Sunday Smorgasbord 7-11

• Well, well, well...  It looks as if the last time we spoke about the Albert Haynesworth situation, we spoke too soon...  (So what else is new???)  For a guy who had the cards on his side, he played them about as poorly as anybody ever could.  To reiterate, had Hanyesworth shown up for training camp in the best shape of his life, he would have put Mike Shanahan in a no-win situation.  Instead Haynesworth decided to skip the mandatory part of the off-season workouts and demand a trade at the same time.  The biggest sign that Haynesworth has conceded the high ground here?  The unloading on him by just about everybody not only in the Redskins organization but in pro football.  The funny part is though, while the Redskins are certainly justified in their feelings towards Haynesworth, it dramatically lowers his value in any trade they try to make, though it is very debatable how much trade value he ever had in the first place.  Either way, Haynesworth has played this situation about as poorly as he could and if he were smart, not only would he show up for training camp in the best shape of his life, but he would also refuse to speak to the press upon arriving and until he leaves the Redskins.  But based on past performance, we don't think that will happen here.
• And speaking of hard feelings, we give kudos to Cleveland Cavaliers Owner Tom Gilbert for basically saying what should have been said about the whole LeBron James Free Agency search.  We don't think his championship guarantee is smart but we do agree that James' narcissistic actions were repulsive.  However, James was not alone in this entire affair.  The Worldwide Leader in Schlock is just a culpable in building this guy up and covering his every move in free agency, even when he wasn't doing anything to say nothing about devoting an entire evening to him.  Sadly however, we think that this is just the beginning for this type of thing.  These kinds of "announcements" and "recruiting trips" are common for High School Athletes choosing which college they will play for and attend.  Some tried to use the fact that James never went to college and was never really recruited by colleges as a high schooler to equivocate his actions now as a pro.  We aren't buying it because the next time something like this comes around, it will be considered a part of the business and few will bat an eyelash at it.
• And effective this past Friday, the University of Maryland was relieved of Deborah Yow as it Director of Athletics.  While Debbie's contributions to the Athletic Department cannot be dismissed or disputed, it was clear last year that when she lost her second major power play against one of her high-profile employees in a year that she was on her way out.  The failure to oust Gary Williams and Ralph Friedgen tarnish an outstanding run at UMD for Debbie who has now returned home to North Carolina to take over the N.C. State Wolfpack Athletic Department.  Debbie's legacy would have been cemented had she stepped down "looking for other challenges" after the Women's Basketball Team won the NCAA Title in 2006.  However she hung on too long and is heading down to tobacco road with her tail between her legs.  At least she doesn't need to invest in a new wardrobe.
• Well the Free Agent Frenzy in the NHL came and went and some ugly contracts were handed out.  The Caps stayed largely on the sidelines because there was no reason to hand out three-four year contracts that got a bunch of hearts in a twitter but rarely, if ever, accomplish anything.  However, we do wonder why after the failure of the Michael Nylander and Brendan Morrrissonn contracts why many Caps fans automatically declare the 2010-2011 a complete and utter failure because the Caps haven't signed a free agent of note.  Just to recap, last season the Caps won the Southeast Division by 38 points, that is six more points than the rest of the Division Champions combined.  The Caps were first in the East by 18 points and the President's Trophy by 10 points.  What this means is that there isn't much for this team to improve upon.  And when you consider that the vast majority of free agents are rejects from other teams that nobody was willing to trade for, we really shake our heads at all the complaining.  Was Marion Hossa and his one goal and three assists the reason why the Blackhawks won the Cup (he was a -4 in the last two games BTW)?  With the Hershey Bears winning their third Calder Cup in the last four years, it is certainly time for some of the prospects down there to come to the NHL and show what they can do in the big leagues.  A bevy of free agents will only get in the way of that happening.
• And we'll dip into the old news file to comment on the Caps revoking Season Ticket Privileges to those who don't know how to act in public, especially when a camera is turned on them.  If there was a way we could "dislike" a Facebook Group we would on this one over and over.  Sorry but it does not matter how long somebody has been a fan, how much $$$$$ they spend for tickets, or how "diehard" of a fan they are; you have to conduct yourself in an appropriate manner or you run the risk of being told to stay away.  We were just six years old when we went to our first professional sporting event and with the atmosphere at pro sporting events these days, we would be wary of taking a twelve year old to one.  Too many fans take Homer Simpson's credo as gospel and think that the sporting event exists for them to have an avenue to perform their antics.  Some are benign, some are bizarre, but too many are out of line and detract from the event that many people are going to see.  The "moral equivalence" game attempted by some comparing Bruce Boudreau's rant and lack of public rebuke from the Caps is laughable on its face.  If we really need to explain the difference between a paid employee of an organization and a paying customer, then you won't be persuaded by anything we have to say anyway.  Finally the fact that Steinbog has never posted the full explanation, tells us that the Caps have wisely clammed up about this situation. We only hope that this is the start of cleaning up the environment at Caps games and hope some other franchises follow their lead.
• And from the "unfinished business" file we clearly touched a nerve in Darwin's Waiting Room back in April when we called it like it was back in April when the Caps temporarily shut down their message boards.  We feel as though Ms. Bumper deserved a reply and for whatever reason, the (Com)Post censors wouldn't let us post our reply on the thread.  Because we know one of the goons in Darwin's Waiting Room chronicles every single thing we write, we know that this will reply will be seen.  (BTW dude, you need a wife...er... life)  Well Bumper I’ll give you not only the courtesy of a reply but the last word.  As a matter of fact, I won’t even bother to read your response, should you have one, but I will keep this short so that you and the rest of your playgroup can understand. First of all,  I’m sure you can understand my floccinaucinihilipilification about how your boards were conveniently ready to go when the original boards went into meltdown because of the temper tantrums on all sides that took place.  But does that really change anything that I said about the genesis of your boards?  If the Caps hadn’t had enough of the activity you and your kind were conducting over there, would your boards be as operational as they are today?  We both know the answer. BTW, you’ll never get the pleasure of rejecting me for membership mostly because I don’t care to sink into your depths.  However I do find it find highly comical that you continue to blast the Caps for what they did last summer but have a pinned post “Please Stop Messing Up My Boards With Your Douchebaggery” all across your allegedly superior forums.  It's not as easy to run one of those as you thought huh?  Oh, and I see the porn has been moved behind a lock and key.  So much for all that glorious freedom you all were looking for huh?  And considering the streak of 50+ sellouts with 18,277 in attendance each time, just how in the world is a measly 826 members “most”????  Especially when that 826 includes people who need to cross multiple time zones to attend a game at the Phone Booth.  Clearly you have no understanding of the definition of a word that doesn’t even appear on the SAT’s but please keep up the always attractive elitist attitude.  Finally it goes without saying that I am not the only one who takes a very dim view of your place.  Just because you allow “adult” language, “adult” pictures and all the emoticons you can fit into one post doesn’t make you more “mature” or even better than anybody else.  Congratulations on your faster loading times.  I’m sure “most” of the 826 really do care the rest of us couldn't care less.
• With a ten game homestand heading into the All-Star break, the Nats had a chance to build some momentum but instead stumbled to a 5-5 record on the run and are now 11 games under .500.  We have to admit, we were a bit surprised by the selection of Matt Capps to the NL All-Star team.  Count us among those who think Stephen Strasburg didn't belong on the team but what about Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman? Either would have been a much stronger choice to represent the Nats because the Nats must have a player on the team.  And even if Strasburg, Dunn, and/or Zimmerman were on the All-Star team, we aren't watching the thing anyway and we doubt that there are many Nats fans who will watch the All-Star game because Matt Capps is in it.
• And luckily for soccer fans, the World Cup Final today featured a goal in the dying minutes of overtime giving Spain a 1-0 win over the Netherlands and avoiding yet another World Cup title decided by a Penalty Kick Shootout.  Had today's final gone to PK's, it once again would have been a setback for soccer in the U.S.  As for the U.S. team, we certainly can't blame goalkeeper Tim Howard for the U.S.'s disappointing loss in the second round but we do question whether or not he came up with any huge, game turning saves.  We can't think of one and had he been able to come up with any, the U.S. may have had a different fate in South Africa.
• This week, the Nats are off until Friday when they open up a ten game road trip with a three-game series in Florida against the Marlins.  D.C. United hosts Seattle on Thursday night and the L.A. Galaxy on Sunday.
• As always, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and the proper use of lentils in salads to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Sunday Smorgasbord 6-13

• Well, if there's big news we need to catch up on, it is the Redskins going out and acquiring Donovan McNabb for a pair of draft picks, including this year's second round pick.  Put us in the unimpressed camp for a number of reasons.  We've always thought that McNabb was slightly overrated as quarterback.  He was able to dominate a down NFC East when the NFC as a whole was underwhelming.  But while Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan set about to rebuild the offensive line, Trent Williams is a nice start but unproven and only 1/5 of the solution,  it doesn't matter who is playing quarterback for the Redskins because they won't have the proper protection from the offensive line.  Jason Campbell was unfairly scapegoated though he won't get a chance to prove that out in the even bigger zoo in Oakland so we just have to watch McNabb getting driven into the ground in order to prove the point.  Furthermore, even if McNabb is as good as advertised and able to overcome his bad offensive line, it doesn't change the fact that the Redskins are going to run a 3-4 defense with 4-3 personnel.  Good coaches adapt their systems to their talent, not their talent to the system and that also says nothing of the broken-down retreads in the backfield with McNabb.  Our official prediction, the Redskins will be lucky to finish 8-8 this season and anything better than that is wildly exceeding our expectations.
• And speaking of wildly exceeding expectations, how about this Steven Strasburg kid?  He certainly lived up to the hype on Tuesday night, a game we missed because real life intervened (and no, we're not complaining), and despite struggling with a crummy pitcher's mound today in Cleveland, is off to a 2-0 start in the Majors.  So while the Nats themselves continue to exceed expectations, hovering around .500 despite a June Swoon, the question becomes, how much will the Nats rely upon Strasburg for the rest of the season?  In an attempt to prevent injury and guard against burnout, everybody knows that he has a strict limit on the number of innings he is going to pitch this season so should the Nats end up contending for a playoff spot, he is not likely to be available to get the team over the hump.  That more than anything else is why we think the idea of the Nats being buyers at the trade deadline is foolish.  But at least we once again have a baseball team worth watching.
• No we didn't forget about Albert Haynesworth in the first bullet.  We just liked the exceeding expectations segue too much to pass it up.  But as for Haynesworth, we agree that if you're going to pay somebody that amount of $$$$$ the least he can do is show up for the season in shape.  However, if you're going to call team activities, "optional" then you cannot require that everybody takes part in them.  Furthermore, we reject the notion that just because a guy is the highest paid player on the team, that he must be some sort of leader.  Giving a guy $$$$$ doesn't make him a leader, it is his actions and, most importantly, his personality that gets people to follow him.  But we digress, the ball is firmly in Haynesworth's court now.  He MUST show up for training camp in the best shape of his life.  If he doesn't then he's as good as gone.  If he does, he presents a difficult dilemma for Shanahan in that Haynesworth showing up in fantastic shape without attending the mandatory optional workouts would undercut Shanahan's authority who is a noted taskmaster.  But if Haynesworth shows up in shape and dominates, Shanahan has to cut off his own nose to spite his face to maintain his authority.  That's the real dilemma to watch for here.
• And once again the World Cup is upon us and in international soccer, more so than hockey, it really does come down to goaltending.  There was no bigger example of that than yesterday as Tim Howard made a number of timely and big saves for the United States as Robert Green came up with the biggest gaffe ever at that level in a 1-1 tie.  We don't think Green was or will be given enough credit for rebounding from his miscue to come up with a huge save on Jozy Altidore in the second half to preserve the single point for the Brits.  But for the U.S., Tim Howard is going to be the key going forward for the United States as England's domination showed that the U.S. is still not at the level of the world powers.  Howard will have to overcome his rib injury and play as well if not better than Brad Freidel did eight years ago for the U.S. to make any noise in South Africa.
• While we're not going to comment on Tiger Wood's "extra curricular activities," we find it a little ridiculous the amount of criticism that he's taking for bowing out of tournaments early because of injury.  Do people really need to have to them explained the difference between playing hurt when a major championship is on the line and when they're far behind in a run-of-the-mill tournament with no chance of ever catching up?  This is a prime example of the problem with a 24/7 sports news cycle.
• Ok, we'll admit we had a terrible year this year in picking the Stanley Cup Playoffs but once the finals were set we thought that Chicago would win the Cup in either four or five games.  Again, it shows what we knew this year that it took six games.  But for the Caps fans gnashing their teeth over "being passed" by a team that rebuilt after the Caps, know that the criminal salary cap mismanagement made this a real "do or die" year for the Blackhawks and that it is just about back to the drawing board for them.  As for the Flyers, we happen to think that a series this close is probably the worst thing for them.  They will now think like we did in 1998 that they're close, they just need a little push to get them over the hump.  However, remember that the Flyers beat a New Jersey team that has been bounced in the first round for three years in a row now.  They then beat a Bruins team that authored one of the greatest chokes of all-time.  Finally, the Flyers faced a Montreal team who's magic had run out.  The Flyers aren't close folks and a goaltender won't solve their problems.
• With the NCAA Conferences once again realigning themselves, we find it interesting to say the least that the Big "Ten" is interested in Maryland.  While we don't think that Maryland would be a good fit in the Big "Ten", or the SEC which has popped up recently,  for a number of reasons, it would be in Maryland's best interest to make the move if one was offered.  First of all, there is little doubt to us that this current run of realignment will leave the ACC in a diminished state, even if the ACC doesn't lose any schools.  If the Big "Ten" is willing to share their TV revenue with Maryland, then Maryland needs to accept the gift because they would never see that kind of $$$$$ staying the in ACC.  Like it or not, college athletics is now driven by $$$$$ (why else would the NCAA expand the Men's Basketball tournament?) and for a school like Maryland, which has had issues balancing their budgets, they should get in on the cash grab anyway they can.
• Ok this week, the Nats continue inter-league play when they visit the Detroit Tigers for three games starting Tuesday night.  They're back home at Nats Ark on Friday for a three game set against the Chicago White Sox with two of the three games on national TV.  D.C. United will play what amounts to a road game at RFK when they host the El Salvadorian National Team in a charity fundraiser match on Saturday evening.
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and ways to use bologna in sandwiches to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Sunday Smorgasbord 1-3

• Happy New Year Ladies and Gentlemen.  We guess we'll launch into the Redskins scrubs being unable to hold off the Chargers scrubs and losing in the closing minutes yet again..  That's four times now this season where all the high regarded and touted defense had to do was hold a team off the scoreboard at the end of the game and the Redskins would have come away with a victory, but the defense just could not do it.  Yet people think the problem with this team is the offense.  Folks, the problems run deeper than the Head Coach and whoever is under center as the quarterback.  And if you're stewing over the "Fall from Grace"  this 4-12 record is still better than Norv Turner's first year mark of 3-13.  Now the speculation turns to just how quickly will Jim Zorn be fired and Mike Shanahan be introduced as Head Coach.  Hopefully Zorn will hold onto his job through the flight back to Dulles but with the Ashburn Circus, you never know.
• And speaking of Jim Zorn's successor, we're disgusted by some of the reaction to Jerry Gray "interviewing" for Jim Zorn's Head Coaching position while Jim Zorn was still officially Head Coach.  First of all, it was pretty much common knowledge that Zorn had to not only make the playoffs, but make a run in the playoffs to keep his job because he was almost fired at the end of last season.  So when the 2009 season started going down the tubes pretty quickly; nobody should be surprised that the Redskins started looking for their next Head Coach.  And when you consider that Vinny Cerrato was "resigned" in the middle of the season and replaced in only two hours by Bruce Allen and the Redskins were deemed in compliance with the Rooney Tokenism Rule; it again shouldn't come as any surprise that the Redskins were also looking for a new Head Coach at roughly the same time.  The idea that Gray is "traitor" or "backstabber" to Zorn, a Dead Coaching Walking, is just mystifying to us.  Every coach in Ashburn knew that they were on their way out and so it is no surprise that it turned into an "every man for himself" situation.  Yet there are also those who are calling Gray a "sellout" and "Uncle Tom" for allowing the Redskins to properly make a mockery of the Rooney Tokenism Rule.  Aside from the Redskins being denied the opportunity to hire whomever they want to hire as quickly as possible, we're wondering where the problem really is.  Is Jerry Gray the first person to be given a token interview?  What about the interview given to Gregg Williams two years ago?  If that wasn't the very definition of tokenism, we don't know what is, yet nobody was complaining about that.  We wonder why...
  
• And speaking of NFL overreach, the fact that the NFL is going to discuss teams already qualified for the playoffs with nothing left to gain resting their star players late in season before the playoffs start shows just how out of touch they really are.  If there was no benefit whatsoever to resting your players at the end of the season, it wouldn't occur because the NFL is nothing but a copycat league.  But for those who think that there's no way the NFL could enforce a rule dictating star player participation, keep in mind the Rooney Tokenism Rule.  Where does the NFL get off telling its clubs who they have to interview for certain positions within the club?  But getting back to the topic at hand, the NFL is talking about expanding the regular season to 18 games.  Does anybody think that the teams heading to the playoffs won't start phoning it in earlier?  But what we want to know is how can the NFL take a look at this "issue" with a straight face while it still has a league-wide policy requiring tickets to pre-season games to cost the exactly the same as regular season games?  Better yet, why hasn't anybody called the NFL on the carpet about this?
  
• One final note on the Ashburn Circus; if this report is true, that Defensive Coordinator Greg Blache really did twist Albert Haynesworth's comments into criticism of his team mates when Blache knew that Haynesworth was upset with him, Greg Blache should be fired as soon as the team plane arrives at the gate tonight.  While Haynesworth's comments were wrong, the last thing any coach should be doing is fostering dissent among his own players.  We understand that things are crazy in Ashburn and that the inmates run the asylum, but Blache was doubly wrong in what he did and totally unprofessional.  He should have been dismissed immediately for what he did.
• We watched more College Bowl Games on New Year's Day this year than we have in the past years and we have to admit, we were happy with the Rose Bowl because normally in these College Bowl Games, the teams are going at best 3/4's speed.  You occasionally get a situation where one team is going full speed against one that isn't and that's where your routs and major upsets come from.  But Ohio State and Oregon went at each other full speed and as a result it was a joy to watch.  Furthermore, we've also come to the conclusion that Joe Paterno over at State Penn is senile and has no idea what is going on around him after watching his on-field interviews during the Citrus Bowl.
•  And because we were watching College Football on Friday, that means we weren't watching the Winter Clunker in Fenway Park.  We were boycotting viewing the game because of the NHL's continuing to snub the Caps and A.O.  But we did see from the box score that the Ultimate Fighting on Ice Fans finally got their wish and that a fight occurred in the game.  We're hope you're happy and note that the Winter Olympics will have higher TV ratings than the Winter Clunker primarily because there won't be any fighting in the Olympics.  And while we have no reason to doubt Tarik El-Bashir when he says that the Caps are the frontrunners to play next year; we are not surprised in the least that A.O. could very well be forced to share the stage with Canadian Diving Team Captain, Lowblow Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby.  As we've shown over and over, the NHL just can't help itself in that regard.
• We also went to the bookstore on Friday trying to find the Tim Donaghy book.  We were surprised to find out that it was a "print on demand" book according to the Barnes and Noble we went to.  That means that the publisher doesn't bother printing the book until somebody orders a copy of it.  That seems like an odd way to publish a book but in this day and age of everything being digitized, we guess it only makes sense.  We just don't think that is a good way to get a book into circulation.
• And speaking of the decline in publishing, as everybody knows, the Washington Times put their Sports Section out to pasture on Friday.  It is a bit of a shame because the people over there did good work.  We also feel a little nostalgic about the section because many years ago the Times was willing to run a letter we sent to the Sports Editor that blasted Susan O'Malley's stewardship of the Caps ticket office.  Our vast network of spies and informants told us that the fallout from the letter made us persona non grata in the Caps offices at the same time but there were many people both inside and outside the organization who were happy at somebody finally saying what needed to said.  And that was what the Washington Times Sports Section was good for.  The Times was always more willing than the (Com)Post to call things as they were as they quickly got into hot water in Ashburn in the early days of Dan Snyder's ownership.  However, the Times also knew how to criticize without going to far overboard into outright negativity.  That is something that the (Com)Post and certain local acts on ESPN 980 haven't figured out.  The Times Sports Section would have never run a total hack job like the (Com)Post did with their ticket articles last year and you never saw them going as so far as to criticize everything about FedEx Field, including the P.A. announcer (whom we happen to think does a very good job).  They will be missed and hopefully they can give a boost to the folks over at the Washington Examiner.
• This week, the Caps host Montreal and Ottawa on Tuesday and Thursday night before traveling to Atlanta on Saturday night.  The Terp Men are off again this week before opening ACC play next Sunday at home against F$U on Fox Sportsnet.  The Terp women are in Raleigh facing the Wolfpack on Thursday night.
  
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, questions, suggestions, corrections, and Facebook Friend requests (we never reject them, but take forever to check them) to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

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.
  

Sunday Smorgasbord

• The Sunday Smorgasbord returns with the odd note from Corey Masiak yesterday about how bad the Caps have been outside of the Southeast Division.  First of all, when Detroit was fattening their record on a weak Central Division, hardly anybody called them on the carpet as they were always considered one of the elite hockey teams in spite of it.  And mind you, last year was the first time since the lockout that the Central Division sent more than just Detroit and Nashville into the playoffs.  The Blues, Blue Jackets, and Blackhawks were hardly considered stellar opponents.  We've heard many times before "beat the teams you should beat, go least .500 against everybody else, and you'll be surprised as to how well you do." While there are too many hockey games to do exactly that, we look at the Caps 3-4 record against the next ten teams behind us in the standings and feel rather comfortable.  Furthermore 3 of those four losses have come at the hands of the New Jersey Devils.  Our game against Colorado on Tuesday will be a better measuring stick for where this team is than another second game in a row on the road on Saturday night in Toronto is.  Finally, while a team may be at the bottom of the standings, that does not mean they aren't currently playing well or are a bad team.  Corey conveniently leaves out the 8-2 pasting of the Philadelphia Flyers last week in his example.
  
• Well, give the Natinals credit, they're trying to give fans a reason to come to the ballpark to watch them lose another 100 games with the signing of Ivan Rodriguez earlier this week.  Maybe we're being too hard on the poor Natinals.  But the idea that Pudge is going to lead this team into playoffs in two-three years is laughable at best.  Yes, the Natinals could use a player who knows how to win in the clubhouse.  But with Jim Riggleman as the manager, the Natinals won't be challenging for a playoff spot in the National League.  We give Mike Rizzo credit, he's doing his best to restock a depleted minor league system and overcome the damage created by the Jim Bowden era.  But his work is cut out for him and it will be at least five years in our opinion before the Natinals are any good.
• Ok folks, we'll admit it.  We were wondering just how the Redskins were going to blow it this week when they opened up a 10 point lead on Oakland early in the fourth quarter today.  For all the accolades given to the defense, we wonder just how good it really is when it has shown an inability to keep the other team off the scoreboard when the chips are down.  Today though, the Raiders were totally inept once Bruce Gradkowski was knocked out and the offense kept on putting up Bingo after Bingo in the fourth quarter.  There's no doubt that the Redskins have been playing better and harder since halftime of of the Falcons game.  But even counting the second half against Atlanta, which they "won" 14-7, the Redskins are 3-3, which is about what we expect of this team.  We've felt that the Redskins at their core are an 8-8 team.  Should they stay healthy and catch a few breaks, they could win up to 12 games and a playoff game or two but never be a serious threat to win the Super Bowl.  Should the Redskins suffer key injuries and have some bad breaks, they could easily lose 12 games and be out it by Thanksgiving.  Finally, don't be fooled by what you've seen the past few weeks, while the absence of Clinton Portis is a good thing, Redskins still need a complete overhaul from top to bottom of the roster if they want to break this cycle.
• Well folks, it wouldn't be a Sunday Smorgasbord without a "Diversify or Die" moment, and we dug this one up over the summer about an idea our Wonderful, Gracious, and Peace Loving Dear Leader hadto boost our economy.  May we suggest trying this with Pittsburgh?  It's not like anybody actually lives there anyway...
• And speaking of ugly messes, what is Debbie Yow doing in College Park?  Less than year after getting her you-know-what handed to her after trying to run Gary Williams out on a rail, she tries the exact same thing with Ralph Friedgen with the exact same results.  First of all, Ralph is a victim of his own success.  Too many people look at him coming in 2001 and winning an ACC Title right away and thought he could put the Terps consistently on the national scene.  The problem is, now that everybody takes him seriously, he can't sneak up on anybody anymore.  Furthermore, when the Administration, and we don't mean Debbie Yow, refuses to provide any support to the program, this is what you get.  It is foolish to think that by avoiding questionable recruits, either academically, socially, or both, along with playing entirely by the NCAA's arcane rules that you'll be able to consistently contender for National Titles.  If the school isn't going to cut these kids a break or two or three then they cannot expect the coaches to produce the National Championships people actually care about.  And this goes for Gary Williams too who we think is once again on the hot seat because despite coming off a Second Round NCAA Tournament Appearance, the Athletic Department was selling Men's Basketball Season Tickets to the General Public for the first time in who knows how long.  We guarantee you that if the Terps start to slide on the bubble this year, that fact will be used against Gary and with the deaths of Jack Heise and Bob Novak, Gary is missing a couple of heavy hitters who helped him out last year.
• And uh, just in case you were wondering, we're not touching this Tiger Woods story with a ten foot pole...
• This week, the Caps head out west with a game on Tuesday night in Colorado at 9:30 pm.  They then head to Vancouver for a Friday game at 10:00 pm and then play their last Hockey Night in Canada regular season game on Saturday night in Edmonton at 10:00 pm again.  Terp Men are off for exams but the Terp Women come back from them next Sunday when they head to Bender Arena to play American at 2 pm.  The Redskins play their second and final Monday night home game next week against the Jints.
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, suggestions, corrections, questions, and Muppets videos to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.
  

Sunday Smorgasbord 5-17

• We've been having too much fun (if you want to call it that) catching up on sleep and general life since the Caps were eliminated by the NHL on Wednesday night. We had wanted to do a full preview for the Conference Finals that started today but never got around to it. After going 8 for 8 in the first round we cooled off and only went 3 for 4 in the second round. So to give you the condensed version of the previews we were planning, Chicago is an Original Six Rehabilitation Project that hasn't been fully tested in the playoffs. They'll get one now. The Red Wings got a wake up call from Brad Watson against the Thug Ducks (who blew our perfect record) in Game 3 but slipped a little bit and still needed seven to finish off Anaheim. That's why we think Detroit in six is a safe bet. As for the East, whenever New Jersey and Carolina meet in the playoffs, the winner has gone on to the Stanley Cup Finals. Underestimate Carolina at your own risk. The Penguin Scum are coming off of two series against two rivals, how much is physically and emotionally left? We happen to think that Carolina plays the game that Pittsburgh is trying to play now under Blysma, only better because Carolina is bigger and stronger and will hit the Penguin Scum defense, unlike the Caps. We really think Carolina in six if the NHL keeps it on the level, otherwise Carolina will likely need seven.
• We have to say, after watching today's Natinals 8-6 loss to the Phillies, we feel it is really only a matter of time before Manny Acta is fired. Not that any of this is Manny's fault but considering the turnover in the bullpen that still can't get the job done with any consistency and defense that flat out self-destructs, there's no other way to get the players attention than to get rid of the manger. That said, this lineup can really hit the ball and should get more attention from the fans because that means they'll never be out of games. Just don't expect them to win many games.
• Anyway, this is quick this week because we're about to head off to bed for night but this week Stan Kasten will actively sell to all the Pittsburgh fans who felt slighted by Ted Leonsis as the Pirates come to town and then Stan tries to convince the Baltimorons that Nationals Park is just like Ralph Cramden Yards.
• The email address here is "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Sunday Smorgasbord 5-10

• We've heard the saying about the NHL before that it "is run by Canadians, for Canadians." No better example of that is that of the 39 referees currently used by the NHL (the list does include Don Koharski and Rob Schick who have retired) all but 5 are from Canada (4 if you consider that Chris Ciamaga is from Loserville...er...Buffalo as city that likes to think it is Canadian) and none from outside of North America. Of the referees still working, only Dennis LaRue is NOT from Canada and has only worked three games so far in the second round, seven for the entire playoffs including tonight's games. Does the NHL really think that only Canadians are qualified to officiate their games? There isn't a single European official working NHL games despite just over 25% of the players in the league being from outside of North America. We are fans of diversity for the sake of diversity, but almost 90% of the referees being from one country in what is an international sport is a joke.
• And speaking of pulling the race card, Michael Wilbon did not disappoint when he attempted to tackle the "acceptance" of fighting in hockey. You might remember Wilbon's slur from almost two years ago when he was caught up in the David Beckham (who wants out of MLS now) hoolpa that soccer had passed hockey in America. Wilbon has also defend the decision to ignore hockey by stating that only 1.5 million people, as compared to over 5 million, bother to watch the sport on U.S. National television. We've already submitted to tomorrow's Wilbon chat the following question "We weren't surprised to see you pull the race card off the bottom of the deck in last week's chat in regards to fighting being an accepted part of hockey but not other sports, most notably basketball. But Michael, you've said yourself that soccer has passed hockey in terms of popularity in the United States. You've also defended the decision to ignore hockey by saying something along the lines of "when 5 million people watch instead of 1.5 million, then we'll pay attention." So how can you really say that the American public approves of fighting in hockey when so few people tune to watch it in the first place and you consider soccer a more popular sport? Isn't this a classic example of "people voting with their feet" or more specifically their remote controls and entertainment dollars? Furthermore, every four years when the Winter Olympics come around, the Olympic hockey ratings far outpace anything the NHL ever does. People know that the gloves aren't going to be dropped in an Olympic game where it is always a distinct possibility in an NHL game. Again, people vote with their remote controls and time and again, will chose hockey that they know does not have the indiscriminate violence. Race has nothing to do with it." We fully expect Wilbon to duck the question which is why we're throwing it out here.
• Of course, we would be very remiss if we attempted to this Smorgasbord and not comment on the situation in Phoenix with the Coyotes. Boy has this turned into a prime mess. Rather than bore you with a recounting of the details as we know them so far, we happen to think that this is a grand game of chicken for Gary Bettman. It should not be forgotten that he holds the final trump card in this whole process in that he could revoke the Coyote franchise, leaving Jim Balsillie holding an empty bag. The only potential remedy to that is a court in the U.S. or Canada ordering the NHL to give Balsillie a franchise which would be a judicial overreach of the highest order. (Though we wouldn't be too surprised to see that.) Al Davis has shown that a league other than Major League Baseball cannot prevent a franchise relocation so any votes on relocation and territorial claims are downright moot. We have to say though, it would help Bettman's PR case if he was willing to let everybody know what his objections to Balsillie really are.
• The worst part about the Coyotes going bankrupt are the self-appointed hockey purists who insist that this failure is an indictment on Bettman's "Sun Belt Plan" and salary cap. First of all, their debts didn't just start piling up after the salary cap was instituted four years ago. Secondly, the anti-cap forces conveniently forget to mention the unprecedented salary floor that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for. So while Phoenix has 27th overall payroll, they are forced into a position of spending $$$$$ they don't have in the first place in order to come into compliance, partially defeating the purpose of a cap in the first place. As for the failure of Bettman's "Sun Belt Plan," we have to chuckle at the self appointed hockey purists who seem to think that increasing the number of teams in Canada is a great idea. Why? Well the self-appointed hockey purists also rake Bettman over the coals for losing ESPN as a television partner for the league. Do these people honestly think that a smaller footprint in the Southern part of the United States and more Canadian Franchises will make the league more attractive to U.S. broadcasters like ESPN? The answer to that is no, the NHL would NOT be more attractive U.S. broadcasters like ESPN with more Canadian franchises simply because ESPN has no reach in Canada and even if they get airtime on ABC, Canadian TV ratings do not count in the United States. Finally why did the franchise move from Winnipeg to Phoenix in the first place? Because the small Canadian market wasn't profitable. So how could another small Canadian market be profitable? This is madness and the best answer to this problem is contraction or a move to Kansas City.
• Though we would not be surprised in the least to find Caps fans counting on Phoenix moving to Hamilton (or somewhere else) as the basis for cooking up their own hair-brained realignment schemes where the Atlanta Thrashers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes are all shipped out to Western Conference or Northeast Division and the Caps are magically placed in a Division with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and the Rangers and Islanders.
• Enough about hockeynow. Let's bust up the Natinals! They carried a three game winning streak into today's game but couldn't overcome crummy pitching today and saw their streak snapped. We were really hoping for a sweep of he Diamondbacks because Arizona fired their manager before the series even started. We have to say, even with winning today's cripple fight, the new guy does not seem to be much of an improvement over the old guy because the Natinals remain by far the worst team in Major League Baseball. While the Cleveland Indians have a slightly worse winning percentage (.344 to .345) the Natinals have played three fewer games than Cleveland and can anybody really think the Natinals would win 2 of those 3 games? Winning two one run games this weekend is a good sign but the Manny Acta's best hope of winning, and keeping his job, is simply out slugging everybody which is very tough to do.
• We have to admit, we're intrigued by these Brett Farve to Minnesota rumors. First of all, did anybody really think this guy would stay retired? Though we do think he is providing a valuable lesson/service for every other professional athlete in demonstrating how not to handle the end of your career. However, as long as there are media types and NFL teams willing to stroke his ego and give him the attention he clearly craves, this is going to continue. No amount of interceptions or poisoned locker rooms will ever get the message through to him.
• Finally this week, the Caps season will hopefully come to a merciful end tomorrow night in Pittsburgh so the Penguin Scum fans can continue to do their superiority dance over another rigged outcome. If by some miracle...er...mistake there's a Game 7, it would be on Wednesday night in D.C. Though right now we aren't likely to attend it. The Natinals are in San Francisco until Wednesday and get Thursday off to recover from the jet lag. The day off also gives Stan Kasten time to invite more Phillies fans to D.C. for the four game weekend series starting on Friday featuring a day-night doubleheader on Saturday to make up for the rainout on April 15th.
• And as since the first day of this blog, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and gloating to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com. Just a word of caution though, all death threats will be forwarded onto the appropriate authorities.

Sunday Smorgasbord 5-3

• We begin this week with a reach into the personal files from yesterday. Immediately after yesterday's Game 1 we went to our Roman Catholic Parish in Northern Virginia for a Charity Dinner that we helped to organize. (That is why yesterday's Post-Mortem was so late and originally more incoherent than usual) To be honest, we would have rather skipped the whole thing with the cold we're fighting, lack of voice after the game, and other sleep robbing issues we've encountered over the last couple of weeks. However, we were asked to sit at the head table at the dinner last night so we sucked it up and did our duty. As luck would have it, the emcee, her date, the speaker, and the Priest who was sponsoring the dinner are all from Pittsburgh and joined me at the head table with a couple of other people who had no idea what a hockey puck is. When the speaker asked how many Penguin Scum fans there were in the room before he divided into his speech, only a couple of hands went up (out of a group of 70 in attendance) and a fine, upstanding, and very respectable gentleman seated at a table up front yelled out 'ROCK THE RED!" We would have bought that guy a beer had beer been available.
• We were able to steal a few moments before the dinner to watch the Kentucky Derby even though we don't follow horse racing at all. Mine That Bird's win was very interesting to watch but expect ratings and interest for the Preakness to plummet should he skip that race in two weeks. While there is and should not be a mandate that the Derby winner run in the Preakness, it would be a blow to the Triple Crown series, the Preakness, and Pimlico at a time none of them can afford it. Of course you don't want to enter a horse into a speed race that isn't his style and the health and safety of the animals must be the overriding factor. But this just goes to show that there's something wrong with horse racing right now and the people in charge need to figure it out before the sport wastes totally away.
• And in case anybody is wondering, yes we saw and we're still waiting for a suspension on Anaheim's Mike Brown for his hit on Juri Hulder in Friday's Game 1 in Detroit. We've packed a lunch.
• Well the Natinals avoided another loss today as their game with as their game with St. Louis was rained out. While we give the Natinals credit for trying to get the game in today, it looks as if in true Natinals style that they botched the handling of the rainout. They get to repeat their mistakes again tomorrow night with the Astros in town because the forecast for tomorrow is a carbon copy of today's; rainy and cold all day. All this really does is allow Manny Acta to remain manager for a few more days.
• Don't look know, but D.C. United is in first place of the MLS Eastern Conference after last night's 2-1 win over FC Dallas. Once the Caps season is over we will make a point to pay closer attention to them because it looks as if their mix of youth and veterans is starting to come together.
• This week, the bulk of the Caps-Penguin Scum series will take place with Game 2 taking place in D.C. tomorrow night with Games 3 and 4 in Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Friday nights respectively. The Phone Booth in all likely hood will host Game 5 on Saturday night because we don't see the Caps sweeping this series. Stan Kasten will have his hands full entertaining his friends from Houston for a two game series on Monday and Tuesday before the Nats head out for their first West Coast trip of the season for two games with the L.A. Dodgers on Wednesday and Thursday and a three game series in Arizona next weekend. D.C. United visits Kansas City on Wednesday night and then hosts Toronto on Saturday night.
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, suggestions, questions, and employment opportunities in the city of Pittsburgh to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Sunday Smorgasbord 4-26

• We start off this week with news we first saw on the (Com)Post about Jeremy Tyler skipping his senior season of high to play basketball professionally. Because the NBA won't touch him, he has to go to Europe and is certain to win all kinds of applause and kudos from various folks who say they have the kids best interests at heart. In other words, they want this kid to rake in the $$$$$ they feel the NCAA are unfairly keeping from these kids. But when you consider that a school like the University of Maryland allows athletes who has exhausted their eligibility or leave school early to return to school to complete their undergraduate degree on scholarship, just how much are these kids being exploited? A four year run at UMD currently runs about $145,000, so who really has whose best interests of these kids at heart? Furthermore we can't imagine that UMD is the only school doing something like this which is probably why these schools don't like players skipping out early because they're still on the hook when the NBA dreams have been dashed and they need that Bachelor's Degree. Only the school is no longer getting the benefit of the athlete's talent and "making $$$$$ off of him." Tyler isn't the first to skip out on the NCAA for Europe in the hopes of returning to the big NBA payday but what are the odds that he is going to manage that European and/or NBA paycheck well enough that when his playing days are over, he can get a college education on his own? These people applauding this kid should admit that all they really care about is $$$$$ and not the long term future of these kids they feel are being exploited.
• We all remember the hit Sean Avery laid on Milan "Jerky" Jurcina in Game 4 that drew blood as Jerky made the touch up on an icing call. Were you aware of this in the NHL Suggestion Book under 42.1 Boarding? "Any unnecessary contact with a player playing the puck on an obvious “icing” or “off-side” play which results in that player being knocked into the boards is “boarding” and must be penalized as such. In other instances where there is no contact with the boards, it should be treated as “charging.”" We guess that once the playoffs start, the points of emphasis are thrown out the window. And to think, John Tortorella and Avery defenders have had the audacity to complain about the officiating in this series...
• And speaking of the Rangers whining about the officiating and application of the NHL Suggestions, to borrow Bruce Garrioch's term, they took whining to a whole new level today" over the incident Friday night during Game 5 by sending and publishing their letter to the NHL. First of all, let's sit back, enjoy, and laugh very hard at the irony of the New York Rangers Organization complaining about the behavior and language of fans at a hockey game. We all know what a role models for the rest of the league the Madison Square Garden crew is. Furthermore what part of "the National Hockey League cannot -- and will not -- tolerate any physical contact with fans" do the Rangers not understand? One of the first things we were taught we went started interacting with other people was that "two wrongs don't make a right." We here at Bleatings From a Caps Nut do not condone spitting, throwing objects into and onto the bench, and excessive profanity directed at anybody. However, that does not excuse the highly paid coach of a professional hockey team squirting water and then throwing a water bottle at fans that have been heckling him all game. Fans who act out of line should be promptly removed from the facility (no matter which team they are rooting for) and players and coaches who cannot handle the heckling that comes with playing a game on the road shouldn't be playing games on the road.
• And adding to the Rangers temper tantrums, are their complaints about Mr. Donald Brashear and Shaone Morrrissonnn. Mr. Brashear as you should already know, knocked out Blair Betts in the first period today after Betts had dumped the puck deep into the Caps defensive zone. We think the hit came a little on the late side but other than a big man, Mr. Brashear, hitting a smaller man, Betts, we don't see what was so dirty and cheap about it. Considering what Sean Avery has gotten away with in this series, the NHL is going to have a hard time slapping Mr. Brashear with any "supplemental discipline" over this and his "run-in" with Colton Orr during the warmups. (Though that has never stopped the NHL) As for the complaint that Morrrissonnn bit Brandon Dubinsky we're left saying "Huh?" How could Morrrissonnn do something like that unless Dubinsky's arm was in close proximity to Morrrissonnn's mouth in the first place? We don't remember seeing Morrrissonnn grabbing Dubinsky's arm and pulling it towards his mouth. So therefore, what was Dubinsky's arm doing there? Are Morrrissonnn's teeth really sharp enough that he can bite through a jersey, long sleeved undershirt, and potentially equipment or equipment straps? Finally, how could something like that have been missed by all the TV cameras and the officials on the ice? (We can understand how the referees could possibly miss it, but considering the way today's game was called, we highly doubt it) Good grief, give it up guys.
• Adding to New York's misery at the hands of D.C. Professional sports teams was the Nats getting their first win on the road this season in New York against the Mets. We didn't watch the entire game but that was another game where the officials didn't give the Nationals any breaks. Luckily they were still able to pull out a win. Now at 4-13 there is some belief that the Manny Acta Watch is on. We however think that would be a shame because the pitching is finally starting to come around and there has been no sign yet of the players quitting like they did last year. As Robert Fachet used to say about the early days of the Caps, "you can't make chicken salad out of chicken feathers."
• Completing the D.C. over New York Trifecta today was D.C. United coming back from a 2-1 second half deficit to win 3-2 in the Meadowlands. We didn't get a chance to watch this game either because of the hockey game (and the fact that we don't understand Spanish as the game was on Telefutura) but know that beating the New York Red Bulls is always a high priority for D.C. United. And to do it with a late comeback win, that only makes it all the more special.
• Finally, this week, the Caps are hosting first round Game 7 again this year on Tuesday night at 7 pm on Versus. Should the Caps win, they would play either the New Jersey Devils or Pittsburgh Penguin Scum in the Second Round. The Caps would have home ice advantage over both teams and would start the Series at the Phone Booth on either Thursday or Friday night. The Nats go and visit Stan Kasten's newest and bestest friends when they visit the Philadelphia Phillies tomorrow night to start a three game series. They then come back home as Stan expresses his love for the good people from St. Louis for a four game weekend series starting on Thursday night. D.C. United will host FC Dallas at RFK on Saturday night at 7:30 pm.
• As always please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, suggestions, questions, and unsubstantiated allegations to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Sunday Smorgasbord 4-19

• We start off this week by entering a plea to kill these stupid Proud To Be A Caps Fan Signs. We've hated these signs from day one and really wish they would go away. Why? Well, first of all it gives up that being the Caps fan is something to be ashamed of for some reason because it exhibits a certain defiance. Certainly some of our rivals will be quick to agree that being a Caps fans is something to be ashamed of and signs like this do nothing to dispel that notion. If you're proud of being a fan of a certain team or thing, you don't or shouldn't need to carry some stupid sign broadcasting that fact. Furthermore, it won't earn you any more respect from your rivals. So please, for the children, get rid of these stupid things and quit promoting them.
• Adding to the misery that was the D.C. Sports Scene this weekend were the Natinals going 3 for 3 in blown ninth inning leads against the Florida Marlins though at least today, didn't wait until extra innings to lose the game. Everybody knew that pitching would be a problem for this team but did anybody image that the bullpen would be this big of a disaster? Even more troubling are the runners left on base by a team that seems to be able to score runs. With three relief pitchers being shown the door and three more coming up, Manny Acta is starting to feel the heat as his 73-89 record in his first season is looking more and more like an aberration. One wonders just how much longer he is going to last in the Nats dugout. The good news is that the Nats won't play Florida again until June 29th. But, again, will Acta still be the manager?
• Even better news for the Nationals is the contract extension for Ryan Zimmerman. At full health and with some help in the lineup, Zimmerman is off to a good start this season. This extension is very important to get completed because Zimmerman is supposed to be the face of the franchise and the cornerstone of the team as it works its way out of the mess left behind by Major League Baseball's stewardship of the franchise. Had the Nats been unable to get an extension done in a timely manner, they risked having to return to square one and would have cemented the Lerners' reputation for being cheap.
• Never ones to let a sleeping dog lie, now word comes out that the Redskins are looking to move up in the NFL Draft next Saturday to grab USC Quarterback Mark Sanchez. The rumor mill churns that Jason Campbell is part of the package the Redskins are shopping to get up high enough to draft Sanchez. Our position remains the same, it doesn't really matter who the Redskins put at quarterback, they aren't going to be very successful behind that sorry excuse for an offensive line. Furthermore, what does this mean for Colt Brennan? One would have thought that Dan Snyder would be leading the Cult of Colt Bandwagon but no, Snyder seems to be intent on finding somebody else for Jim Zorn's West Coast Offense system. Though the saddest part of all of this is that the stability that Joe Gibbs had brought to the franchise seems to be gone after just one year. We aren't too surprised but very disappointed.
• Remember those Easterns Motors Ovechkin Outtakes that has had everybody laughing at A.O.? Well, Capitals Kremlin has the finished product and we have to say, the outtakes were much, much better. But as Dan Steinberg of the (Com)Post has noted, we're sure that Easterns doesn't really care because they gotten all kinds of mileage (and will continue to) for free out of the outtakes.
• We saw the end of the Penguin Scum-Flyers Game 2 on Friday night and were amazed by Philly, just being Philly. We know and are glad that the Flyers won Game 3 today because it is going to extend that series but the Flyers aren't out of the woods yet. Boston taking a 2-0 lead on Montreal isn't surprising to us either though we're a little surprised that Montreal is trying to out muscle the Bruins. It won't work because that isn't Montreal's game. We happen to agree with those who believe that Chicago should have been called for goaltender interference on the Game Wining Goal in overtime in Game 1 against Calgary. We also think there was something goaltender interference in overtime of Game 2 of the Carolina-New Jersey series. Nice to see that the NHL is continuing to crack down on these activities.
• Finally this week, the Caps have at least two games and both will be in New York as the Series shifts up there for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Wednesday night. If the Caps can win one of them, the series will return to Washington for Game 5 on Friday night. All three games will be on Versus. Should the Caps pull off two wins this week, Game 6 will be back in New York next Sunday on NBC. Stan Kasten invites his old fanbase from Atlanta to come up and enjoy Nationals Park for a three game series the Braves are having against the Natinals starting tomorrow night. The Nats won't lose on Thursday as they have that day to travel all the way to New York to face the Mets for a three game weekend series in the Mets new stadium.
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and Gummi Bear recipes to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Easter Sunday Smorgasbord 4-12

• So let's just this straight, Philadelphia, which has had an NHL team since 1967 and hockey fans that are very rabid, literally, finally this week got one of their native sons into their uniforms for an NHL game. But Washington, D.C, a town with an NHL team since 1974 and a bunch of Know-Nothing-Johnny-Come-Lately-Bandwagon-Jumping fans accomplished the same feat (getting a Native Son into the home team jersey for an NHL game) some 9 and a half years earlier??? Furthermore, Jeff Halpern got into the Caps lineup the old fashioned way, he earned it. With all due respect to David Sloane, he got into the Flyers lineup because of the Flyers' mismanagement of the Salary Cap and could only play one game under the CBA rules as a amateur tryout.
• If an 0-6 start wasn't bad enough for the Nationals, Stan Kasten felt the need to shoot the organization's leg completely off this week with his plea to Philadelphia fans to come on down to Nationals Park to watch the Phillies. The adding insult to injury, he sees nothing wrong with it saying he's proud of the Nationals Park and wants to share it with everybody around Major League Baseball. We at least he's proud of something though we would wonder about him if he were proud of the team on the field. Though in our opinion, the stadium isn't much better. First of all the location is terrible, just like getting in and out of there is (the Navy Yard Station is a joke and Metro has no clue how to run their trains through there). The views aren't all they're cracked up to be, either of the skyline (again, terrible location) or the field (too many blind spots of fair territory). You can change the concessionaires all you want Mr. Kasten but it comes down to the fact that they all hire the same lazy and incompetent fools that Centreplate and Aramark did. So they won't improve. Most, not all, of the ushers and event staff remain a surly bunch that jump all over men without their shirts, but look the other way at a woman "nursing" her child in the stands during a game. Yes, that's right, we had the distinct pleasure of sitting next to a woman on August 12th against the Mets who popped one out and latched a kid on about the 4th inning and made no effort to cover anything up. Add in the fact that we bought a half-season ticket last year but had to buy extra tickets for the bobblehead nights and never knew who our ticket rep was and you understand why we only plan on attending four games this year, if the weather is nice on those days. But now that Kasten is inviting fans from out of town to come on in like Susan O'Malley did, we feel even less incentive to go to games. Though we will give La Sooz credit, we don't know of her ever going on the air in another city to pitch tickets to the Phone Booth the way Stan did this week. We can only guess that was because La Sooz wasn't very proud of the Phone Booth.
• Getting back to hockey, it looks as if Boston University had a thrilling comeback last night to win the NCAA Frozen Four at the Phone Booth. We wonder if our friends over at the On Frozen Bozos think that the (Com)Post and Times coverage of the event was adequate and "professional" enough for their tastes. We only ask because they've complained about the lack of college hockey coverage before despite the fact that there isn't a single NCAA Division I College Hockey program, within the D.C. Metro area. Fair is fair guys.
• In our Diversify or Die moment this week, we only note that the Somali Pirates are only doing what our wonderful Dear Leader thinks is best for everybody by making sure that the wealth is spread around. So why does everybody have problem with these people???
• Getting back to the Nationals, are the Nats as bad as everybody feared getting off to an 0-6 start? Well, the pitching at least is. The Nats have scored 26 runs in the six games so far for an average of 4.3 runs per game. Not great, but not terrible either. According to MLB.com's stats, they should have a record of 2-4. But why don't they? The pitching remains terrible. Maybe these young guys will work things out, but for now, the Nats have just an 8.4% chance of making the playoffs. That seems about 8.4% too high.
• This week, the Caps start the playoff against the Rangers with Game 1 on either Wednesday or Thursday night. We know (hope) that Game 2 is Saturday afternoon. The Nats open up their home schedule with our wonderful Dear Leader throwing...er....backing out of throwing out the first pitch tomorrow against Stan Kasten's best friends forever, the Philadelphia Phillies. Stan is arranging for Philly fans to find hotel rooms for the games on Wednesday and Thursday and White House tours on Tuesday's off day. Saturday, Stan welcomes fans of the Florida Marlins in to Nationals Park for a weekend series. D.C. United, still searching for their first win on the season looks for it on Friday night against the New England Revolution at home on ESPN2.
• As always, please send all comment, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and the Final NHL First Round Playoff Schedule to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Sunday Smorgasbord 4-5

• Is it us or does it seem like the Penguin Scum are tanking once again in hopes of avoiding the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the playoffs?
• If you've ever wondered why we don't pay attention to the NHL's byzantine tie-breaking system for the standings, take a look at the current Eastern Conference standings page. Doesn't it seem odd to you that the fourth seeded Philadelphia Flyers have not officially locked up a playoff spot but the 5th seeded Carolina Hurricanes have? Well, thank Gary Bettman and his idea of breaking ties. The first official tie-breaker of course is fewest games played. That is the reason why the NHL right now officially gives the 4th seed to the Flyers over the Hurricanes. However, if Philadelphia were to lose their four remaining games in regulation and the Panthers were to win their three remaining games, Florida would have the second tie breaker over Philadelphia which is wins. Therefore, Philadelphia needs one more point to ensure a playoff spot because they current have 95 points which is the current maximum for the Panthers. The Carolina Hurricanes on the other hand would still have more wins than Florida should the Canes lose their last 3 games in regulation and the Panthers were to win their last three games. That's why the Canes have secured a playoff spot and the Flyers haven't. Any reasonable person should look at the NHL tie-breakers and throw out the first tie-breaker because at this time next Sunday, every NHL team will have played the same number games. To act as if a team that has played fewer games should be given a higher position does nothing but acknowledge the fact that we are in an era of standings point inflation thanks to Bettman.
• Of course, if you're looking for clarity for the NHL playoff picture heading into this final week, forget about it unless you're looking at the top seeds. Looking at the Caps and the Caps only, the Caps are most likely to play Montreal in the first round right now though the Penguin Scum could tank their way into 7th or continue to hover in 6th, avoiding Philadelphia at all costs and ready to face the Caps should they fall into the 3rd seed. The Rangers could sneak up to the 7th seed, but we're not counting on it. Florida would only be an 8th seed should they sneak in.
• We told you a few weeks ago that the lack of defense would be the undoing of the Maryland Women and that is exactly what happened on Monday night when the Terps fell to Louisville in the Elite Eight. The Terps never led in the game and quite frankly, never showed enough commitment to the defensive end to get the job done. With the graduation of Marissa Coleman and Kristi Toliver, the future of the program will hinge on whether or not Brenda Frese will find a commitment to defense. Simply put, the Terps won't sneak up on anybody the way they did in 2006 to win the National Championship. There is no doubt that she can get the talent she needs, she just needs to employ them in a more sensible way than just trying to simply outscore everybody.
• So let's make sure that we understand this fully. There is some thought, though not everybody agrees with it, that Jason Campbell is not the quarterback that Jim Zorn needs to make his offense click. However it is an outrage that they would consider dumping Campbell in favor of Jay Cutler who was traded by the Denver Broncos to the Chicago Bears? First of all, we applaud Campbell for his comments and handling of the situation. The fact that he realizes that the NFL is a business shows just how grounded he is. But what we fail to understand is how looking into a possible upgrade a bad thing? Cutler may be no better for Zorn's system than Campbell, but it isn't as if Campbell is a 3 time All-Pro on his way to the Hall of Fame and Cutler is the second coming of Ryan Leaf. Our position, that is doesn't matter who is at quarterback as long as the offensive line remains as bad as it is nobody is going to be successful in that position, is well known and our only objection to the potential trade for Cutler was the asking price of two first round draft picks. We need all the draft picks we can get to draft linemen on both sides of the ball. Trading two first rounders for him would have ensured that Cutler would have not done any better than Campbell has done, because he would be running for his life more often than not.
• This week, the Caps finish off the regular season when they travel to Atlanta on Tuesday, Tampa on Thursday, and Florida on Saturday night. The Nationals start their season in Florida tomorrow for the first of three games with the Marlins before they travel to Atlanta to help the Braves open their home schedule with a three game weekend series. D.C. United, who pulled out a 1-0 win last night at home over the Houston Dynamo, travel to face Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, suggestions, questions, and recipes for fried modems to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Sunday Smorgasbord 3-29

• In case you were wondering why we call it the Washington (Com)Post, look no further at how the (Com)Post handled the developing situation regarding the UCONS. The Josh Barr's headline casts doubt on the records that Adrian Wojnarowski and Dan Wetze of Yahoo! Sports dug up through the Freedom of Information Act. Furthermore, The Worldwide Leader in Schlock dug up other UCONS tied to Josh Nochimson the day the Yahoo! article appeared. The (Com)Post? Well, let's just say you wouldn't know anything else was going on based on the fact that they've had zero in the way of original reporting since the misconduct first came to light. Maybe the (Com)Post is currently working on a three part story about Jim Calhoun's transgressions or maybe they're leaving it to people like Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant to smash Calhoun. The Hartford Courant did some additional digging uncovering more unflattering information that the (Com)Post has ignored as well. But hey, we guess this isn't as interesting or well sourced as the Maryland-Under Armour story that the (Com)Post ran "when it was complete and ready to go." Wethinks that when Eric Prisbell finally turns his attention to the dirty underbelly of college basketball recruiting, (not related to Maryland) it will be declared "old news," go nowhere, and get spiked.
• Well, the U.S. Men came out flatter than a pancake last night and were very lucky to escape with a 2-2 tie in El Salvador. What frustrated us wasn't the antics of the Salvadorians who were trying to waste time with their injuries, but that the United States turned it on in the 75th minute and got two goals in 12 minutes to tie the game up. Just where was that level of intensity for the first 75 minutes of the game? We continue to be underwhelmed by Landon Donovan who didn't create anything in the first half and was totally MIA in the second. We're certain that the 2-2 final felt like a loss to both the Salvadorians who blew a two goal lead and to the United States allowed the Salvadorians to score on them for the first time in 12 years. This isn't how you build a case to be given a top seed in the World Cup.
• Not that we expect anything major to come of it, but the Redskins were awarded an additional draft pick this year as compensation for losing Mark Brunell to the New Orleans Saints last year. That gives Washington 5 picks in the upcoming draft and it will come in the 7th round, 243rd overall. What is more interesting to us is that the NFL is giving serious consideration to lengthening its season. We reserve full comment on the idea until the logistics are worked out but as NFL Season Ticket holders, we will mention that not only are we forced to purchase the preseason games, which will be reduced by the longer regular season, but we have to pay full price for them. So as season ticket holders, the idea is not too objectionable, but we don't want to be going to Regular Season games on Sunday Afternoons in August. One thing we would object to is the proposal to increase the number of teams in he playoffs to reduce the number of "meaningless games" at the end of the season. There's no way you could increase the number of playoff teams without adding weeks to the season which is long enough as is.
• In an interesting move, the Nats added Dimitri Young to the 40 man roster this week. Why, we don't know. We happen to think that Nick Johnson fills the strong hitting, often-injured first baseman roll quite well thank you very much so we do we really need another one of those? This of course comes after Sean Hill became this year's former starting pitcher unceremoniously released during Spring Training because the organization didn't think he could stay healthy. But hey, Stan Kasten's hand is so weighed down by all those World Series Rings he won down in Atlanta, who are we to question him?
• We're now down to the last two weeks of the NHL regular season and the playoff picture is starting to get a little clearer. So far only the San Jose Sharks, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, and Washington Capitals have officially claimed playoff spots. Calgary is close to claiming one but Philadelphia, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Vancouver, and Columbus all look to be sure bets to clinch a spot in the next week and a half. In the East, Montreal and the New York Rangers are in the drivers seat but are one losing streak away from being in real trouble. Florida has the best chance of the Eastern teams on the outside looking in and it could go down to their final game of the season, which is against Washington on Easter Eve. Out West, things are a little too close to call with Nashville, St. Louis, and Edmonton all within three points of each other for the final two spots. The Anaheim Thug Ducks have an outside chance but only one game against a team that they are chasing. Personally, we would love to see Florida make it into the playoffs, giving the much-maligned Southeast Division three playoff teams for the first time, leaving the Northeast with only one. Should St. Louis and Nashville hold on, the entire Central Division will qualify for the playoffs.
• This week, the Maryland Women look to get back to the Final Four when they face Louisville in Raleigh, NC tomorrow night. The Caps finish out their home schedule with games on Wednesday night against the Islanders, Friday night against the Buffaslugs, and Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Thrashers.
• As always, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, suggestions, questions, and petition drive requests to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

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.