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.
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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.