Sunday Smorgasbord 3-22-2009

First things first folks, we here at Bleatings From a Caps Nut strive to be as accurate as possible and we noticed today that in our haste to catch the bus yesterday, we made a mistake in the calculations of the magic numbers. Despite the Caps loss in regulation to Carolina last night, because of Florida's 3-1 loss at home to Columbus, the Caps magic number for clinching a playoff spot is now 4 points and clinching the division has dropped to 5 points. Bleatings From a Caps Nut regrets the error...

Getting back to last night's game, because of Fraternal obligations this morning, we were unable to post a Wrap Up. But after watching last night's game we are growing more and more concerned about the lack of urgency by the team. After falling behind 2-1 in the third period last night, we didn't see the Caps show any increase intensity in their play. We half expect some of the usual suspects to "just throw out" talk about firing Bruce Boudreau to get the team back on track before the playoff begin. With only 8 games left on the schedule, and none of them against teams currently in the playoffs, we too wonder just how the Caps will capture that intensity but we strongly disagree with General Manager George McPhee pulling a Lou Lamoriello and firing the coach right before the playoffs. The Montreal Canadiens have gone into a tailspin since firing Guy Carbonneau and John Tortorella has only had a minimal impact on the Rangers. We here won't discuss the idea any further because we feel it is such a bad idea.

We also want to take the time to admit that we stand corrected about our prediction about Don Cherry's reaction to A.O.'s 50th goal celebration. We admit we were surprised by the humility shown by Cherry because it looks as if somebody, somewhere talked some sense into him. In case you didn't already know, Cherry admitted that A.O. is a good guy and not some sort of jerk. He asked A.O. to put himself in Tampa's shoes, told him he was one of the game's great players, and implored him to conduct himself in a better manner because he was very much capable of doing it. That is of course a departure from his original comments where he called him a goof among other things. It is clear that Cherry realizes that he unleashed a monster that he would not be able bully and shout down and that furthering his original comments and outrage at A.O. would only lead A.O. to go even further in the future. While we often disagree with Cherry we do realize that he loves the game of hockey and, like us, doesn't want to see some of the worst elements of the NFL and NBA find their way into the game. We hope that this time around, A.O. takes Cherry's comments to heart and that this is the final word we have on A.O.'s goal celebrations.

It's been awhile since we've done a Diversify or Die moment so we'll hold our nose and let you know that we agree with Coach K. He's right about our Dear Leader wasting time on an office pool. We all know that the Bush Derangement Syndrome Suffers would have gone into a tizzy had Former President Bush taken the time to put together a bracket instead of attending to the country's needs. Coach K is especially correct in his criticism because our Dear Leader has done nothing about the biggest pressing issue of the day in his first two months. Instead of trying to salvage something out of this economy, our wonderful Dear Leader has already spent more $$$$$ in his first 50 days than President Bush spent on the Iraq War in his entire term in office. And for those of you who need visual aids, here is what $1 trillion dollars looks like, that's your "stimulus" and is only the tip of the iceberg.

Getting back to the NCAA Tournament, we said that Maryland didn't belong and while they survived Cal, they didn't survive Memphis. Greivis Vasquez will test the NBA waters but what he hears while doing so will determine whether or not he returns for his senior season. Gary Williams finishes up one of his best coaching jobs ever and now has to figure out who is going to play inside for him because that was the biggest thing missing from the team this season. The staff of the Washington (Com)Post can now take a break from trying to undermine Gary largely because it hasn't worked so far; it only seemed to bolster his position. They can now turn their sights on Ralph Friedgen to see just how well he is supported by the well funded boosters who make the big decisions for Debbie Yow, who is looking for the graceful exit.

Our final thought on the NCAA Tournament is looking at the Sweet Sixteen, we notice that only two of the Sweet Sixteen are from the so-called Mid-Majors. There was a lot of caterwauling over only 4 so-called mid major teams receiving at-large bids this year. And so we ask those people who are crying about the injustice of it all; how is guaranteeing so-called mid majors a certain number of at-large bids every year (at the expense of course of the upper-major and lower-major conferences) any different than the so-called BCS Cabal each and every single one of you despise?

We forgot to mention last week that D.C. United were starting their season today in L.A. against the Galaxy, they ended up tying 2-2. This week they open up the home schedule when they face the Chicago Fire at RFK Stadium on Saturday night at 7:30 pm. The Terp women will face Utah in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday night at the Cable Box. The Caps will wrap up their five game road trip in Toronto on the same night before coming home to a new sheet of ice on Friday against the Ning.

As always, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and the words to the Claremont College Fight Song to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.