There may be a few MVPs in town

The first of whom may be Alexander the Great the Second. Semin is having a great start to the season with Ovie taking a secondary role and setting the guy up. The most important thing is the team, which just took first place from Carolina last night, but Semin also took the lead in scoring from Malkin last night and now leads 27-24. However, all five goals came from the under 24 stars Semin, the Great 8 and Backstrom on the ice. That is encouraging news for Caps fans. If they can keep that triumvate together for a while we might be able to hang a bunch of banners up in the phonebooth.

If the NHL was smart, which they clearly are not, they would have the Caps and the Pens playing as often as possible. Ovie and Princess Crosby are the obvious draws, but having other stars on the same teams is great for these franchises. Malkin, as contrasted with Crosby, is actually a real and respectable hockey player. To have two guys who play wingmen to the guys that are "the future of the NHL" racing for the points lead is great. The best PR stunt the NHL has is their outdoor games. The NHL has the 'Hawks and the Wings playing the outdoor game this year on New Year's Day, but honestly, who cares about those teams? The Wings might be the best team in the league but no one cares until the playoffs. Why wouldn't you have two outdoor games between the Pens and the Caps and do a home and home outdoor fiesta? You could hold it at Heinz Field and RFK, watch the Princess cower in fear when Ovie wants to fight him again, and see the top two scorers in the league. The biggest thing is getting to the playoffs and basically starting a whole new season. Beating Carolina twice in six days is huge, even if it is only November. While Theodore shutout the Canes' 13 shots after Johnson went down, I stick with Johnson if he is healthy until he proves he is not worthy of being the starter. Once again it is only November but it is an encouraging November.

The other DC MVP favorite is Portis. The favorite for the league is Kurt Warner, who while deserving, should be second to Kerry Collins and Eli Manning, both of whom have their teams in the driver's seats. But Portis, if he plays, will go over 1,000 yards for the season against Dallas Sunday night. He is having a great year with a team that wasn't expected to do much and has been carrying the Skins on his shoulders, so he is just as MVP-worthy as Warner, Collins, and Manning (Jr.). However, the biggest banged-up guy to worry about this Dallas week is Moss. He is a Cowboy killer. They should have cast him in Tombstone as Wyatt Earp instead of Kurt Russell. He beats them deep every time, shows up TO every time, and has silenced the Norv Turner curse where we lose to Dallas almost every time. Portis is the offensive MVP (I still think if Rogers can rebound from the Pitt game he is the team MVP) but Moss always seems to be the soul of the team when Dallas comes to town. (By the way, the whole reason the Skins used to wear white at home was to make Dallas mad. If our boys do that burgundy on burgundy crap again I am going to be distraught; they look like dirty women's feminine care products, excuse my french. Go back to the white jerseys and burgundy pants at home.)

So on to the Nattos potential league MVP. Ok there is none. I like the trade sending Bonaficio to Florida for Olsen and Willingham. Bowden initially touted Bonaficio as the "second baseman of the future," but Anderson Hernandez hitting .333 in the bigs in '08 looks like a decent replacement for a club that just doesn't look that decent. Olsen is the big pickup. He is the big lefty we were looking for, and at 24 he should be coming into his prime and be around for a while. Willingham is the power hitter we need for the middle of the lineup, most likely will play first base, and raises questions about the futures of Young and Johnson. This is a good trade, considering we got Bonaficio for Rauch, but there is more to do. The Nats still have to sign a big name guy to get people to the park. Prospects are great but they often don't pan out. Look at Josh Smoker who after pitching a 5.48 ERA in Class A Hagerstown just underwent shoulder surgery. These guys may pan out, but there is no guarantee. Get some guys that can keep us from being the worst team in the league again, or keep us around .500, or I don't know, maybe even challenge for a pennant.

As a last thought can we finally be DC sports fans and not even have the O's come into the dialogue? Baltimore copied the Nattos and changed up their uniforms the other day. They put Baltimore back across their jerseys and complimented it with a Maryland flag patch. Its a Baltimore team, not a DC team. I don't care if you grew up an O's fan, if you scream O during the NATIONAL anthem I am still going to want to punch you directly in the face. It is time for the Lerners to buy back the TV rights from that bastard Angelos who stole the rights before the Lerners even owned the team. The last time the O's had Baltimore plastered across their jerseys was 1971, the year the Senators left DC. They changed it to Oriole's in a stupid ploy to gain fans in DC after we had an owner up and leave us much like the Colts did to Baltimore. There is a team in DC now, no one cares about the O's give them up. If you are a DC sports fan, and more specifically a DC baseball fan, there is only one team and they are the Nattos. Even if there is no MVP in sight.