Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Redskins lost to the Giants…I know it sucks, I feel your pain. But, it was the 1st game of the season, it was the Giants and it was in New York. Sure it would be nice to get a win there, but 1 game does not make a season. As a fan that can remember games back to the '81 season, I’ve suffered thru 213 losses…that’s a lifetime of heartbreak. However, the key is learning how to deal with the loss and recognizing certain symptoms that come from the losing. You may be suffering from some of the conditions that I’m going to discuss in this post…the first step is admitting you have the problem. Ladies and gentleman, the stages of a Redskins' loss.

Disbelief – During this stage you take a few moments to review your thoughts. You say things like “we didn’t just lose, did we?” “WTF happened on that WR option play with Randle El?” “Are we really the only team in the division without a win?”

Anger – Oh yeah, you're pissed now. You text, email or call everyone in your cell phone that will listen to you, even the ones who won’t listen to you! You say things you really don’t mean, things like “Portis is over the hill, put in Mason” or “F Campbell, sign Garcia or Jeff George” and “We’ll never win under Zorn, I want Shanahan.”

Your wife/girlfriend asks you “What do you care?, It’s only a football game” you reply something really stupid like “I’ve loved them longer than I’ve loved you.” This will haunt you a lot longer than the loss to the Giants!

Numbness – After you’ve gone thru your Rolodex and contacted everyone you can, you sit in your Lazy-boy and drink and eat everything in the house. You barely speak, in fact you're only forms of communications at this point are mumbling and grunting (maybe an occasional fart, your wife/girlfriend is really happy with you at this point.) The day ends with you passing out in your lucky jersey (which is no longer lucky) and your wife’s diary looks like this.

Game Hangover – You wake up, groggy and trying to collect your bearings…and hoping the day before never happened. You get on the Internet and confirm that yes, the Skins lost! At this point it’s time to take your thoughts to the mainstream media, I mean all your friends have already heard your BS…let’s post it on the internet message boards and call sports talk radio shows! At the Cooley Zone you say something like “Chris, here’s my email address, tell Zorn to call me…his play calling sucks!” or you call Lavar and Dukes to say “the Skins will go 6-10, it’s time to start planning for 2010.”

Rest – On day 3, you rest. You re-watch the game…but you’re not angry. You cuddle with your wife, you watch some Housewives show on A&E.

Coming out of the fog - The Dallas fan at work greets you in the morning with a jab about the Skins, without thinking you tell him to go F himself. You start rambling on about how we were a couple plays away from beating the Giants in New York and how we’re gonna sweep the Cowgirls. You sit at your desk and you feel…peace.

Drinking the Kool-Aid – You look at the remaining schedule and all of the sudden…the Skins are going to go 15-1. You start texting, calling and emailing your friends and say things like “I think Portis is going to to rush for 150 this week” and “JC’s going to have a Pro Bowl year, just wait and see!” It’s time to go mainstream again so you head back to the Cooley’s message board “Zorn’s going to be the Coach of the Year” you call L&D “the Skins will win the Super Bowl this year with a last second option pass…Randle El to Cooley.”

On day 5 you go back to your normal self, and I guess what I’m trying to say to everyone is…just pretend like it’s day 5. Don’t get too high when we rip off 4-5 wins in a row and don’t bash the team after this loss. The Skins played hard and it was a tough situation that they went into. I’m a diehard and I’m sure you are too, let’s support the team and move forward. I mean…I looked at the schedule, I don’t think we’re going to have to deal with another loss this season.

While you're glued to gunslinging QBs and showboating receivers, guys at these thankless positions are doing real work.

1. Steve Hutchinson MIN Guard

“As a guard you’re in a five-second street fight 65 times a game. Every play you hit heads—300 pounds coming one way, 300 pounds coming the other. It’s a hand-to-hand war. You’ve got linemen clubbing you in the head, trying to grab your throat. The receiver scores the touchdown, but you don’t get too much credit for being the guy who got poked in the eye.”

2. Brian Moorman BUF Punter

“Everyone thinks they can punt. But it’s not easy to let go of that ball, nail the point of impact, and make sure it’s directed in 1.25 seconds. If your punter can pin a team inside the 10, you’ll be the next to score 85 percent of the time—that’s a stat most fans don’t realize. But I’d much rather just hold for PATs and field goals. That means we’ve had a great game.”

3. David Diehl NYG Left Tackle

“I’m moving backward while the fastest, most athletic guy on the defensive line—a guy who weighs 285 pounds and runs a 4.5 40—is working to kill my quarterback. As crazy as it sounds, I think, They’re trying to go after my daughter. The only time my name will get called out is for a penalty or for giving up a sack. But I love playing with that pressure.”

4. Lonie Paxton DEN Long Snapper

“The best long snapper is an average long snapper. You can’t have an outrageously good snap. It’s meant to be precise. You hold the destiny of the game in your hands—but you don’t get noticed unless you screw up. I’ve had three kickers make the Pro Bowl under my helm, but long snapper isn’t even a voted-on position. It should be.”

Fantasy Files 2 from Tanner Cooley on Vimeo.

Since Cowboys QB Tony Romo didn't get his own fantasy files video, the Redskins tight end does one for him.

Fantasy Files from Tanner Cooley on Vimeo.

With football right around the corner we thought this would be a good time to share a little video we made last year. J Wit-Dog and Tony Romo are a little jealous that they don't have a fantasy files video, so they decided to make one on their own.

Part two coming tomorrow. We will give you a chance to see Tony's skills in action.

Extreme Bulls from Tanner Cooley on Vimeo.

I spent Sunday afternoon cheering for the bulls. I gotta be honest, I can't stand cowboys. It doesn't matter if they're from Dallas, Wyoming, or wherever. Their stupid hats and little Napoleon attitudes drive me crazy. Plus, I have to listen to the chitter chatter behind me about cute butts. Come on girls, Brett Favre stopped wearing skin tight Wranglers years ago. Well, maybe not, but after a short discussion with the wife, she testified that there weren't any cute butts, so ha.

Back to the bulls, it was great being the asshole in the stands cheering for the other team. I spent the entire afternoon staring down this Trisha Yearwood looking yokel, and screaming "Let er' Buck!" at the top of my lungs. Truthfully, I was surprised her snake skin wearing man didn't have anything to say to me, but in retrospect I am a pretty big dude wearing a bad ass bandanna. I guess it probably wasn't just Trisha who was upset, after I got turned down for my fifth buck off, high-five celebration I knew I wasn't a welcome. But who cares, I was there to rodeo.

I was sitting in the makeshift locker room in Hawaii this February and noticed Rachel Nichols coming toward me with a half smile on her face. At first I felt like the kid who waves at a girl and the next second finds out she is looking at the guy just past him, especially since she is with ESPN and I'm in a locker room filled with guys like Eli Manning and Larry Fitzgerald. Then to my surprise, she made her way straight to me. For a second I thought I had it figured out.

A couple months earlier Tanner, an undisclosed reporter divulging phone numbers, and myself were having a few beers and making prank calls. After a few calls Andrea Kramer's number came up and we had a great plan. The message that was left went something like this. "Hey this is Chris Cooley, I just left the bar where I was sitting next to Rachel Nichols, she was talking crazy shit about you. Rachel says your the worst, manliest reporter she's ever seen and she can't stand to work with you another day! Hiccup! Laugh, laugh, laugh." Click. It was a call that we found funny enough to repeat every couple weeks. Actually it's still funny while I'm writing this and Andrea will probably be getting a call in the next couple days.

So I was guessing she had talked with Andrea and figured out who was making the nonsense calls and was coming to confront me about it. But to my surprise she came to talk about E60 coming to my house to do a segment for their show. I was a little relieved. Actually, I was pretty excited about the whole deal and after some of the details, thought it would be pretty cool and easy to get done. In April they came over to my house in Virginia and spent some time with us trying to get everything together. They filmed interviews with Christy, Tanner and myself. We spent a couple hours talking to them on camera, then they wanted to film me painting in my art room. They also filmed me pretending to work at the computer, like I was doing a blog. All was fine and for the last couple months we have been recording every E60 on TV, never to see our episode.

Then a few weeks ago I got a call from the producer saying they wanted to come to Wyoming and I could take Rachel fishing and we could do some more stuff. We met in Cody, Wyoming, and I had a great plan to take them up to the spot where I caught all the fish the other day. They said they didn't have enough time so we had to arrange going back to my property and fishing on the river there. I guaranteed no fish, but they said it would still look cool and no one would care, whatever.

What didn't get explained to them was that it was a hell of a hike to get from the spot where you drop off the four wheelers. They had to drag their asses and the camera shit about a half a mile over the rocky hillside to get down to the river. So much for not enough time! I then proceeded to untangle Rachel's line for the next 30 minutes while we pretended to be fishing. Sorry Rachel, I know you did get better at it, but you casted like a seven year old girl with an arm full of barbies.

After the fishing it was like a barrage of doing everything I like to do in my life, but in intervals of 15 minutes. Just enough time to not do a good job of it. We painted, we did pottery, we hiked around, we fished, we talked and talked. I ended up spending about seven hours with the crew, but it was actually a really fun day. Everyone I worked with was great, Rachel was awesome and at one point she actually turned into intern girl and ran to Subway to get everyone lunch.

I just hope everything turns out okay for the segment. Before the crew left I had asked them if they thought my thing would be cool no less than 25 times. Whatever, but hopefully I'll love it. The show will be coming out in the next couple months, so I will keep everyone informed on when to set their Tivo.

Wyoming Drive Day 3 from Tanner Cooley on Vimeo.

Yeah, things aren't getting much better for the Pro Bowl tight end. Ride shotgun as he puts unleaded gas in his diesel engine, and gets nabbed by the cops.

Wyoming Drive Day 2 from Tanner Cooley on Vimeo.

Chris Cooley's road trip is turning into a country song. Ride shotgun as he gets booted from his hotel, loses big at blackjack and his truck breaks down.