February 2011 Archives

Big Money Tony, Q, and The Sports Freak discuss potential moves that General Manager George McPhee may make as the upcoming NHL Trade Deadline approaches, as well as identify some possible areas towards improving the slumping scoring for the Caps.

The trio also reflects back on the NBA, David Aldridge's article, and the group unveils a new topic during the podcast - "unfinished business" (tune it to see what unsettled business the group wants to resolve.)

Aldridge's article can be found here.

The article referenced by Q written by Andrew Tomlinson can be found on On Frozen Blog.

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Dr. Gonzo reporting,

Cue the Tom Rinaldi voice over, now cut to a shot of an empty soccer field with a well timed morning fog settling over the pitch, now Rinaldi says something like Charlie Davies always dreamt of being a World Cup Hero, but he never imagined his boyhood dream would take so many twists and turns... Now cut to a shot of pictures of a crushed car on the side of the George Washington Parkway, cue Davies mom saying something that makes your heart hurt.

To this point just a week ago, that was the Charlie Davies story, but redemption is right around the corner, literally.

Mere miles from the sight of a car crash that nearly took his life, Charlie Davies will now play his home games at RFK after signing a one year loan deal with DC United.
Davies journey has been long and tumultuous, from France to DC and back Davies has turned tradgedy in to inspiration.

The Charlie Davies story is an agonizing tale of a young man who made one bad decision that almost cost his life and seriously damaged his professional career.

Rewind to October 2009, the US National team was getting ready to host Costa Rica at RFK Stadium (That's right it still exists, but no one wants to admit it because it's a dump) in a huge World Cup qualifying game. The US was in need of a tie or win to clinch a spot in the World Cup. A loss would have put the US into a playoff against a South American team for a trip to South Africa.

The night before the deciding game Charlie Davies missed curfew and was involved in a near fatal car crash. Davies who was considered the number one or two forward for the US and a pure scorer to boot suffered a broken right leg, broken left elbow, lacerated bladder and facial fractures.

The US would go on to tie Costa Rica in thrilling fashion on a last second header. The tie won the US its group and a spot in the Cup. Charlie's teammates admitted that they were trying to win one for their fallen forward. The initial reaction to the win was palpable and it seemed like no one was fully ready to except how bad off Davies was.

Dr. Gonzo reporting,

One week from today during the Terps home game against North Carolina State, Greivis Vasquez will be honored by having his jersey hung in the rafters next to greats like Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, Lonnie Baxter, Len Elmore and Len Bias.

Even if it was just yesterday that Vasquez was shimmying and shaking all over the Comcast floor, it also feels like it's about damn time. No player captured our hearts quite like Greivis; no one irritated us more with his wild shots early in the shot clock and then had us on the edge of our seats with a clutch performance down the stretch.

Yes no one who has come before him or may come after him did it quite like Vasquez did. If you were a fan of any other team then this was the guy you had to hate and he thrived on that. He was his coach, embodied in his "never say die" attitude and his ability to make scrubs better. (See Dave Neal)

Just last year I was listening to a local Sports Radio Program, on a station owned by a tyrannical owner of a certain local sports team who appears to suffer from Napolean Complex, and the hosts were having a discussion of the top five Terps of all time. Hater after hater called in and pretty much belittled and discredited everything that Vasquez had accomplished to that point in his career.

I don't buy that nonsense, I prescribe to the Bill Simmons theory. The things that matter to me are: did this guy leave a lasting impact? Yes. Did he have the stats to back it up? Yes. Did he get it done when it mattered most? Yes. And last but not least, did he make his teammates better? Double Yes.

How his numbers stack up: They say that stats don't lie, and for the most part I will buy that. So let's look at Vasquez career numbers:

Points: 1,524 (16th), Rebounds: 494, Assists: 564 (4th), Steals: 135 (15th)

Vasquez also holds the Terrapin record for most assist in a game (15). It wasn't like Vasquez had the luxury of coasting on defense either, as anyone in this area knows if you play for Gary Williams you have to play defense first. Vasquez personified that by finishing his career with 135 steals and was so versatile at 6 ft 6 that he guarded anyone from point guard to power forward.

The Sports Freak and Big Money Tony discuss the Superbowl game, the advertisements, and Dan Snyder's lawsuit against the Washington City Paper with Q and Stu.

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Dr. Gonzo reporting,

It's time to drop dimes all over THE DC SPORTS PAGE. Let us we begin with a tail of two of the worst teams in the NBA hurdling toward a probable matchup of futile proportions... Take it away Howard Finkle.

"In the corner to my right we have the Washington Wizards, coming in with a record of 13-37 and a putrid mark of 0-25 on the road."

"And their opponent limping out of the corner to my left the Cleveland Cavaliers, owners of an 8-44 mark and currently riding a 25 game wining streak."

I know I know. Riveting right?

If all falls in to place and the Cavaliers lose their next two games against the Pistons and the Clippers then we are set up for the toilet bowl. And guess who the NBA has to blame for all of this nonsense? Non other than Queen James.

Never has one man helped to turn two franchises from contender to pretender so quickly.

He left Cleveland to take his "talents to South Beach, and he routinely abused the Zards in the playoffs. Who can forget when he psyched out Gil at the free throw line or the insanity that was Deshawn Stevenson actually calling him out? James murder the Wiz in three consecutive playoff series. Each series would end the same way with James leaving with a smile watching the Wiz stumble around confused like a dog that's just been neutered.

Now is the time in the column when we all have a pity party for Antawn Jamison, ready? It's the right thing to do! One, two, three....AWWWW!!

Now let's be real, Jamison is trapped like a Chilean Minor, but don't feel bad for him. This is what he wanted and at least he has some road wins. I'll never forget when Jamison basically played 1 on 5 against the Cavs in the playoffs. He was the go to go, but he didn't have shit to work with that series. Now he's in NBA Siberia.

All I can say is that I hope that the Cavs don't pick up a win before this matchup on Sunday. I mean a 25 game road losing streak up against a potential 27 game losing streak overall, can you say CONTRACTION?

And while we're at it can we change the current slogan just in case Sunday's game does come to fruition, right now it reads "The NBA where amazing happens," but look here, we just change one word, "The NBA where embarrassing happens." It's interchangeable really.

Q joins us for the hour to discuss All-Star games, the Capitals season, doping in cycling, Terps and Quakers respective chances for the NCAA, and our final Superbowl predictions. Q also provides his rebuttal to the cheesesteak discussion we had recently.

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