Congress returns from its recess this week, but more importantly for sports fans, so does professional football. And it will be in grand style indeed, with the season premiere of Monday Night Football featuring the Philadelphia Eagles coming to town to take on the Washington Redskins. So if you notice a little drop-off in attendance in the Senate around, say, 6:55 p.m., it's likely some of the eyeballs are turning from the World's Greatest Deliberative Body toward FedEx Field in Landover, Md., where Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III and his rebuilt knee will single-handedly fulfill or dash the Bandwagon Club's Super Bowl dreams. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took some time out from the 2009 health care debate to catch up with a Redskins game against the New Orleans Saints. (CQ Roll Call File Photo) ESPN started its pregame show a few weeks ago, so tune in anytime. What if football's not your thing? That's not a problem Monday night, as the 15th Annual Congressional Basketball Game comes to George Washington University's Charles E. Smith Center. Tipoff for the double-header, which features some of the more athletically inclined among the city's lobbying corps taking on members of Congress and their staffers, is set for 6 p.m. with the staff/lobbyist II game. The members/lobbyists game has a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. Paul A. Miller of Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies, one of the organizers and a lobbyist captain, is talking some serious trash, despite the lobbyists' lack of recent wins. "It's not even going to be close this year," he boasted. (more…)
