DCU tailgating fun

Fred and I hightailed it back from an excellent weekend in Philly with his brother and my cousin (we did the Terror Behind The Walls tour at Eastern State Penitentiary on Saturday night, and my cousin and I screamed ourselves silly) to go to the DC United game on Sunday. We made it back in time for some tailgating.

This was easily the best outfit ever, and extremely appropriate, given the lack of decent officiating during the game:
Barra Brava had a live band during their tailgate. (They even had a TV with the Colts-Broncos game, so no one had to miss any NFL action.)

I met Duffman at the Barra Brava tailgate; he comments on the Sports Bog's DC United tailgating posts once in a while. He really does it up well, and I give a lot of credit to his friend/girlfriend/wife who probably has to take pictures with other people's cameras a lot, like she did with mine.
On to the game...I won't recap it here, since it would likely just be a string of curse words for the refs and a couple of the players, but I did spot the Metropukes/Red Bull fans up in 434 (who could miss them, since they were all alone). I noticed the blow-up doll they were dangling over the railing, but I didn't see what was on it until I downloaded the photos. (A DC United T-shirt. Whatever.) It was hysterical, though, watching those morons try to hang their banners and flags over the side, because it was getting in the view of the people in the boxes, so those people were attempting to pull the banners down. I believe they managed to snag a flag; good for them. Anyway, glad United pulled out the win, though I would have liked it to be a little more convincing. If they're going to make it through the next round, they can't depend on Gomez for every goal; but hey, we'll see how the ball bounces. Let's go DC!

Who's sick of Crosby? I am! I am!

On Saturday, I noticed that someone from Williamstown, New Jersey found my blog via this Google search:

i'm tired of hearing about sidney crosby

Me too, brother, me too. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to hear about him for a while. But isn't it nice for Caps fans that it took him longer than Ovechkin to get his first career hat trick- like, 9 months after Ovie first did it? Of course, the hype over Crosby doing it is much more than when Ovechkin did it. C'est la vie.

Ovechkin's busy on his Canadian Goodwill Victory Tour. I'm all for goodwill, but I'd like to see more victory. That being said, I thought the Caps did very well against Vancouver the other night, getting a point when SOME PEOPLE didn't expect them to even show. The game against Edmonton's a different story...but I didn't see it, so can't make any judgments on that one.

Anyway, the Canadian media has been going gaga over Ovie (courtesy to Dan Steinberg, who posted the links on his Bog this morning). I just about peed my pants when I read this:

McPhee chose Ovechkin over Russian countrymen Evgeni Malkin when the Capitals picked first in the 2004 draft, and anyone who covered it in Raleigh could see why. Ovechkin refused a translator and told reporters in broken English how he'd always dreamed of playing in the NHL and couldn't wait to cross the Atlantic. Reserved and stoic, Malkin spoke only through a translator and looked left over from the Cold War, as if he couldn't wait for interviews to end so he could rush off to buy pantyhose and Duran Duran CDs.

The Washington Times had good things to say as well:

Ovechkin was called for diving, a hugely embarrassing moment for any athlete. He hung his head, muttered a few choice words (no doubt in Russian) and skated to the penalty box. No whining, no attempt to humiliate the officials. "That's the difference between Ovechkin and [Pittsburgh's Sidney] Crosby," said a Canadian who was at the game but asked not to be identified. "Crosby would have whined about that, turned it into a miniseries. Canadians won't put up with that kind of attitude."

So why do they? That's what I'd like to know. If I see one more of those damn ads with Crosby in the shower- ugh. Who was the marketing moron who came up with that idiotic idea?

And how about this one, from the Calgary Sun?

"I didn't notice him in practice," [Jeff] Friesen said before adding with a chuckle, "Let's say he's not the best practice player I've ever played with. I don't know if he hits the net in practice."

Um, Friesen is definitely not one to be throwing stones. So what if Ovechkin doesn't turn it on in practice as much- he turns it on when it counts, which is more than one can say for Friesen. What a dud.

Just stay home?

Guess what? According to this guy at Canucks.com, the Caps shouldn't even bother going to Vancouver tonight:

You could excuse the Washington Capitals if they loaded up their gear after the game in Denver and headed straight for Saturday’s game in Edmonton without ever entering Vancouver air space. They won’t, of course, because the National Hockey League schedule says they’ll be here to face the Canucks on Friday. But given the way Roberto Luongo absolutely owned the Caps last season, you couldn’t blame them, if they had no interest whatsoever in being in the same province, let alone the same rink, as the new Canucks netminder later this week.

Yeah, well, I couldn't blame anyone for having no interest whatsover in reading his article. Hello, arrogant! Whatever, dude. We'll see how it goes. I don't doubt that Luongo is a great goaltender (Florida sure seems to miss him), but one also has to account for being on a new team (yeah, he seems fine, but there's always an adjustment period, team chemistry and all that). And the Caps did quite well in Colorado, so who knows. The Caps aren't the same team they were last year, and neither are the Canucks; so past history doesn't count for much.

What is up with the boorish Bruins fans?

The Boston Bruins didn't even make it to the final buzzer against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. Andrei Markov scored the tiebreaking goal with 1.2 seconds left Thursday night, giving Montreal a 3-2 victory over Boston and prompting a shower of garbage from the Bruins fans that convinced the officials to call the game with two ticks left.

Look, I understand being pissed off about not going to overtime and losing the game, I really do. I've been to quite a few Caps games over the years where that's happened and it sucks- big time. Yeah, I'm angry. But Caps fans would never throw garbage on the ice! What the hell is that? I'd expect to see that kind of, well, garbage, in Pittsburgh or Toronto, and I guess now I can add Boston to the list.

C-A-P-S DC United

Dan Steinberg has done a good job lately of rallying the troops for Sunday's DC United playoff game. And now the Caps have gotten into the action with DC United:

As a special offer to Washington Capitals' fans, we're pleased to offer you the opportunity to see United face the New York Red Bulls in the deciding game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. This offer gets you tickets at a discount (group) rate for individual tickets and you receive one FREE MLS signature soccer ball with each order.

Wish I'd known about this before our buddy ordered the tickets! At a minimum we could've gotten a free soccer ball; oh well. I think this is a great idea. Both sets of fans are rabid about their sports, and those sports aren't exactly the most popular in the U.S., so there's a lot of similarities there.

Back to Dan. He mentioned this info:

I can also tell you that if things go well at RFK this weekend, there are tentative plans for some DCU players to attend the Caps game vs. Atlanta on Nov. 3. With me in tow, hopefully.

How funny would that be? Can't wait to read about that experience.

Congrats to the Caps, who finally won a game on the road. And what a game! Ovie had that awesome glass-shattering check in the third period, but suffered a puck hit on the leg in the closing seconds of the game. Sounds like he's all right, but let's hope so. You just never know, especially since they're all so mysterious about injuries over there.

Hope the great play on the road continues!

Things in my email, part 2

This is so last week (I'm not being sarcastic; I meant to say something about it 5 days ago). I know others mentioned it, but Hockey Recap has a free daily 1-page report for the rabid hockey fan, which includes the previous day's statistics, leaders, standings, transactions, injuries, etc. and it's delivered to your inbox. The website isn't the easiest to read, but I like the categories such as "the bodycheckers" and "work horses." Something different- cool idea.

Even though she's a Mets fan, I won't hold it against her. Metsgrrl wrote a great article about why "real girls don't wear pink." While I don't think pink hats are nearly as bad (I still don't own one, nor plan to), I definitely agree with the rest of her post- especially the part about those nauseating "Mrs. Wright" shirts. A very good read.

Here's an idea I hope will catch on in the other divisions (as long as they recognize that this one is the best, of course): Southeast Shootout. J.P. of Japers' Rink brought it to my attention last week (yeah, I'm slow), as he's one of the contributors. All of the contributors put an amazing amount of time and effort into the blog, and it shows. The level of detail is such that each contributor's profile pic features their respective team's jersey with "SESO 06" as the name and number on the back of the customized jersey (CasonBlog appears to be the lone holdout, with no profile of which to speak). Cute idea- though I'm sure none of them would want anyone to think it was "cute." But I liked it.

Ovie and his flip-flops

A certain someone sent me a preview of the article about Ovechkin that's going to appear in the November issue of Men's Fitness (thank you, certain someone!). It's not a bad "interview," very informative, even though Ovechkin didn't actually answer too many questions. He does say what he would do with the Cup if he won it ("take it to Moscow and show my friends on the Dynamo"), even though it would be an "improbable run" and would "shock the world" if Washington got to that level (the article's quotes, of course, not mine). Will the Caps ever get some respect? That's the real question.

Great article about GW's football team (yes, they had one once upon a time) in today's Washington Times:

When the teams took the field before a sellout crowd of 15,000 at Kidd Field, it soon became evident a potential mismatch was indeed under way -- the other way. GW's heavier lines dominated play in the trenches. Among the Miners [Texas Western, now UTEP] going nowhere on offense was halfback Don Maynard, later a star receiver for Joe Namath's New York Jets. Texas Western had just two first downs and 7 yards rushing in the first half.

Two first downs and 7 yards rushing in the first half in a bowl game?! Can you imagine? And GW shut them out. Awesome. At least they had one good bowl victory in all those years of bad football.

Gimme a raise

Attendance is going down, while salaries are going up: this is the state of today's NHL.

USA TODAY's estimated cap numbers for the 30 NHL teams:
New Jersey Devils* $49.7 million
Boston Bruins* $47.8
Philadelphia Flyers* $44.6
Colorado Avalanche* $44.4
Toronto Maple Leafs* $44.2
Buffalo Sabres $43.9
Phoenix Coyotes $43.7
Vancouver Canucks $43.7
San Jose Sharks $43.5
Minnesota Wild $43.1
Tampa Bay Lightning $43.0
Detroit Red Wings $42.9
Montreal Canadiens $42.9
New York Rangers $42.5
Ottawa Senators $42.5
Anaheim Ducks $42.0
Los Angeles Kings $41.9
New York Islanders $41.7
Dallas Stars $41.6
Calgary Flames $41.2
Carolina Hurricanes $41.1
Florida Panthers $41.0
Chicago Blackhawks $40.6
Columbus Blue Jackets $40.2
Edmonton Oilers $40.1
Atlanta Thrashers $40.0
St. Louis Blues $38.1
Nashville Predators $37.7
Pittsburgh Penguins $35.5
Washington Capitals $30.8
*Cap exceeds the $44 million limit because of injury exceptions.

The Caps are at the bottom, as we already could have guessed. But how has this translated into effectiveness on the ice?

It's still very early in the season, of course. However, the top five teams rank as follows in their respective divisions:
Devils- first (8 pts)
Bruins- fifth (3 pts)
Flyers- fifth (3 pts)
Avalanche- fourth (6 pts)
Leafs- second (8 pts)

Now, the bottom five:
Thrashers- first (9 pts)
Blues- fourth (5 pts)
Predators- third (6 pts)
Penguins- fourth (4 pts)
Capitals- fourth (6 pts)

What can we deduce from this? If one goes by the simplistic "Harvard" hypothesis that the team with the highest payroll must be the best, then it's interesting that three of the teams with the highest payrolls are doing so lousy, placing fourth and fifth in their divisions. Similarly, by those standards, it's somewhat surprising that a team with one of the lower payrolls (Atlanta) is first in its division, whereas the other bottom-five teams fall more or less where they should, payroll-wise (though they still do better than some of the higher-paid teams). So there you have it: higher payroll does not necessarily indicate a better team, and vice versa. No surprises there.

Speaking of Fatlanta, the Caps play the Thrashers tonight there. Let's hope they do a lot better than they did against the Thrash last Saturday night. In fact, let's hope the game is a lot like the one last night (though I don't see them chasing Lehtinen from the net any time soon, unfortunately).

LET'S GO CAPS!

I swear to God

I know what everyone is going to be for Halloween this year, since I have had more people find my blog from Google searches for "sperm and egg costume" than anything, it seems. And that would be because of a post from last year recapping Gene Weingarten's chat. Sorry to disappoint you, would-be spermies.

Congrats to the Caps, who thoroughly embarrassed Alex Auld by netting 5 goals in the first period tonight, 4 of them on Auld. Ed Belfour went in and prevented any more damage (besides a goal from Matt Bradley), but it was too late. Fred, who was at the game, said that asshat Bertuzzi was a non-factor (at least in the first period when I talked to him). I gushed on the air tonight about the Caps, since I was watching the live updates on NHL.com. Every time the page would refresh and there was another goal scored, I'd give a little scream. Lake was like, "what is wrong with you?" Eventually he figured it out. "The Caps scored again, huh?" Wish every night was like that!

Rumors, Speculation, and Theories

- Sergio mentioned on the show that he heard that Jose Vidro is preparing to play second base for the Mets next season.

- Paul over at Kukla's Korner debunked the story about the Capitals being on the auction block.

- Jen at The Pink Seats had some very interesting theories about Cory Lidle's death.

- I had a couple others, but one is too stalkerish to mention and I can't remember the rest. To quote Barbara Billingsley in "Airplane!", "Cut me some slack, Jack."

This ISN'T rumor, it's some insight as to why Teddy always loses the President's Race at RFK. Well, it's better than nothing, anyway. From yesterday's KidsPost:

KidsPost reported earlier on how poorly the Teddy Roosevelt mascot did in the presidents' race at Washington Nationals home games. (He never won all season.) Turns out Roosevelt himself might have offered a clue to explain his poor performance. "I like to see Quentin practicing baseball," he once said. "It gives me hope that one of my boys will not take after his father in this respect, and will prove able to paly the national game."

Upset Sunday

Congratulations to Tampa Bay and Detroit, who finally got their first wins of the season. Also joining that club was Tennessee, who obtained their win at the expense of the illustrious Washington Redskins. Yes, that "gimme" game turned into a loss for the Skins- at home, no less.

Don't worry Skins fans-

Friday fluff

This week I saw that someone in ESTONIA discovered my blog because of the following Google search:
"michael vick sucks"

Always happy to help, Estonia.

I'm going to three games this weekend:
#24 Rutgers vs. Navy, Thrashers vs. Caps, and Fire vs. DC United. Out of these, which do you think will be the best game? I say the Navy game, especially since it's homecoming (I think they can beat Rutgers, since Rutgers has had an easy schedule and should not even be ranked), but the DC United game is a close second. I hope DCU can play like their early-season selves, because they'll need it if they want to beat the Fire. For some reason, they do not do well against Chicago, which is unfortunate.

I thought the Caps did well against Minnesota last night, even though they lost in a shootout. Brent Johnson was stellar and did not look like a backup goalie at all. I'm so glad they were able to bring him back this season; he's one of my favorites. Congrats to Semin, who scored goal #5 (in 3 games!). The Caps are still doing better than winless Stanley Cup champs Carolina. Ha!

Fred called me today all distressed that former Cap Glen Metropolit is now playing for Atlanta. Frankly, I was surprised that Metro is still playing hockey, but I always liked him. So it will suck to have to cheer against him and his team tomorrow night. Every once in a great while I still see a Caps Metropolit jersey in the arena and it brings me back to Metro's days with the team.

Sarah of Sarah and the Goon Squad did a post on BlogHer about the whole women's jersey debate. I liked it (and not just because she mentioned me twice). It's encouraging to see what other women are saying- most do not like the damn pink jerseys. They're fugly and patronizing, I tell ya!

My eyes!

So I'm surfing around the Internet, checking out Eagles jerseys...and I come across this monstrosity:

IT'S ALIVE!
What the hell IS it? Did someone chop off McNabb's arm? Because that's not standard team issue.

Someone on eBay is selling a similar jersey as a Buy It Now for $49.99, with this information:

rare off shoulder jersey, hard to find. retail 90.00

As if some moron would pay $90 (or $49.99) for that garbage. Yeah, it's "rare" and "hard to find," because no one wants it. The sad part is, there probably IS some moron who would buy it- and wear it in public! Can I point and laugh if I see ever it? Please?

Lest you think this bad fashion sense is restricted to Eagles fans, there are also one-shoulder jerseys available for Giants, Falcons, Dolphins, Jets, Chargers, and Bears fans. And don't forget the girls: there's Patriots and Titans one-shoulder jerseys just for them! Don't want anyone to feel left out.

RIP Cory Lidle

As soon as I saw the breaking news headline, "Small plane crashes into New York building," I thought, "oh no, not again." And as sad as it was, it was sadder still for baseball fans.


I swear to God, the first so-called Yankee "fan" or media personality who blames any of the Yankees (e.g. A-Rod) for not going deeper into the playoffs and thus preventing this tragedy deserves a boot in the ass. Because you know some idiot will say it, and that's just wrong. Obviously no one wanted it to happen, but blaming the Yankees? That's pathetic. Blame the plane for malfunctioning. Blame fate for stepping in. Who knows. But blaming the Yankees shouldn't be anywhere on that list.

This is the only day I'll defend the Yankees, BTW!

Dallas sucks, what else is new

Yes, I know it's Tuesday, but Monday was a holiday. This bears mentioning even though it was said yesterday:

Ashburn, Va.: Donovan F. McNabb=MVP. The man has 11 TDs and one INT after five weeks. Yesterday may have been his best big-game performance in his career.

Michael Wilbon: It was up there...Yeah, I'd put him ahead of even Rex Grossman so far...And the game the Eagles lost (to the Giants) they shouldn't have because McNabb passed for 250 in the first half of that game...Yep, hard to argue that. Guess T.O. wasn't the entire reason the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl two years ago...And isn't it obvious T.O. is about to lead to the implosion of the Dallas Cowboys? For the one-millionth time: he's a bad, bad teammate and I wouldn't allow him in my locker room. And you know what? He's getting worse.
_______________________

Dallas: Cowboy fan here. Granted T.O.'s antics are disgusting, but there is no way that is going to rip this team apart. I couldn't care less about what this guy does when he steps off the field as long as he gives it his all on the field, which he does. Complain all you want about T.O. but Drew Bledsoe and his "holding onto the ball in the pocket for 20 seconds until I take a sack" routine is what's going to kill the team, not T.O.

Michael Wilbon: Nobody cares what YOU care about. YOU aren't playing. Guys who have played with T.O. get sick of him and his act and many HATE playing with him. Some like him, others are afraid to tell him they hate him. ... Check the history of what happened with him in S.F. and Philly. Your Cowboy fandom really isn't important in this analysis.

To quote my sister, who inexplicably quotes Paris Hilton, "loves it." I love what Wilbon said and I love that he ripped the Dallas fan to shreds. Just awesome. But he's right: hello, how many teams does T.O. have to destroy before people will get it? No, it will not be different this time. No, he is not the second coming of Christ. Christ wouldn't drop that many passes and only catch 3 balls for 45 yards. Sure, some of the blame can be put on Bledsoe for throwing lousy passes, but T.O. is a shadow of his former self. As our neighbors (and fellow Eagles fans) down the hall would say, "Ride your bike."

Also mentioned in the discussion was what D.C. athletes would be recognized on the streets. Well, not Ovechkin, apparently. From Dan Steinberg's Bog today:

So I'm sitting there, and I'm looking around, and I see a man in a bright pink t-shirt that says "Love Metal," which is pretty noteworthy in itself, and he's next to a woman with a very loud red and black outfit and very blond hair, and I'm like, ok, that's Alex Ovechkin, sitting 20 rows back in a corner section of a Wizards exhibition game, completely anonymous...I watched this for a good while. I saw two young guys a few rows away pointing, but that was it. No autographs, no photos, no nothing.

I bet a lot of hockey fans in other towns are screaming, "What?!? DC sucks! Who wouldn't recognize Ovechkin?" Actually, I'm kind of glad for him- the post also mentions that Ovie and his girlfriend are canoodling (even with Ovie's dad there) and I gotta think that it must be nice for him to be able to do that. Let him have his relative anonymity. It's a Wizards game; the crowds aren't exactly the same than they are at a Caps game.

Now, how about this story from the Bog post?

Then I was alerted to the fact that Brian Sutherby, Steve Eminger and Brooks Laich were sitting courtside at the game. Like, first row...And then a television reporter came up and asked to interview the guys, and I was like, "Well, I guess everyone knows the Caps are here now," and so the television reporter talked to Laich for a while and then left. Later, I discussed the interview with the television reporter. And the television reporter was like, "what do you mean, the Caps were here?" And I was like, "But you were interviewing them???" And the television reporter was like, "I thought they were fans."

That is just funny (and typical). Dan also reveals that Eminger's nickname on the team is "Jim." Don't get it. A source tells me that Jeff Halpern's nickname (seriously) was Bob. I guess Steve and Jeff were too difficult, so they had to go with Jim and Bob? I dunno. Silly hockey humor.

Speaking of hockey, a big thanks goes out to Paul Kukla for mentioning me over at NHL.com Blog Central. (Paul's site Kukla's Korner is a must-read as well.) And thanks to Free Ride for the Local Blog Log mention as well.

Congrats to Eric from Off Wing, who will be writing a weekly column for NBC Sports! Also, be sure to check out Greg Wyshinski's VentureCapitals column over at SportsFanMagazine.com; I read the first one and it's extremely comprehensive. I mean, really, really detailed. Good stuff.

Big news!

So for the past week or so I've been testing the waters on the Sports Journey radio show, which airs Monday- Friday, 6-8 p.m., on 1160 AM. Lake Lewis and his co-host Sergio Rodriguez talk about everything in sports; for example, today they discussed the following:
- the Eagles/Cowboys game
- the Redskins/Giants game
- the Yankees
- the Wizards
- college football
- more Yankees (Sergio's a big Yankees fan)

I brought in the Caps love, and mentioned Reggie Bush, T.O., and Navy football, among other topics. There's a good mix of D.C. sports and national topics. Lake is a D.C. guy (although he's not into hockey, that's where I come in), whereas Sergio is a New Yorker- loves his Yankees and Knicks, although he has to go to the Cowboys and Edmonton Oilers (?) for his other teams. (I guess the thought of supporting the Rangers or Islanders is repulsive enough to turn him onto the Oilers?) Paula Duffy and Reggie Williams balance out the Sports Journey team; Paula's the Los Angeles contingent (and likely very disappointed about the Dodgers), and Reggie is the basketball guru. Seriously, he knows a ton about b-ball.

My goal is to talk about the Caps and other D.C. teams as much as possible, and here's the best part: the show takes callers, who often stay on the air for up to 5 minutes at a time. So if you have something to say (about anything sports-related, not just about D.C. sports), listen to the show and call in: 866-369-1160

I will also be writing the daily blog for the show, which will appear on the website and the show's MySpace page. It's a lot of work, but so far it's been fun!

p.s. Don't forget about the blogger happy hour this Friday at the Big Hunt!

An Alexanderful Evening

OK, so I stole "Alexanderful" from Buggie- but it's fitting. Who can argue with five goals from the two Alexanders? Glad to see Semin is proving himself here. Always love a good hat trick from a Capital, especially on home ice (see the hats, left). While I still wasn't overly impressed with the power play (even though they scored on it twice) and the PK, I was glad to see that the shots on goal were way up (35 to CAR's 27). Carolina showed their frustration in the third period with a number of skirmishes and a questionable hit on Ovechkin from jerkwad Gleason. Fred got a pic of the aftermath. Ovechkin had this to say about the hit:

"I'm lucky," Ovechkin said. "I don't know what happened, but he play not fair. I just have move and he hits me."

I love Ovie's English, don't you?

Anyway, the fan experience was a good one (besides the awesome win, of course). The fan scrolls weren't as lame as they sounded. I didn't open mine, but a friend couldn't stop scrolling and unscrolling his; it seemed to be addictive. There was also a pep band playing in the concourse before the game, which was a nice touch. While it wasn't sold out, the arena was pretty full. Not too many Canes jerseys, which was a little surprising. And I only saw ONE pink jersey. Saw tons more of the female-cut Caps jerseys, which looked much better. Some new food options, including BBQ for the hoi polloi and cheese cups for the soft pretzels (thanks to Buggie, who had complained to Ted, who took care of it). Met Smokin' Al Koken before the game, who looked ready to go for his on-air interviews. Great game, wish they could all be like that (minus the cheap shot on Ovechkin, of course). Another year, another high-scoring season opening win. Can't beat that!

Here's the man of the hour, Alexander Semin!

Let's go CAPS!

Beat some Cane ass in the home opener tonight!
Netsrak (who uses an excellent Spaceballs reference in his profile) put together a comprehensive and very impressive game day preview over at the Caps Message Boards. I'll be there tonight- can't wait!

He gets it

William F. Yurasko did a great interview with Ted Leonsis over at Metroblogging DC that's worth a read. I thought this exchange was especially fascinating:

MBDC: You mentioned blogosphere earlier and on washingtoncaps.com you have a link to several Web sites you call "hockey-friendly blogs?"

Leonsis: The traditional media is not helping us enough. I'll say it as straight forwardly as possible and I'll give you a very graphic example -- last night the Caps played Philadelphia. When the game ended, in Philadelphia there were highlights of the game on all the Philadelphia news stations and their local cable channel was having a sports show talking about the Flyers-Caps game and here in the D.C. There was nothing on television and our local sports channel was talking about the Navy football game on Saturday. We have to find alternative means to promote our team and our players and I have great faith in people who blog. If they are blogging they are not doing it for a living, they are doing it out of passion and love and we are going to be the most blog friendly team and I hope the NHL becomes the most blog friendly league because it is a way to pay back these people on their passions and it also a way to get the good word out. That I am doing this interview with you is a good example. You blog, you care, so you deserve time and respect.

I like this for a number of reasons. First, Ted and the Caps have already shown that they really mean it, via the links to "hockey-friendly blogs" and invitations to events. Second, he's right- there isn't much media coverage on the Caps in the Washington area, so if the fans want more, they have to do it themselves (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). And don't get me started on the stupid statement I heard Amy Lawrence on ESPN Radio make yesterday about hockey not being exciting and people not wanting to watch it (Fred has more on it at his blog, so I won't go into detail here). Anyway, I'm glad to see that Ted recognizes the blogosphere and realizes the influence it can have. We're fortunate to support a team whose owner gets it; I feel bad for the hockey bloggers in say, Chicago, who will likely never have the possibilities that we do.

I was heartened to see that the Washington Post has given Tarik El-Bashir a Caps blog: Capitals Insider

Anything for more Caps coverage. Now, if one could only find that blog on the Post website, that would be another step in the right direction. (I had to find the address via Off Wing.)

Want to see how Bogmeister Dan Steinberg does his job? Here's some photos from the recent Ovechkin birthday event at RNR a couple of weeks ago, where Dan is earnestly interviewing Miss DC Kate Michael (here's Dan's recap of that cake-filled evening). Can't you just feel her enthusiasm in that first photo? (Just kidding, Dan, you know I love you more than my luggage.)

(photos courtesty of Joe Reblando)

Drop the puck!

I always love the start of a new season of any sport. Everyone's undefeated and the possibilities are endless. I'd do some team previews for the NHL, but besides the lack of time and inspiration, my previews would be too biased (and wouldn't actually be previews). They'd sound like this:

New York Rangers: Puffnuts and his band of overrated Pussycats
New York Islanders: You're kidding, right?
Pittsburgh Penguins: Heroes of the Mulletman Militia
Philadelphia Flyers: Assclowns of the Atlantic Division

etc. You see what I mean. So I direct you for good, relatively unbiased previews of all the teams over at Neate Sager's blog, Out of Left Field (which is a great read at any time).

I couldn't let this go without mentioning it. Now, I'm all for expressing one's opinion- but there are some dudes you just don't want to hear from, like Jeremy Shockey or T.O. Former National Preston Wilson falls into that category. Here's what he had to say about Frank Robinson's firing:

"Frank did as good a job as he could," Wilson said. "He was in a situation when the GM didn't always back him. . . . There were certain guys that when Frank said something, they went to the GM and wanted their own way."

Wilson also directed some of the blame to certain players in the clubhouse last year who he said were not professional in their behavior. Wilson declined to give names, but that those players' behavior resulted in Robinson having to ban music and television from the clubhouse.

Look, I know the players aren't saints. But Wilson was well known for being a jerk, and the Nats were smart by getting rid of him. I suspect his arrogant attitude (in addition to his crappy play) led to his designation for assignment by the Astros in August; he should count his lucky stars that he was picked up by the Cardinals. Anyway, this just proves what an asshat he is. He takes an unfortunate situation about Frank Robinson and turns it into a gripe about his former team. Who does that?!?

Delgado's so erudite

This is the best advice I've heard all day, coming from no other than Carlos Delgado:

It's only a game. It's not like nobody's gonna die here or anything like that.

I like that. It's something the Mets really need to remember right now, especially since they just potentially lost another pitcher. It's the kind of statement that transcends all sports and something that we would all be well served to keep in mind. (Easier said than done, I know, especially when your team loses to, say, the Mets or Penguins.)

Which brings me to the Washington Capitals. Today I attended the media luncheon and watched a practice, had some chow, and heard some words from Ted Leonsis, George McPhee, and Glen Hanlon. I also finally got to meet the infamous Eric McErlain from Off Wing Opinion and the incomparable Greg Wyshynski from Sports Fan Magazine, who were both delightful to hang with. Anyway, I was particularly interested in the practice to see if Zubrus (who's been recovering from knee surgery) was going to be on the ice and how he was skating (although, according to the opening night roster, he's healthy). Yes, he was on the ice. While he was engaging in the drills, he wasn't giving it his all, which isn't a bad thing- save that knee, buddy. The troubling part was that when I saw him later at the luncheon, he was limping ever so slightly. Yeah, I know, the guy had surgery on his knee, of course there would be some effect after a vigorous workout- but that concerned me a little. I like him and just want to see him completely healthy again!

Ted made some remarks, expressing the usual desire to make the playoffs (we would all like to see that, believe me) but explained that he felt the team should be able to compete, based on team chemistry. I tend to agree with him on that point. Obviously, I have no clue what it's really like in the locker room, and only time will tell if the team is truly gelling, but so far things are at least better than last year. For example, there's no Witts around who don't want to be there (that we know about, anyway, which is a positive step in itself). We'll find out how things are working soon enough.

McPhee made some points as well, mostly about how this should be the best year of the NHL due to the new style of play- fast and fun to watch. He said that the team already had a reputation of being intense, physical, and quick, and in the offseason they added more speed, skill, and grit. Sounds like a good combination to me- now let's see if the team's got it. Sure hope so!

Unfortunately, I had to leave before I was able to talk to any of the players or coaches (too bad, I had a lot of questions), but it was nice to see familiar faces and a bunch of new ones in the Acela Club today. Thanks to the Caps for inviting me.

First The Goal, now The Ace

From washingtoncaps.com:

Alex Ovechkin hit a hole in one during the Caps Care Classic at the Springfield Golf and Country Club in Springfield, Va., today. Ovechkin took a shot on the par-3, 160-yard fourth hole that landed short of the green and rolled in.

Apparently he had been swinging the clubs around for a while, but still- how often does that happen? Still, who's surprised that Ovechkin would do that. And speaking of the Caps, I did a season preview of the team over at Sports Fan Magazine.

More photos from the day:

Ovechkin and McPhee do some driving

Semin and Ovechkin wait while Clymer shows off his swing
(as interesting as Ovie's outfit is, Semin's "pants" are just as hott. Is it a Russian thing?)

(thanks to Caps PR for the pics/Photo Credits: Greg Fiume- Washington Capitals)

Ted proves, once again, he knows his stuff

Just got back from New Orleans and was excited and overwhelmed to see this in an interview with Caps owner Ted Leonsis that appeared in the Washington Post Sunday Source:

The team has been quick to embrace new media formats, such as podcasts and blogs. What advantages do you see in them?

Three things: One, if you are writing a blog, and you are religious about it, and you are updating every day or every week, you are obviously a great fan, and we need to reward great fans. Two, the blogosphere is important because bloggers communicate with one another, and they show up very high in search engines. Third, the traditional media are having to cut expenses. Some of the big-city newspapers, thankfully not ours, aren't even allowing reporters to travel with the teams.

Are there any blogs you recommend?

http://capsnut.blogspot.com , http://dcsportschick.blogspot.com , http://www.ericmcerlain.com/offwingopinion and http://www.japersrink.blogspot.com . Those are good ones locally.

I sure appreciate the recommendation! Will do my best to keep things interesting and up-to-date, which is getting harder and harder lately. Speaking of which, I may have some fun stuff to share later this week if there's no conflicts with work and I'm able to attend the Caps media luncheon. (It was so nice of the Caps to extend the invitation.)

Here's a pic from New Orleans: the Superdome, of course. Fred and I walked around it yesterday and noticed some dings here and there, but it looked good overall. Fred will likely have a writeup of the trip over at 1/2 Asian Man at some point. We saw Santa at Cafe du Monde on Friday, and almost walked on a passed-out dude lying on Bourbon Street at 2 p.m. this afternoon. Some nice person laid a white tablecloth over him as he slept. At least I hope he was sleeping. You never know on Bourbon Street.