Sunday Smorgasbord 7-22

• From the "Gee What A Surprise?" file, the AP is reporting Michael Vick will be allowed to play while under Federal indictment for activities related to dogfighting. New NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's well earned kudos for cracking down on the off-the-field antics has been wasted. Pacman Jones should make the biggest stink he can about this because he was suspended for an entire season before any kind of indictment was ever handed down. Now Vick is going to be allowed to play while "legal process determines the facts"?????? Jones won't curry any favor with the Commissioner or the public but he will expose this crackdown for the fraud that it is. Luckily for Goodell, Vick and the other players suspended under the personal conduct policy are all black. Otherwise Goodell and the NFL would have an absolute PR nightmare on their hands. However, they can't have a good feeling heading into hearings about Pacman Jones so blatantly holding a double standard.
• Thanks to a long overdue home run blast from Austin "Yeah Baby" Kearns, the Nats posted another 3-0 shutout today taking three of four from Colorado. The Nats still can't seem to shake the injury bug with Jason Simontacchi the shelf now and Dmitri "Meathook" Young consigned to pinch hitting for the time being. There are series when the Nats look downright competent and this happened to be one of them. Now at 42-56, the Nats are 13 games back of the New York Mets in the NL East with an elimination number of 52. The Nats are 11.5 back of San Diego for the NL Wild Card with an elimination number 55. The Giants, Pirates, Reds, and Devil Rays are the teams with worse records than us and we're tied with the Astros.
• BTW, memo to Don Sutton, while I'm sure you and Pat Corrales go way back, the only sports figure in Washington, D.C. with proper claim to the nickname "The Secretary of Defense" is Rod Langway. That's why his name is on the wall in right field. And on a side note, how many notable individuals worthy of induction to the Washington Hall of Stars have not been honored yet? I believe that once the new baseball stadium opens up that the Washington Hall of Stars start inducting people again.
• Now I'm not a soccer expert so I have to ask this question just for the purposes of verification. If an attacking player is held in the penalty area by a defender and denied an opportunity to play the ball properly, a penalty kick is awarded right? The answer to that question clearly seems to be no because D.C. United's Fred had a hole ripped in his jersey on a late second half chance and D.C. United fell 1-0 in New York to the Red Bulls. With all of the point blank chances to tie the game or even get a lead that D.C. missed, it is tough to blame referee Abiodun Okulaja for the loss. That doesn't mean however that you cannot be angry at him for the incompetent calls. I wonder how he thought that Fred's jersey got ripped like that? The loss drops D.C. United to 7-6-3 with 24 points. Simply put, United has got to figure out a way to win on the road or they will continue to struggle.
• This week the Nats have to tomorrow off to make the arduous trip up I-95 to Philadelphia for a four game series with the Phillies. They then head to New York to face the Mets in a four game series over three days. Saturday the Nats and Mets will play a day-night doubleheader to make up the rainout from April 15th. D.C. United takes a break from their MLS schedule to face Monarcas Morelia on Wednesday night and Club América on Sunday night at RFK Stadium in their pool play in the Super Liga Tournament. And good news for long suffering football fans (and bad news for those who hate the coverage the NFL gets in these parts) the Redskins open training camp on Friday in Ashburn, VA.
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, questions, corrections, suggestions, and Facebook friend requests to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.