The Cooley Zone: My Redskins cheerleader-turned-Redskins wife

By Chris Cooley

Christy stepped through my back door two Julys ago. She walked into the house like she had climbed out of a poster in my high school bedroom. Past fashionably late, she had given me way too much time to sit and drink, and I knew it would be hard not to make an ass out of myself. By the time I was face to face with my favorite Redskins cheerleader, all I could muster was a shrugged shoulder handshake.

It was a Saturday night in the summertime and Christy was thinking about me. I would have never known what she had on her mind, but I couldn't keep my eyes off her. She confessed that it wasn't coincidence that brought her to the house and she was prepared. If looks were bait then I was hooked. She dressed to make men panic, but beyond that she was beautiful. Her smile was incredible and she had something terribly contagious in her eyes. Awkward glances and stares filled the room, and before the night ended I knew that I wanted more.

As a couple early on we were controversial, but entirely smooth. Rumors followed everywhere we went. Keeping a secret became hard when there wasn't a secret to start. It turned out a picture of the two of us had been leaked to the Redskins. Christy was fired from cheerleading two weeks after we started dating. Since her big paycheck ($75 a game) had come to an end, at least the sneaking around was over.

As we moved through the season, I fell in love with her. We went through a lot of weird stuff, but it never fazed either of us. Maybe her dad brainwashed me one of the nights I passed out at her house, because no matter what happened, I was crazy about her. More likely it was her mom, since I was usually trying to impress the old man by drinking him under the table.

Grant indicted for manslaughter

Saints defensive end Charles Grant was one of seven men indicted by a grand jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter, stemming from a February altercation outside of a nightclub early Feb. 3 in Blakely, Ga.

Details of the indictment were published Tuesday on the Early County News' Web site. According to the report, the men were all charged because of their involvement in a fight that resulted in the death of Korynda Reed, 23, a pregnant bystander who was shot and killed by a stray bullet during a nightclub fracas. Grant, 29, who was stabbed in the neck during the melee, also received misdemeanor fighting charges.

Grant's attorney Edward Tolley of Athens, Ga., described the indictment as one of the "most unusual" he has seen.