Congratulations All Around

I admit it. I was wrong. Not only did the Capitals make the playoffs, but they won the first round. It was a bit iffy there at times, not because of Braden Holtby- that man is still rocking, but a steady lack of urgency, which gave a sense of dread in overtimes where a determination to score is kind of the point. There didn't seem to be a change of pace or confidence in Game 1 of Round 2 which took place earlier today against the NY Rangers. I have to wonder if someone has told them there's a 3-second rule in the offensive zone, as eager as they are to swipe a single shot and scurry back to defend. They also haven't gotten the memo about there being no back-door on the net. Too much time standing behind the goal and not enough in front. Their minor league affiliate, the Hershey Bears have also come back from a 0-2 deficit to tie their best of 5 series against Wilkes-Barre Scranton (if I spelled that right, I'll be amazed) Penguins. Game 3 included DJ King's first Bears goal. That was enough to make me happy; still a fangirl for ole DJ. Congrats to the Washington Wizards for their end-of-season six game winning streak. Too many people are quick to dump on them for not being very good, but as professional athletes, they should go out every night expecting to win if they do their best and they did. I hope to see more of the same next season. I'm not going to act surprised about the excellent play of the Washington Nationals. I knew they had it in them, even with the continuing domino fall of injuries (pluswhatisupwTylerClippard?). Tonight is Bryce Harper's debut. I am saddened that it had to come at the expense of Ryan Zimmerman being injured enough to sit on the DL, but now we can see if this is his time.

Caps Playoffs, pre Game 4

The Caps play Game 4 tonight of the opening round of playoffs versus the Boston Bruins. They participated in a light skate this morning.

On the near goal, Holtby and Dany Sabourin were switching out fairly regularly facing shots.

Close-ups of Braden Holtby and his mask:

At the far end of the rink, Michal Neuvirth was taking shots as well.

Caps television announcer Joe Beninati was mixing in with the little people (not a short joke, I swear)outside the plexiglass, taking notes and interacting with fans.

Myself included.

The Swedes:

Dennis Wideman stretching out:

After the starters left the ice, Neuvy moved down to take some shots from the scratches.

OK, maybe he's not taking shots in these but I was so glad to see him out there, I just kept taking pictures.

Standing by me happened to be one of my dad's favorite players, Dennis Maruk. I didn't take any pictures so you're just going to have to take my word for it that he chatted with Joe B and some fans then went shopping in the team store including buying out their remaining stock of his player shirt. Seemed like a nice guy and smelled really good, by the way. Unfortunately I didn't know he was one of my dad's favorite players until I told him about it on my way home. I would have tried harder on the photo front then.

And we will close out with a shot of the most dangerous man in Washington. Do you feel menaced?

Opening Day, Revisited

It's been a week since the home opener, so these photos are past their relevance maybe, but since the shots from my new fancy camera came out like this-

there aren't that many of a decent quality to share.

The day was beautiful, if not a bit chilly, but compared to the drizzly damp 50s that graced last years home opener, it felt like a near paradise, at least while in the sun.

James Brown of Fox/CBS football fame emceed the affair- the first pitches, the Gary Cater memorial, and the lineups.

There was a delay in getting the massive flag in proper alignment.

But finally the anthem was played

and Old Glory was unfurled

The game was exciting, especially seeing Wilson Ramos and watching Gio Gonzalez make his first hit. Gio is a ray of sunshine and looks like he's going to be a great addition to the team in terms of talent and just joie de vivre.

Disappointed that the team shop was closed for renovations. Things like that need to be timed better. Wilson the stuffed buffalo ended up with a hat from the Build a Bear workshop.

My next game is May 5th vs. the Phillies. I've never been to a Philly series. Hopefully it won't be as bad as I'm imagining. I don't think us doing well and them doing poorly is going to create a sense of shame and deference in any of the visitors.

Hater or Tired of Crap?

The Washington Post's DC Sports Bog is now under co-ownership. Sarah Kogod has been added to the banner pic and has been posting the last few entries. I know they're meant to be whimsical fluff, the crazy things the players and their fans do in the course of their days, but I expect a story on a professional journalism site to have a beginning, middle, end, and a theme. Technically, the post from this morning, "Kevin Seraphin needs more food" fit the bill. I clicked it because I like Kevin and I wanted to know more. I read 193 words that felt like it could have been punctuated with sad faces. Blog culture is more relaxed, I get it. I don't claim any of these posts are good enough for paid work because they aren't. I'd work my ass off if this was my job and take full advantage of the resources available. I fully regret getting all swoony around Mike Rizzo and Alan May and George McPhee but those were chance encounters, not mandated media time and I can't pull questions off the top of my head like I maybe should.

So back to the point- I thought the article wasn't straightforward and that was my fault for reading it quickly on an ipod touch with a red battery level. I corrected myself, and soon after get the author herself commenting," Well, how many many words can one really write about someone's dinner?"

Apparently not even 200. I know it's bordering on "basement-dwelling hater" to correct someone's finished work, but I felt there were plenty of directions to go with that scrap of an idea, especially with player access. So I answered that was exactly my point and get a response that all future food posts would be directed to the Post's food critic. Now that reeks of, "Boo-hoo poor me" which provokes my "Shut up and nut up" response.

Twenty seconds of web search tells me that Kevin Seraphin is from France, a place well known for its cuisine and that the league salary minimum as of the 2010-2011 season is in the high enough six figures you can see seven if you look in the right light, so packing a lunch in the heart of Chinatown and its myriad of restaurants to save a few bucks and guarantee satisfaction is a cute but unlikely situation that could have been easily expanded upon with direct player access and ten more minutes before posting. Especially since another five seconds of reading game stats tells me that Kevin was at or near season highs for points, minutes and rebounds Sunday and Monday so maybe a little hunger in his belly is the right fuel.

What I Said? Nevermind

If the news holds out as true that Peyton Manning has signed with the Denver Broncos, forget everything I posted before. He is an ass and so is Elway. Elway was no golden god right out of the gate but has an ego based on the end of his career. To give Tebow no time to develop after an impressive run last season is a dick move. Manning might have gotten effed over by Indy but effing over someone else is not the way to go.

Now I have two jerseys that will have to be added to my donation bag because they're worthless.

Two Impossible Things After Breakfast

This isn't a blog where I am going to be objective and impartial. I'm going to be girly and right here is where I say I have an irrational crush on Peyton Manning, ever since he was at Tennessee when I was living in Georgia, fivehead, goofy commercials, and seedy gossip aside. I was a little anxious when I didn't see full 90o rotation on that neck from side to side during the press conference and instead he shifted his whole body, shoulders down to answer questions. Maybe he was just being polite, but it gave me pause. I had been in denial all season thinking that there was no way he would have been able to sign a huge contract if they knew something was terribly wrong with him. It was my glimmer of hope.

Being a DMV resident, I can't say I'm surprised the man's been screwed over by the Irsay family. But still he stood there as everyone knew he was being dumped before he had to be paid and teared up when thinking about the equipment managers he would leave behind. He didn't pout and whine like his little brother who was too precious to go to a crap team, he sucked it up in Indy as they went from having one good player to enough to win the Super Bowl. (which I still have never seen because I had to work that night. I have it recorded somewhere. Maybe now is the time to drag it out.)He deserved better than to be thrown aside, and as much as it would please me personally I don't know if I can handle him coming to the Redskins knowing this is where talent goes to hibernate. He doesn't need to suffer twice. Miami sounds good.

The Wizards also managed to beat the Lakers tonight, 101-106 before a crowd of LA fans. Awesome. I had already settled down into the workspace for the night with no television, so I relied on Yahoo's Game Channel for slow updates in the 4th quarter. John Wall's 4 points was surprising but the 9 assists means he was passing and that works well though the text scroll I saw had him missing at least two free throws. Seriously? I liked that the scoring was spread out among many players- 6 with at least 12 points, Trevor Booker leading with 18. That seems like a good system to have in place, to have the focus not be on one person and to have many threats out there. Hopefully this wasn't a fluke and these guys who had such optimism coming into the season can pull something together these last two months.

And here we go...

The first Nats spring game is today vs Georgetown at 12pm. The young guys are the focus of the lineup- Rendon, Harper, Purke, etc as it should be.

Also today is the introduction of the new catch phrase of the season- "Natitude." I say that with the full expectation no one will ever say "natitude" out loud, but it's a solid concept and after the Redskins and the Caps, I could use a little chest-thumping, alpha male, primal, hunt down those wins like a wounded mammoth across the windswept plains of the outfield demeanor in my life these days.

Sports Bog has the details, especially this one that made me giddy and my wallet weep silent tears:

The team has started introducing players to the new campaign, asking them to design t-shirts that express their own particular Natitude. Drew Storen has already come up with his concept, featuring the phrase “Attention fans, the bottom of the 9th has been canceled.”

LOVE. I will be saving my pennies for when that shirt becomes available, and it better be available and not like Michael Morse's last season when every game it was "I think some are coming in on Friday" in every team shop at the stadium.

It's getting closer. April 5 doesn't seem too far now.