Sunday Smorgasbord 12-27

• Good times at the Caps Fan Club Meeting last night before the Caps-Devils game.  The featured guests were Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin who shared, among other things, their ideas of what the Caps need if they're to make themselves a true Stanley Cup Champion this year.  Of course on the list was the lockdown defenseman which just about every team in the league covets right now.  We had to chuckle as to how quickly they shot down the idea of Brendan Witt returning (please, not him) but were flabbergasted at the idea that Anaheim would trade Scott Niedermayer and take Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore off our hands.  How quickly have we forgotten the asking price from Anaheim for Chris Pronger.  Why would Niedermayer be any cheaper than Pronger was unless we somehow became the New Jersey Devils?  Secondly, just who would take Theodore off our hands?  We'd probably have to throw in at least a second round pick to make that deal happen.  Finally, while some fans may be, we're willing to go on the record and say were not comfortable with the idea of riding Semyon "The Saviour" Varlamov and Michal "Bebe" Neuvirth into and through the playoffs at this point in time.  Neither one has shown us that they can carry an NHL team through the pressure cooker of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
• We would be remiss though without talking about the Monday Night Massacre that the Redskins suffered at the hands of the Jints last week…  One of these days you’ll listen to us when we tell you not to get too excited about the “improved play.”  One glaring sign that ugly beatdown was coming actually occurred in the Oakland game the week before when Jason Campbell was getting knocked around like a piñata at a children’s birthday party despite the Redskins running up over 30 points on the Raiders.  But we knew the offense and the pass protection was bad, what really got exposed was the much ballyhooed defense that just couldn’t stop the Jints.  As we noted, it is time for a total housecleaning and rebuilding of the team, which the uncapped year puts the Redskins in unique position to actually do.
• But getting all of the attention from last week's game is the “fake” field goal that Jim Zorn ran at the end of the first half.  First of all, we know that play, we ran that play way back when in our youth football days.  Hunter Smith goofed up by trying to heave the ball downfield when he should have swung it to the stack on the left for an absurdedly large screen play.  Secondly, while Jim Zorn is getting ripped seven ways from Sunday for running the play, even after the Jints called timeout, this is the “gambler Jim” everybody fell in love with last year when Zorn got out to the 6-2 start.  Finally, don’t listen to the people who were claiming “the Redskins could have used the three points.”  The game was over when the Redskins went three and out on their first possession already down 7-0.  Even if the trick play at the end of the half had worked; the best possible scenario would have been another touchdown drive to start the second half to get the deficit to 24-14 but the Redskins would have had to give the ball back to the Jints at some point and the defense would have once again been unable to get off the field.
• We will say this though, if nothing else we hope that Dan Snyder refuses to change the team name so that we continue to hear about the “embarrassing,” “racist” and “degrading” moniker from these Liberal journalists who continue to insult our intelligence while insisting that they have no biases.  They seem to be more worked up by the name than anybody else.  Because remember folks, the simple generic nickname “Tribe” is also out of bounds as is the William and Mary logo of a W and M adorned with a simple feather.  These people so badly trip over their own PC that they had a hard time properly describing various achievements such as Vonneta Davis.  She was the first black person to win a Gold Medal at the Winter Olympics but the PC crowd tripped all over themselves in 2006 saying stupid things like “She’s the first African-American from any country to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.”  Really?  They have African-Americans in France?  Italy?  Russia? China too?  Or wouldn’t they be African-Frenchpersuns, African-Italians…  (Yeah, this counts as our Diversify or Die Moment…)
• And transitioning away from the Redskins of the NFL to the Redskins of the NHL, how badly have things blown up in Philadelphia?  Whew, we didn’t think that adding Chris Pronger would get the Flyers over the top but we also didn’t think they would implode like this.  A few weeks ago they botched the firing of their Head Coach, replacing John Stevens with Peter Laviolette, and things have gone from bad to worse.  Before the salary cap, the Flyers could get away with constantly adding high priced vets and remain competitive but not for much longer now that they’re getting saddled with the long term contracts of Pronger, that scumbag Dani Briere and Mike Richards.  There isn’t much Paul Homgren can do now to get things on track either because the team is up against the salary cap.  We wonder how many people are still pointing to the Flyers as proof that you can continue improve your team in a salary cap system as if there is no salary cap.
• Well the revolving door on South Capitol Street continued as this week the Natinals added Matt Capps leading to all kinds of semi-confusing Capps and Nats agree to deal.  We thought Tony Plush would be getting a spin on the fourth line when we first saw that.  As we've mentioned before, when you lose 103 games, changes have to be made and what more are in store for the Natinals remain to be seen.
• This week, the Redskins season comes to a merciful end when they visit San Diego next week to play the Chargers.  The Caps host the Canes tomorrow night before heading back out west for games against San Jose on Wednesday and Los Angeles on Saturday.  The Terp Men host the politically incorrect William and Mary Tribe on Wednesday night before paying a visit to UNC Greensboro on Sunday.  The Terp Women have the Terrapin Classic this week, facing UNC Wilmington on Tuesday night and hosting St. Joseph's in a regular non-conference game on Sunday.
• As always, please send all comments, criticisms, questions, suggestions, corrections, and returned Christmas gifts to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.