Recently by Big Money Tony

No doubt the ACC has some of the greatest men's basketball rivalries. As a Maryland Terrapin, I may be biased, but so be it. One thing we all in the ACC share (except maybe around Cameron Indoor) is our extreme dislike of Duke. I saw this today via twitter, from @keithsmooth. He may be a Tarheels fan, but he's good in my book for this post.

Well, that was well worth getting home after 1 AM. That was the final score in the battle for first in the ACC as the Maryland Terrapins beat the Duke Blue Devils for a share to the ACC crown going into the final conference games for each. It was also Senior night as Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes, Landon Milbourne, and injured Jerome Burney were honored in pre-game ceremonies. Imagine how great this team would be if we had a healthy Burney!

All three active seniors contributed key plays. Hayes drained important 3's and drove in for those sweeping layups he's been using all season. Milbourne, after taking outside jumpers when he had an open lane to drive, hit a monster slam to break a slump in the Terps offense. Might have helped that our section and most of the arena was screaming "Go Inside!!!" at him. Of course, Vasquez was his usual confident self, just building his resume for ACC Player of the Year. It was fitting that on Senior Night, he ended the night hitting 2 free throws.

The game started off great with the Terps on a 10-2 run and built to a 14 point lead. But Coach K made adjustments and got the Blue Devils to just down 2 at half 40-38. Despite not liking him, everyone has to admit Coach K is a great coach. Duke came out of the half to take an immediate lead to 41-40 and built on it. The slump lasted until under 10 minutes left, when the Terps and Duke battled back and forth the next 7 minutes changing leads and tying the game up. But the last 3 was all worth it for the Terps. Good passing, and of course, Vasquez throwing up his trademark crazy shots, sealed the deal. Even freshman Jordan Williams stepped up, hitting free throws, where there is no argument is the worst part of his game.

Up next is Virginia to end the regular season in Charlottesville. Not only are they always tough for MD on their court, this shows signs of a let down game. Similar to the Virginia Tech game, but the Terps remained high in that game. If they can end the season on a win streak and put up quality play in the ACC Tournament, MD can make the committee think hard about seeding in the dance.

But let's savor the moment and how beating Duke is great everytime it happens. And it always justifies a storming of the court.

This was to be the let down game for the Maryland Terrapins. And that was the consensus before the water pipe breaks. However, after a 3 hour delay when Virginia Tech officials finally decided the show must go on without running water, the Terps beat the Hokies 104-100 in double overtime. It solidified the Terps as the second seed in the ACC and put the Hokies in the fight to settle for third or lower.

The game was close most of the time and in the second half it was really close. Double digit lead changes and ties added to the tension, but the Terps rolled on and persevered. Despite trailing at times, they took the lead late in regulation only to allow the Hokies to catch up and send it to overtime. What seemed noticeable is that the crowd in Blacksburg seemed to be loud, but still not overwhelming. They had the opportunity to taunt Greivis Vasquez as he missed the basket on an early field goal, yet failed to continue to harass him with "Airball!". Certainly the whole ACC knows his quick temper and it would have gotten in his mind.

Instead, without the reminder, it allowed Vasquez to take control and score 41 points. Sean Mosley played an excellent game to provide 17 and Jordan Williams continued his excellent freshman season, but struggled early at the free throw line.

Winning this game puts the Terps at a virtual lock for the NCAA berth. With 2 games left before the ACC tournament, MD could rest easy, but Duke at home for senior night and at Virginia to end the season does not leave much breathing room. Also important is this win has to put the Terps back in the Top 25 in both polls, something the voters neglected to provide to them last week, leaving Duke the only ranked ACC team in decades. Next up is Duke on Wednesday, and fans should hope for respectable game and if cards fall the right way, a win at home to end the seniors careers at College Park.

Dear Mr. Commissioner:

So this let's get this out of the way. You screwed up. Yes, the lockout was successful in the goal of cost control, but the NHL has been royally damaged. You are no longer on ESPN now seen on Versus (for those of us not on DirecTV), NBC, and whatever local stations will carry your individual teams. Now that we've got that out of the way, you want to save your sport by not allowing NHL players in the 2014 Olympics?

We understand your position. Why stop your season for 2 weeks to be dumped on MSNBC? The reason why not is simple. You'll get crushed in the ratings because the Olympics are not about hockey alone. So here's how to fix it.

1. Negotiate: You know, that thing you didn't do well enough to keep the NHL on ESPN? You have an advantage and you may not know it. Everyone thinks you are serious about holding out the NHL players. Heck, that may even be true. But strike a deal with the IOC.
2. Demand: In return, your sport must be featured on the main broadcast partner of the Olympics then, likely still NBC. They must run NHL ads during the game.
3. Push: Get figure skating on at the different schedule from yours. That's the excuse NBC is using and you lose that argument. More people will watch those women skate figure 8's than your guys shooting the puck. Without direct competition, NBC may have to cave.

Sure we are talking about 4 years from now, but advance planning helps. Remember, you have the upper hand. At the moment I'm writing this, USA is up 6-0 over the Fins and ready to head to the Gold Medal game Sunday against probably Team Canada. Unbelievable that is going to occur, but no better time than now to prove your point that people will watch hockey.

Of course, I fully expect you to fail to see the logic in my reasoning. So in that regard, I bid you a good day. Please resign soon. I'll apply for your job at half your current salary. While NHL comes in after NFL, MLB, NCAA basketball, and possibly even the PGA, I think I could do a better job to market the sport and maximize profits for the owners. Because we know that's what the owners want.

Sincerely,

Big Money Tony

PS - follow me on twitter @BMTSports, so you can read how I will trash your name during the gold medal game and the Stanley Cup playoffs. Not because I'm cruel, but because it's just so easy to do.

In the Washington DC Metropolitan area, we are lucky to have an abundance of sports teams to root for...if we choose to. While there is no doubt the Redskins are and probably always will be top dog around here, the Capitals have done something no other team has been able to...make us want to watch.

I have been part of a plan that owned season tickets to the Caps, but I have never been a big fan of the team. Not to the extent that I have to go to games or have to watch the games. That changed in recent weeks. Call me a fair-weather fan or a band-wagoner, but you can not deny that if you were not a fan, it's a good time to start being one.

It has now been reported by the Washington Post's Dan Steinberg via Twitter that the Caps set another new ratings record, regular season or playoff, on Comcast SportsNet. A rating of 5.8. This comes after setting the record last Friday in Snowmaggedon, Episode I, versus the Atlanta Hawks.

Sure, it was bad to end the win streak at 14 against the Montreal Canadiens last night. Some will argue the record ratings were set because of Snowmaggedon, Episode II, Canada's Revenge. But snowed in with cabin fever, in the age of DVR's, people will seek the best source of entertainment. That would be those Can't Quit Kids named the Washington Capitals.

This Sunday was Superbowl Sunday. But more than that, the NHL decided to schedule their two top stars and their respective teams to play a hockey game. As a result, that led to a 5-4 win in overtime for the Capitals over the Pittsburgh Penguins. That extended the Caps win streak to 14 games. This was the Superbowl for many in the DC area.

There was some minor drama pre-game. During the Blizzard of 2010 (snowpocalypse, snomg, or snomaggedon), the Penguins had to find a way to get to Washington for a noon game after a 7 PM game in Montreal on Saturday night. They flew into Newark, NJ and hopped on a bus to DC, arriving just after 2 AM. That may have set the pace for a Capitals easy win, but it was not the case.

Pittsburgh went up 2-0 quick in the 1st period, with Sidney Crosby scoring both goals. The Caps responded with a goal in the 2nd, then gave up 2 more to the Pens before Fehr got another one for the home team. Trailing 4-2 at the end of the 2nd, you might think it looked dire for the Capitals. But this team has no quit in them. Alex Ovechkin put in 2 to tie the game at 4 and send it to overtime. It was also a Hat Trick for Ovechkin. Knuble scored the winning goal in overtime.

We could go over highlights of the game, but the important thing is not the details of how they won. It was the will behind it. Coach Bruce Boudreau had noted that the Penguins had it almost easier because they sat on a bus, while the Caps had to dig themselves out of the blizzard and find a way to get to Verizon Center. And as evidenced many a time in recent games, this team knows how to come back. Down 4-1 with minutes left in the 2nd period, there was no sign of a white flag. The team simply does not quit.

So now the question remains, can the Capitals hold momentum into the playoffs. We are asking too much to think they will go undefeated the rest of the season. But will one loss set them back? Given that the team does not quit, it appears that will not be the case. We can only hope the team rides this all the way to the Stanley Cup.

So in the span of about a month, I have given up season tickets to both the Redskins and the Nationals. Before I continue, I should define what I mean by season tickets. To me, it means a plan that includes several games over the course of the season. In the case of the Redskins, it was the entire season. In the case of the Nationals, it was a 20 game plan. There were a number of issues that came up to help to make these decisions. Economy and the performance of the team were common in both, but there were others specific to the teams and sports.

Over the course of my post-college adult life, I have owned or been part of a group that owned tickets to the Redskins, Nationals, Orioles, Capitals, and Terps Men's Basketball. I'm down to just the Terps now. My alma mater holds a great place in my life, and they could be in a losing season...I'll still watch them anytime.

For the Orioles and Capitals, it came to distance and time commitments respectively. Baltimore is not that far, but committing to every Sunday game (and for awhile, several weeknight games as well), just wasn't great. The nail in the coffin for the Orioles was when the Nationals arrived in town. The Capitals are a great ticket to have, but my work got in the way and I just could not commit to any games ahead of time to justify keeping those tickets.

The Nationals was easy. The 20 game plan was not onerous. We even actually split the tickets so I was only obligated to about 10 games a season. But in reality, why should I prepay for games they decide I should buy when I can show up on virtually any gameday, 10 minutes before first pitch to buy the exact same seats and probably have a 90% chance of getting them? It sounds harsh, and I'm becoming what the team does not need...a fan who barely spends money on them. Note to the Lerners, I'm probably not the only one.

The Redskins was much tougher, yet was easily justifiable. I once had season tickets in the upper level for a couple of seasons during the Norv Turner era. Then I had given up until a friend decided he was interested in getting premium seats (lower level). So for the past few seasons, we have been 20-30 rows from the field, in the end zone, cheering on those fans. This past season, we were upgraded to the club level to test out the seats there. But ultimately, it was not enough to keep our interest. Besides some personal issues, the Redskins simply don't have the draw any longer. The price was not justified and while the fan experience there is great, watching games on TV is almost as good as being there. After you weigh in parking, getting there, and the simple hassle of possibly not sitting an entire half, it was too easy a thing to drop.

One day, I hope to reacquire some of these tickets. I may sound like a fair weather fan, but a dozen or so Terps games is plenty. Add in the occassional ticket I'll be purchasing as a one-off game for all these teams, I'll still end up going to 25 or so sporting events live each year. Which means I'll essentially creating my own season plan.