Sunday Smorgasbord 9-7

• Not content to just play out the string, the Nationals completed an 8-1 homestand this week and then took two of four from Atlanta including today's come from behind win in extra innings. Of course, it wouldn't be a week for the Nats if somebody wasn't sent to the Disabled List and this week's lucky winner is Ronnie Belliard. Ok, so he wasn't actually sent to the DL but he's done for the season along with Jesus Flores. This hot streak has put the Nats a half game up on San Diego for the worst record in MLB but was not enough to keep them from officially being eliminated from all post-season consideration.
• Pretty safe to say that the Jim Zorn didn't get off to the start he and the Redskins were looking for on Thursday night. First of all, everybody knew it was going to be a challenge opening the season in New York against the Jints and having three of the first five games being Divisional opponents on the road. Secondly, despite the shaky start, the Redskins were at least able to settle down on defense though the depth in the secondary is becoming very thin. Finally, the inability of the offensive line to protect Jason Campbell along with Campbell's own indecisiveness will stall whatever passing game the Skins try to run. Settle down folks as there are 15 more games to go.
• Settling down however isn't an option for Maryland fans who are in full meltdown mode over Maryland's 24-14 loss to Middle Tennessee State. The same fans who cheered Chris Turner's entrance last week have to be wondering what just what happened as Turner was picked off three times. All of Maryland's points and most of their offense came on two long plays which did little to help a defense that allowed over 400 yards in almost 40 minutes of action. The good news is that the last time Maryland lost on the road to a non-BCS directional school (2003's 20-13 OT loss at Northern Illinois), they finished ranked 17th in the country with a 10-3 record capped off with a 41-7 smackdown of West-By-God Virginia in the Gator Bowl. What should be of great concern though is the continuing inability of a Chris Cosh coached defense to handle a spread offense.
• However, Maryland wasn't the only school to suffer an embarrassing loss yesterday, "National Title Contender" West-By-God-Virginia saw their dreams of a National Title go down in flames as Eastern Carolina beat them 24-3. Eastern Carolina knocked off ACC Favorite Virginia Tech the week before and the burning question around College Football is "how bad is the ACC?" Well, we don't dispute that the ACC is pretty week this year, but we wonder why the Big East teams continue to be considered among the Nation's Elite? How many times must Big East schools lose key out-of-conference games outside of the exhibition bowl structure before they're given the same lack of respect that the ACC gets?
• Congratulations to D.C. United who continue to be the only professional sports team in the Washington, DC area who knows how to win a title, no matter how small or insignificant. They won the U.S. Open Cup earlier this week with a 2-1 win over the Charleston Battery. Back in league play, they fell once again this time in San Jose 2-1 to the reborn Earthquakes. If we're not mistaken, DC is holding onto a playoff spot right now but the consistency they've been looking for all season continues to elude them.
• As the first week of the NFL season wraps up, we're dreading the round-the-clock coverage of the injury to Tom Brady. We're as bitterly disappointed about the injury to Tom Brady as we were about the injury to the Canadian Diving Team Captain, Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby. We're also wondering if NBC has enough people in their studio to show, report, narrate, and analyze the highlights of the day's games. We think they need about four more talking heads in order to fill out the roster of Bob Costas, Chris Colinsworth, Keith Obamamann, Dan Patrick, Jerom Bettis, Tikki Barber, and Peter King. Joe Gibbs has worked with Bob Costas in an NBC NFL studio before and Joe Theismann isn't doing anything right now and did studio work for ESPN. That leaves only two more people to find and we're sure that isn't too hard to find. Though we are glad to see Chris Colinsworth being slightly more productive on NBC now than he was during their Olympic coverage.
• This week, the Nats have a couple of days off around a two games series in New York with the Mets before they head to Florida for a weekend series with the Marlins. The Terps will try to get back on track when the Commies...er...Cal Berkley comes to College Park for a Noon eastern kickoff on ESPN. D.C. United hosts FC Dallas on Saturday night. And last and certainly not least because it is the most important thing to ever hit the Washington Capitals Franchise since the drafting of A.O.; the 2008-2009 Washington Capitals Ice Girls...er...Spirit Squad will be announced tomorrow!
• All always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, questions, suggestions, corrections, and Bachelor Party ideas to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.