Sunday Smorgasbord 10-29

• The power of the blackout came through last night as the Terps beat F$U 27-24. In Maryland's 2nd win over F$U in the past three seasons, the Terps once again held on for dear life down the stretch to win. This time instead of benefiting from three missed field goals, the Terps somehow pulled out the win on a blocked field goal despite being badly out gained 458 to 223. At 6-2 and 3-1 in the ACC, Maryland is now bowl eligible and can afford to lose at Miami and still make the ACC Championship Game. The Terps however will likely need another win to ensure a bowl bid this season.
• In another blackout this weekend, D.C. United advanced to the Eastern Conference Championship with a 1-1 tie with the New York Red Bulls earlier tonight at RFK Stadium. D.C. won the aggregate score of 2-1 and avoided overtime with Christian Gomez's goal in the 86th minute. Simply put, United was lucky to come away with a tie because they got flat out hosed by referee Tim Weyland all night. I don't know how many times I've seen a Penalty Kick called on the exact same play that Freddy Adu was taken down in the box on in the first half but D.C. was not awarded the kick. That and Adu's yellow card when the Red Bull player took two full steps before falling down were the obvious calls that were completely blown. But D.C. did what you need to do in the playoffs, they survived and advanced. For better coverage, check out the guys over at The DCenters.
• And speaking of blackouts, that's what happened to the Caps last night as they were shutout 4-0 by the Edmonton Oilers. I didn't see any of the game but 19 shots on goal isn't going to get it done. While the Terps and D.C. United were going for blackouts, the Caps offensive blackout last night was entirely unintentional.
• One last note on the Maryland-F$U game, F$U's Alumni Pep Band has some very, very young Alumni in it. I don't think I could have legally taken any of them out for a beer after the game last night...
• Word on the street is that the Caps are eventually going to be returning to their old red, white, and blue color scheme. Odds are that it will happen next year as word is floating around that the NHL will go to form fitting and sleeker uniforms next season. I meant to post this last week, but the some of the Bullets are also longing for a return to red, white, and blue. I have to say, Abe Polin missed the boat when he moved both of his teams away from that. Now if we can only do something about those ugly purple seats in the Phone Booth....
• And speaking of ugly purple, BEAT GONZAGA!
• This week, the Caps finish off their Western road trip by visiting Calgary tomorrow night at 9pm. The Caps then come back to the phone booth on Friday night to face the Thrashers once again before hitting the road and heading up I-95 to visit the Philadelphia Flyers. Both of those games faceoff at 7 pm. The Terps hit the road and pay a visit to Clemson at Death Valley for a High Noon kickoff on ESPN2. The Skins are back in action next Sunday as they face the Cowboys in Landover at 1 pm. Also next Sunday, D.C. United hosts New England in a one game playoff for a trip to the MLS Cup kicking off at 4 pm on ESPN2.
• Finally, blogger was acting up on me yesterday and I hopefully have solved the issues that wouldn't let me publish yesterday's Wrap-up/Preview. I wasn't planning on doing a Post-Mortem last night and because I spent so much time this morning trying to fix this, there's no wrap-up for last night's game. It wasn't a case of me being lazy, but a case of me not being a computer geek. Anyway, please send all comments, questions, suggestions, corrections, criticisms, and bribes to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.