The start of a legend and the end of a season

Went to the Caps-Penguins preseason game on Friday night. Here's a photo I took of Ovechkin warming up- but I really don't think he needed to do it. The kid is amazing- scored a hat trick and an assist on another goal. But does he get any real respect from the Canadian media? Nah, of course not. Mr. Canadian, Fred, will most likely disagree with me on this one, but this article from TSN was a load of crap (a sign of things to come, I'm sure). Not only did it disaparage Ovechkin from the opening sentence (it was only because Crosby wasn't there that Ovechkin was able to hog the limelight and do so well) but the article also links to another article about how great Crosby is. I'm sorry, Crosby may very be a great player, but he has yet to prove himself much on the big league ice. So does Ovechkin, for that matter, but what he's done so far is pretty impressive. In one of the Capitals message board forums, I even read a comment from a Penguins fan who would trade Crosby for Ovechkin any day. Can't say I blame him- I think Ovechkin, with all his temperamental issues, is still a better bet. It was incredible to watch him; he made the goalie look irrelevant. I can't wait to see what he'll do for the Caps this year.

After that game was a benefit game: the FBI vs. the Canadian Embassy. Here's a pic that I'm sure Cookie will appreciate. But who doesn't like to see hockey players stretching? Anyway, it was an entertaining game once we moved away from most of the FBI people. Fred was rooting for the Canadians (of course) and I had planned for rooting for the FBI (it's an industry thing). But after hearing some of the rude, ignorant, boorish comments from some of the FBI supporters against the Canadians, I changed my mind.

Team Canadian Embassy scored quickly, and they were up to a 5-0 lead before the guys got tired. Then the FBI fought their way back, and the final score was 6-4 (with 2 disallowed FBI goals).

We also went to the last Nationals game today. We figured it was only right, since we went to Opening Day on April 14 and had to close out the season. It was a bummer that they didn't win (I knew they wouldn't, since I've gone to about 20 games this season and haven't been to a winning one since June; I must be a jinx), but it was great to be there anyway. Weather was perfect, Nats merchandise was 50% off, and the fireworks were going strong. Speaking of fireworks, I saw the best license plate in the parking lot:

If you've ever heard a radio broadcast of a Nats win, then you've heard the phrase "Bang, zoom go the fireworks." The rest of the vehicle had the usual Nats paraphernalia on it as well; it's always great to see a proud Nats fan. Finishing the season at .500 is about as good as anyone could ask of the team. I don't think anyone expected that to happen. Of course, it would have been preferable if they didn't end up in last place in the division, but it figures that they don't have any horribly lousy Kansas City-type teams in the NL East. Oh well.

Here's to the Nats, and here's to next season!