Much like the suffocating haze and humidity of its summer months, controversy engulfs Washington, D.C., on a regular basis. We are the epicenter of the political world, after all.
Yet, politics is not the only flashpoint for controversy around these parts. Sports are not immune to scandals, either.
Take, for example, the recent events of the Washington Redskins' 33-31 preseason loss to the Chicago Bears Saturday. Robert Griffin III struggled, only throwing for 49 yards in his half of duty while also being sacked threetimes. Meanwhile, backup Kirk Cousins, who many believe will start the season third on the quarterback depth chart behind Rex Grossman, excelled, throwing three fourth-quarter touchdowns to turn a 30-10 deficit into a 31-30 lead.
Bears broadcaster Jim Miller (and the NFL's Twitter page) said that Cousins' performance could be the catalyst for a quarterback controversy (there's that word again), which, with all due respect to Cousins, is farfetched.
Miller is off the hook, though, because during Monday's edition of ESPN's "First Take," talking head Skip Bayless went as far as to say that Cousins, at this very moment, is more ready for the NFL and better than Griffin (audio around the 21:00 mark).
"I've made it very clear: he had one great year at Baylor. I can as far as to say that RGIII was a late bloomer at Baylor. Kirk Cousins was an early bloomer at Michigan State. He started all three years. He set every school record...because he played and played and played and he played at a high level and I thought he would be a second-round pick."
"So Mike Shanahan sits there early in the fourth round and says, 'Watch this, I can steal Kirk Cousins.' Well, you already stole RGIII. Let the kid flourish. Let him grow, let him mature, let him struggle as a rookie, which he is going to do, and let him figure out how to win in the National Football League without another kid looking over his shoulder who is readier for the NFL than RGIII is.""So what happened? Right on cue, second exhibition game at Chicago, fourth quarter, Kirk Cousins goes berzerk. Kirk Cousins lit it up and he looked good lighting it up. He looked like he knew what he's doing because he does know what he's doing. Three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter."
Bayless continued, citing Cousins' presence, "foolish fans" and even racial divides surrounding the Redskins fanbase ("The majority of the Redskins fans are white and it's just human nature if you're white to root for the white guy," he said) as detrimental to Griffin's growth as a quarterback. When co-host Stephen A. Smith asked Bayless if he thought Cousins was better than RGIII, Bayless responded by saying that "at this very moment, I believe he is."
Sports
Bayless, as he is wont to do, goes out of his way to make incendiary comments as a means of riling up Smith and "First Take" viewers, so take what he said with a grain of salt.
Actually, while you're at it, dump out the entire salt shaker.
Follow Adam on Twitter @AdamVingan and e-mail your story ideas to adamvingan (at) gmail.com.
