D.C. Sports Bog

Eight things I will never forget about the Vinny Cerrato Era. And yeah, this is probably dancing on the grave, but when a guy refuses to speak to the local media while interviewing ESPN personalities about chaos in other football organizations during his own weekly radio show, you officially have permission to dance.

1) Taking three pass catchers in the second round of the 2008 draft. Yes, they're playing well, but more than anything else, that bizarre day is Cerrato's lasting legacy.

"We were not going to jump down a round or two rounds to go get a need," Cerrato said at the time. "We were going to take the best players. So, saying that, Fred Davis was the best player on our board at the time we took him. And after Fred went and a couple of guys went, Malcolm Kelly was the only guy with a first-round grade. He stuck out like a sore thumb. It was an obvious choice for us."

I guess that makes some sense, right up until the point when you have to insert Malcolm Kelly and his first-round grade at left tackle.

2) "Kindergarten Ninja." Good heavens, the man starred as Sergeant Antonelli in a movie called "Kindergarten Ninja," and he was as bad and jean-jacketed as all that would suggest. To quote Sergeant Antonelli, "Nobody messes with our precinct." Also, this led to the strangest expense-account line item in Washington Post sports department history.

3) The iconic images of Cerrato sitting next to Daniel Snyder, on lawn chairs, watching training camp. There are many of these.

"It was a unique relationship between Vinny and the owner, obviously," Larry Michael said on ESPN 980 Thursday morning. True, that.

4) Durant Brooks. A punter. He drafted a punter. Not only that, but a bad punter.

5) The Jason Taylor acquisition. This really caused the relationship between Cerrato and the local media to deteriorate, when Cerrato lied about having discussions with the Dolphins and later seemed to brag about his misdirection.

But even more than that, Cerrato -- after trading two draft picks for Taylor -- left us with this quote.

"I'm 100 percent positive he will play longer than one year," he said of Taylor. False, as it turned out.

6) "Kindergarten Ninja." Yeah, again. A two-time nominee. No one will complain when "Precious" gets nominated for multiple Oscars. And until you produce footage of Ernie Grunfeld or George McPhee, biceps guns blazing, I'm running with this quote from Antonelli: "Put a little pressure on this guy, and he might make a mistake."