fact that the scene at the Edward Jones Dome went down against a soundtrack of frequent deadly silence tells you everything you need to know about where the Washington Redskins and the St. Louis Rams have found themselves this season. With big divisional contests taking place across the country, the Skins and Rams and their play-for-pride sideshow felt like it was taking place in an alternate universe. Probably the most interesting thing in......

Two weeks ago, a stirring home win over the Philadelphia Eagles resulted in the Washington Redskins notching a respectable 5-3 record. Entrenched in the NFC playoff picture, Head Coach Joe Gibbs lauded his team’s play and spoke of the opportunity they now had to compete in “big games” instead of desperate games. That was two weeks ago. Circa today, the Redskins are nursing their wounds after a second critical late-game loss placed their season in......

Ugh. It had been a long time since the Redskins had found their way to a midseason division game that found them looking to actually take over the top spot and assert dominance instead of trying to make up games on the division leader. And after their thorough drubbing of the 49ers, Sunday’s meeting with the Giants was seen as a chance to turn the final corner and start being thought of as a......

Joe Gibbs is not the first coach to get riled up about the “tuck rule” – that hair-splitting, pantomime-based judgment call that differentiates between a quarterback fumble and an incomplete pass – but he’s the latest in a long line of people that needs to get over it. Sure, it’s frustrating, and yes, it took a potentially game-tying safety away from the Washington defense, but it’s just a single play. It’s pretty to think......

The Redskins are back in camp this week, preparing for a second season of The Passion of The Gibbs. New faces abound and new strategies are being hatched, but there are old questions lingering from last year’s campaign and a tumultuous offseason that are never far away. Cable sports channels and the internet have bred a new type of football fan—where a decade and a half ago, local diehards might give even the preseason game......

Quite a weekend for the local sports teams: >> Showing no ill effects from Marlon Byrd and Tomo Ohka's bizarre behavior on Saturday, the Nationals beat the Marlins 6-3 yesterday and put themselves atop the wacky NL East. While you're swelling with hometown pride keep in mind that the last place team in the division is only 1 1/2 games behind us. The scrappy Nats have won six of seven during their homestand and seven......

It’s a been an offseason of change and occasional tumult for the Washington Redskins, but the tangible future is finally snapping into view. We’re talking 2005 schedule: time for Skins fans to start marking their calendars and arguing over how the field of opponents is totally going to yield the 10-6 record to make the playoffs. In addition to the division home-and-homes, the Redskins are matched against teams from the NFC and AFC West,......

>> Shhhhh...that sound you're hearing might be Maryland's already precarious NCAA Tourney hopes going down the drain after this weekend's disappointing 86-76 loss at Virginia Tech. The Terps have dropped their last three contests to leave their conference mark at 7-9. Only a strong showing in this week's ACC tournament can save the Terps from missing the Big Dance for the first time since 1993. Sound familiar Terp fans? Maryland faced a similar situation......

What a pity. DCist encouraged you to have faith this weekend, believing that the Redskins would beat the Philadelphia Eagles at FedEx Field. Yet a bold, late-fourth-quarter throw to Chris Cooley came down in the hands of opposing safety Brian Dawkins—all but icing the game for the Eagles. Whether the ball just got a little too much air under it in the swirling winds of Landover, or had too much juice on it from......