There is sports everywhere and it is awesome. As a Nattos fan and DC resident you have to be disappointed that the Phillies won last night. Don't despair, they are supposed to win with Hamels on the mound, and Torre always has some tricks up his sleeve. But as a Nattos fan you have to be pulling for the Rays. Before this year they had never been above .500 in the history of the franchise. Sound familiar? They have a compilation of young players and castaways that no one else wanted and no one in the league has ever heard of before. Sound familiar? And they were the worst team in the entire league last year. The Nats took that dubious honor this year. If these guys can somehow push past the Sox as they have done all year and then win the Fall Classic (which they have home field advantage for) it would be great. It wouldn't offer that much hope for Nattos but maybe just an over-optimistic glimmer after a season that offered none. Best wishes to Tampa.
Except for hockey (and football) as the puck drops tonight against division opponent Atlanta for the Caps. Barry Melrose is behind the bench for division rival Tampa and fortunately for us he was a great analyst but bad coach on his first stint. And he has a mullet. Florida and Carolina round out the division, and neither are as loaded talent-wise as the Caps. The Caps are the DC team that you can be most optimistic about going into the season. I don't think Ovechkin's numbers will be as inflated as last year because it is hard to keep that pace up, he is already a little banged up, and for the first time I disagree with Boudreau and how he is using the Great 8. He was tinkering with him in the preseason on the power play kill unit which is a mistake. If we had drafted Princess Crosby I might put him there. I understand they both have great skate speed and can close on the puck quicker. But while Crosby would duck away from a slapshot quicker than T.O. used to duck when he heard Sean Taylor's footsteps because he has never shown any toughness or grit since he joined the league. Ovechkin has too much competitive spirit to show that type of cowardice; he doesn't need the spotlight, he just needs to win. I just don't want the cornerstone of my franchise jumping in front of 100 mph plus pucks. I'd rather see him show up Crosby yet again. Fortunately we only have to wait until Thursday to see them head to head, and maybe Crosby won't be scared to drop his gloves when the reigning MVP challenges him again.
On challenges, the Skins don't have one this week. This is not neccesarily a must-win, but it is a statement game. It states wether we are a legitimate team or if Zorny has these guys overacheiving. We should blow the Rams out, they are horrible. Fedex will be rocking after two big rivalry wins; after the Giants game I literally could not give away a ticket, now I have people fighting over the same seat. If we win close, a win is a win and once again the Skins show some grit. But if we win big, then Gibbs put together a dominant squad and Zorn is utilizing them about as well as he can in such a tough division. If we lose, or get that big injury that we haven't gotten since the first day of training camp and can always happen in the NFL, this town will be dstraught again. Thats why they play the game and there a a whole slew of great games in several different sports all week. Its a good time to love sports.
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