I was sitting at a bar

....inside the Indianapolis airport last night waiting for my flight back to Vegas. My buddies had already caught their flight back to the D.C. area and I was left all alone to think about how much money I had spent and how much money I had lost gambling over the previous 48 hours.

Good news came in the form of a text from Jeff Sherman confirming that we had gone 2-0-1 in golf match up bets for the week. Nice. Love The Sherm. More good news - word from Metcalf that The Group was betting the under in a girls-trying-to-play-basketball game and they were giving me a piece. Being included in a bet by The Group is even better than winning. Very nice. Love The Group. Things were starting to turn around as I ordered my second beer.

It was around this time that my evening really began to spiral out of control. Apparently, inclement weather in Chicago was forcing all flights there to be canceled. Normally this wouldn't affect my life whatsoever. However, a middle aged woman who had been bound for the Windy City had just plopped down on the bar stool next to mine and began talking my ear off about her predicament. I must have a sign on my back that says "Tell Me About Your Boring Problems" when I'm at the airport because this sort of thing seems to happen to me all too frequently. I will try to recap our conversation for my readers. Keep in mind that I was tuning her out as much as humanly possible and barely remember a word she said because I was so uninterested in everything that was coming out of her yap. So basically it was no different than any conversation I have with any woman.

Crazy Airport Bar Lady: Blah blah blah flight to Chicago blah blah blah canceled blah blah blah weather.

Me (looking at a girls basketball game on TV instead of her): Yeah?

Crazy Airport Bar Lady: Blah blah blah they are making us pay for own hotel rooms blah blah blah they say weather is out of their control blah blah blah.

Me (never taking my eyes off the TV): Damn. That sucks.

Crazy Airport Bar Lady: Blah blah blah Isn't that ridiculous? Blah blah blah.

Me: Yes. Ridiculous.

Crazy Airport Bar Lady: Blah.....

Me: Check please.

As I was in the process of paying my check I noticed that another TV at the bar, which was showing ESPNEWS, had just flashed a story about Donovan McNabb. I'm 27 now and my vision is starting to slip and from where I was sitting I would have sworn it said McNabb was now a Raider. That would have made perfect sense considering all the McNabb-to-Oakland chatter during the previous week. I still had to walk closer to the TV to confirm. As I got closer I could see the words on the screen more clearly.

"ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that the Eagles have traded QB Donovan McNabb to the Redskins." Not the Raiders. The Redskins. My dumb idiot asshole retard Redskins had made yet another ridiculous trade, no doubt giving up a high draft choice for a washed up player at the back end of his career. Again. Yet again.

What. The. Fuck.

I paid my tab and stormed out of the bar towards Gate B21. I wanted to know exactly what we gave up to acquire a QB who will turn 34 during the regular season and is due an 8 figure salary for the year. Although in the back of my mind I already knew. The Eagles had publicly stated their asking price of a Top 42 draft pick in exchange for McNabb and the Redskins held the 37th overall pick in this month's draft. I still wanted to know for sure, so I called the biggest NFL fan in my phone - Superbook manager Ed Salmons, who also doubles as an Eagles die hard. The McNabb deal was such a fresh story that even he didn't know the exact details of the trade. I called my brother and through a barrage of expletives he informed me that, as I expected, the Skins had given up their 2010 2nd round pick and just for good measure had also tossed in a 3rd or 4th round pick in 2011. Great. Already giving up our picks in next year's draft. Good decision, guys. No teams ever build championship rosters through the draft.

I started receiving a lot of phone calls and texts. Curse words and offensive pet names for McNabb from some of my buddies who root for the Skins. Mocks and taunts from friends who like Philly. And a few people who just wanted to know what I thought of the deal. I was so flustered all I could say to a few friends was that I thought it was unbelievable that the Redskins could do something so stupid. Unbelievable that they could continue to make the same mistakes they have been making for 10+ years. And unbelievable that no matter who is in charge that they continue to do the same dumb things year after year.

Allow me to elaborate:

1. This trade is exactly why I didn't want the Redskins to hire Mike Shananan as their head coach. Although I admit that Shanahan is a good football mind and obviously an upgrade over Jim Zorn, I never wanted him because I assumed that a coach who will be 58 on opening day and who has already won 2 Super Bowl championships would not be interested in a rebuilding job. Obviously, I was right about that.

2. I keep hearing this talk about how McNabb is a big upgrade over the Redskins incumbent QB, Jason Campbell, and how his presence alone will make the Redskins a much better team. Um, are we sure about this? Here are some statistics from 2009:

Player A: 16 starts, 3,618 passing yards, 64.5% completions, 20 TD, 15 INT

Player B: 14 starts, 3,553 passing yards, 60.3% completions, 22 TD, 10 INT

At gun point I would say that Player B had the better year because he threw fewer picks but Player A stayed healthy all season and completed a much higher percentage of his passes. When you factor in that Player A is 6 years younger and that Player B commands a much larger salary, I would argue that Player A is the more valuable asset to a football team. Also, consider that Player A was throwing from behind a decimated offensive line to a group of inexperienced WRs for much of the season. Player A was also often playing from behind which tends to lead to more interceptions. Player B had Pro Bowlers at both the WR and TE positions and a much better offensive line watching his back.

Player A is Campbell. Player B is McNabb. Considering production, age, and salary going from Campbell to McNabb is hardly an upgrade. It's a lateral move at best.

3. Then there's the draft picks. The Redskins just give these things away like they are worthless. Even if you knew nothing about the NFL or how to run a football franchise, you could just look at the most successful teams and copy what they do. Take the Patriots for example. They were the most successful team of the 2000s, winning the Super Bowl 3 times and they hoard draft picks more than any team in the league. New England is constantly making moves to acquire more and more mid round draft picks. Why would a team do such a thing? I will tell you:

Mid round draft picks are very valuable. They allow you to replenish your roster with young players who are generally being paid a relatively low salary. These young players are hungry to prove that they belong in the NFL and prove that they deserve a big contract once their rookie deals expire, usually within 3-5 years. Players like this allow you to build up something called depth, a concept the Redskins are clearly not familiar with. "Depth" makes it possible to sustain injuries during the long season. Football tends to be a fairly violent game so having depth is generally considered a good thing. Last season when the Redskins starters began dropping like flies, the team resorted to signing players off the streets because they had no depth. They had no depth because they never have any draft picks. And they never have any draft picks because of deals like this one for McNabb.

I would also argue that the 37th pick is just as valuable as a late first round choice. You are essentially just as likely to find a good player at 37 as you are at 31 and you don't have to pay said player a first round salary. You're also probably getting a player who is pissed he didn't go in Round 1 and eager to prove that he should have.

4. People are saying that the Redskins will be better in 2010 because of McNabb. The Redskins will be better this year but it won't be JUST because of McNabb. The Redskins went 4-12 last season so chances are they will improve on their win total in 2010 no matter what they do. But they would have been just as likely to improve from 4-12 without McNabb as they are with him. When you reach the bottom there's nowhere to go but up. If the Redskins do manage to win 7-8 games this fall, it won't be JUST because of their new QB. That's ridiculous logic.

Consider: Chances are that Butler won't be back in the national championship game next April. If I said that Butler didn't make it back to the title game because they lost Avery Jukes to graduation, I would sound like an idiot. Just because they didn't make it back to the title game doesn't mean it was just because they lost Jukes any more that the Redskins improvement won't be just because they traded for McNabb. When you get that high there's nowhere to go but down. Just like when you are at the bottom you generally move back up. Things resort back to the norm.

5. Let's just say that McNabb comes to Washington and plays his heart out all season. He stays healthy for 16 games and plays inspired football to stick it to the Eagles organization and the city of Philadelphia. And let's say that the Redskins offensive line stays healthy all year and that the young WRs continue to develop and that Clinton Portis has one more good year in him running in Shanahan's offense. The Redskins do have a very solid team defensively, although I think they made a dumb move replacing Greg Blache (Who was doing a perfectly good job) with Jim Haslett. If the Skins stayed healthy, the schedule broke well, and they got lucky at the end of a handful of close games, they could go 9-7 and secure a wild card berth. They did it in 2007. They could do it again this year. It's not at all out of the realm of possibility. But when that's your ceiling, when you need everything to break right just to win 9 games and lose in the first round of the playoffs, you need to be REBUILDING. And that's why I didn't like the Shanahan hire, that's why I didn't like the Larry Johnson signing, and that's why I hate this trade for McNabb.

You cannot rebuild a team trading 2nd and 3rd round picks for a QB who is about to turn 34. Two years ago the Redskins traded a 2nd round pick to Miami for Jason Taylor and people acted like it was a good move. Just because Taylor, like McNabb, is a name they have heard. "Oh Jason Taylor, I've heard of him. Must be a smart move." Taylor played a handful of games, compiling a whopping one sack, was cut after the season and re-signed with The Dolphins. Nice use of a 2nd round pick.

McNabb was a good player 5-6 years ago but don't kid yourself: He was never Peyton Manning. He was never Tom Brady or Drew Brees. He was good but never great. And now he's old and at the end of his road. Trading two draft picks for a player at the end of his career is a very poor decision. The only time you could even begin to justify a trade like that would be if you felt your team was 1 player away from being a Super Bowl contender which the Redskins are not. They aren't even close. They have holes up and down their roster that can't be patched up by 2 years of a mid 3o's Donovan McNabb.

But let's just say that you think I'm wrong about everything. Let's say you think trading draft picks for veterans can work out. Let's say you think that McNabb is a big upgrade over Campbell. Let's say that you think that fighting it out for the 5th or 6th seed is worth mortgaging your future because anything can happen once you are in the playoffs.

If you follow the NFL at all, you would know that the Eagles have one of the top 3-5 front offices in the league. Philly's brass has kept the team among the league's best for nearly a decade through a series of good draft choices and smart decisions in free agency. Do you really think that a smart front office like Philadelphia would trade its starting QB to a team INSIDE THEIR OWN DIVISION if they thought he could still complete at a championship level???

Of course, they wouldn't.

Of course, they wouldn't.

And that's what scares me the most. Something that obvious and the Redskins front office misses it entirely. I expect the average fan to think the Redskins made a good move. The average fan is an absolute idiot with little to no understanding of the game. They have heard of Donovan McNabb. He's been to the Super Bowl before. So it must be a good move. I expect the national media to approve of the move. McNabb is a good guy, so most sportswriters won't publicly rip him or a trade to acquire him. But the Redskins front office is a team of people who are paid to understand football. They are paid to evaluate talent and paid to determine what is best for the franchise. And they still made a trade like this and act like it is in the best long term interest of the Washington Redskins.

That really is unbelievable.