Sunday Smorgasbord 2-18

• Greetings to the folks who have stopped on by here from Igloo Dreams. I hope you like what you see (even if you don't agree with my assessment of your crack hockey team) and come back often. However, in the meantime, Thanks for stopping by!
• Shavlik Randolph is a happy man. Why? Not because Dook finally broke their losing streak but because the Forces of Tolerance finally got a better target in their defense of the Gay NBA Player, John Amaechi. For reasons only known to Skip Bayless, Skip asked Tim Hardaway about Amaechi well after the Amaechi story had already played out. Hardaway however offered his unvarnished and entirely politically incorrect opinion on the matter and has now been strung up by his toes for it. Apparently Hardaway no longer "has game" as David Stern no longer wants Hardaway around the NBA in yet another victory for tolerance and diversity. An NBA player mind you can choke his coach, run into the crowd to fight fans, kick courtside photographers in the gonads, and not get sanctioned as badly as Hardaway (who is an ex-player by the way) has been for speaking in politically incorrect terms. So much for diversity and tolerance. Episodes like this makes one really wonder what the John Amaechi "outing" is really all about because how many more current, former, and future NBA players are going to be asked about Amaechi?
• Color me unimpressed with the trade of Peter "Floppa" Forsberg from Philadelphia to Nashville. I fail to see just how this is such a large coup for the Predators. As a matter of fact, this strikes me as being rather similar to the Jim Carey, Jason Allison, and Anson Carter for Adam Oates, Bill Ranford, and Rick Tocchet trade that Nashville GM David "Bud" Poile pulled off towards the end of his time in D.C. The best "justification" I've seen so far is that Floppa goes to Nashville and not some other team in the Western Conference that Nashville might have to face in the playoffs. While this is a valid point, what about Floppa's health? Even if he can find a skate that comforts his trick right foot enough to play, Floppa has been falling apart at the seams for years now. No matter who got him, Floppa isn't a lock to be healthy for a team's playoff run and if Floppa is on the shelf, what dang gone good is he? Maybe that's why Philly didn't get a player off of Nashville's NHL roster. But like his panic button trade 10 years ago, Polie is prolly feeling the heat in Nashville and is looking to save his, and Barry Trotz's, job.
• Eagled-eyed Terp fans should remember the name Antonio Logan-El. For those who don't, he's the kid who before his junior year of high school at Forestville, begged the Maryland Football team for a scholarship. His performance in camp that summer earned him an offer which he promptly accepted. That was until his senior year started. Logan-El said that he was standing by his verbal to Maryland, but he wanted to take recruiting trips. Logan-El maintained all along that he was standing by his commitment to Maryland despite taking all sorts of official and unofficial visits to various schools including Maryland. He planned an announcement on ESPNEWS last year from the ESPNZone in Bhawlmuher that he was keeping his word and going to Maryland. He invited the Maryland coaching staff who had to decline because of NCAA regulations prohibiting NCAA coaches from attending these types of events. It was at this event that Logan-El publicly switched gears for the first time and announced his decision to attend State Penn. A near riot ensued as Logan-El's family began to taunt the Terp fans who came to the ESPNZone in Bhawlmuher (including Gloria Friedgen who could attend because she isn't a paid member of the football staff) for the announcement and State Penn coaches who just so happened to be across the street at a Best Buy who came over to join the "celebration" after ESPN signed off. Turns out, Logan-El had switched about a month and a half before his three-ring circus but continued to lie to the Maryland staff. Well I have it now on very good authority that Logan-El has left the State Penn football team after one season and is no better than a 50-50 shot to return. Logan-El hasn't been very happy in Happy Valley since arriving there last August. As a matter of fact, other Maryland natives at State Penn aren't enjoying things the way they used to/thought they would. However, should Logan-El look to transfer, he won't be welcome in College Park. While Logan-El attempted to apologize to Ralph Friedgen two days after pulling his televised shenanigans, he never did. Mostly because he never got a word in edgewise over the phone.
• Three weeks away from Selection Sunday and the Maryland Basketball teams are going in opposite directions, though not in the way you might think. Gary Williams has his Men's team heading into a berth in the NCAA Tournament playing strong basketball after today's 82-66 victory at Clemson. Consigned to another NIT bid only a few weeks ago, the win over Klempsun puts the Terps at 6-6 in the ACC with four games left in the conference schedule and three of them at the Cable Box. The Terps figure an 8-8 finish will give them a high enough RPI to make the NCAA Tournament with an At-Large bid. However, Brenda Frese's Women's team is coming apart at exactly the wrong time. Their steadfast refusal to play defense cost them their fourth loss this season today in a 69-57 loss to Dook at the Cable Box. Of course, Brenda's team didn't defend well last season but they snuck up on people to win the National Championship. However, that won't happen again this year. The Terp women will make the NCAA field but it is safe to say that the Terp women have blown any chance they might have had at getting a #1 seed without winning the ACC Tournament. They'll need a commitment to defending if that is to happen.
• I can't say that I am all that surprised that the stated plans of the Washington Nationals to go young and cheap this year has been met with derision in all corners of Washington fandom. After all, there are still plenty of "Caps fans" who are ticked off about the pre-lockout firesale that the Caps conducted. Never mind that the franchise was run completely into the ground in Montreal and in Washington before Major League Baseball finally got around to selling the team. Never mind for all its "charm" RFK Stadium is still a dump that needs to either be totally renovated if not completely replaced. Joe Gibbs alluded to its "crud" in his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech. The rebuild of the Nats is going to take longer than the rebuild of the Caps because the Nats just don't have the depth in their farm system that the Caps did heading into their rebuild. However I think there are two things to keep in mind about the Nationals. Having a last place baseball team to complain about is miles better than having no baseball team at all to complain about. Finally on that note, all the Lerner's are doing is upholding the fine tradition of Washington Baseball by placing a hammer lock on last place by holding onto tight purse strings.
• And this week, the Caps finish off their three game road trip on Tuesday night in Montreal when they face the Canadiens at 7:30 pm. The Caps are home the very next night hosting former Head Coach Ron Wilson and the San Jose Sharks at 7 pm. The Caps then open up a weekend home-and-home matinee with the New Jersey Devils. The Caps are in the Joisey swamps on Saturday afternoon before hosting the return bout on Sunday in the Phone Booth. Both of those games start at 1 pm. The Terp men host F$U on Ash Wednesday in the Cable Box for their last weeknight 9 pm start of the regular season. The North Carolina Tar Heels try to make it to the Cable Box on Sunday hopefully more than 10 minutes ahead of the 5:30 pm scheduled start time on Fox Sportsnet's ACC Sunday Night Hoops.
• As always, please send all comments, critcisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and fraudulent Clauswitzian Anti-War references to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com because we all know that the best way to support our troops is to conjure up non-binding resolutions that tell them that they will fail in their mission.