Are Baseball and Hockey the Only Hope in DC

If you are a DC sports fan of my generation, you have been subjected to a pretty painful few decades. DC has not won a professional sports championship since Mark Rypien, Art Monk and co. took us to the promised land in 1992’s Superbowl XXVI. I was nine at the time and my parents took me down to the parade in downtown DC to celebrate. I’ll never forget it. It’s the type of celebration that everyone should get to be a part of in their lifetime.

It’s not too clear when we’ll have another world championship parade in DC. Clearly the Redskins won’t be the team. We turned the ball over 6 times today in a devastating 31-7 loss to our divisional rival New York Giants. It was embarrassing and emblematic of the types of losses we have seen from this team since Dan Snyder took ownership in 1999. I hate to say it but we will not win another NFL championship so long as he owns the team. It pains me to say it but its true.

The Washington Wizards won’t be the ticket either. Sure we’ve got John Wall but who else? Nick Young? Andre Blatch? Andre had a good season last year but is not the type of player I would invest my NBA championship aspirations in. I won’t even mention Agent Zero or whatever the hell name he goes by nowadays. I never thought he was a winner but after gungate and his actions since then, it’s clear that we will not be winning anything big with this guy on our team.

This leaves us with Hockey and Baseball. The Nationals made a huge move today signing Jayson Werth to a 7 year 127 million dollar contract. Werth brings World Series and heavy playoff experience to a young Nationals squad that hasn’t played in those big games. We lost Adam Dunn but kept the rest of our roster intact and will have Strasburg and Bryce Harper at our disposal. Combining guys like Werth with this stable of young talent could take this franchise to the next level.

We also have a lot of hope on the ice. With the best player in hockey as their star, the Washington Capitals were supposed to win the Stanley cup last season but had an incredibly disappointing loss in the first round of the NHL playoffs. It was the first time a one seed lost to an eight in hockey. The Capitals have the same team on the ice this season and should threaten for the Cup if they are able to pull things together at the right time.

Even though our basketball and football teams have no shot, its still exciting to be a DC sports fan. I can’t wait for the next parade however it comes.

Related Articles

• The 10 greatest sports dynasties that never happened (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• Jayson Werth Agrees To Seven-Year $126 Million Deal With Washington Nationals (bleacherreport.com)

Matt Diaz Versus Random Fan

The Figure

Diaz wins this one. He and the braves were playing against the Phillies in Philadelphia when the figure you see pictured here ran onto the field. Diaz was just watching all of this unfold from his post in left until the security guard slipped and Diaz had flashbacks to 2007 when a security guard at Turner field in Atlanta suffered a head injury in a similar situation. This guy is really lucky. Diaz could have completely destroyed him from his blind side but he took it easy and for good reason.

When [the fan] came back — I didn’t want to get hurt and I didn’t want to hurt him — I just stuck out my foot

Check out the video. I really hope the commentators are pronouncing Diaz’s name properly. If not they need to pick up some basic Spanish Rosetta Stone lessons ASAP.

Related Articles

• Atlanta Braves LF Matt Diaz helps tackle fan in Philly (sports.espn.go.com)
• Video: Matt Diaz Trips Costumed Phillies Fan (everyjoe.com)

The Nationals Brawl

Everyone over at the Nationals Ballpark is probably extremely frustrated right now. Our savior just underwent Tommy John surgery which will have implications for his career down the line and for another year we are not in contention for a playoff spot but still playing inspired baseball in September. This frustration has been very evident in Nyjer Morgan this past week. He ran into St. Louis’ catcher for no reason the other night, completely demolished The Florida Marlins’ catcher during a play at the plate in another game and made inappropriate comments to fans.

Most recently he started a bench clearing brawl when he charged the mound after Florida’s pitcher Chris Volstad threw a pitch behind him. This was probably the biggest baseball fight I’ve seen in a few years. Morgan gets a hit in but is quickly taken out by a mean clothesline from Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez. Morgan was suspended for 8 games and fined an undisclosed amount of money for the fight. He was already appealing a 7 game suspension he received on August 25th.

Army Skydiver Gets Stuck on Pole at Rangers Game

In what had to have been the most embarrassing moment of his career a US Army Golden Knight got stuck on a flagpole during a pregame jump last night. Something was clearly not right as the second 2 jumpers approached the stadium. It almost looks like his buddy pushed him down into the pole. This could have ended much worse for both of them. Check it out below.

The Latest Nationals Acquisition

The sports gods must be done punishing the District’s residents for the time being. We got the first pick in the NBA draft and landed Jon Wall, it looks like our football team might give us something to cheer about this season and the Nationals have quietly secured their future for the next decade. You may remember my post a while back about the beginning of the Strasburg era. Towards the end of that story I mentioned Bryce Harper who was the first overall pick in the 2010 MLB draft. The Nationals are one of few teams in history to have the top pick in back to back years.

1 minute before their midnight deadline, Bryce Harper and the Nationals were able to reach agreement on a $9.9 million dollar deal to secure his place on the roster. He likely won’t make his first major league start for another couple years but people around baseball think the sky is the limit for this kid.

Under their current deals, the Nationals will have Strasburg through the 2016 season and Harper through 2020 if he progresses as expected. They have also secured Zimmerman’s services through 2013.  With these three as their foundation, the Nationals should be able to secure some solid free agents, make a few trades and hopefully make a playoff run sometime in the foreseeable future. Nothing is certain in sports, especially in DC, so we’ll have to wait and see how this pans out but I’m excited about the direction the franchise is heading in.

Check out Harper on ESPN’s E:60

Baseball & the Shot Clock

I hate baseball.  I’d rather stab myself in the right eye then watch a baseball game.  Baseball is so boring that Junior chose retirement over having to stay awake during the games he wasn’t scheduled to play!!!  Basically Junior was getting paid $14.5k per game to simply stay awake during baseball games … and he couldn’t do it!!!!

There are a couple things you should know about me before you continue reading this article.

Weekend Wrap Up

This was a huge weekend in sports. The World Cup started on Friday and we’ve had games every morning and afternoon since. The USA tied England on Saturday 1-1 with the England goalkeeper letting in one of the softest goals in the history of the World Cup and maybe the sport. Ghana beat Serbia 1-0 and Germany pummeled Australia 4-0 on Sunday. If you want to catch some of the action at work ESPN3.com is by far your best bet if you’re on the right ISP or at least have an account with one of them.

Fail.

I might start watching the games on Univision… Some of ESPN’s broadcasts have literally put me to sleep.

In the NBA finals Boston took a big W at home and has taken a 3-2 lead in the series. In order to close it out, Boston will have to win one of the last two games which will both be played in LA. On the other hand, LA will have to win back to back games at home which has not happened yet during this series in order to win the NBA Championship. The refs actually held their whistles for much of the game last night and were finally able to let the players get out there and give us a show.

The Strasburg Era Has Begun

The front page of today's Washington Post

Washington, D.C. is buzzing the day after Stephen Strasburg’s Major League debut with the Washington Nationals and deservedly so. The Nationals rolled to a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh pirates on Strasburg’s arm and some good batting from Dunn, Zimmerman (fellow Hoo) and Hernandez.

His line was remarkable. 7 innings, 14 strikeouts, 0 walks and he did this in only 94 pitches. He also retired the last ten guys he faced striking out the last seven Pirates to step into the batter’s box. Only five other MLB pitchers have done this since 1900 and he did it in his first game!! The hype surrounding him was unreal and he actually lived up to it. This is a rare feat especially amongst pitchers.

The environment at Nationals Stadium was electric. Tickets sold out almost immediately after he was announced as the starter for the game and the crowd was cheering after every one of his pitches. The Nationals are actually doing well at 28-31 on the year.

To add to the excitement around the organization, the Nationals selected a kid (literally) named Bryce Harper with the first overall pick of the 2010 draft. Harper is only 17 years old but he skipped his last two years of high school to get his GED and start playing college baseball. His numbers were pretty impressive. Playing in a wood bat league he batted .443 with 31 homers and 98 RBIs. This is all very welcomed news to a city that’s had an awful sports year. Hopefully the Nationals will continue to grow and become a special franchise. They are taking some significant steps in the right direction.

This bamma

Do you all remember the story I wrote about a month ago about the boy who purposefully threw up on an off duty police officer and his daughter at a Philadelphia Phillies game? Apparently the kid admitted to the charges and is awaiting sentencing in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas according to the latest news. I’m glad this sick boy is getting what he has coming to him.

Disgusting Phillies fan

Disgusting Phillies fan

Imagine, you’re out at the ballpark enjoying a nice baseball game with your 15 year old daughter. There are going to be crazy fans at any sporting event especially in Philadelphia and you are fully prepared to deal with that. A group of people start to get out of hand and you turn and politely ask them to stop cursing so much in front of your young daughter. They pipe down but not for long. The next thing you know, they start spitting on the back of your chairs and eventually on your daughter. I think there are a lot of parents out there that would go into knockamotherfuckerout mode but you don’t do that. Instead, you calmly walk over to stadium security and tell them what happened.

At this point, the security guards come over and escort the spitter out of the area but they forget one thing, the spitter’s friend. At this point, the friend sticks his fingers down his throat, leans forward and throws up on you and your daughter! That’s right, imagine a complete stranger throwing up on you and your daughter on purpose. I don’t know what I would do but it would likely come to blows.

This is what happened to an off duty police officer and his daughter during the Phillies home game against the Nationals last night. The picture of the jackass who did this is pretty priceless.