Nathan Fenno
Articles by Nathan Fenno
Learning to play football right: Some hope to bring safety back to game
As mild traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy have become household phrases, participation in the country's most popular sport has slumped. Published November 28, 2013
FENNO: NCAA finds way into Rep. Linda Sanchez’s crosshairs over concussions
"I am writing," Sanchez wrote, "to express my concern about the increasing number of traumatic brain injuries in college football." The innocent-sounding sentence should send a cold shiver down NCAA president Emmert's spine. Published November 26, 2013
FENNO: RG3’s words not the Redskins’ biggest problem
Midnight crept closer and, finally, Robert Griffin III found a place that 49ers defenders couldn't accost him. The Redskins quarterback stood behind a podium in the half-full interview room at FedEx Field as the final minutes of Monday night disappeared. He invoked demons and God. Dodged questions. Tried to explain the failed season. But even the podium offered little protection to Griffin after the 27-6 embarrassment against the 49ers laid bare the franchise's woes in front of a national television audience. Published November 26, 2013
FENNO: When expectations meet reality, the results can be rather ugly
So desperate is Washington for a consistent winner that the cycle is predictable. Build up a team. Paper over the flaws. Suck the marrow from every bit of success and forget, if only for a moment, that the good times may be more illusion than reality. That the bad old days of struggle may not be as distant as hoped. Published November 19, 2013
Frostburg State football coach retires; Tom Rogish being sued after player’s death
In a Washington Times story last week, multiple former players raised concerns about the coaching staff’s role in the circumstances surrounding Derek Sheely’s death. Published November 19, 2013
FENNO: With each week, it becomes more apparent the Redskins have no answers
Any delusion the Redskins' season of disappointment can be salvaged disappeared during Sunday afternoon's 24-16 loss to the Eagles. Published November 17, 2013
Ramogi Huma’s quest to reform NCAA gains traction
As foundational change to the rotted structure of college athletics has become a matter of when, not if, the group Huma founded to advocate for college athletes remains in the middle of the effort. Published November 12, 2013
Frostburg State football player pressured back on field after blows to the head dies
Inside the house on the corner, Ken Sheely rests his hands on the kitchen table. Two black bracelets wind around his left wrist. Their white words hint at the truth behind the warm handshake, the easy smile, the offer of something to drink. Published November 11, 2013
FENNO: On Veterans Day, remembering an NFL player who sacrificed everything
A mortar shell took Bob Kalsu's life on July 21, 1970, at FSB Ripcord in Thua Thien, Vietnam. The former All-America offensive lineman at the University of Oklahoma played 14 games for the Bills in 1968. A year later, he was in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne. Published November 10, 2013
FENNO: Redskins’ flagging season heads toward demolition
The problem is that this isn't last year, no matter how many times the tired comparison is mentioned in the locker room. That's why the Robert Griffin III tried, without much success, to explain how the Redskins lost to a team that had just one win, played without six starters and feature a quarterback rotation that seems to be drawn out of a horned Vikings hat each week. Published November 8, 2013
FENNO: Guilty verdict in Taylor murder doesn’t change one very sad fact
Eric Rivera, 23, will spend between 25 years and life in prison depending on the sentencing that that comes in December, paying each day for what happened inside the modest home on Old Cutler Road. Sean Taylor, though, is gone. Too young. Too soon. The absence is as permanent as the words from Psalm 23 etched on his gravestone. Published November 5, 2013
FENNO: RG3’s performance a reminder that for all his gifts, he’s still a work in progress
The Redskins and Robert Griffin III found a way to escape the Chargers in overtime and keep the season from tumbling into oblivion. But the quarterback's up-and-down second season continued. The now-familiar cocktail of overthrown passes and hell-bent runs and plays made when they mattered most mixed together again in another reminder of the bumpy path of developing young quarterbacks. Published November 3, 2013
FENNO: Brandon Meriweather shows no signs of learning from his mistakes
If Brandon Meriweather learned anything from his one-week NFL-mandated sabbatical, evidence is in short supply. The same poor judgment the veteran Redskins safety has shown on the field this season continued Monday in the locker room at Redskins Park. Published October 29, 2013
FENNO: Mike Shanahan can’t escape shadow of past success
Like Shanahan's previous 54 games with the Redskins, Sunday offered teases of success. But teases don't contend for Super Bowls. Teases hang around long enough to see their hopes evaporate into the city's thin air in a flurry of mistakes that made Shanahan's heady days seem more distant than the highlight video. Published October 27, 2013
FENNO: In NFL’s hit parade, a 2-game suspension doesn’t amount to much
The uproar over Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather obscures a more fundamental question. Can football be made safe? Is this simply a behavior problem — something that can be addressed through the right combination of rules, discipline and improved technique — or is the real issue the game? Published October 22, 2013
FENNO: Credit the Redskins for surviving, if not thriving
The season teetered on the precipice of all-out failure -- imagine facing the Broncos' offensive meat-grinder in Denver next week with a 1-5 record -- but the Redskins found a way to pull back from the brink. Published October 20, 2013
FENNO: For Victor Page, reality of fall from stardom difficult to grasp
The basketball career fizzled years ago. Ask what became of the former Georgetown star, though, and the answer starts with a series of disheveled, cringe-inducing mugshots and a trail of court records that lead to a cramped interview room at the Prince George's County Correctional Center. Published October 15, 2013
FENNO: Redskins’ special teams not so special
Darrel Young stood in a corner of the locker room underneath AT&T Stadium that reeked of sweat, stale air and defeat. Every few seconds, he slapped the side of his navy suit for emphasis because the words, really, didn't seem adequate to describe the Redskins not-so-special teams. Published October 14, 2013
FENNO: Danny Hultzen’s saga shows there’s no such thing as can’t-miss pitching prospect
The man who fixed Robert Griffin III's right knee repaired Hultzen's labrum. And his rotator cuff. And his shoulder capsule. That's the holy trinity of terror for pitchers. Published October 8, 2013
FENNO: Voices of those affected by brain injury in NFL linger long after PBS film ends
Amid the big-name doctors and Pro Football Hall of Famers are the quiet, quivering voices of the collateral damage from the NFL's decades-long brain injury problem. The voices linger long after "League of Denial," the much-anticipated Frontline investigation that premiers Tuesday on PBS, ends. Published October 6, 2013
