Baltimore Orioles Mid Season Report: Well Better Than Last Year... Barely

With Buck Showalter at the helm, many thought the Orioles had a good shot of breaking the streak of 13 straight losing seasons.  Well those thoughts seem to have gone out the window as the O's sit in last place, in the AL east, with a mark of 36-52; 16 games under .500.  The good news is that at the all star break last year the O's were 29-59.  So there has been a seven win improvement in a year's time, but the way the past few weeks have gone the improvement seems to be minimal.  The O's were last at the .500 mark on May 26 and have been in last place since May 27.  Yes, I was part of the crowd that thought there was a shot at .500 the beginning of the season, but that meant that the bullpen would have to mature.  That didn't happen and Vladimir Guerrero and Derrek Lee have shown there age as Guerrero is batting under .300 and D-Lee is on pace to have a career low, in batting average, as he is batting .234 and only 8 homers this year; while Guerrero has only 7 homers with all of them coming at home.  Personally I think GM Andy McPhail is to blame as he has ignored the pitching staff during his whole time in Baltimore.  The lack of improving the pitching staff shows as the O's are ranked last in team ERA, and are ranked in the bottom five in quality starts, WHIP, and BAA (batting average against).  McPhail has also shown a lack of scouting or lack of hiring a good scouting staff as the only successful prospect has been Matt Wieters.  While the minor league teams have had success, in the past few years, that success has not transferred over to the O's.  That statement, right there, shows that someone is not doing there job and people must be fired in the front office this winter.  With that being said here's my mid season awards.

MVP:  Nick Markakis.  Markakis, didn't start out well, with his bat, as his batting average was around the .230 range.  Markakis has since raised his average to .292 and leads the team in hits.  Markakis has no errors, so far, and leads the team in put outs with seven.  Markakis has also played in all but one game, during the first half of the season.  If the O's are looking to be sellers at the trade deadline, this year, Markakis should be the one untradeable guy as Markakis shows that he is a leader as he has played in almost every game and was able to fix his swing early in the season.  Markakis' attitude is one that the young players on the team should follow.

Biggest Surprise: Matt Wieters:  Wieters lack of production at the plate, the past two seasons, had many "experts" calling Wieters a bust.  The word bust never entered my mind as Wieters defense has been stellar since he came up.  Wieters has only 5 career passed balls and his career caught steeling percentage is .318.  Wieters leads the majors this year in that stat with a caught steeling percentage of .444 and that's why he is the O's only all star selection.  Another reason why Wieters is heading to Phoenix is that he has finally come around at the plate.  Wieters is batting .265, is fourth on the team in RBI with 34.  Wieters has 8 homers on the year, but could have more if there wasn't a 30 foot wall in left field of Camden Yards.  If Wieters can stay in the .260 range, for batting average, Wieters can show that he is a complete player.

Bum: No debate here, Mike Gonzalez.  Gonzalez had an ERA of 5.46 and has allowed the most homeruns in the bullpen with 7.  Surprisingly enough, Gonzalez has only 1 blown save, but he's supposed to be more of a middle reliever so that could explain the lack of blown saves.  Seriously I have never in my life seen a pitcher this bad, on the rare occasion that the O's are up by a few runs, I don't feel comfortable that the O's will still have that lead when Gonzalez is in.  Gonzalez is so bad that on Sunday he tried to intentionally hit David Ortiz and missed.  One who misses on a pitch that is meant to intentionally hit someone, and two Ortiz is one of the biggest players in the league.  How do miss hitting one of the biggest player in the league?  Unfortunately, Gonzalez is signed for another year and at $6 million a year and sucking, he is most likely untradeable.

Overall looks like it will be 14 straight losing season and will become the baseball team with the longest consecutive losing season streak as the Shittsburgh Pirates are only one game back in there division (great now the annoying ass Shittsburgh fans will talk trash about that now, even though none can name a player on the Pirates, but as we all know that's typical Shittsburgh).  Anyways, as is the case with the Redskins, same holds true for the Orioles.  It starts at the top, yes you Peter Angelos.  Or Aholelos as I like to call him.  It's obvious that Angelos does not care about this teams success and just wants to make money.  That's a shame since the O's play in one of the best, if not the best ballpark in the country.  Even though Andy McPhail has failed at his job, rumors are Angelos will resign McPhail this winter.  Well Mr. Angelos I hope you are ready to actually open the check book and add some actual talent to the roster because that is what its going to take for this team to be good again.

Washington Nationals Mid Season Report: A Local Team At .500 in July

 Well believe it, for the first time in the new century there's a local team at the .500 mark at the all star break.  That team is the Washington Nationals, who sit in fourth place in the tough NL east, with a mark of 46-46. Thanks to good scouting and building up the minor league system through the draft, the Nats seem poised to have a winning season for the first time since moving to DC.  The Nats have been successful through great pitching and grittiness.  The Nats have played 36 one run games, that is about 22% of there games this year and are 18-18 in one run games.  No matter how many runs this team is down by, this team always feels like they are in it and that is a great positive for any type of sports team and that's why this team is exceeding expectations so far this year.

One thing I would like to see, the Nationals, improve on is there overall offense.  The Nats rank 21st and 23rd in runs scored and batting average respectively. While ranking 24th and 15th in extra base hits and homeruns respectively.  If the Nats could get offense consistently and not just when they need it in the later innings, this team could be in the wild card race.  But at the same time the team's core is young and the best is yet to come.

My first half MVP award goes to the whole pitching staff.  The Nats rank 10th in ERA and 12th in quality starts.  8th in homeruns allowed and 15th in WHIP (walks to hits ratio per inning).  Jordan Zimmerman seems to be establishing himself as one of the great young pitchers in the league as he has a 2.66 ERA and 88 strikeouts on the year.  Zimmerman doesn't have more wins because he ranks 7th in the league with least run support when he pitches.  With a healthy Stephen Strasburg, next year, and Jordan Zimmerman this could be one of the best one and two starters in the league next year.  In the bullpen, Tyler Clippard is the teams only all star representative, which I think is BS, but anyways Clippard has an ERA of 1.75 and 63 strikeouts. Clippard is establishing himself as the Nats main setup man.  Closer, Drew Storen, has also been a bright spot in the Nats bullpen with a 2.53 ERA and is 23 of 26 in save opportunities good enough for 8th in the league with saves.  What I think is one of the key stats, to the Nats first half success, is that the bullpen ERA is ranked 3rd in the NL and 7th in the league.  If the pitching can continue this, in the second half, the Nats will be definitely looking at .500 at the end of the year. 

The surprise player of the first half could go to either Ryan Matthews or Michael Morse.  Ryan Matthews has taken the roll of the middle reiliever after the starter is taken out and right before Clippard.  Matthews has a 1.32 ERA and 8 strikeouts on the year.  While Matthews has been a great surprise, the surprise player of the first half goes to Michael Morse.  Morse is batting .306 with 15 homeruns and 49 RBI, while leading the team in hits with 83.  Morse is a great addition as he normally bats behind Ryan Zimmerman, and late in games pitchers can not just walk Zimmerman as they have in the past.  If Zimmerman is walked then opposing teams have to face Morse, so the a decision, for opponents, must be made on who to walk or to even walk Zimmerman and or Morse.  Morse was on the final vote for the all start game, but did not win.

The bum of the first half goes to Jayson Werthless, I meant Werth.  Yes, he was obviously overpaid, yes I knew he was never going to live up to his contract, but when Jason Marquis has a better batting average than you there's a problem.  Werth is batting .215, only 10 homeruns on the year and leads the team in strikeouts.  Yup $126 million is going towards striking out a lot.  At least Mark Reynolds up I-95 has 20 homers on the year, while striking out a lot.  Jayson Werth is a combination of Albert Hanyesworth and Alex Semin.  Werth is overpaid like, Hanyesworth and while Werth doesn't have world class talent, like Semin, I don't think Werth is maximizing his talent every night.  Prime example was this past Friday and Saturday night.  On both nights he had was up in the bottom of the 9th, with runners on.  Friday night he strikes out on a hit and run ending the game and on Saturday night he grounds into a game ending double play.  Back to back nights!!! Are you seriou??? That is unacceptable for anyone on any team that hits in the heart of the lineup.  Well minus well get used to this shit show for the Nats, there's 6 years left of this and its highly doubtful he will be traded to another team as no team will take his contract. 

The biggest weapon of all, for the Nats, is Davey Johnson.  Johnson knows that when he leaves, his position as manager, he will go back to a front office job in the organization.  Because of that Johnson has a why not attitude, he knows he can't get fired so why not try some risky tactics.  The most risky of the tactics was last week when Johnson tried a suicide squeeze.  Twice in an at bat.  The first attempt Michael Morse almost got killed by a foul ball as Lance Nix fouled off a pitch down the third base line and almost hit Morse as he was running.  The second attempt was successful and the Nats won the game.  Maybe it's risks and plays like that, that fire up this team and can contribute to the success of this team, during the second half of the season.  With good pitching, a can't quit attitude and a manager that will try anything, this team can definitely be at or above the .500 mark at the end of the season.  To see if the Nats are a legit .500 team, they will be facing the Atlanta Braves there first series back from the break and then starting on July 26th, the Nats will have three straight home series against the Marlins, Mets and Braves.  Division series are the most important series of all and by the time these four series are over we should know for sure if the Nationals will be .500 or not.

Nationals Hire Davey Johnson

On Thursday, Nationals manager, Jim Riggleman decided to resign as the manager of the Nats.  Since then, GM Mike Rizzo found his new man in Davey Johnson.  Johnson led the Mets to a World Series title in 1986 and led the Orioles to two ALCS' in 1996 and 1997. Johnson has also managed the Reds and lastly the Dodgers in 200 while also managing Team USA in the 2009 world baseball classic.  Johnson signed to manage the Nats for the rest of the season and if he is not retained, as the manager, for the 2012 season he will work else were in the organization. Before I get into Johnson, I'll  get into how badly the Nats handled the Riggleman situation. 

At the start of the season, Jim Riggleman knew that his contract was up and if he did not led the Nats to a decent season. Riggleman wanted to get this contract situation solved during the season.  I'm not sure if this is whatt Riggleman wanted at the start of the season, but with the way this team has been  playing it only seemed right that GM, Mike Rizzo, and Riggleman have contract talks. That  never happened, and while the Nats were in the middle of there best month, since moving to DC, Riggleman said enough and decided to step down, due to the lack of communication between Riggleman and the organization.  A lot of people say oh Riggleman quit on the team.  I tend to think differently.  I think Riggleman was in the right because the organization never asked to discuss his contract with him, despite the Nats being in third place and above .500.  This team, on paper, should not be in third place in a tough NL east division.  This team's success should go to Riggleman's credit as this team lost there future star, this year, due to tommy john surgery.  I find it disturbing that owner Ted Learner and GM Mike Rizzo would rather spend $126 million on a player, in Jayson Werth, than spend money on a manager that has this team playing above its potential.  Let's see here, signing a player that is past his prime to an outrageous contract while letting actual talent leave sounds a lot like another organization in this city.  For now I don't like the way Ted Learner handles this team, but the next few years will tell if Learner will be like Dan Snyder or Ted Leonsis. 

Despite letting go of a manager that was doing one hell of a job with this team, Rizzo made a good hire in getting Davey Johnson.  Being an O's fan, since DC had no team, all I have is good memories of Davey Johnson and if Peter Angleos wasn't such an idiot and fired Johnson, the O's could've possibly won another World Series.  Anyways Johnson brings tons of knowledge to the table and that is a great thing since the Nats are a young team with a lot of raw talent.  Johnson  is a winner as he has taken every team he has managed to the playoffs, except the Dodgers.  Johnson is 68 and because of his age, Rizzo had the contract say that Johnson will be manager for the rest of this year and if he is not brought back as manager, next year, he will still be a part of the Nats organization and will help in the search of his successor.  Johnson will manage his first game on Monday, as the Nats head west to take on the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim.  If the Nats do continue to win the rest of the season, Rizzo will look like a genius for letting Riggleman go, if the Nats finish around 20 games or worse under .500 then DC will be questioning Rizzo as the GM.

Washington Capitals Draft Preview

On Friday night, the Washington Capitals will begin drafting and hopefully make the right moves that will bring the franchise's first Stanley Cup and DC's first championship in twenty years.  This year the Caps will have the 26th pick, in the first round, and will have picks in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds.  The Caps traded there second and third round picks.  Since the lockout the Caps have drafted well all across the board as all of the Caps stars were drafted and the Caps still seem to have plenty of talent in Hershey and in the amateur leagues.  I'll just take a look at where the Caps could possibly go with the 26th pick.

The Caps have seemed to have filled there needs of defenseman  and centers in the past.  John Carlon and Karl Alzner looked to be a pairing to be reckoned with for years to come at the blue line, while young guns, Marcus Johansson and Matthew Perrault seem to be in  line for the second line centers and or wingers of the future.  In a tough NHL season you can  never have to much depth so look for the Caps to add depth at the wings and blue line this draft.  After watching this past playoffs, its obvious that they need to start getting players that don't have a "I'll do it my way" attitude and players that have a toughness about them and won't quit when the going gets tough.  Here's a few of ideas of what players the Caps may go with.

Tomas Jurco, 6'2, 193, RW: Slovakia, St. John's Sea Dogs (QMJHL).
 Jurco, is mainly known for his youtube skills, but has some great on ice stickhandling skills as well also.  Jurco has a wicked wrist shot and can also have a deadly slapshot when he needs to. scouts say he can be an all around player.  The Caps can use a player like this as Mike Knuble won't be around for long, so Jurco an be his replacement. Problem is Jurco could be gone before the Caps draft.

Alexander Khokhlachev,  5'10,  172, C:  Russia, Windsor Spitfires (OHL).
Kholkhlachev, always plays with high energy and doesn't take nights off.  Seem to be solid in shooing and passing, scouts would like to seem him bulk up a little more and his lack of size is why Khokhlachev will be available in the late first round.  Even though the Caps have plenty of young talent, at the center spot,  the Caps can use a  guy that has a high motor and high energy  and could possibly convert  him to a  winger.

Phillip Danault, 6'0, 170, LW:  Canada, Victoriaville Tigers (QMJHL).
Danault has shown he's a leader, as he was named captain of Victoriaville as a 17 year old.  Leaders are what the Caps need  right now and  Danault can fit the role perfectly.  Danault  does everything, from scoring to grinding it out and his coaches say that he will do everything  for his team.  A player like that is what exactly the Caps need, but it's not a guarntee  that Danault  will be there as Montreal has the 17th pick and has been  eying  him.

Scott Mayfield, 6'4, 200, D: USA, Younstown  (USHL).
Mayfield, is considered  to be one of  the best skating defenseman in this year's draft.  Mayfield can  also play offense, and is a great two way defenseman.  If  the  Caps feel  they can turn him into strictly  a defensive defenseman then the Caps should jump on this right away, since  the Caps want to play a defensive system. Drafting Mayfield could be risky  as he wants to play a little college hockey at, the University of Denver, before going pro.

It's also a possibility that the Caps will  trade players to get a higher first round draft pick.  As I  have stated before, the Caps must trade players to get a new culture around the locker room f they want to finally win  a cup. GM, George McPhee seems  to do well with  the draft  no matter where the Caps pick so hopefully, those will be the right moves again this year. 

Washington Wizards Draft Preview

Tomorrow night, the Wizards will be looking to improve on there 23-59 mark,  last year, by drafting some top talent from the college ranks. The Wiz have the 6th, 18th and 34th picks in this year's draft, with two of those picks coming in the first round.  Problem is that this year's draft class is lacking in talent outside of the top 3 picks.  Besides last year's draft, the Wiz seem to always get screwed over by a bad talent draft when they have good picks set up.  Regardless, it is what it is and Ernie Grunfeld will have to make do with what there is.  My top  needs, for the Wizards, are a big man and a defensive player.  Let's start off with the sixth round pick.

In any other draft the sixth pick would be great, but this  year has less talent.  The rumor mill is that the Minnesota  Timberwolves are shopping around there second pick in the draft.  The Wiz have Javale McGee that they could possibly trade to Minnesota, but the the T'wolves already have a big man in Kevin Love.  If the T'wolves just want to trade picks with someone the Wiz should jump on this right away as they can get forward, Derrick Williams, from Arizona.  Williams averaged 19.5 ppg and 8.3 rpg (rebound per game).  The Wiz are in need of a four guy and Williams will fit this role perfectly and get Andre Blatche out of the starting lineup.  Williams was able to defeat the Duke Blue Devils in  the elite eight this past season.  If the Wiz stay with the sixth pick, then they should go with Kawhi Leonard from San  Diego State.  Leonard averaged 15.2 ppg and 10.7 rpg.  Leonard can also play the three and or four position.  Derrick Williams has more size and raw talent than Leonard, but Leonard is a very good pick at the six spot.

With the 18th pick, the Wiz can go in  a bunch of directions.  They can go with a European player or stick to a college prospect.  It's always tough to judge Euro players as not a lot of film is seen  on  these guys and the Euro game is completely different from the college and NBA game, so guys from across the pond can  be risk, but once again  not a lot of  talent in this  draft so why not go  Euro.  Players  I see the Wiz  taking here  include, center,  Donatas Motiejunas  from Lithuania,  Marcus Morris from Kansas, and maybe sticking with the hometown  boy  Jordan Williams from the University of  Maryland.   Picking Williams at the 18th spot mabye a little high, but hey why not with the lack of star talent in this draft class.  If the Wiz want to, they can most likely  wait till the second round to draft Williams.  Another possible  hometown pick could be Chris Wright from Georgetown.   My guess is that they can see Wright complimenting John Wall by placing Wright at the two spot.

The Wiz maybe set back a few seasons by this year's draft and it will not be Ernie Grunfeld's fault.  It's just bad luck that the Wiz have so many picks in  a week draft class.  I feel that the Wiz are headed in the right direction, but more patience will be required.

Why Baltimore and Washington Will Never Be Rivals

 On Tuesday night, I was at the Nationals vs Cardinals game, and in the program they were promoted the Battle of the Beltways series this weekend.  The headline to the promotion was "Always Rivals" I had to chuckle at that headline as the Nat's and O's are not even close to rivals besides the proximity of the two clubs and will most likely never be hated rivals.  If Baltimore and Washington have some type of rivalry, it's between the Ravens and Redskins, but I will discuss that later in this post.  I'm going to start with the overall aspect of a Baltimore Washington "rivalry" and then get into the so called rivalries of the Nats vs O's and Ravens vs Redskins.

For as long as I can remember, I have never understood the aspect of Baltimore and Washington as rivals.  To me Baltimore and Washington are one big area, if you want crabs you go to Baltimore, if you want some chili you go to Washington.  If you want to see scientific attractions, you go to Baltimore and if you want to brush up on your American history, you go to DC.  In counties, such as Anne Arundle and Howard, the two cities tend to blend together since Anne Arundle and Howard are basically equal distance to Baltimore and Washington.  Then there is the theme of both cities cheering for the same teams.  Last I checked Baltimore doesn't have NBA and NHL teams, so they go to the next closest teams which are the Wizards and Capitals.  The theory that Baltimore fans cheer for DC's winter sports teams is proven truth since the Caps will be playing a preseason game at First Mariner Arena this fall.  Another common trend between Baltimore and Washington is the hatred of Shittsburgh I mean Pittsburgh teams.  The one obvious team is the Penguins, and while there is no rivalry between the Skins and Steelers,  I can't stand that team just as much as Ravens fans can't stand them and I'm not the only Skins fan that thinks that.  So it really doesn't make sense for Baltimore and DC fans to hate on each other when they can just hate on one city as one big happy family. 

Nationals vs Orioles: The one big reason why this rivalry won't work, and the reason why it shouldn't be called a rivalry is because, the only baseball team in the area for multiple years was the Orioles.  So me and other fans, that cheered for Washington teams, gravitated to the next closest baseball team in the Orioles.  Cal Ripken Jr is may favorite athlete so why would I cheer against a team that had my favorite athlete? Yes I do cheer for the Nationals also as I'm sure many fans from the DC area do, but when you have seen the Orioles play in multiple ALCS games in the 90's its hard to turn against them just like that.  By baseball standards, the teams don't play enough either to become rivals.  The Nats and O's play only six games a year against each other, compare that to the 18 games that the O's play against the Yankees and Red Sox and the 18 games that the Nats play against the Phillies and Mets.  I'm not saying that they should get rid of this series between the teams, in fact, I enjoy watching my two favorite teams play against each other and its also cheaper as you have to only pay $10 to see both of your teams at once.  That's a damn good deal to me.   It's always fun to head to Camden or Nats park with a Nats cap and an O's t-shirt on or vice versa.  Keep the series but it shouldn't be dubbed as "hated rivals" just keep it as Battle of the Beltways.

Ravens vs Redskins: Ok, now to what some people call "one of the best rivalries" this area has to offer.  My definition of a rivalry is: two teams that play every year in what normally is a close contested game where the players have little to no respect for there opponent.  Ravens Redskins falls short in a lot of these categories.  The two teams play a regular season game once every four years, how can that be a rivalry?  Preseason does not count in anyway possible as it's mostly the backups playing.  The Ravens lead the all time series 3-1 and have outscored the Skins 64-47.  Yes this stat can be negated since the Skins have been losers for the past 12 years and a lot of teams have winning records against the Skins.   Now to the last part, when has Ray Lewis or London Fletcher talked legitimate trash against the Skins or Ravens? Never that's the answer, Lavar Arrington and Ray Lewis are actually good friends.  The main points are that the teams need to play more and that the actual players of the teams need to have some true hate of each other to become true rivals.  Another point, is that the majority of my Redskins friends cheer for the Ravens just as long as they aren't playing the Skins.  Same goes for me also I'll cheer for the Ravens, just as long as burgundy and gold isn't opposite of them.  I didn't even know Ravens Skins was considered a "rivalry" until I started going to school in Anne Arundle County.  My elementary school years were spent on the mean streets of PG County and when the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2001 the school, in PG County, the whole school was cheering for the Ravens as if the Skins were playing in the Super Bowl. So I never thought anything of Ravens Redskins, as a rivalry, until I started high school and I noticed that most Ravens fans hate the Redskins and some Skins fans hate the Ravens and I still haven't gotten over why Ravens fans hate the Skins, the majority of answers I get from Ravens fans are "I just do" and "I don't know man."  Until I hear something better than those two reasons I will not consider this game a rivalry.  The Skins have to much history with the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants to have a fourth rival and Ravens Steelers, to me, is the best rivalry in the NFL right now.

To me there are no rivalries between Bmore and DC teams.  The cities have to many same allegiances to be rivals.  But if you have a legit reason of why Nats O's and Ravens Redskins should be considered rivals let me know.  Phrases such as "they just are" will not be taken, show me a video of the actual teams showing legit hatred for each other and then I will reconsider.

Regin of Idiocy Ends

Last Friday night, Christmas came six months early for me, and some of Mountaineer nation.  Bill Stewart was forced to step down as the head coach of the WVU football team.   A couple of weeks ago it was found out that this past December, Stewart, called multiple media outlets and reporters to try and find "dirt" on newly hired offensive coordinator, Dana Holgorsen.  That did not sit well with athletic director, Oliver Luck, and Luck saw an opportunity to get his guy in, as the head coach, a year early.  And so on Friday night WVU had a press conference announcing Holgorsen as the new head coach of the football team and I was singing the hallelujah chorus all night long.

Gone is idiot play calling and lack of practice of fundamentals, in is smart play calling and and stricter practices.  While some people think it may of been the players fault for Bill Stew's teams not playing up to potential I always thought it was the coaching and during spring ball I found out I was right, in at least one players opinion.  During and interview with, LB, Naje Goode, Goode was asked if there's any difference between the new and old assistant coaches.  Goode replied "Yes, last year the coaches would let us do what we wanted to, while this year the coaches are more stricter."  That's all I needed to hear.  That quote, to me, explains the ECU, UConn, Syracuse, LSU, NC State and USF losses over the past three years.

While some fans of other teams always tell me I would love to see my team have three straight 9 win seasons. those fans do not know what talent this team has and how week the Big East is in football.  The obviously did not watch the ECU, UConn, Syracuse, LSU, NC State, USF and Marshall games over the past few years.  Stewart is a great guy, but he can not coach a division I football team and that was obvious the past three years.  Stewart's teams under achieved and WVU should be four time defending Big East champions, with the talent on this team and with how week the Big East is, but they did not achieve that goal because of Bill Stewart.  Stewart's team have looked unprepared on multiple occasions from Liberty, to Coastal Carolina to NC State to the Marshall game this year all of those games the team looked unprepared.  WVU has clearly taken a step back under Stewart, from the Rich Rod days, and hopefully Holgorsen will return WVU to a top 10 team and possibly beyond.

With Holgorsen in as coach new none of the stated above should happen now.  While Holgorsen, during spring ball, didn't seem like a rah rah fire 'em up guy, he has the respect of the players and the players will listen to him.  Holgorsen's offense was ranked third in the country last year and Oklahoma State was technically tied for the Big 12 south title.  The goal for WVU is now clear this year, win the Big East and get back to a BCS bowl no excuses with Holgorsen in as the head man now. 

  

Why is the Weather so Fair?

I know everyone sees it, multiple Cowboys and Eagles jerseys at Fed Ex Field.  Steelers jerseys at Ravens games, Penguins jerseys at Caps games, Yankees and Red Sox fans at Camden Yards and a sea of red at Nats park, but its a sea of Phillies red.   Unlike other areas of the country, this area seems to have the same amount of fans, from rival teams, as fans of the local teams.  Honestly it pisses the hell out of me that in such a populous area that there are so many fans that aren't in the home teams colors.   This area has the potential to be one of the great sports towns in the country, but because of all the rival fans it isn't.  Look at how loud Verizon Center is for a Caps game, how loud M&T is during Ravens games, the atmosphere at Nats park during Stephen Strasburg's first start last year.  All of these have great atmospheres, but it still hasn't stopped people from becoming fans of the hated rivals.  I've come up with a list of why there are so many rival fans in the area:

Historic Teams: I hate to say it, but its the truth.  The Steelers, Cowgirls and Yankees are all successful franchises and usually win consistently.  When a team has a wins consistently, usually fairweather fans appear for the teams.  I have seen and heard people admit that they are fairweather fans.  For example, at the Super Bowl party I was at, there was a hipster in a Steelers jersey.  For those of you that don't know, hipsters hate everything about sports and basically  hate everything that is normal in the world.  Anyways this hipster is in his Steelers jersey and is acting like he's always been a fan of the team, this guy doesn't even know the difference between a tackle and a left tackle.  So in conclusion, living in a heavy populated area there is bound to be plenty of fairweather fans, and unfortunately, most of the area's teams are rivals with teams that have a history winning which means more fans or fairweather fans.

This Area is a Melting Pot: While it's cool to say we in or around that most powerful city in the free world, that is not good for sports wise.  Since so many people come to this area for work, that means multiple fan bases are coming to this area and ignore the hometown teams since they are fans of the teams of where they came from.  This area is also close and easy to get to for rival teams, besides Dallas and Boston, rival cities are pretty close with Shittsburhg I mean Pittsburgh being the farthest drive with four hours.  Philly is only 2 hours away and depending on traffic, New York is about 3 to 5 hours away.  So combine a melting pot of people living in this area and rivals being not to far away you are going to see multiple enemy colors at local sporting events.

Lack of Winning: Besides the Capitals and Ravens, the teams in this area haven't been winning to much in the past years.  Because of the lack of winning people, that are faint of heart, decide to go to other teams that are not in this area.  I've always thought that you cheer for your home teams no matter what, it's where you live you should support the teams of where you live.  Again, going back to the melting pot theory,  I do understand if a persons parents are avid fans of a team and the child decides to adopt his or her parent's teams that make sense.  But if your not a fan teams in this area because they suck, well I think that is also grounds for being called a fairweather fan.

How to Fix the Problem: To me the problem is simple, go to the games and support the areas teams.  It pisses me off when Nats fans complain about Phillies fans being at Nats park or when O's fans complain about Yankees and Red Sox fans coming to Camden Yards.  If you don't want those fans invading the parks then go to the games.  Yes I understand its tough economic times, but it's obviously not for the Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox fans.  Another way to fix it is have the local sports apparel shops stop selling rival teams apparel.  Walk into a Sports Authority and you will see Redskins and Cowboys gear next to each other.  No where else in the country does this happen, I don't see any Caps or Ravens apparel in sports shops in Morgantown, its just Shittsburhg apparel.   Also raise your kids to be fans of the local teams, don't let them become a fan of the Patriots or Lakers just because they win with that team on the xbox.  Teach the kids that you support the teams of where you live and that's the only way it is done.  If we start taking these measures, maybe we can eliminate annoying rival fans from coming to our games and I also won't have to be taken out of the stadium in handcuffs for beating up an annoying Philly and or Shittsburgh fan.

ACC Foes Battle for the National Championship

After six months of practices and games it comes down to the University of Virginia and the University of Maryland for the national championship on Monday.  Maryland won the only meeting of the year, 12-7, in Charlottesville.  And yes I will brag as I correctly picked both UVA and MD to win there games and I accurately predicted that the MD would score nine goals.  Maybe I should finally start getting paid for this sports gig.  UVA is playing for there fifth national title and is in there tenth title game appearance, with there last coming in 2006 where they beat UMass, 15-7.  Maryland is playing for there second and is in there eleventh title game appearance and first since 1998 were they lost to Princeton, 15-5. Here's what the Cavs and Terps need to to do to raise the trophy on Monday.

UVA had an all out dominating performance over Denver as the Cavs easily took care of the Pioneers 14-8.  It was easy to tell which team had played in Baltimore a year earlier and which team didn't.  The attack unit of  Juniors Chris Bocklet and Steel Stanwick, and  freshman Mark Cockerton all had hat tricks on Saturday.   UVA's man up unit was 50% successful on the day and Chase Carraro won 11 of 24 face offs.  UVA's defense did a great job of limiting Denver's two top scorers, Mark Matthews and Alex Demopoulos, to one goal each and the Cavs defense will have to do the same against the Terps attack unit of Grant Catalino and Ryan Young.

Overall UVA struggled against the Terps in everything that worked for the Cavs yesterday.  Maryland's defense held the Cavs high powered attack unit to only three goals.  UVA's man up unit was 1 for 5 against the Terps.  The Cavs defensive unit was torched by Ryan Young as he had six points, but the good news is that the Cavs held Grant Catalino scoreless.  If Maryland is to aggressive, on Monday, and commits multiple penalties UVA must have the man up performance that they had on Saturday and not a month ago against MD.  I'm sure Dom Starsia has been watching film of that game and will make sure that his Cavs don't make the same mistakes as before against the Terps.

It was easy to see that Maryland was feeding off of the hometown, in Baltimore, on Saturday as they came out and dominated all but the first two minutes in a 9-4 win over Duke.  The two most impressive things about MD was there physical play and play of redshirt freshman Niko Amato in between the pipes.  The Terps came out hitting and hitting hard as they were able to hound Duke's midfield in between the boxes and cause turnovers and fast break opportunities.  Credit also goes to the officials for letting the Terps play there physical game.  Often, in college lacrosse, I see officials flagging players for clean shoulder to shoulder hits, just because it's a hard hit does not mean it's a penalty; it's a contact sport.  Nick Amato had 13 saves on the day and looked like a seasoned vet instead of a freshman playing in his first final four as he turned away Jordan Wolf and Zach Howell multiple times.  The Terps did a great job of limiting Duke's top scorers as the team leader in goals, Zach Howell had only one goal on the evening and freshman Jordan Wolf didn't register a point at all.  Grant Catalino had a hat trick and junior attackman, Joe Cummings, had three points on the evening.


One major concern is the lack of extra man opportunities, for the Terps.  The Terps only had one EMO on Saturday and only one in the previous meeting against UVA.  The lack of drawing penalties maybe due to the Terps conservative offensive style, but to beat a UVA team that seems to be firing on cylinders, now, the Terps must get more EMO's to win.  MD has to know the UVA will most likely have differnt looks on both ends of the field and should be prepared for that.  I would like to see MD get more physical with UVA's attackman, of course this can be a dangerous strategy as if one check is missed, in the box, UVA will most likely score.  But maybe hitting Stanwick and Bocklet around will throw them off of there games. 


As is the case with every ACC matchup, this one is a toss up.  UVA has the experience of being to the semi finals last year and it would seem that the Cavs would poised to win it all this year.  On the other hand the Terps have been waiting to long for this moment and have the hot goaltender in Niko Amato.  The biggest matchup of the day will be at the faceoff X.  Curtis Holmes, for the Terps, won 11 of 27 faceoffs on Saturday while Chase Carraro won 11 of 24.  Holmes won the first matchup 14 to 8.  But as stated before, UVA has had plenty of time to watch of film of what went wrong against the Terps the first time.  I'm going to take the Terps as the physicality, in the midfield, caused many turnovers on Saturday and disrupted Dukes offense.  If MD does that on Monday, College Park will be setting some couches on fire.  Terps win 11-7. 

Duke Looks Defend There Title This Weekend

Once again, the men's lacrosse champion will be crowned in Baltimore.  This year features traditional powers and one new comer.  Seventh seeded Virginia, will be taking on sixth seeded Denver, and fifth seeded Duke will continue  to defend last year's championship as they take on ACC rival and unseeded Maryland.  This will be the third time, this spring, that Duke and MD have met with each team winning one game.

Virginia vs Denver:

First off, congratulations to UVA head coach, Dom  Starsia on becoming the all time winningest head coach in division I men's lacrosse history.  Starsia and the rest of his UVA have been through a lot in the past year and the only way to make everything complete will be to win UVA's fifth national championship.  But will the Cavaliers have enough to eliminate upset minded Denver?  UVA has the nation's fourth ranked offense and the top ranked man up unit in the country.  That's because Steel Stanwick is fourth in the country in points, with 64 and Chris Bocklet is sixth in the country with goals scored.  Obviously, the Cavaliers have missed some of there offense, with the Braton brothers being suspended, but it has worked so far for Whaa-Hoo nation.

Defensively, the Cavs are lead by senior goalie, Adam Ghitelman.  Ghitelman has a save percentage of .532 this year.  It's not the highlight saves that Dom Starsia is impressed with, but it's the leadership that Ghitelman has shown throughout the season.  Ghitelman is always the one that is firing the team up when the team is down in a game.  In front of Ghitelman, the UVA defense will be using a zone and soft man to man scheme.  The zone defense, is becoming more and more common in college lacrosse and UVA must confuse the Denver offense if UVA is to be playing on Memorial Day.  Despite not having one of the top ranked defense's, stat wise, UVA has only allowed double digit goals in half of it's games this year.

The new kids on the block, the Denver Pioneers.  Yes lacrosse has gone west of the Mississippi.  This became apparent when Bill Tierney decided to bolt from Princeton, where he won six national championships, and moved west to build up the Denver Pioneers.  It's just about safe to say mission complete as Tierney lead Denver to there first NCAA tournament appearance and first Final Four appearance in school history, this year. Ok, enough of the fun facts, here's how the Pioneers got to this point.  The Pioneers have the second ranked offense in the country and seventh ranked man up unit.  Junior, Mark Matthews is fifth in the country in goals and sixth in the country with points. While the offense starts and end with Matthews the Pioneers offense also has Alex Demopoulos, who can either score or dish it out as he has 29 goals and 28 assists on the season.

A way that Denver can beat UVA is in the ground ball battle as the Pioneers are sixth in the country with ground balls won.  Denver can create fast break opportunities off of the ground balls and that's the way the Pioneers can continue this Cinderella run.

Hate to be that guy, and trust me I'm no fan of UVA, but I think the fun ends for Denver here.  Bill Tierney is doing a tremendous job with the Denver program, but this Denver team has not experienced final four weekend yet.  There's a huge difference between playing in front of 20,000 in Denver as opposed to playing in front of 60,000 in a NFL stadium.  UVA just has to much fire power and to much veteran leadership for Denver to handle.  Cavs win, in a shootout, 14-12.

Duke vs Maryland:

In my opinion, the Duke vs MD lacrosse rivalry is hotter than the basketball one.  The two teams have played each other 12 times since 2004 with the Terps winning seven times, while Duke has won five.  In the first meeting of the year, the Terps held a halftime lead, but wound up losing 9-8 in OT.  Then in the ACC semi's the Blue Devils had a 7-4 lead in the fourth quater, but then The Terps took over and won 11-9.  So the game plan for both Duke and MD should be not to be leading until the last minute, if the previous two meetings trends hold up.

The Terps have the nation's seventh ranked face off guy in and Curtis Holmes and Holmes is a big reason why the Terps were able to upset the top seeded Syracuse Orange.  Holmes winning those faceoffs, last weekend, helped MD keep possession of the ball and the ball out of the Orange's snipers.  Look for MD's offense to do the same as last weekend, with long possessions and a lot of "keep it in" calls from the refs; as Duke's offense is also high powered and John Tillman would like Duke to have as few possessions as possible.  The Terps' offense is led by seniors Grant Catalino and team points leader Ryan Young.  Catalino has 26 goals and 10 assists, while Ryan Young has 19 goals and 27 assists.

Defensively,  the Terps have the fourth ranked defense in the country, with allowing seven goals per game on average.  While the Terps man down unit doesn't allow a goal 73% of the time.  Redshirt Freshman, Nick Amato will be in between the pipes.  Amato has a GAA of 6.87 and a save percentage of .578.  The Terps defensive core will be faced with stopping both Zach Howell and Jordan Wolf as both of them both have over 50 points on the season.

The Blue Devils have the nations fifth ranked offense in the country which is lead by senior Zach Howell, 42 goals and 16 assists and by true freshman Jordan Wolf, 31 goals and 20 assists.  The dangerous part about this offense is that the Blue Devils can play either a up and down tempo or a slow it down low scoring tempo.  Which can easily confuse opposing defenses so look for head coach John Danowski to switch up the offense a lot.  This year's Duke team  has used a mix of vetarans and underclassmen, but this is the time for the upperclassmen to step up, since they know what it takes to win a championship.

On the defensive side of the field,  sophomore Dan Wigrizer will be in between the pipes.  Wigrizer has a GAA of 9.21 and a save percentage of .556.  The young defense will once again be faced with the task of stopping Ryan Young and Grant Catalino.  If the long poles can stop Young and Catalino Duke will not be in town on Monday to defend there championship.

This game is basically a coin toss pick.  Both of the previous two meetings have been competitive and close.  The twist, in round three, will be that MD will have the home field advantage and the previous two games were played on Duke's turf.  Overall I think MD has been waiting for this moment for way two long and the fact that the Terps were unseeded basically woke the sleeping grizzly.  The Terps will ride the home field advantage and beat a somewhat young Duke team 9-7.    

Baltimore Orioles After the First Quarter of the Season

Well the good news is that the Orioles, are off to a far much better start than last year and are competing more than last year.  Also, the starting pitching has been surprisingly decent.  The bad news is that the O's are still in last place in the AL east, and the big off season acquisitions have been just ok.   And just when it looked like the O's would return to the .500 mark; a series of crippling losses, this past week, have washed .500 thoughts out of the window.  With series against the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Mariners on the horizon, hopefully the O's can get on to the winning path.


I think all O's fans can be in agreement when I say Matt Wieters is starting to come around with his bat.  Wieters is batting .273 with 4 HR and 24 RBI, tied with Adam Jones for best on the team.  Wieters also has a few walk offs, in this early season.  Buck Showalter has rewarded Wieters efforts by moving him to 5th in the batting lineup.  Vladimir Guerrero leads the team in batting average with a .306 mark.  Vlady has been the most productive out of the new comers this year as he has 16 RBI and .429 slugging percentage.  Derek Lee has been more productive in the field that at the plate and is now on the DL, Lee should be kept around to tutor younger, future fristbaseman for the O's.  Adam Jones has been more consistent, this year, with a .295 batting average and 24 RBI.  Jones still miss plays a ball in center field every now and then, but not as much as last year.  I would like to see Jones end the season batting at least .300.  Then there's Mark Reynolds.  Reynolds, who is batting an amazing .190, sarcasm obviously, and leads the team in strikeouts with 45.  The sad part is Reynolds' strikeout numbers are down from last year.  Overall, GM Andy MacPhail got what he asked for in signing Vladimir Guerrero, Derek Lee and Mark Reynolds. 

Now to pitching.  As I stated earlier, the starting pitching has been better that what I expected, at the start of the season.  The bad news is that the O's are ranked 27th, in the league in ERA, 4.71 and ranked 26th in batting average against.  Zach Britton leads the team in ERA with 2.14 and continues to improve, but doesn't have move wins because of the lack of bullpen support.  Jake Arrieta surprisingly leads the team in wins, 5, and strikeouts, 49.  Guthrie cotinues to sturggle as the team's designated number one guy and I can see Britton taking over the number one spot by seasons end.  If Guthrie is as number two or three guy, I think Guthrie will be able to relax more and pitch better.

And this leads me to the blowpen, I mean bullpen.  Last Monday, the blowpen blew a 6-0 lead in Boston and wound up losing the game.  A 6-0  lead are you f@#$ing kidding me!!!!!  6 year old little league teams don't even blow that big of leads.  Kelly I mean Kevin Gregg has been horrible in the closer role I believe he has 100 blown saves and the O's haven't even played 100 games yet.  I call him Kelly Gregg because he pitches like a girl, he sucks.  Buck Showalter should put Koji Uehara as the closer instead of Kelly Gregg.  Uehara leads the bullpen in ERA with 2.50 and strikeouts with 22.  Then there is Mike Gonzalez who has an ERA of 8.59 and every time he comes in he always gives up at least 2 runs by my count.

GM Andy MacPhail has ignored the bullpen for years and now he is paying for out with poor performances like last Monday night.   If it was up to me, MacPhail should be fired as he has never thrown the money at players that are in there primes.  Andy MacPhail is the Vinny Cerato of baseball, like Cerato, MacPhail goes after players that are past there primes and like Cerato ignored the offensive line; MacPhail has ignored the bullpen. And it's coasting the Orioles way to many games.

Overall I can say I'm satisfied with the O's so far but I really do believe if the right moves are made, before the trade-deadline then this team can definitely reach the .500 mark this year.

Capitals Future Division Oppenets

 With the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg almost a done deal, the Caps will have a new division opponent in the 2012-2013 season the question is, which team, from the western conference will replace the Thrashers in the southeast division.  I have 3 candidates in mind:

Nashville Predators:  The Preds seem like the most geographical pick despite, the travel will be a little bit far far from Nashville to DC, but every team in the southeast has a far ride to DC.  I also like the Preds, because they seem to be an up in coming team, in the league.  If they can re-sign Pekka Rinne, the franchise will have made a huge step in building a winner in Nashville and possibly could compete with the Caps and Tampa in a few years.  We also saw, this playoffs, that Nashville has the potential to be a great fan base.  Go figure Tennessee as a hockey state. 

Columbus Blue Jackets: Its pretty weird that a team in Ohio is in the western conference and that's why the Jackets will be considered.  The Jackets will basically replace the Thrashers talent wise as they have one star, in Rick Nash, and that's it.  Basically the Jackets will just be another doormat to the Caps and Lightning.  Geographically this will make no sense to put this team in the southeast division as it would be long travels for every other team in the division. 

Detroit Red Wings: Same reason why the Blue Jackets will be considered, a city that is in the eastern time zone has no business being in the western conference. On the other hand, it makes no sense to put a team from Detroit in the southeast division.  Then again the Arizona Cardinals were in the NFC east for a while. Red Wings already have a great rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks and have a new found one with the San Jose Sharks and those rivalries will be ruined if they are moved.  I also don't want the Red Wings in our division because that means playing them 6 times a year instead of 1 or 2 times a year.  With how well that organization is run Detroit will always be competitive and competing for the Cup every year. 

Overall I think Nashville will fit the best.  Nashville also fits the mold of being a newer franchise.  The Caps are the only team, in the division, that existed or is in there current city before 1990.  But as we know Gary Bettman is the commissioner and he rarely makes a smart move. 

Offseason Moves: What Should the Caps Do?

 Sorry to the fans that think Bruce Boudreau should be fired, but it looks like Boudreau is going to stay.  Owner Ted Leonsis, said on 106.7 the fan, last week, that it's up to GM George McPhee on if Boudreau stays or goes.  McPhee said that he wants Boudreau to stay.  So with that being said that means moves must be made player personal wise, after another playoffs disappointment.  Let's start off with the current team and whose contracts are expiring.  (Plus/minus added for defenseman in stats).

Jason Arnott: UFA (unrestricted free agent) $4.5 million last year.
2010-2011 stats: 17 Goals, 14 Assists, 21 Points,
4 Goals, 3 Assists, 7 points in 11 games with Capitals

Brooks Laich: UFA $2.6 million last year.
2010-2011 stats:  16 Goals, 32 Assists, 48 Points

Matt Bradley: UFA $1 million last year.
2010-2011 stats: 4 Goals, 7 Assists, 11 Points

Boyd Gordon: UFA $800,000 last year.
2010-2011 stats: 3 Goals, 6 Assists, 9 Points

Scott Hannan: UFA $4.5 million last year.
2010-2011 stats: 1 Goal, 10 Assists, 11 Points, +4.
1 Goal, 4 Assists, 5 Points, +3 in 55 games with Capitals

Marco Sturm: UFA $3.5 million last year.
2010-2011 stats: 5 Goals, 11 Assists, 16 Points.
1 Goal, 6 Assists, 7 Points in 18 games with Capitals

Sean Collins: UFA $650,000 last year
2010-2011 stats: 1 goal, 1 Point, +2

Karl Alzner: RFA (restricted free agent) $1.67 million.
2010-2011 stats: 2 Goals, 10 Assists, 12 Points +14

Semyon Varlamov: RFA $821,667
2010 -2011 stats: 11-9-5, 2.23 GAA, .924 save percentage in 25 game started.

The Musts:  In this year's free agent class, I only see two must resigns this year.  Karl Alzner and Brooks Laich.  Alzner is a key component to future of this defense as he and John Carlson look to be a force of a defensive paring to be reckoned with for years to come.  This was the first year that Alzner and Carlson were paired together, in the NHL, and did a damn good job to.  Alzner's +14 rating speaks for itself, but in mid season it was this pairing that was going against the other teams top lines across the league. 

To me, Brooks Laich is not a must resign because of stats, but because of the other things he does.  Laich is the one that is always hustling, digging pucks out of corners, making the extra pass to score a goal etc.  If I ever played organized hockey, I would want to model my game after Liach because of those attributes stated above.  A player like Laich could inspire someone like Semin to not slack off during games.  Laich may not get all the goals, but he's the person that will make the plays to have a goal scored and that's way he needs to remain in DC.

The don't have to resign, but would be nice to keep: Jason Arnott, Scott Hannan, and Marco Sturm all fall into this category.  The main reason, why these 3, are in this category, is because of how much they were being paid this year.  If the Caps do resign both Brooks Liach and Karl Alzner, George McPhee will have about $4.7 million in cap room to work with.  Which means the Caps can only afford to resign one out of the three players in this category.  Out of the three I would say Arnott would be the one to resign, but he'll be the most expensive one to resign.  Arnott brought the veteran leadership to the Caps that this team lacked.  He is also a great two way player, which bodes well for the defensive system the Caps want to play. 

Sturm is hurt to much and Matthew Perreault can easily take his place, Scott Hannan was a great addition to the team this year, but like Sturm he will be to much to keep and young defenseman Dmitry Orlov looks to be ready to move up from Hershey. 

Let them go: Semyon Varlamov, Sean Collins, Matt Bradley and Boyd Gordon.  Varly has been injured way to much to resign him for a good amount of money and has also been rumored of going across the pond to play in the KHL.  If Varly is willing to sign for about $1.5 million or less then resign him, if he wants more let him go to the KHL.  I'm pretty sure Michael Neuvrith and Braden Holtby can fill in for Valry's place pretty well. 

For Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon and Sean Collins, I just see them as role players, role players are easy to find for cheap on the free agent market or can be brought up from Hershey.  If the Caps do resign who I think they should there will most likely not be any cap space for these players, unless some trades are made.

Trades: Trades are a must this offseason and can't wait until next year's trade deadline to make at least one big move.  Alex Semin, Mike Green and Dennis Wideman should all be considered as players that are tradeable.  As before I have been critical of Alex Semin's effort and with just cause, his lack of effort and poor attitude is something that you don't want on a team that is still trying to win the Cup.  Semin may not be the player that gets traded in the offseason, but more likely at the trade deadline.  The reason being, Semin is making $6.7 million this year that would seem a pretty hard sell to any team in July, but in February, a team that is in 8th, 9th, 10th or 11th place may feel that they need an offensive power like Semin to make the playoffs and will call the Caps to get him.

I put Mike Green and Dennis Wideman up there because they are basically the same players, offensive defenseman.  Which makes perfect sense to have two offensive defenseman on a team that wants to play a defensive system.  NOT.  I understand why McPhee did get Wideman, to replace Green while Green was hurt, but now with Green healthy the Caps are stuck with this problem of having two offensive defenseman.  This is were a trade should be made this summer trade either Green or Wideman to one clear up some cap room and two possibly get a defenseman that plays defense. 

The Case For and Against Boudreau

Obviously with this pathetic loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning the talk of firing Bruce Boudreau, but everything must be considered before a move is made. Here's both of the cases.

Keep Him: Bruce Boudreau took a team that was in last place, in November of 2008, and won the Southeast division that year.  Boudreau has a record of 189-79 in the regular season.  Boudreau turned a team full of offensive minded players into a defensive minded system that was able to work towards the end of the season and in the first round of the playoffs.  Against the Lightning it was the players fault that they got frustrated and decided to abandon the system.  The coaches can only do so much, its up to the players to continue to play within the system and stick to it no matter what. Boudreau knows these players better than any coach in the NHL because he coached most of these players in Hershey. If Boudreau is fired, he will most likely get hired by another team then come back to beat the Caps in next years playoffs. 

Fire Him: Boudreau has a record of 17-20 in the playoffs, is 1-3 in game 7's all played at home and 3-4 in games were the Caps face elimination.  All of that is unacceptable for a team of this talent.  This team should of been, at the very least, to a conference final already.  Boudreau showed, in games 4 and 3, that he can't motivate this team.  It's the job of a head coach to motivate the team.  In 24/7, Boudreau was trying to motivate the team and the look on the players faces were basically we are not going to listen to you and we don't respect you.  At the time when I saw I thought, ok it's a long losing streak; everyone is frustrated.  But maybe the players don't respond to Boudreau anymore as was evidence in, once again, games 4 and 3.  Most of these players have had Boudreau as there coach for all of there careers, including in Hershey, and maybe the players have grown tired of him therefore they won't listen to him anymore. 

If Boudreau is to be fired, I say go with Ken Hitchcock.  He's the former coach of the Dallas Stars and most recently the Columbus Blue Jackets and Hitchcock won the Stanley Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars.  Hitchcock knows what it takes to get a team there.  I don't think a young, upcoming coach will be the right fit for this team because the superstars on this team will run him out of DC within a few months, if he does not get along with the players or runs a system that they players don't like.    

Overall it is a tough decision, Boudreau has had excellent success in the regular season, but hasn't in the playoffs.  Is it the player's fault? Or has Boudreau lost this team completely?  Of course, in a city that has not seen a major professional sports championship in 20 years, fans want success now.  But is firing the coach the right move? Or should players be traded? Ted Leonsis will have to give answers to these questions and hopefully those are the right ones.    

22 Years of His Way

Before I came to Morgantown to be a Mountaineer, before I knew Huggstown and before knowing "Country Roads," there was Maryland basketball and Garyland for me.  For as long as I can remember I watched, and still do watch Maryland basketball.  From all of the heartbreaking losses, to the 2002 National Championship,  I remember them all.  And all of this was due to head coach Gary Williams.  Now after 22 years, at Maryland, Gary Williams has decided to hang it up after a hall of fame career.  But what Gary should be remembered for the most was he did it his way, no matter what.

The numbers, by themselves, say it all.  661 wins with 461of those wins coming at Maryland.  Those 461 wins were good enough to be the 3rd all time winningest coach in the ACC, only behind Dean Smith and Coach K.  14 NCAA tournaments, 7 sweet sixteens, 2 elite eights, 2 final fours, 3 regular season ACC championships, 1 ACC tournament championship and of course 1 national championship.  In the past 12 years, Maryland is 2nd in the ACC in total wins only behind Duke.  But when it comes to Gary Williams it's not all about the numbers.

Gary Williams came to Maryland, in 1989, when Maryland was facing multiple NCAA sanctions.  Gary overcame those sanctions and within 4 years the Terps were back in the NCAA tournament and started a run of 10 straight NCAA tournaments.  Gary always took heat, from the media, for is recruiting tactics.  From letting multiple in state talent go out of state to not going after all of the 5 star recruits.  Gary heard it all from the media.  Despite the heat form the media Gary continued to recruit his way by only going after the players that would want to play for him, even if they weren't the top rated kids in the country.  And from judging from the numbers stated above Gary's way worked and worked well. 

Not only did Gary do it is way, but he did it his way by respecting the game and the University of Maryland.  Gary always did it clean as he was never investigated for recruiting violations, which is very rare with college coaches today.  Not only did Gary love his players but he loved everything about the University of Maryland.  His signature fist pump to the student section always fired them up and was very active in on campus and charity activities.  Despite what is now a heated rivalry between Duke, Gary became very close friends with Coach K and other rivals throughout the ACC.  Overall Gary was a down to earth guy to everyone in the community, also another rarity in today's coaches.

For me it was Gary Williams that started my love for college basketball.  Gary was so passionate that he never asked for a seat to be reserved on the Terps bench.  Gary was always standing coaching and cursing out the officials for 40 minutes every game.  Even in blowout games Gary would be seen yelling at player if he missed an assignment.  I thought that type of passion was so cool.  And his players showed that type of passion on the court to.  Every game you would see someone in a red and white jersey diving after a ball, giving up a charge, out hustling others for a rebound.  I will never forget my first Maryland game, seeing 18,000 fans at a college basketball game gave me goosebumps.  And without Gary maybe one of the nicest of facilities in all of college basketball would not have been built.  Gary will now become an assistant in the athletic department and rightfully so the court in the Comcast Center will have his name on it.  Lastly thank you Gary Williams for all the memories, technical fouls and laughs.  Enjoy retirement, continue to do it your way and once again you will be truly missed.         

Everyone Takes Responsibility

The shock is still settling in, how can a team that beat the Rangers in 5 games and then get swept by the Lightning?  From what I saw, from this series, everyone should be taking the blame.  From the coaching staff not getting the team fired up, to the players putting themselves before the team and for the front office not getting the right players.  Lets start with the players.

Players: At the end of the regular season it finally seemed like the players were buying into a defensive system everyone was willing to give up stats for the better of the team and that continued in the first round series against the New York Rangers.  When the bounces didn't go there way, the players didn't get frustrated as was evidence in the two overtime wins, against the Rangers, and that's when I personally started to believe that this was the year.  Then came Tampa Bay and there 1-3-1 trap.  I don't think that this team has the players that can beat the trap in the neutral zone, but that didn't mean they could not dump the puck into the offensive zone. Besides game 1, it seemed like the Caps didn't have to much trouble breaking the trap, but they were always losing in the 3rd period and that's were the players abandoned the system and started relying on themselves to break the trap and score that game tying or winning goal.  Instead of dumping the puck into the zone, like they should've, Ovechkin and others tried to break the trap by carrying the puck across the blue line, right were 3 Lightning players were waiting.  This normally led to a turnover or offsides call.  All of last night it seemed like the players were relying on themselves to win and didn't care about the system anymore.  

The past four years it seems like that one of the Capitals stars have failed to show up in the playoffs from Alex Semin, to Mike Green and this year Nicklas Backstrom.  Backstrom only had 2 assists and 0 goals this playoffs, unacceptable for a talent like him.  Now its possible Backstrom could've been hurt the whole year as his point production dropped significantly.  That could be due to the new defensive system this year, but something was not right with the Swed this year.  Then there was Mike Green last night, deciding at the last minute not to play.  You're a HOCKEY PLAYER!!! Be tough and suck it up with the teams season on the line.  Green did not do that and let his team and a whole fan base down.  And of course Semin didn't show up the second half of this series, but him not showing up doesn't surprise me anymore.  If the Caps are ever to win the cup, all of there starts must show up for all of the playoffs.

Coaches: Bruce Boudreau started feeling the heat in December, when the Caps were on a 9 game losing streak.  The reason for the losing streak was that Boudreau, and the rest of the coaching staff, were trying to change the free wheeling system into a defensive minded team.  At the end of the year Boudreau looked like a genius as he turned an offensive juggernaut into a defensive minded club in hopes of finally winning the Stanley Cup.  It seemed like it was all working even during the Rangers series, but then the team fell apart against the Lightning.  It's the coaches job to make sure that the team believes in the system, it's the coaches job to make sure that the players play as a team and not for them selves, it's the coaches job to fire up the team when there back is against the wall.  Boudreau failed to do all of that this series and that's why his job is in huge jeopardy right now.  Another question of the coaching is why do stars seem to disappear on in the playoffs? Now it could be all mental, but it someone different every year from Semin last year to Backstrom this year.  As a coach you have to find a way to get your stars fired up and get production out of them.

Thing is if you fire a coach you must have a concrete plan of where you want to go from here. What coaches should be hired? What happens if you don't get the coach you wanted? Those questions must be answered before someone is fired.

Front Office: GM George McPhee is also not exempt from this.  Boudreau wanted a defensive system, but didn't have defensive players.  It was McPhee's job to get those players that will play defense for Boudreau.  At the trade deadline McPhee did ok at filling that need.  He went out and got Jason Arnott, who is a great two way center, but then got Dennis Wideman who is more of an offensive defenseman.  Now the move might of been done to replace Mike Green, but now the problem next year will be there are two offensive defenseman.  I don't want to hear excuses Pittsburgh's GM Ray Shero lost his top two players midway through the season and without the Pens top players Shero found a way to keep his team in the playoffs and earned a 4th seed.  McPhee needs to find a way to get the defensive players that want to play defense, so Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin can hopefully score goals and that's all they'll have to worry about.  Remember these player have only known offense there whole careers, you can't teach them to play defense and expect to get the same scoring production out of them and as we saw they eventually abandoned the defensive system.  

The past few years I have felt that McPhee has had trouble deciding when to turn the switch from building mode to win now mode.  There's plenty of talent in Hershey that could've been used as trade bait to get defensive players to DC.  But McPhee wants to keep on building for the future, but problem is if McPhee keeps on building for the future he will miss the win now opportunity while Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin are in there primes.  I have no problem with stocking up in Hershey for the future, but the future is now and the Caps should be in win now mode. 

When a team has collapse like this, everyone has to take the blame and changes must be made.  The question is; where should the changes be made? Do you fire the coach? Do you trade players and go with a new core? Do you hire a new GM? Ted Leonsis must answer all of these questions before the NHL offseason begins and the answers are not going to come easy. 

Being Down 0-2 Doesn't Matter

Like every Capitals fan, last night, around 10 pm I was thinking the same thing.  Crap here we go again the Caps are going against another hot goalie and this script looks very similar to what happened in the Montreal series last year.  After somewhat cooling down, from losing in overtime, I go to check my email and I see "President Obama to hold emergency press conference."  After seeing this I tell my friend Erik this is going to be either really good or really bad.  Then they announce Osama Bin Laden has been killed, good finally we got him after 10 years.  Once Obama's press conference is over Erik leaves to go back to his place and I'm by myself for the night.  About 10 minutes after the announcement was made random cars are driving down High St with people chanting "USA USA USA" I didn't think much of it just thought it was a bunch of drunk kids driving around.  Little did I know this was about to get a lot bigger.

The amount of cars with people chanting "USA USA USA" increases.  This is when I start thinking hey this my actually be something special.  So I throw on my USA soccer jersey and my Nats cap that has stars and stripes on it.  As I'm walking up High St I see people gathering and the of High and Wiley Streets and everyone is chanting "USA USA USA" I get goosebumps as I walk up to join the crowd . The crowd continues to grow on High St as the crowd reached at least 2,000 people from my judgement.  That's when it all came clear to me.  Tonight who cares about sports, who cares that my team is down 2-0 in the playoff series, who cares if your a Philly, Pittsburgh, Baltimore or DC fan.  Tonight is about celebrating one the most wanted criminals, in Osama Bin Laden, being off the face of this earth for good and justice being served.  Tonight its about America and thanking the troops that have been fighting for the past 10 years to reach this day.  Tonight I was chanting with 2,000 people that I didn't even know, but we were all chanting and burning couches in the same cause and I thought that was pretty cool.



Last night was not a time celebrate your sports teams, but it was a time to celebrate America.  Even during a rivalry game last night you saw both Phillies and Mets fans chanting USA as one. Once again we showed, as a nation, that we are united as one no matter what team we cheer for. God Bless America and thank you to all that have served.

Oveckin and Stamkos Face Off for First Time in Playoffs

Well the Caps got past the New York Rangers in what was a tough 5 game series.  Up next there southeast division counterpart the Tampa Bay Lighting.  The Bolts came back from 3-1 deficit to beat the Crosbyless Shittsburgh Penguins in 7 games. The Caps won the regular season series 4-2 and the Caps outscored the Bolts 18 to 10.  This could be the start of a long rivalry in the southeast division.  Ovechkin vs Stamkos is a sexy headline to hockey fans and Boudreau has called out Stamkos and Steve Downie for flopping to much.  Trash talk and a playoff series sounds like the perfect mixture for a rivalry.   Here's my keys to this series.

Facing a Real Offense: Yes it was a great defensive performance against the Rangers, yes it was great that the pk only gave up one goal, but outside of Marion Gaborik the Rangers have no offensive weapons what so ever.  Against the Lighting the Caps defense will have to worry about more than one offensive threat.   The Bolts have Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St Louis who have both won a cup and oh yea they have the up and coming talent in Steven Stamkos.  St Louis is 3rd in the league with playoff points with 4 goals and 4 assists.  The Caps defense has done a good job at times during the regular season against the Bolts offense as they did shut Tampa out 6-0.  Tampa's offense likes to work the puck in deep then throw a centering pass into the slot.  Sounds easy to defend but if the defense does not stay at home the centering passes can cause confusion in the Caps defensive zone.   

Old vs Young: The Caps and Lighting feature two different goaltenders.  The Caps have Michael Neuvirth who is only 23 year old and Tampa has Dwayne Roloson who is 41.  Nuvie, in the playoffs, has a GAA of 1.38 and a save percentage of .946%.  Not to be out done Roloson has a GAA of 1.77 and is leading the playoffs in save percentage with .949%.  Without Neuvirth, the Caps would not have beaten the Rangers in 5 games and without Roloson Tampa maybe on the golf course right now.  The goalie that remains hot, that team has the best chance of winning this series with the offensive power both of these teams have and both of the goalies will be seeing a lot of shots on goal.

Support From the Third Lines: Another reason for both of the teams success is the support from there role players.  The Caps have gotten contributions from Jason Chimera and Swedish center Marcus Johanson.  While the Lightning have received help from Sean Bergenhim and Simone Gange.  When teams get help from there role players that takes the pressure off of the teams stars and it also puts pressure on the opposing team's coach to choose which defensive line he should send out.  When its just a team's top line scoring coaches know to put there top dmen on them, but if you have multiple lines scoring that makes the decision a little bit harder on who to send out.  Ovechkin and Stamkos don't have to do everything since they know they can rely on there teammates for scoring help and that'll relax and Ovie and Stamkos also; and from my experience you play better when you're relaxed.  If one of the team's third line goes cold expect that team's scoring to drop and expect that team to struggle in this series.

Expect a lot goals coming from this series.  I won't be surprised if a regular score is 5-4, 4-3 on nightly basis.  From the Caps perspective I would like to see Nicklas Backstrom start scoring more as he only has 1 assist in this year's playoffs.  If Backstrom can finally get going that will be a deadly first line for the rest of the playoffs.  If this was last year's team I could see this series going 7 games, but the Caps finally learned how to play defense and will hopefully stick to that philosphy for this series to shut down Tampa's scorers.  Even thought Tampa has Lecavalier and St Louis, who have cups, I still think this is a young team and they don't have the defensive fire power to shut down Ovie and company.  Give me the Caps in 6 games.  LETS GO CAPS!!!!

Can You Hear Us New York????

For Caps Game 4 Must be Treated as Game 7

Well the New York Rangers got the game 3 win and could be on the verge of turning the series around with a game 4 win Wednesday night.  While at times the Rangers did get, what some may say, lucky goals the fact is that the Caps were out shot 35 to 25 and it seemed that most of the play was spent in Caps defensive zone.  The Caps also reverted back to there bad habit of taking stupid and uneeded penalties. For Bruce Boudreau and the rest of the Capitals the formula is simple win game 4 and take the series win with game 5 at home, of course easier said then done.

There are multiple reasons why the Caps must treat game 4 as a game 7.  The most obvious one is that with a game 4 win, by the Rangers, that guarantees a game 6 back at MSG.  Therefore making it a long series and possibly another 7 game series for the Caps.  Also, the longer the series goes the more likely that Henrik Lundqvist  continues to get hotter and hotter as a goaltender.  The Caps  need to think about conserving there energy if they are to win the cup, by making it a quick sereis.  It's been evident that this series has been very physical and the physicality will most likely continue for the rest of the series.  With that being said the Caps need to limit there bumps and bruises by ending the series as quickly as possible, especially with the possibility of playing another physical team in the Montreal Canadiens in the next round.  With a game 7 mentality, that means the Caps will be more focused, less likely to commit dumb penalties and play as team instead of relying on the individuals talent, thank you Herb Brooks.  Look at the focus Ovechkin had in game 1, that type of focus rubbed off on the rest of the team and they played well for most of game 1 and all of game 2.  If the Caps can take that type of focus and get that killer instinct, while playing this game like a game 7 this team is unstoppable.  With a game 4 loss, all the talk and questions are going to come again.  Why can't the Caps hold on to a lead in a playoff series?  That is the last thing that the players and coaching staff need to be ask about in a playoff series.  If the Caps take this series in 5 games then all of that talk of not holding onto a series lead will be gone. 

To win games 4 and 5 the Caps must get back to what they were doing in game 2 and in the second half of game 1.  They need to be the ones that come out a throw the first hit and kill the Rangers will physically. Come out with game 7 intensity to cancel out the Rangers intensity from playing in front of there fans.  The Caps can not be playing in there defensive end of the ice for the majority of the time as what happened on Sunday and that was part of the reason for dumb penalties because of the tired legs.  Which brings me to my next point. Backstrom, Knuble and Hendricks all took stupid penalties on Sunday, Stanley Cup winning teams don't do that type of crap, which is exactly what it is.  Knuble on the pk had no one around him when he was attempting to clear the puck, so if there's no one around you why did Knuble decide to try to bounce it off the glass?  Makes no sense to me just shoot the puck down the ice, no need to be fancy in that situation.  For Backstrom the play was already ahead of him, as Karl Alzner defended Marian Gaborik  perfectly, but Backstrom just had to commit the hook or slash on the Rangers player entering the zone, once again dumb.  I will say the Matt Hendriks penalty was a little bit questionable, but don't put yourself in that position.  Offense hasn't been that bad so far this series, but I will say there is no way that this Rangers team should be outshooting our offense by 10 shots.  Yes the Rangers have a great defensive line pairing of Staal and Girardi, but the Caps were able to have a great offensive performance in game 2.  Yes I know the Rangers now have the advantage of last line change, but that's were the second and third lines of the Caps must score in game 4.  I would like to see the Caps try to get Lundqvist's head a little, crash the net more, give "The King" a little love tap or two just to mess with him and possibly throw him off of his game. 

I know that I personally said that Caps will in 7 games, but man would it be nice to win a series 3-1 especially when playing a team like the Rangers.  Wednesday we will be able to tell if we are going to be in it for the long haul or if the Caps have finally learned how to get a lead in the series and keep the lead.