Sunday Smorgasbord 5-27

• Yes I vowed to keep politics off this board as much as possible but I find the reaction to Clinton Portis' comments on dog fighting rather interesting. Yes, dog fighting is a felony and despite this fact, it continues to take place. So all of you decrying Portis "advocating" of a felony I assume are in lock step opposition to the illegal immigration amnesty bill being pushed through Congress right now? Repeated Illegal Immigration is a felony too. And don't get me started on the drug laws either. Though Portis may catch a break because apparently Vick is not an innocent victim of circumstance.
• On Thursday, Brian Leetch announced his retirement to the surprise of no one because he couldn't find any team to play for during the previous season. I can't be the only one to find the references to him being a "defenseman" odd. He only lined up on the blueline for faceoffs taken at center ice as thought he was a forward more than a defender.
• The Mighty William Yurasko talks about Joe Paterno punishing his State Penn football team for a brawl they took part in this spring. Paterno is receiving praise for the punishment. But let me once again pour cold water on this celebration by asking this question; why weren't these kids suspended and/or kicked off the team for their transgressions like they would have been had they done this at any other school? Look, many moons ago I participated in cleanups of Byrd Stadium to help raise funds so I know just how unpleasant those things can be and they are very unpleasant. But the fact remains that the kids started the altercation and those who responded to the cavalry call will continue to be members of the State Penn football team and will face no other sanction. Two years ago now when Maryland football players started a brawl in College Park, players were suspended and ticket privileges were revoked. If Paterno is doing the cleanups in addition to suspensions, then and only then does he deserve credit. Otherwise he's taking the easy way out.
• On the heels (or should I say "hoofs"???) of the "Horse Gate," the NHL has scheduled a potential Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals on the same day as the last jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown, the Belmont. However, the Belmont will be run hours before the faceoff of Game 6 on June 9th. One last point that recently occurred to me, scheduling Game 5 of the Ottawa-Buffaslugs series for Saturday night instead of Saturday afternoon would have produced the same result (game being exiled from NBC to Versus) because of May sweeps. Sweeps are now over so NBC doesn't care if an NHL Playoff game registers only a 1.1 share in prime time.
• More proof that Lacrosse is "nerd hockey", Johns Hopkins will face Dook for the National Title tomorrow in Bhawlmuher. Did you know that Lacrosse is the ONLY Division 1 sport at Hopkins? And before you praise the Dookies for their "accomplishments"; Mike Wise reminds us what scumbags some of those kids really are. Seriously, read that article and remember some very disturbing facts about the Dook Lacrosse team that got whitewashed by the inexcusable actions of an overzealous prosecutor. The fact that they did not rape the woman in question does not excuse the actions they did undertake on and before that fateful night.
• D.C. United seems to be on a roll now after their third consecutive victory last night when they defeated Houston 2-1. Finally a win over what can be considered a quality opponent and scoring the first goal of the game for once this season surely helped matters along as well. What is also notable is that D.C. did this without the services of Jaime Moreno who was in Foxboro, MA playing for his native Bolivia against Ireland. No I'm not saying dump Moreno, he still has some good soccer left in him, but counting on him to carry this team for 90 minutes a night is no longer possible. Last night's win gets D.C. United into a tie for fourth place with Chicago with a game in hand on the Fire.
• Ok folks, time to break up the Nats. After posting a 7-3 homestand last week, the Nats went out and posted a 5-2 road trip with today's win over the defending World Series Champion, St. Louis Cardinals. Not only are the Nats no longer the worst team in all of Major League Baseball, today's win gives them more wins on the season than the Cardinals. They've done this with four of their regular starting pitchers on the Disabled List. Now don't go making plans for baseball in October; only the Reds, (whom the Nats took 3 of 4) Rangers, and Royals have worse records than the Nats and the Nats are 12 games out of first place in their division and 2.5 back of the fourth place Florida Marlins.
• This week, the Nats have Memorial Day off before the Los Angeles Dodgers come into town for a three game series at RFK. The San Diego Padres then arrive in Washington for a three game weekend series against the Nats. D.C. United heads out west to play the Los Angeles Galaxy before their international superstar arrives.
• As always please send all comments, criticisms, complaints, corrections, questions, suggestions, and Tributes to our Men and Women in uniform who have served this country to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.