Sunday Smorgasbord 7-29

• Carrying on a theme from last week, here are few names I think should be added to the Washington Hall of Stars: From the Redskins; Darrell Green, Mark Rypien (hey, if Doug Williams is up there, then our other Super Bowl MVP belongs up there as well) and Joe Gibbs (he actually was elected but never inducted because at the time he wasn't willing to travel to D.C. for the induction). From the Caps: Dale Hunter, Mike Gartner, and Don Beaupre (he did at one point have the franchise record for goaltender wins). D.C. United, John Harkes, Marco Etcheverry, and Raul Diaz Arce. Is there anybody else from the Washington Sports scene I'm forgetting? If I'm not mistaken you have to be retired for five years before you are eligible so guys like Peter Bondra aren't eligible.
• From the "Better Late Than Never File" California Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer finally got around to introducing and passing the annual Senate Resolution honoring the Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks this past Tuesday; over one month and a half after the Stanley Cup Finals ended on June 6th. By comparison, Indiana Senators Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh moved the Senate Resolution honoring the Indianapolis Colts on February 7th, 3 days after Super Bowl XLI and Texas Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn honored the San Antonio Spurs on June 20th, six days after the Spurs won the NBA Championship. Amazing Civic Pride huh?
• The Nats patchwork starting rotation once again fell apart losing 5-0 in a rain shortened game in New York today to cap off a 3-4 roadtrip. It doesn't look like the Nats will be selling off any players over the next couple of days so while the Nats are a long shot to get out of the cellar, they'll at least remain as competitive as they have all season. Now at 45-60, the Nats are 14 games back of the New York Mets in the NL East and 12.5 games back of the L.A. Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks for the NL Wild Card.
• On Wednesday night, D.C. United got an early goal, missed chances to extend the lead further in the first half (and for the rest of the game), went a man up early in the second half, but ended up tying Monarcas in their first SuperLiga game. Tonight, D.C. United did the exact same thing only this time, they held on for 1-0 win over the Bimbos (hey, that's what it said on the front of their jerseys...). Unlike Monarcas Wednesday night, the Bimbos didn't seem to be energized by the red card they took early in the second half. Though both of those Mexican teams were downright thuggish in their play more red cards should have come out IMHO. But D.C. should be able to advance now that they have four points in Group B play but another point or three on Wednesday won't hurt a bit.
• The Caps avoided another arbitration hearing tomorrow by signing Milan Jurcina to a two year contract on Friday. While there are a few unrestricted free agents remaining to be resolved, the Caps roster is now largely set heading into training camp with more than a month before camp opens. What this really means is that news about the Caps is going to be really, really, really, slow until September.
• Though it wouldn't be Redskins training camp if there wasn't a holdout. First round draft pick LaRon Landry is the culprit and for a player that the Redskins "have big plans for" this isn't good news. Despite hearing that "it could be finished any minute" the longer this goes, the worse it is going to be for Landry. One thing that is nice to hear is how angry the returning players are about last year's 5-11 embarrassment though I still don't think the Redskins really have the talent to turn that into an 11-5 record this season.
• This week, the Nats have tomorrow off to lick their wounds and try to heal some starting pitchers before the Cincinnati Reds show up on Tuesday in RFK for a three game series. The St. Louis Cardinals are in RFK next weekend for a weekend set and I'll shamelessly be there on Saturday night for the Thomas Jefferson Bobblehead. D.C. United heads down to Houston to finish up their SuperLiga group play on Wednesday night before heading up to New England for an old fashioned MLS game against the Revolution on Sunday night. The Redskins travel up I-95 to scrimmage the Ratbirds on Saturday afternoon.
• As always, please send all comments, questions, criticisms, suggestions, corrections, and plans for world domination to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.