Sunday Smorgasbord 7-1

• The one and only reason to mention the Democrats 5-2 loss to the Republicans this past Monday night in the Annual Congressional Baseball game is to point and laugh once again at Heath Shuler who went 0-3 with two strikeouts. That's about par for the course with Heath in RFK Stadium who was billed as the Democrats best hope. Hopefully he'll continue his tradition of disappointing in Washington by not doing any better in the new baseball stadium next year it what should be his final appearance in the game.
• Once again the guys over at Deadspin tip us off to Mark Cuban's latest antics which is straight out of the "I can't believe he's doing that!" file. While, as I understand it, that word "suing" incorrect because the two are going through arbitration over an unrelated matter, the fact that Cuban would even accuse Don Nelson of using "confidential information" is downright ludicrous. Of course Nelson would if he were in the employment of another team that was competing against the Mavericks. Who wouldn't and why does Cuban think this is bad form? What makes this all the more disturbing is that there are serious people who think that the NHL could use an owner like Mark Cuban. Cuban is the last thing the NHL needs right now.
• It just so happens that today is a National Holiday in Canada and it has nothing to do with the opening of Free Agency in the NHL. But as of right now, the winner for the bad deal prize goes to the Philadelphia Flyers who signed that Scumbag Danielle Briere to an 8 year $52 million contract. What makes the deal especially bad for the Flyers is the "no movement" clause. Yeah, teams can strong-arm players into waiving those things but it seriously limits their options should they decide to move him. Finally, for a team that lives and dies by the "Crock"...er..."Code", what are they doing getting a Scumbag player like Briere who refuses to account for this actions on the ice? Maybe this is a sign that this is a "new NHL."
• A close second goes to the Rangers who handed out a pair of $7 million+ contracts to Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, hey, at least for once they made Larry Brooks look smart (that's his annual "everybody wants to play for the Rangers" column) but do the Rangers ever learn? Now they're back to trying to buy the Cup and doing so with cast-offs from the Devils and their resident genius GM of Lou Lamoriello. Didn't Bobby Holik teach them anything?
• Reverting to form, the Nats salvaged a win today in Pittsburgh to end a brutal 2-4 road trip where they couldn't get much of anything going. The Nats' June Swoon came at the end of the month but before we continue to beat up on them, let's remember that this isn't a good baseball team and even the historically bad ones have their hot streaks. In other news, Congratulations to Dmitri "Meat Hook" Young who got a well deserved selection to the All-Star Game today. After getting off to a slow start this season, Meat Hook is likely the Nats MVP right now and their best trade bait too.
• After rebounding from a bad outing last week with Thursday Night's 4-1 win over Colorado, D.C. United then made a trade with the Rapids getting Greg Vanney for Facundo Erpen. D.C. United got a much needed win with a patchwork lineup against an opponent they should have been able to beat easily. However, they still have a lot of work to do despite being well within striking distance of first place in the Eastern Conference and overall in the league. As for the trade, as long as Vanney does not come up with an inexplicable turnover in every single game, he'll be an upgrade over Erpen. Why Colorado made this trade is beyond me.
• Ok this week, the Nats are home for a four game set and tearful reunion with Alfonso Soriano who comes into RFK with his new team, the Chicago Cubs. I'll be there before the gates open on Wednesday to get my George Washington Bobblehead and maybe on Thursday night too (but I'm not counting on it). The Milwaukee Brewers come into RFK next weekend for a three game series heading into the All-Star Break. While I'm at RFK on Wednesday afternoon, D.C. United will be in Kansas City playing a matinee against the Kansas City Wizards before heading down to Houston for a game Sunday night against the Dynamo.
• As always please send all comments, corrections, suggestions, questions, criticisms, and absurd free agent contract offers to "capsnut' over at gmail dot com.