Sunday Smorgasbord 8-6

• I was listening via MLB.com to the Nats lose to the Padres again as I was doing that post below. Now at 49-62 with 51 games left, the Nats are 17 games out of first place in the NL East. Their elimination number from the NL East (Mets) is 36. They are 8 games back of the NL Wild Card and their elimination number from the Wild Card (Reds) is 44. The Nationals passed Cleveland this week so now only the Royals, Pirates, Devil Rays, Cubs, and Indians have worse records than the Nationals. Right now we've lost a top five pick for next year's draft and Bhawlmur is quickly sinking.
• Let me give Thanks once again to Sparky for putting up with me this weekend. That's why I haven't commented until now on Comcast and MASN reaching a deal. Unlike DCSportsChick, I don't think Hades froze over with this deal. Comcast was eventually going to have to let MASN on the air in some form. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to find out in the coming days if Comcast has either bought a piece of MASN or if Angelos came off his outrageous carriage fee. I just paid my Comcast cable bill for this month, so I'll let you know if there is some crazy increase. Personally, I was hoping that Comcast would bleed Angelos dry on MASN. I can only imagine the losses he was taking on that venture. Though I find that an interesting precedent has been set. I can start my own network, have three to four hours of programming on almost a daily basis for only six months for over a year, insist on outrageous carriage fees from cable companies and I can get Congress and the FCC to push the cable companies into carrying my network. Ain't Free-market Capitalism grand?
• 47,258 bored people fans showed up at FedEx field for the Redskins-Ratbirds scrimmage yesterday. The stars didn't play, so nobody of consequence got hurt. I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed of the fact that 11,741 more people showed up in Landover yesterday than in Bhawlmuher last year.
• With some help from the rest of the MLS, D.C. United defeated Chelsea FC yesterday 1-0. D.C. United had 8 players on the MLS squad and Coach Peter Nowak coached the team as they avenged their 2-1 loss to Chelsea last year at FedEx Field. D.C. United also won their U.S. Open Cup match this past Tuesday. They'll now meet the New York Red Bulls on August 23rd at RFK Stadium in Quarterfinal.
• This past Thursday night I went to an Maryland Gridiron Network event to get a preview of the upcoming Maryland Football season. Ralph Friedgen is fired up for this season and the only things of note to report is his satisfaction with having an experienced quarterback to start the season with and that he'll be recruiting the kids with "good character" now more than he was in the past. This isn't a bad idea as the Terps open their camp on Monday minus two offensive linemen. On a side note, word on the street is that two high profile State Penn recruits from the People's Republic of Maryland are about to hold a competition to see who transfers out of Happy Valley first, though neither are welcome at UMD.
• In your obligatory hockey links, Malkin fired his agent again and the Bruins walked away from Tanabe. Though if the Bruins were comfortable with the depth that they had the defenseman position, why take Tanabe to arbitration in the first place?
• Freaky Floyd Landis' second sample flunked which only confirms the original. If anybody still cared, I need the material tonight folks.
• And seeing as how I am scraping the bottom of the barrel here... This week the Nats come back home and start a ten game homestand on Tuesday night with the Marlins and then lose even more ground to the Mets next weekend. After playing out of division games for the past two and half weeks, the Nats play nothing but the NL East for the rest of this month and all four NL East rivals come to RFK. The Redskins open their preseason next Sunday night visiting the Cincinnati Bengals on NBC. D.C. United travels to Seattle, Washington to play a friendly (as opposed to a hostile) with Real Madrid.
• And finally, no I won't open up the comments section here. I just don't want to deal with them. However you can send all comments, questions, complaints, criticisms, congratulations, and huzzahs! to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com. I'll eventually might read anything you send me and if the mood strikes me, I just might respond.