What a Lousy Sports Town

Washington may be many things - the home city for the Federal Government, home to some great monuments and famous buildings. Not to mention the famous people that live and/or visit here. But Washington, when it comes to sports, is just plain rotten. Long gone are the glory days of Super Bowls and an NBA Championship. Washington's sports teams are mired in the bottom in just about every sport. The Redskins? Last. The Wizards? Last. The Nationals? Last. The Capitals seem to be the only franchise with a glimmer of hope, but seem to disappear come play-off time. Since December 3, Washington's NFL, NBA and NHL teams were a combined 0-17. (Thanks to Parker and Parker for that tidbit). The Caps finally won tonight breaking their 7 game losing streak. Thats just all around bad. The Redskins and Wizards both seem to have so many holes to fill it's not realistic to think they will be contenders anytime soon. The Caps have the talent. It's just a matter of bringing their A game come play-off time. The Nationals? Who knows. Certainly they have some promising young talent, but thats all it is - promising. Not proven. Plus they turned around and traded two of their more popular players in Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham. They have a "plan" supposedly, but who knows. It doesn't look all that promising for next year.

Another part of it is that we can't just lose gracefully. All season long we've been tortured with the Albert Hayneswoth debacle. Then the unseemly benching of Donovan McNabb. Over at the University of Maryland (within spitting distance of Washington), football coach Ralph Friedgen is being forced out after taking Maryland to 7 bowl games in 10 years. Then there was Gilbert Arenas and the gun affair. It's just crazy in this town.

Is it too late to ask Santa for a winning sports team for Washington?

It's a Sad Day in Washington

For sports fans here in the nation's capital, it is a sad day as the beloved Capitals, the best team in the NHL this year, laid an egg in the playoffs losing to the Club de Hockey Canadien - the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens were the 8th seed. Frankly it wasn't a fluke. Even though the series went 7 games, the Canadiens totally outplayed the Capitals though out the series. I think the loss certifies Washington as the worst sports town in the world. The Redskins - last place, the Wizards - last place. The Nationals - back to back 100 loss seasons. It certainly makes being a sports fan here a trial. Sigh.

On a lighter note, we got a new high def TV. Now we can watch our lame sports teams in sparkling 1080 clarity.

Another thing that makes me happy - Daughter#2 has decided to return to the pitch and play soccer. She joined a league in Harrisonburg. One of the things I miss, now that my kids are older, is watching them play their various sports. As the kids were growing up, particularly when they were in high school, our weekends were spent following the teams our kids were on be it Daughter#2's travel soccer team or her high school soccer team or the high school crew team that Daughter#1 and The Son were on Their regattas would literally last all day long from 8:00 in the morning to 4:00 or so in the afternoon and, in the bigger ones, do it all the same the following day. Anyway, I plan to travel out to the Valley to catch at least one of her games.

It's suppose to be a good weekend weatherwize so I'm hoping to both get out on the water and do some rowing and break out the bike for my first ride of the season. I just wish it would stay warm instead of this 80 degrees one day and 40 the next. A little consistency would be nice.