Recently by Big Money Tony

Greivis Vasquez was drafted 28th overvall by the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA draft tonight. Oh yeah, the Washington Wizards drafted John Wall overall number 1. Of course Wall is the story of the NBA, but when will Vasquez get more national attention than tonight?

Vasquez, the former Maryland Terrapin, was one of the most passionate players under the guidance of Coach Gary Williams. Via Twitter, Williams said "I have no doubt Greivis will continue to work hard and will do everything to accomplish his goals in the NBA." Based on his years at Maryland, I believe that as well. Vasquez was never one to give up. His work ethic and intelligence showed prior to this past season when he entered and left the 2009 NBA Draft. Clearly the best choice as he would have been a 2nd or 3rd round pick at best then, and now he's a 1st rounder. Congratulations to Vasquez.

Well, we all saw this coming didn't we? Albert Haynesworth's agent has informed the Washington Redskins that he will not be reporting to the mandatory training on Wednesday. This is a very fitting final jab from the Vinny Cerrato era. Granted, we all know Dan Snyder was behind many of the moves, Cerrato was supposedly the master in the plan.

Last pre-season, the NFL was trying to figure out who would sign Haynesworth. It came as little shock the Redskins were the winners (or maybe losers) in the race. But at what cost? Now that the player's intentions are public, his value with potential suitors go down because they know the Redskins have to unload. Then there's the thing about a disgruntled employee. That might turn off a few teams. Ultimately this is the biggest free agent bust the Redskins have signed. His out of shape, out of breath 2009 campaign only help usher Cerrato and Jim Zorn out the door. Then again, maybe that's not so bad.

Strasmas mania continues. On Thursday, on the Late Show with David Letterman, Nationals phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg delivered a pretty decent Top Ten List. Of course Letterman's staff wrote them, but Strasburg delivered it well. With his next start this coming weekend in Cleveland against the Indians, can the Strasburg Fever continue? Watch the Top Ten below.

The most anticipated call up in the short Washington Nationals history was a success. That is if you count 14 strikeouts in 7 innings a success. Stephen Strasburg, in his Major League debut downed the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2. Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps each pitched a scoreless inning to solidify the win. The important stats: 7.0 IP, 14 K, 0 BB, 2 H, 2 ER, 2.57 ERA. Oh plus this...he clocked 100 mph a few times, averaging 99 mph on his fastballs. Also there are reports that on the MASN telecast, they recorded at least one pitch at 101 mph.

The crowd was there for a show and Strasburg did not disappoint. We could feel that a good outing was coming. When the Pirates' Delwyn Young lofted a home run to right field to take them to a 2-1 lead, it showed that the young pitcher was human. But the best part was the reaction. He came back out confident and struck out his final 7 batters. The 14 overall strikeouts set a Nationals record in one game for a pitcher. It was something to see. The soldout crowd roared at every strikeout. We barely sat the first inning as every pitch was reviewed by the fans.

While it was Strasburg's night, the pitcher had solid defense behind him. Adam Dunn launched a 2 run home run while Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham provided solo shots.

Even the expert and analysts were in awe. Listening to ESPN Radio's MIke & Mike show, their baseball people one after another noted how great his start was. On the Internet, in particular Twitter, the term "#Strasmas" was coined to describe the debut.

Of course we are talking about one game. Strasburg has many more to come. It will be how the opponents prepare for him. For the few teams that might see him multiple times this season, what will they do to adjust? Time will tell, but savor the moment for now. Strasmas might go down in the books as the day baseball truly returned to the Nation's Capital.

On the day Ken Griffey Jr retires and the Stanley Cup gets interesting, we are discussing Armando Galarraga's near perfect game. And not in the good way. As you probably know by now, a mistaken call by first base umpire Jim Joyce, with 2 outs in the ninth, cost the Detroit Tiger the rare gem. Well maybe not so rare, since it's been done by Roy Halladay just a few days ago and Dallas Braden recently.

Viewing the video (embedded below) clearly shows Cleveland's Jason Donald out at 1st by a step. It wasn't one of those close call incidents. Yet Joyce, in an interview afterwards, had fully believed Donald was safe. But to his credit, he admitted his mistake, and went to Galarraga and apologized. The pitcher in return, accepted the apology. Class act by both, especially Galarraga, who has every right to be mad because he was robbed of his chance to be the in record books.

Besides Griffey, Galarraga, and Joyce himself, Tiger OF Austin Jackson was maligned by the mistake, as he made an incredible catch at the beginning of the inning to preserve the perfect game chance. No one is really discussing that. From all corners of the sports world, opinions were given as to what to do. On ESPN Radio's Mike & MIke show, the likes of NCAA Analyst Jay Bilas, SportCenter & NFL Live's Trey Wingo, and NFL Analyst Adam Schefter provided their take. Schefter had an interesting position. Have the game declared a "28 Out Perfect Game", making it such a gem, it could almost never be matched, and also allow Major League to make a one-time change.

More importantly though, this play may finally show Commission Bud Selig that instant replay is needed beyond Home Run or Foul Ball. While there should be nothing regarding balls and strikes, which are subjective, objective instances, such as whether a baserunner is safe or out should be available for review. At worst, make it reviewable in the 9th inning only.

The date has finally been set. The Nationals announced that Stephen Strasburg will make his Major League Baseball and Washington debut on June 8, at home facing the Pittsburg Pitrates. It was what everyone had anticipated, and now it's set.

Strasburg's work in the minors have done wonders for the minor league stadiums he's pitched in. They've sold out many of the games. His arrival in Washington comes at a great time. The Nationals are hovering over a .500 record backed by good pitching and offense. There have been down times, like giving up 2 inside the park home runs in back to back series, but even those were wins. Strasburg should further shore up the starting rotation.

The question now asked is can they play this way the rest of the season and make a run at a wild card berth? In all likelihood, it's not going to end that way, but the prospects just look better with Strasburg on the top level. The day prior to his MLB debut, it's expected that the team will be drafting catcher Bryce Harper. The future is now and later for the Nationals. The end of the 2010 season could prove interesting. Even better is the 2011 season. But we shouldn't look that far. Let's just enjoy June 8.

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups were announced today and the Maryland Terrapins will travel to Penn State on December 1. Penn State did not have a good 2009-2010 campaign so unless things change drastically for them, the Terps will get nothing with a win over them. On the other hand a loss would really be bad for the Terps post-season chances. But it's May, so it's way too early to talk about that.

There was some men's basketball talk in recent days. Or rather, the Big Ten Conference potential expansion. On the potentials list of some analysts was Maryland. I'll state that this is a terrible idea for Maryland basketball. The ACC expansion a few years ago set up the ultimate football conference that fizzled. In the same process, all ACC basketball teams lost the "Home and Home" games. They are relegated to playing some teams just once a season.

The Terps moving to the Big 10 might increase football, but would give a considerable blow to basketball. There would be no Duke or North Carolina or even NC State on the schedule. That is unless the out-of-conference scheduling works out that way for the coaches. But there's no guarantee of that, and it would be stupid to play each other every year when not in the same conference. Worse yet, presuming Maryland is the only ACC team headed to the Big Ten, Penn State would be the closest rival. Virginia and Virginia Tech are only a few hours away by road.

What may be on the Terps side is timing. If the Big Ten is trying to make the change soon, they can try to convince AD Debbie Yow quickly. I'm not sure of the powers required to change conferences, but I'll bet that if the University President is not powered to do so, he or she would at least be consulted. Maryland's current President, Dr CD Mote, is retiring within the month. Certainly he will not authorize such a change and I would venture a guess that the incoming president, when chosen and in office, would hesitate to make a change so early in their administration. Ultimately time will tell, and it's all about money. Maybe this time, we can make it about tradition.

I haven't been a NBA fan for many years. It probably ended when Magic's Lakers and Larry's Celtics stopped being relevant. Yes, I realize in recent years that has changed with Kobe and the Big 3, but they didn't draw me back. Also didn't help that the hapless Wizards (forever and always Les Boulez) suck so bad. Call me a fairweather fan, bandwagoner, whatever, I don't care.

My morning commute always involves listening to the radio. During a news segment, I heard an NBA update. Celtics tie the series up with the Cavaliers 1-1. Great, I'm happy for them. Then I heard "Game 3 will be Friday in Boston." If I cared enough, I may have stopped the car. Yes, Cavs-Celts is taking a 3 day break between games 2 & 3. I guess they are traveling by horse drawn carriage back to Boston?

I apparently cared just enough to think this through. Wait, the Boston Bruins are still in the Stanley Cup hunt. They must be using TD Garden. OK maybe not Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but one of those nights, right? No, the Bruins will be in Philly on the Flyers' ice.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing it, because it's only a 3 day break, but that seems too long for teams that are only a couple of hours away from each other by plane. What happens if it's a Celtics-Lakers rematch in the Finals? A week between games? This is why I don't care. After the regular season essentially became irrelevant, I settled on watching the playoffs only. Then it became the Conference Finals. A couple of years ago, just the Finals. Now, nothing. I have no need for the NBA. If you want to draw in fans, give them something to watch on a regular basis. Play every other night, except put in a travel day in between when moving from city to city. Otherwise, you'll never get me back. Especially now that there may be an extra 4 games in March Madness.

Disappointment is probably an understatement. The Washington Capitals were defeated in Game 7 by the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 last night. As we noted yesterday, all they needed to do was win and some changes could have been the right adjustments. Obviously both were easier said than done.

This was the President's Cup winning team for the 2009-2010 NHL season. They had one of the highest scorers, and one of the 2 top stars of the league in Alex Ovechkin. May predicted the Stanley Cup would finally come to Washington, and those who didn't at least expected them to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. Yet they lose to the 8 seed in the East, after leading the series 3-1. In quick order, here are the few things that faltered the Capitals in the playoffs.

• Alex Semin never scored. He had lead all NHL players in the playoffs in shots on goal, but failed to nail one in in four games.


• The stars never came out to shine. Sure, Ovechkin scored some. Niklas Backstrom had a couple of good games. But Mike Green was lackluster. Semin as mentioned above was a total no show in the goal department.


• Bad offense and bad defense. Semyon Varlamov minded the net better than the win-loss numbers show. But with little goal support in the losing games and a defense that couldn't seem to stop the Habs from advancing on Varlamov, it just wasn't enough.

It seems the only good coming out of this was that we know there is a great future with John Carlson. We do know this much. When the analysts break it down and ask if it was an epic Capitals loss or a great Canadiens win in the series, the former shines bright over the latter. Coach Bruce Boudreau will have to see why his team faltered when it mattered the most. Somehow, you get the feeling changes in lineups and matchups may not have solved it all. It may be that intangible thing that is missing. Somehow the magic just wasn't there.

So this was Bruce Boudreau's plan to let the Montreal Canadiens take it to 7 games, right? After a disaster of Game 6, and a not much better Game 5, the Washington Capitals will take on Les Habitants in Game 7 tonight at the Verizon Center. The winners of the President Cup against the 8 seed. This is not how it was supposed to go.

With Alex Semin outshooting everyone in the playoffs, but trailing virtually everyone in scoring, the Caps have lost one scorer. Add Tom Poti out 2-3 weeks with an eye injury at the end of the 2nd period in Game 6, and lackluster defense all together, there is a sense of worry in Washington. About the only Caps playing well are Varlamov and Carlson, but it takes an entire team to win in the playoffs.

From local radio talk this morning, many are saying the Caps are "due". Semin is "due" to score. Ovechkin is "due" to breakout. Green is "due" to step up. It comes down to this one game. The team that was projected to win the Stanley Cup by many now looks like a team in trouble. The Capitals have to score first tonight to put the pressure on presumed starting goaltender Halak. Varlamov has to put on yet another incredible performance in the Caps net. Most importantly, the defense needs to play up to their standards without the injured Poti and the Alex's have to score. An exit this early from the playoffs will be one of the greatest choke jobs in local sports history. Let's not let that happen.

The rumors had run rampant during March Madness. Now we have more detail on the Dance. While those early reports had suggested with an almost definitive tone that we'd see 96 teams, the NCAA appears to be expanding only to 68 from the current 65. The men's basketball tournament held every March is widely regarded as an almost "perfect" playoff structure. The addition of the 65th team bruised that image a bit, but it's still better the BCS of college football.

Right now the story focuses on the continuation of CBS coverage and the addition of TBS, TNT and even truTV as broadcast partners. Interesting that it now appears every game will be broadcast live starting in 2011. This halts a revenue stream for DirecTV who had been selling a March Madness package to cover all the games. But it's good for all of the fans who can now watch their Ivy League or WAC without the odd breakaways CBS producers seem to screw up every year.

Back to the expansion, there does not seem to be an explanation of what structure the extra games will take. It is assumed that now instead of one "play-in" game on Tuesday, we'll get 4 games. Are they all to play for the illustrious 16 seed in each corner of the bracket? Or, will the NCAA listen to fans (and their wallet) and go for at large play-in games, like for a 10 or 11 seed? I think in the grand scheme of things, most fans would rather watch the 3rd ACC team play the 4th SEC team than the Horizon and MEAC champions fight for the position. Of course the power conferences have great influence and would rather have their teams "safe" in the 64.

While the expansion was not favored by all, it was almost universally agreed 96 was an awful number to jump to. The growth was essentially a given and 68 is a good place to land. Is it March yet?

Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger has been suspended by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for 6 games. He is also required to attend behavioral counseling. If he behaves, his suspension could be reduced to 4 games.

I have mixed feelings about this. While what has been alleged in both cases is deplorable, nothing has been proven in any court. It comes down to the point of whether Roethlisberger got his NFL punishment because he is a successful, Super Bowl Champion quarterback for one of the elite franchises, the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I'll add in that he is a white player. Are the allegations of sexual assault terrible. Of course. But no one has successfully prosecuted or sued him in court. Some might argue that Adam "Pacman" Jones also received punishment before charges, however he had a long history with the law and had been on probation for prior charges.

Now the fate of Roethlisberger is in his hands. The Steelers may well trade him away, as they value class above his talent. While I would disagree on the same grounds as the suspension, it is their right to trade players in the NFL for whatever reason they deem fit. They've prepared for the suspension, and possibly the future, by trading for Byron Leftwich, previously a starter, and still a serviceable QB. Whether as a Steeler or somewhere else, Roethlisberger can only try to keep clean the rest of his NFL career. He only needs to look at Pacman Jones and realize talent does not mean you can keep your job.

Game 3 in the series against the Montreal Canadiens proved to be a much better game for the Washington Capitals. Niklas Backstrom wasn't needed. The first period ended 0-0 but was intense. As expected, Bruce Boudreau gave Semyon Varlamov the start in goal. He got a workout, including a Montreal powerplay where the Caps goalie saw as much action as his counterpart across the ice. The crowd at the Bell Centre was obviously behind the Habs and were very loud througout the first period and going into the second.

The second period proved much more productive for the Caps. The combination of Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich, Eric Fehr, and Alex Ovechkin scored in this period. Gordon got his shorthanded. Laich, Fehr, and Ovechkin scored at full strength. After the Fehr goal, the Canadiens opted to pull Jaroslav Halack in favor of Carey Price. It was bad toward the end of the period as Tomas Plekanec took a 2 minute penalty for interference and then got another 2 on top for unsportsmanlike conduct after complaining about it. They definitely lost control.

Calmer heads prevailed in the third. Montreal got their act together and scored a powerplay goal to bring it to 4-1. But that was all they could muster. Matt Bradley provided one more with 44 seconds left in the game to bring it to a close at 5-1.

Definitely a better show from Washington today. While the first period was tight, the second blew the game open and the Caps showed why they are the best team in the East. While it was great to see the Caps spread the scoring around, the stars are still not shining bright. Ovechkin got a goal, but missing tonight were scoring from Backstrom or Mike Green. Boudreau appeared to make the right choice in goal tonight, although he had said earlier in the day that he might swap Jose Theodore and Varlamov in and out. It's still the question of when he might rest Varlamov in favor of Theodore. Game 4 in Montreal will still be an interesting call for goaltender.

So many things went wrong last night. Jose Theodore, the defense, lack of power plays. Then again, just enough went right. The Washington Capitals defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-5 in overtime to tie the opening series up 1-1. Nicklas Backstrom put in the winning goal just 31 seconds into OT, which also capped off a hat trick for him.

The game was a disaster from the opening drop of the puck. Canadiens' Brian Gionta scored just 1 minute into the game, on the first shot on goal. 7 minutes later, Andrei Kostitsyn scored the first of his hat trick goals, on the Habs second shot on goal. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau saw enough and pulled Theodore for Semyon Varlamov. Eric Fehr scored to make the score respectable at 2-1 to end the 1st.

The second was even worse. Kostitsyn scored 2 more, capping his hat, and leaving the Caps down 4-1 with about 3 minutes left in the 2nd. The Comeback Kids looked like there was no comeback that night. But with about a minute and a half left, Backstrom scored his first goal.

Entering the 3rd period, the Capitals were on a roll. A late 2nd period penalty on the Canadiens left the Capitals with 1:40 power play to start the period. They failed to capitalize (no pun intended). But the star, Alex Ovechkin, did finally strike gold and brought the Caps within 1 at 4-3. Backstrom scored his 2nd a few minutes later and it was a new game with half the period to go. Unfortunately, Tomas Plekanac doused the Caps fire by scoring with only 5 minutes left in the game. Comeback would have to happen quick. They made it interesting with about a minute and a half left in regulation. Rookie John Carlson, hero of USA Junior team, scored and tied it up again 5-5.

This being the Stanley Cup playoffs, the full overtime period required a full intermission for the Zambonis to smooth the ice. The layover was tense, but Backstrom cut through it quick. Before some fans returned to their seats, he scored, just 31 seconds in, to lift the Caps to victory 6-5.

This is not how Boudreau, the Caps, fans, and even the NHL envisioned the playoffs going. But a win is a win, even if it was luck, and not skill. Neither team was better than the other. Defense and goaltending were suspect. Sometimes the best defense is a better offense and the Caps, or more specifically Backstrom, was the better offense. Varlamov was not much better than Theodore, though some of the goals he let in were special situations including defensive breakdowns and a power play. Boudreau is in a similar situation as last year, pulling Theodore for Varlamov and now needing to decide for the Game 3 starting net-minder. Let's hope whoever is in goal at the Bell Centre Monday does a better job than Saturday.

In the final game of the first round, the Maryland Terrapins defeated the Houston Cougars 89-77 out in Spokane, Washington. Freshman Jordan Williams had a career high 21 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Terps to the victory. While the final score had a 12 point difference, Aubrey Coleman, the nations leading scorer this season, and his Houston teammates didn't make it easy on the 4th seeded Terps. The game was much closer in the first half until Maryland started inching away late in the half. Then Houston had a last second shot drop in from just inside the half court.

While Williams tallied 17 boards, early in the game the Cougars dominated. The Terrapins defense had trouble controlling Houston as they had little trouble going inside. But with Williams' inside game, Landon Milbourne's rare gem of a solid game, and overall production from all the Terps, they led at the half and increased it during the second half.

It was a struggle, and while I and other Terps fans/alums were watching it at a party, we still thought the game was in reach for the Cougars. And it was, as they managed to take the deficit down to single digits several times. In the end, it was just that MD is the higher seeded and better team. The problem now is that with such a tough game played in the first round, the Terps have to face Michigan State at 2:30 on Sunday, roughly 38 hours after the Houston game ended. Tom Izzo and his Spartans are not the Cougars. They're better, and Gary Williams and the Terrapins will need to have a better defensive game to get past them.

The Maryland Terrapins received an at large bid for the NCAA tournament. They were awarded the 4 seed in the Mid-West and will face the Houston Cougars at 9:40PM on Friday in Spokane, WA. The Terps received this seeding after falling to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Friday.

While Houston is the 13 seed, they have the nation's leading scorer, guard Aubrey Coleman, who averages 25.6 points. Maryland's defense better be on the A game Friday or Coleman may make a game of the matchup. This game also has some local flavor as Houston coach Tom Penders was the head coach at George Washington about a decade ago.

For the Terps, the 4 seed was higher than expected by most of the analysts, who had them as a 5 seed. On top of the higher seeding, they were put in arguably the toughest bracket, with Kansas (1), Ohio State (2), and Georgetown (3) in the mix. Presuming they get past Houston, they face Tom Izzo's Michigan State (5) in the Round of 32. Then it gets really difficult as they could face Kansas in the Sweet 16. Gary Williams, his staff, and the team have their work cut out for them.

First things first, take care of Houston. They are a high scoring team out of Conference USA. The Cougars shoot 35.6% from 3 point range on 794 attempts this season, against Maryland's 474 attempts. Landon Milbourne needs to drive inside to get easy buckets and/or fouls while Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes, and the rest play their regular good game. After being the co-championship of the ACC regular season, getting bounced by the 13 seed in the first round of the NCAA's would be a disappointment for the Terrapin faithful.

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.

The Terps battled hard to beat 19th ranked FSU 77-68 at Comcast Center Sunday evening. MD lead the entire game over the Seminoles. With support by all players, Grevis Vasquez lead MD with 22 points.

Vasquez started off the game slowly, ending the half with only 2 points. Surprisingly, Landon Milbourne had a solid first half, driving to the basket, taking shots, and rebounding. In the second half though, things turned around. Vasquez was on fire, cutting through FSU's defense, and shooting three point shots, including following Eric Hayes after he hit his own three, to extend the lead after the Seminoles cut the lead down to single digits.

In the end, the Terps won by only 9 points. It could have been even closer, but inexplicably former Wizards and current Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton, down by about 10 with about 1:30 to go, only sent his team to foul Terps twice. At the game with The Sports Freak, I commented that Hamilton is deluding himself if he thinks his team is as good enough to come back at the last minute not fouling. But Hamilton's mistake is a win the Terps will take, bouncing back after a loss at home to William & Mary and a win over UNC-Greensboro. Starting off the ACC with a win is a positive.

Next up for the Terps are road trips to Wake Forest and Boston College. If they can go 1-1 on this trip, it will set them up good for a return to home against non-conference Longwood and ACC rival NC State.

Only 2 days after ending a 4-12 season, Redskins players are taking shots at each other. Let's hope they don't do that literally and help the Wizards Gilbert Arenas out by taking one of those guns he does not want in the house.

Seriously, running back Clinton Portis started off by calling Jason Campbell an ineffective leader on ESPN980's The John Thompson Show. The Post summarizes it here. It seems #26 is trying to position himself to return next season, even though it will be to play for a head coach that gave him up a few years ago.

Quarterback Campbell fires back via an interview with the Post's Jason Reid. At first, you think it's frustration from yet another bad Redskins season. But the more you think about it, Campbell is probably frustrated for all the antics Portis has put the Redskins through.

No doubt Portis was a star. He came from Denver because Joe Gibbs wanted him as an essential cog in the offense. But production and his attitude, has come far below expectations. Did anyone expect him to be a model citizen? Not really, but his cocky attitude has only grown. So much to the point earlier this season, when he asked to have fullback Mike Sellers benched. Portis seems to forget that without Sellers, he'd get less than the pathetic few yards on average he achieved.

This seems to be the final straw. A couple of weeks ago, we wondered whether Campbell or Portis would return to the Redskins. Now, with reality setting in, Bruce Allen and the rest of the Redskins management has to figure out how to fill those roles. Campbell may not be the best quarterback, but he's the best available to the Redskins to start week 1 of the 2010 campaign. Portis is possibly past his prime. With Ladell Betts and company, there are already capable backs on the Redskins roster. It's time to cut Portis loose.

Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn was fired early this morning. According to Lindsay Czarniak at WRC Channel 4, Zorn told her he was dismissed after the team returned from the loss yesterday in San Diego. The team arrived around 2 AM and he was told when he went to Redskins Park after landing.

This comes as absolutely no surprise. I would say it was cruel to fire the man in the middle of the night, but in this case, everyone saw it coming. It would have been torture to wait a day or a week, just because they hadn't finalized the contract with the new head coach. Which now brings the question, when will Mike Shannahan be unveiled? Also according to Czarniak, the team had not finalized the contract with him as of game time yesterday. Wonder if it could turn into the debacle that put Zorn in the head position when Joe Gibbs retired again.

To Zorn, thank you for 2 decent season. Going 8-8 and 4-12 may not look stellar, but working under the constant scrutiny of Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato, you managed to get wins out of dysfunction. You may not have been ready for the job, but you did the best you could.

All the big conference teams schedule "cupcake" games against mostly local and some regional smaller conference teams to start the season. Maryland is no different there. The problem is the William & Mary Tribe were scheduled. The Tribe beat the Terps 83-77 in a game that the Terps were never really in.

The game can be summed up in two easy parts. Poor shot selection and bad defense. During the first half, many shots were taken outside and not in the paint. Even shocking was what seemed to be unrealistic 3 point shots. This Terps team has more 3 point shooters than past teams, but many of the outside shots were taken when Eric Hayes, Maryland's specialist, was on the bench. Overall the team took shots that didn't go down, didn't draw a foul, and the Terps had no one under the basket to grab the rebound. On defense, it seemed that the Tribe had six men on the floor as one man was always open. They appeared to be the ACC team in the house, taking the ball into the paint for points.

While this an upset, as pretty much all CAA over ACC games should be labeled, we should look closer at William & Mary. The Tribe had already beaten Wake Forest earlier in the season, which may have given them the edge since they had already seen an ACC team at work. This is a bad loss now that may be lessened later in the season if it is proven William & Mary can be a contender.

The Terps need to bounce back. Only over a week before the ACC season begins. Not much time to re-group.

George Michael, the longtime former Sports Anchor for WRC4, passed away this morning as first reported by DCRTV via Twitter. He was 70 and died of cancer. Pictured here at a panel discussion, courtesy of FLICKR user The SABR Office.

Michael and the late Glenn Brenner were the face of DC sports reports since the 1980's. Michael started and hosted the George Michael Sports Machine, a Sunday late night wrap up show that was the alternative to those of us who did not have cable and access to ESPN's SportsCenter. You can't help but wonder what he might have done for ESPN. Some criticized him for being too close to the teams he covered. True, that he was always at Redskins Park the day after games interviewing coaches, owners, and players. And he helped the Washington Wizards as he promoted the contest for the name change from the Bullets.

Beyond the major sports, he was also a champion of the secondary or side sports. NASCAR, hotrod racing, bull riding, even wrestling were always covered on the Sports Machine. Even his nightly sports reports featured these sports. There were dog races in the halls of the NBC studios in Washington every year, thanks to George Michael. Last year at this time, we discussed his final departure from WRC4. At the time, it seemed the end of an era in sports reporting in the DC area. Today marks the complete end. Thanks for the memories.

So there was that. In Monday Night Football, the Redskins got crushed by the NY Giants 45-12. There's nothing positive to report for the team. Defense played awful from the beginning and the offense reverted back to the squad we knew from earlier this season.

In a bizarre twist right before halftime, the Redskins opted to go for a fake punt twice. Yes, similar to earlier in the season, they set formation to run a fake. The Giants called a timeout. When play resumed, it was still the fake on. This time however, Hunter Smith threw an interception. So for those of you scoring at home, Smith has the following stats, 1/2, 35 yard, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 Rushing TD this season. I calculate the passer rating as 75. I think Brady Quinn might be jealous.

Aside from the trick plays, the regular plays were simply awful. Nothing to write home about. The defense looked like they were playing prevent the entire game, essentially providing a 5 yard cushion for every Giants receiver. The offense sputtered and only had the ball for 1:26 by the end of the first quarter. Pathetic.

The Redskins were poised to spoil the playoff chances, or at least diminish the playoff seedings of their last 3 opponents. We've helped the Giants move closer. Next week is Dallas, who upset the Saints over the weekend and stopped their regular December fall down. It's time for the Redskins to step and play. Bruce Allen is watching, and it may well determine whether some of these players are back next season.

I'm going on record as saying this might be the happiest day in my life as a Redskins fan since the return of Joe Gibbs. ESPN 980 first reported this morning that Vinny Cerrato has resigned from the Redskins. This was followed by the announcement that Bruce Allen was hired as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the team. On the Cerrato front, I have noted my disapproval of him many a time. In fact, despite my dislike for Marty Schottenheimer, the one absolute great thing he did was fire Vinny. While we can not blame all the Redskins woes on him, he was part of the mastermind team that put together the disasterous resulting football organization. His "playoff caliber team" that this group of Redskins were declared is much short of that goal. Short at least 3 offensive linemen and at least one cornerback. The 2008 draft class was both his best and worst. Drafting Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, and Fred Davis all in the second round (BTW after trading in to get all in the second round) made little sense. No argument a good number one receiver was needed to take the place of Santana Moss, but an extra one and a receiving tight end to backup Chris Cooley? Vinny was proven somewhat right only that Cooley would miss nearly half of this season and Thomas has turned in a couple of good to stellar games. But no excuse to ignore the rest of the teams needs for places that were not the worst.

Bruce Allen is the former GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Fans may also know that he is a son of former legendary coach of the Redskins George Allen and brother of former Governor of Virginia and Senator George Allen. Finally after a decade of near total control by Dan Snyder, the team appears to have a professional front office manager to handle team operations. Whether he will be the missing piece to right the Redskins ship will need to wait. However, I think all Redskins fans think it would be hard to do a worse job than Cerrato did.

The rebuilding of the Redskins has started and it begins with Shaun Suisham. Multiple sources including ESPN 980 and ESPN's Adam Schefter repot that Suisham has been released. To take his place, kicker Graham Gano has been signed. Gano most recently played for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the UFL and was a contender for the kicker position in the Ravens pre-season until he was released just before the regular season started. Based on his bio, I find it funny as he reminds me of Nigel Gruff from the 2000 movie "The Replacements" as both are from "across the pond". However, Gano is genuine as he played for Florida State in college.

Suisham had a longer than expected stint with the Redskins, at least in the eyes of everyone except Washington's front office. I wished that he were cut immediately after the game on Sunday, but somehow he lasted until Tuesday. Really, there is always someone else out there. Consistently inconsistent, one might argue this was his best season until we faced the Cowboys a couple of weeks ago and the team began losing games because of his missed kicks. He was also never a great kickoff man, always landing the ball well short of the endzone. There was one season the Redskins had a second kicker on the squad just for kickoffs. That might have been former Maryland Terrapin Nick Novak, who was at Redskins Park this week trying to win Suisham's job that eventually went to Gano.

Goodbye Suisham. There are few Redskins I wish ill on. I won't dwell on it, but I do wish he ends up with the Cowboys, the Giants or the Eagles so he can screw up their team. So also ends the poll we put up yesterday. Inexplicably, there were a few responses of keeping Suisham. Maybe they were doing it in jest. There was an argument that at least we know what Suisham is capable of. Which is total BS, because a professional kicker should not miss 23 yard chip shots. He's missed a bunch of "easy" kicks in the past. At least even is Gano is bad, we will find out soon and maybe Snyder and Cerrato have a short trigger now.

This is of course, the question on everyone's mind. Over the past seasons, Suisham has had his up days and his down days. It seems the Redskins have not had a stable kicker since Chip Lohmiller? Suisham is doubly painful as his field goals are iffy and does not have the strength to send kickoffs into the endzone. My fill of Suisham ended at least 2 seasons ago and I still can not believe he is on the team. I understand there is the thought that there is no one better available, which I disagree, but sometimes cutting a player proves a point. So we have this poll. It will end at 4 PM next Sunday, right before the next Redskins game, or when Suisham gets cut, whichever comes first.

Interception stripped and returned for touchdown, punt bounce off the back, fumble in your own territory in overtime, and missed chip shot field goal. All these events are rare occurances for one team in the NFL in one season, yet all happened in one game with the Redskins. Again, the Redskins lose, this time to the New Orleans Saints, 33-30 in overtime. This was the hardest game to take as a loss because had any of those 4 things not occur, the Redskins basically had a victory.

Toward the end of the first half, Kareem Moore intercepts Drew Brees, only to get stripped of the ball by Robert Meachem who runs it in for a touchdown to tie it a halftime. A shanked punt by the Saints bounces off Barnes and into the arms of the Saints. Most egregious though were the missed field goal by Suisham and fumble by Sellers. The missed field goals occurred when the Redskins could have been up 33-23 with less than 2 minutes left in the game. Surely a 2 score lead with a minute plus holds 99% of the time. Yet Suisham again shows how much value he is to this team. There is no excuse for Mike Sellers. You have to hold on to the ball, especially in overtime. He simply let it go.

I heard this morning that this should be a "moral victory". Well this moral victory eliminated the little remaining shot the Redskins had at the playoffs (not that we were counting on that anyways). And it doesn't feel so good, when there were so many opportunites to win. Inexplicably, all facets of the team played well together for over 60 minutes. Offense worked well, defense is the great defense, and special teams were adequate. But 4 plays cost the game. Rarer even is that 3 of those mistakes could have been made and the game was still likely the Redskins to win.

The University of Maryland Terrapins has decided to keep Head Coach Ralph Friedgen around. This seems to be best for the team on a number of fronts. For continuity, as we discussed months ago, the Terps have already named Offensive Coordinator James Franklin as the successor. This season's bad record can be blamed on the bad offense, so the change would either cost the University double in dead contract costs or leave the team with pretty much the same scheme. The second is the cost. In this bad economy, asking members of the Terrapin Club (which of full disclosure, I am a member of), to pay for Fridge's contract when he's not working for the team seems in bad judgement.

We know this is has not been a season to remember, unless you want to point it out as the worst season ever for Maryland football. But Friedgen has been the only reliable coach the team has had in quite a bit of time. One bad season should not sink him. Of course, Maryland has not been stellar in his tenure, but it will take much longer than the few years he's been coach to build the team to a national powerhouse.

In the turmoil that might be the worst season in recent Redskins history, new lows are being achieved. The Wall Street Journal wonders if the team is losing Washington. In short yes. It's hard to judge. Real fans don't drop their teams because of a bad season. But a bad decade could set the fan base back a bit. I have been a Redskins fan for a long long time. But the Snyder ownership era has worn on me. Once upon a time, season tickets were the coveted treasure of the fan base. But now? I had my opportunity to buy regular season tickets the past two seasons. Ultimately I declined, and now I go to the end of the wait list. And that's OK, something likely I would not have said just a few years ago. Maybe it's the increase in capacity of the stadium, or the rising price of tickets, but the drop in interest in the team has something to do with the lack of urgency for tickets.

In other great news, in a Harris Interactive poll from October, the Redskins are the 17th most popular NFL franchise, dropping 8 slots from the last poll. Also a sign of Snyder? Living in the Washington Metropolitan area my entire life, it's hard to understand how team popularity exists for other towns, other teams. But I know die-hard lifetime fans. I consider myself a big fan. That should not waver. It's not like we are the Cleveland Browns. What about the NFL teams who still have yet to win a Superbowl? The Redskins have three championships. Yet the popularity is dropping?

In the end, you wonder what causes the drop. Winning and losing seasons are cyclical, especially in the salary cap era, so that should not really affect fandom. There are teams in more dire straits (re: Oakland Raiders). Ultimately the owner is responsible. I don't question Dan Snyder's fanatical spirit. I question his ability to lead and guide the team and the fans. Look at Bud Adams, with the Tennessee Titans. He's so fanatic, he flips the bird at games. Sure it cost him $250,000, but I'm guessing if you ask the average Titan fan, they are proud of their owner. You ask 99% of the Redskins fans about Snyder? Let's not go there.

So what does Dick Jauron have to do with the Redskins? Nothing much, except that when he was dismissed as the Buffalo Bills head coach, that has affected the Redskins non-search for a new coach.

We have known for weeks, maybe even since the beginning of the season that this was Jim Zorn's last as Redskins Head Coach. Along with QB Jason Campbell, they'll be swept out the door shortly after Week 17. Dan Snyder's obsession with the big name coach has never ended. He was thrown offguard with Joe Gibbs suddenly retired and was left to find a new coach without the weeks of wooing he, Vinny Cerrato, and the private jet offered.

Now with Bills owner Ralph Wilson actively recruiting new coaches, the pool of candidats may be shrinking. They have made no attempt to hide the fact that Mike Shanahan is at the top of their list. Shanahan is high on Snyder's as well. So what happens if Shanahan goes to the Bills before the Redskins even fire Zorn? The pool suddenly shrunk as Jon Gruden has already re-signed with ESPN for a few more years of Monday Night Football. Jim Haslett has been spurned twice by the Redskins, Mike Holmgren will probably want a Team President role instead of coaching, and it's been long rumored Bill Cowher is waiting for the Carolina Panthers. This leaves the Redskins with a large shortage of qualified, experienced candidates.

We'll have to see how it plays out, but the Redskins can not afford another Zorn hiring incident and the team has to change their colors to "Maroon and Black".

Is same as the old. Well, more concisely, the interim no more. Jim Riggleman was announced as the Nationals permanent Manager tonight, Veteran's Day. As The Sports Freak just commented in our discussion of this minutes ago, it's almost appropriate as Riggleman seems like the grandpa that will tell you war stories.

Initial reaction is why Riggleman? Rumors had little, if anyone really looked at by GM Mike Rizzo and the Lerners. Former Mets and recent Japanese league manager Bobby Valentine was considered. Maybe Valentine cost too much? Or maybe he turned it down. Riggleman was a good choice to fill the interim role. But he showed little in his time to prove that he deserves the job on the permanent basis. Is it his fault? Not entirely, as former manager Manny Acta lost his job for the same reason...non-production from a team that CAN NOT produce, thank you Jim Bowden.

Well, positively for Rizzo, at least the Nationals didn't go through the debacle that the Redskins had hiring their leader until settling for Jim Zorn.

OK, I'm not an NBA fan. Really haven't been since the Showtime Lakers and basically stopped watching after Michael Jordan left the Bulls. But in looking at ESPN 980's website, this article caught my eye. Can someone explain to me how players can be nominated as All Stars when the season is only 10% over?

One of the few things I remember about the NBA is that the season is 82 games long. As of this morning, the Wizards are 2-6. 8 games into the season, they have a losing record and Arenas, Jamison, and Butler are nominated to the All Star Game?

I don't discredit them for their talent. I discredit them for their relative talent to the rest of the league. Especially Gilbert Arenas. The former Agent Zero was less than zero last season because he was injured most of it. So on this short 8 game losing season, he gets nominated? WTF? I enjoy a good All Star Game or Pro Bowl, but leagues need to do one of 2 things. Either nominate on merit, or just assign players for the best game/entertainment value. I'm not sure the NBA has accomplished that here.

Anyone?

Yes, the World Series is still going on. But the Nationals season has been done for about a month now and one could argue has been done since June, but there has been little talked about the next manager. Is Mike Rizzo doing anything about it?

We have to believe Rizzo is making the rounds, and checking out potential candidates. But this isn't like the NFL where you might be waiting out an assistant to finish his current team's playoff run. Maybe, but there are great candidates out there. Why have we heard little about it? The only thing I've seen is a small comment in an article about the front office changes. Riggleman as the permanent? Really? He's done OK, but is this a great improvement over Manny Acta? BTW, congrats to Acta for getting interviewed in both Houston and Cleveland and landing the Cleveland job.

The Lerners and Rizzo need to pound the pavement. Eventually all these high draft picks may produce a great major league team. The right manager would help too. One early rumor who is still available is Bobby Valentine. He's a great analyst and may end up permanently at ESPN, but he could be the right man for the Nationals. Will the Nationals be the right team for for him?

There was word around town prior to the Redskins loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was that there was a fan blackout. Fan's were supposed to come to the game in black to show their distaste in the things that are the current Washington Redskins, specifically the way the team is managed. What is not a surprise is that the team is fighting back against the fans. And not in a good way.

In the aftermath of Monday Night Football loss to the Eagles, stories are coming out about how Dan Snyder is handling things with the fans. Banners are no longer welcome at Fedex Field. T-shirts are being turned around. According to WUSA-TV, the local CBS affiliate, their sports director Brett Haber was told that they could not interview fans tailgating on the Fedex Field grounds. In essence, the Redskins are trying to blackout the rightful negative attitude of the fans.

It's amazing that in the season that has a losing team with no hope of recovery this was the tactic chosen. Stories of the team suing fans who signed ticket contracts came out earlier this season. Even possibly worse than that was the news that tickets were sold to brokers instead of allowing fans sitting on the legendary wait list to get them. It is unbelievable that Snyder is authorizing the latest actions. Don't let anyone tell you that he's not at least knowing about this activity. He is the real GM as Vinny Cerrato is clearly a puppet...great front man to take the the brunt of the hits, but terrible at building a team. The surprising part of Snyder's actions is that he built huge marketing company from scratch. He sold the firm to buy the Redskins. See Snyder Communications for those of you who have not heard this.

Amazing how fast this team has fallen in the short decade Snyder has owned the Redskins. Hiring JIm Zorn may not have been ideal, but it is not completely Zorn's fault the team is not winning. It is the total package, from Owner/GM to the clear ignorance of Cerrato down to the water boy. Something is fundamentally wrong with the system and structure of the team. Now the question is can change come quick enough to convince the fans. Even die hard fans like myself are losing faith.

Unless you've been in a cave somewhere for the past 10 weeks, 10 months, or 10 years (as long as Dan Snyder has owned the team), the Washington Redskins suck. PERIOD. And they might have hit rock bottom losing to the previously winless Kansas City Chiefs, Yes, they get their "i" back now that they have won. Great Googally Moogally.

How do we count they ways they suck?

Coaching debacles. Steve Spurrier, Marty Schottenheimer, Jim Zorn. All had reasons to be the coach. Spurrier deserved to be fired. Schottenheimer did not. Only AJ Smith and the San Diego Chargers made all time top head coach firing for dropping him after a playoff birth. He only managed 8-8 in his one Redskins season. The book has been written for Zorn since the day he was hired as QB Coach Offensive Coordinator Head Coach. We are just waiting to read the last chapter.

GM/Drafting debacles. Fine, you don't want a GM. But at least put a good guy in the spot. Vinny Cerrato, who sounds like a good man with his personality does not know how to run a football team. You could use the analogy that a blind date has a nice personality. Evidence Exhibit A: 3 receivers in the 2008 draft in the second round, when the team was and still seeking, good offensive line help.

But we've somewhat expected that from the Redskins over the years. What may have finally got them to hit rock bottom? That the Redskins post game show called out Cerrato. For those of you not in the know, the official Redskins post game show is produced by the flagship radio station, WTEM 980. WTEM is owned by Red Zebra Broadcasting, which is part of the Dan Snyder empire. Late after the game, I was listening to the post game show when they got Kevin Sheehan on the phone. Sheehan, who is WTEM's main reporter covering the Redskins slammed Cerrato. Vinny needed to go and they need to bring in a real head of football operations to run the team. That's harsh when a sister company calls you out. You've hit rock bottom.

However, the Redskins have to be the Redskins, and dig a deeper hole. They relieve Jim Zorn of his call playing duties and hand them over to Sherm Lewis, a man retired from football 5 years ago. Can Lewis be effective? Maybe, but this move alone will not turn around the entire team. Cerrato stated on his Friday morning radio show that Zorn's job is safe for the remainder of the season. Finally, apparently, Snyder is tired of buying people out. Guess what? Us fans have been tired of that for nearly a decade.

So 14-6. 14-6. In case you are not sure of the acronym in the title, refer to this NSFW site. Redskins lose again.

What is there to say? It seemed to be a better game than usual. Yet, the hook was put on Jason Campbell as Todd Collins started the second half. Well losing 3-0 at half didn't help. As usual, the defense played well. That 14 points was not 2 touchdowns. All you can expect from a solid defense is to hold the opposition. Apparently ours needs to score. Collins in the game seemed to spark the Redskins, but that was short lived and only amount to 2 field goals. The best part of the game? I got into the Montecristo Club on the Club level and spent $20 on a cigar and a jack and coke.

At this point, you wonder why the Redskins just don't cut Campbell? Tomorrow. Really, are we to expect him to bounce back? Start Collins and sign a free agent. Jeff Garcia is out there.

Pictures will be loaded later. Very telling is how empty the concession stands and parking lot were.

If this sounds familiar, well that's because it is. Due to lack of everything, the Washington Redskins lost to the Carolina Panthers this past weekend and yet let another team record their first victory for the season. On the bright side, The Sports Freak, Q, and I ventured down to Charlotte to see the game in person and visit a friend of ours. That was such a great idea in pre-season when it was planned out. Not so much last week.

Name the facet of the game and there was a problem with it. The offense was the classic Jim Zorn offense. No guts, thus no glory. Throw a 6 yard pass on 3 and 7. Simply not enough. Add to that, Chris Cooley, our leading receiver, was taken out of the passing game because he had to stay in and help an injury depleted offensive line. Note to Vinny Cerrato, in case you hadn't noticed in the past 4 seasons, we need offensive linemen. There's this little thing called the NFL draft. I hear you can find these magical unicorns called O-Linemen there.

The Defense fared as good as they can. That's one of the few good things on this team. Sure Carolina is awful, but shutting down the opposition's offense deserves accolades. Because that 2 points wasn't the defenses support. Note to Carlos Rogers, work with the wide receivers, maybe they'll show you how to catch the ball.

Even Special Teams had their bad moments. Hunter the Punter Smith was sidelined so we got some guy to kick in his place. If it was going to go like that, you might as well have let backup punter Cooley punt, since he wasn't doing much on offense. Of course there was also that "fumble" on the punt return. Note to zebras, please get it right after you get 3 chances. Maybe you finally did give the right call, but you didn't correct the fact that you told us there was a violation of fair catch spacing.

So now we get the Kansas City Chefs (spelling intentional until they get a win, like probably this week). Matt Cassel is no Jake Delhomme...no, he's better. That is scary, but the defense can possibly contain him. Unfortunately points are required in order to win, and unless their kick/punt returners give it up like Carolina, it's going to be a long afternoon at Fedex Field.

Is Week 4 too early for a must win? Not for the Redskins. After subpar performances against the NY Giants, St Louis Rams, and Detriot Lions, Washington is looking at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers squarely at 1 PM today. This should be a win, but so were the Rams and the Lions. Only the Rams more inept play squeaked out a Redskins win.

The Sports Freak and I will be at the game today, hopefully getting out of there with a win. Follow BMTSports on Twitter to get semi-live tweets.

Remember way back when, like almost 20 years ago, when the Redskins last won a Superbowl? Then a series of events occurred that was going to bring sports championships (plural is intentional).

1. Wizards being declared a team to be reckoned with.
2. Capitals make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
3. Baseball returns to Washington.
4. Redskins sign/hire Spurrier, Gibbs, Haynesworth, Campbell

In Pardon the Interruption style, Toss Up, though we'll change it up a bit and give you a few choices. I get the feeling I already know the answer.

Redskins fans expect more. The Washington Redskins were defeated by the Detroit Lions 19-14. Appropriately, that broke the Lions 0-19 losing streak. If either team were in playoff contention, their 1-2 and now slightly better than the Redskins 1-2. I would like to comment on the game play, but frankly I gave up watching after the first half. Besides, there is nothing new to report, except that they actually scored 2 offensive touchdowns. Progress?

Maybe Redskins fans expect too much. It has been nearly 2 decades since the 1991 Superbowl win, yet the fans expect so much more. The comments earlier may have said it best...everyone is on the hot seat. Washington went through some rough times starting with owner Jack Kent Cooke deciding to build the stadium on his own outside of the city. It continued with his death, the stewardship and ownership through his estate, and failed ownership bids by Cooke's son and others. Through all of that, Daniel Snyder emerged as the winning bid for ownership. That might have been the problem.

So now what? Tampa Bay rolls into town next weekend. What might have looked like a win, now is up in the air. Frankly, after today's performance, looking at the remaining schedule, I don't see an easy win anywhere. 1-15 is not likely, as the team will find a way to win a game or 2, but it is probable. So right now, I can say, thanks for your service, Jim Zorn, Greg Blatche, the rest of the coaching staff, and thank you Jason Campbell. Heart helps, but production is king. Given how bad this season might end up, Snyder and Vinny Cerrato might not need to mortgage the future and trade away draft picks. They might be at the top of the draft. Welcome Tim Tebow.

Thursday night, the Washington Nationals achieved the century mark by gaining their 100 loss of the season. Surprisingly the team was in the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers until late. It was back and forth with the Dodgers taking a 1 or 2 run lead and then within an inning or two, the Nationals fight back to one run down. They even tied it all up at 6. But the loss would come, unlike Wednesday night when they won against the same Dodger team.

More importantly than the one game, the 100th loss marks the second season in a row the team goes over a century. Not good when you open a publicly funded stadium and reward the city and fans with 2 sub-subpar seasons.

GM Mike Rizzo thought it best to relieve Manny Acta of his managing duties midway through the season, which didn't solve much. Jim Riggleman might be considered for the position permanently, but it's likely the team will go outside the organization to find the new manager. The interesting part is they never gave Acta, nor Riggleman in relief, much of a chance. The team was built by former GM Jim Bowden in terrible fashion, by acquiring has been, never was, or unwanted players of other teams. Player development went by the wayside and those that made it got shipped off in those trades.

In the end, no matter who manages the team, the Nationals need strong players to be selfless and play as a team well. They lack a true field leader. Maybe Ryan Zimmerman can fulfill that role, but he'll have to step up. The pitching core is both busted and inexperienced. Another season under their belts, the young arms should gain momentum in 2010. Is it enough? Maybe not for 2010, but we can shoot for a smaller goal than pennants. Let's see if we can go 99 or less.

Plight, what plight? The Redskins won this past weekend. Well, that win wasn't particularly spectacular. It wasn't a defensive battle, or pound the ball by running game. It wasn't even a come from behind miracle that frankly, we might have enjoyed better. No, it was just pathetic.

As we know, the Redskins won 9-7 over the St Louis Rams. Sure, "A Win is a Win" and all that. Of course 11-5 composed mostly of 9-7 wins will likely put them in the playoffs, but to be real, that's not going to happen. The game was won on the backs of the defense and dare I say it...Shaun Suisham's leg? I am not the biggest fan of Suisham's. In fact, I don't know how he still has a job in the NFL, let alone the Washington Redskins. But his 3 field goals did it.

The season that was predicted by some, including Mike Wise of the Washington Post and 106.7 WJFK, The Fan, as a coming out party for our QB Jason Campbell. Well so far, that is only true if coming out means doing exactly what's he's done in past seasons. The defense is the defense, strong like the past few years under the watchful eye of Gregg Williams and now Greg Blache.

Where is the offense? You can count one offensive touchdown so far this season and that was to TE Chris Cooley late in a game they had already lost. You know the glaring stat that still stands out there? As of today, your leading scorers for the Redskins are Suisham - 14 and tied for 2nd, Cooley and P Hunter Smith with 6 each. Kickers are always at the top of the scoring board, but when your top 3 include your punter, something is definitely wrong with this picture.

The easy thing to say is that they will get it together against the Lions this weekend. Well that's what they said prior to week 2 against the Rams. You would think Campbell, who is working for his next contract, likely not in Washington, would put more effort. It just appears he'll be a journeyman who may not be able to hold Gus Frerotte's j***, I mean towel. And Daniel Snyder will coax Cowher or some other proven winner out of retirement to coach this team to failure again and again.

In a rematch from last season, the Terrapins did not far so well. The California Bears defeated Maryland 52-13. The Terps had upset Cal last year and caused a small You Tube sensation with Kevin Barnes hit on Jahvid Best causing the Best to vomit on field. Too bad Barnes is now on the Redskins.

Joking aside, Ralph Friedgen kept his team in the game for the first couple of drives, but played it safe and punted away. The defense did it's work and held Cal to no scores early. But just 3 drives in, they let Best break out for a 73 yard touchdown. Maryland then fumbled the kickoff and Best ran it in for a short score. All told, that was the end. The Terps tried to come back, but only got as close as 14-6 before Cal broke loose. You could have stopped watching at halftime.

For unranked Maryland, starting with a loss to begin the season wasn't so bad. However being blown out is. Friedgen should be able to get his team back on track in the coming weeks, but this opportunity to break into the Top 25 is gone. It will be much tougher to do so the rest of the season.

Jim Riggleman has done a decent job since the Nationals fired Manny Acta. While some feel Manny had to go, others think Manny would have similar success at this point in the season with this team. Nyjer Morgan just does not get that good because of Riggleman.

That said, thoughts of what is going to occur in 2010 with the team are afloat. Of course there will be that pesky pitching thing. But who will lead this time? Funny that it is now rumored Bobby Valentine and Buck Showalter are on the Nationals list of interviews. The Sports Freak and I discussed this very topic when Riggleman took over. Well, not Showalter, but definitely Bobby V.

Showalter, I had not anticipated. I'm curious to see what he can bring to the table, but that may be the issue. Good solid veteran manager is what the Nationals need. While Showalter has been around awhile, I don't know if he fits the bill.

Valentine was a manager in MLB, probably most famously with the New York Mets. Once after being ejected from a game, he decided to return to the dugout with fake glasses, nose, and moustache. A little humor and personality just might be whtat the Nationals need in a leader. He currently manages a team in Japan, but they will not renew him after this season.

Title sound strange? It did to me. I did not catch the game last night, but Chad Ochocinco can also place kick. Last night after a touchdown minutes before halftime, Cincinatti had a dilemma. Kicker Shayne Graham had felt soreness in pre-game warmups. Ochocinco is the listed emergency kicker, but other than practice, has not kicked in pre-season, regular season, or playoffs. His chance came up and he did it.

The kick proved to be the game winning point as New England could only muster 2 field goals. You may not like Ochocinco's off the field antics, but you gotta admire his skill at wide receiver and now, backup kicker. See the video below. Not dramatic, but it's odd to see #85 line up behind the holder and knock it through the uprights.

In case you have not heard, Superbowl champion and former New York Giant and Pittsburgh Steeler Plaxico Burress plead guilty today to brandishing an unregistered firearm. The plea likely means a 2 year sentence for the wide receiver. Legal experts say with good behavior, he'll be out in 20 months.

There are two major mistakes Burress has already committed. Obviously brandishing the weapon was the first mistake. Defending one's self is fine, but you know the easiest way is stay home. Second easiest? Hire professional help. The second mistake is the rumor that he was offered a sweetheart deal of a six month sentence. Yes, he would have missed part or all of the 2009 season, but that's happening now anyways.

Looking at mistake #2, we can't help but compare it to two other NFL players plagued by criminal activity. Michael Vick could have been in jail for a long long time. But after facing the cards, he and his legal team realized his best chance at post conviction NFL career was to plead guilty and take his medicine as soon as possible. Even Donte Stallworth, who killed a man while driving, knew he was stuck in a corner. He pled guilty as well and got a month worth of jail time. Of course Commissioner Roger Goodell imposed a stronger sentence by suspending Stallworth for the entire 2009 season.

If Burress is smart, he would ask for an earlier sentencing date. Currently set for September 22, he should take the next week to get his house in order for his stay in prison and get in as soon as possible. Vick turned himself in early to get his sentence out of the way. It worked to his advantage as he was out in time to join the Philadelphia Eagles during the preseason and play for part of 2009. That was probably part of Stallworth's plan as well. If Burress can get himself sentenced and in prison soon, he could be out in late April/early May 2011, just after the draft, in time for teams to evaluate their free agent needs. Goodell as already stated that Burress can sign with a team once his prison term is over.

So Plaxico Burress, as a warning from the public, don't make mistake #3. Get in and get out as soon as possible so maybe you can play another year or two in 2011.

The Michael Vick saga is over. ESPN reports that the Philadelphia Eagles have signed Vick to a 2 year contract. Nobody seemed to see that coming. In a way, it appears that Vick and the Eagles or should I say their fans will get along. With some of the most obnoxious fans this side of Oakland, they can't possibly boo Vick, their own player? Oh wait, these fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus.

There are two questions here. One, why now? Backup QB Kevin Kolb was injured earlier in the week. It may be a defensive move to ensure that a veteran QB backs up Donovan McNabb, even if Vick has not played in 2 years. But possibly more intriguing, would they dare use him at wide receiver? There is no question that the Eagles have lacked decent receiving since Terrell Owens left. Would Vick be even a small part of the receiving game? Or run reverses, bootlegs, and other trick plays to keep teams on their toes?

I was a big Vick fan during his stint in Atlanta. I am glad he appears to have found work in the NFL again. I wish him all the luck. However, I will boo the hell out of him when Philly comes to FedEx Field to play my Redskins.

Well, not exactly. The explosion of Twitter in the world in the past year or so has caused many an athlete to Tweet. Possibly the most famous of them all is the NBA's Shaquille O'Neal who is hilarious. Other athlete's doing so are Warren Sapp, and former Terp Shawne Merriman.

However 2 of the most notorious Tweeters are Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco and Chargers CB Antonio Cromartie. The former has promised/threatened to tweet during games this season. Ochocinco has also gotten into a few online feuds with fellow NFL players. Cromartie was fined $2,500 for his tweet regarding the quality of the food at Chargers training camp.

NFL teams in the past month have issued Twitter policies to their players. In short, they all say, no tweeting during games and practices. Some are more strict and ban it from the facilities. My reaction at first was why ban it? It gives the fans more interaction with the players themselves. On further thought, I understand that teams want to protect their kingdom. Accidentally or intentionally, a player may leak play designs, pictures, and even video. But really, why not just say that? No tweeting about football operations? The LPGA earlier this year encouraged Twitter on their players. While the sport still hungers for attention, the tweeting probably can't hurt.

Oh, and I should note that you can follow The DC Sports Page on Twitter as well.

I'll admit, I really haven't paid attention to tennis of any sort since Michael Chang won the French Open in 1989. Yes, I knew about Federer, Nadal and Sampras. Also of course, the Williams sisters, Sharapova and other great women. But the 1989 French Open was really the last tournament I watched any significant time.

To the Legg Mason Tennis Classic it appears that there are only two players I recognize. Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. No idea who the rest of the field is. That is a sad state of affairs for tennis. The Legg Mason has never been viewed as a "great" tournament. I recall over the years, many of the top ranked players skipped it. But there was always a "name". I believe Andre Agassi showed up to support tennis in the Nations Capitol. No offense to Roddick, but he's no Agassi and may never be.

Maybe it's just me, but over the past few days, I've heard little about the Legg Mason. Sure the Redskins and the rest of the NFL started training camp, but I recalled that local stations gave some coverage to DC's only tennis tournament. The question now is, how do you fix tennis?

Buffalo apparently has open arms for the one and only Terrell Owens. I've been a fan, but I don't think I'll be ordering TO's Cereal. The price does not seem terrible. $5 for 2 boxes from his website.

Michael Vick, former QB for the Atlanta Falcons and Virginia Tech, is rumored to have reached a deal with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on his return to active status in the NFL. The purported deal would have him suspended for the first 4 regular season games.

I used to own dogs and it was tragic when they eventually passed on. So in that sense, Vick is one of the worst people I could imagine. But in reality, there are players in the NFL who have killed or maimed human beings, spent less time in prison, and served little or no suspension time in the NFL. It's time for the league to move on. The worst thing that could happen, if the rumors of his deal are true, is that a team signs him and he commits more dog fighting activities. In this deal, Goodell has probably stipulations that would ban Vick for life for such action or maybe even less.

Vick was a great athlete and should be given a chance to compete again, if a team is willing to take on the baggage. In recent days, discussions on sports talk radio put out the scenario if a regular person had committed such acts and spent time in prison, would they be allowed to return to his job? I say yes, if the employer wants him back. In Vick's case, Atlanta does not, but there are other teams who could use him even if not as a QB. He owes money to others, so allowing him to make even league minimum will help him repay his obligations. Without an NFL job, there is little chance he'll ever pay it off. I am not saying that we have to let him play, just that we need to remove the restrictions and let an owner decide if it's worth the risk and money.

This is a little bit out of the norm for us at the DC Sports Page. Assistant General Manager Bryan Oringher of Bethesda Big Train Baseball let us know about a great event in Wednesday night. Bethesda Big Train is on a mission to improve youth baseball. On Wednesday July 22, they will have DC Sports Journalist All-Star Night. Scheduled to appear are Tim Kurkjian, Dan Steinberg, Brett Haber, and Dan Hellie, among others. Sounds like a great night to spend in Bethesda. The flyer for the event can be found here.

Bethesda Big Train has a Twitter account to follow to keep up on the action with the league.

The Washington Nationals fired Manny Acta when the team returned to DC last night after a 5-0 loss the the Houston Astros. This was somewhat a surprise, as the rumours of his departure subsided after a frenzy less than a month ago. Jim Riggleman, the bench coach, is likely to take over in the interim. While a team playing subpar needs changes, the question is why now?

Baseball has come upon the All-Star game break, so putting in new management now is not a surprise. Riggleman can tweak the lineup and/or rotation and pull players from the minors if necessary. Certainly there is no question that the Nationals are terrible and need changes. But if Acta were not here all season, would the team be in contention? This team built by former General Manager Jim Bowden, did not underachieve. It had virtually no pitching and the hitting can not make up for that. Nor can a miracle manager. There are questions as to whether Acta was major league manager material. Alas the Nationals will never know as he never got the chance to field a major league team.

So who's up? While Riggleman has experience, which might be the direction that the team will head toward, he is still below .500 in his managing career with several teams. He will probably get to run the team in interim until th end of the season. Likely the team will have to go outside the organization. This becomes a problem as the team has yet to decide on a permanent replacement for Bowden. Mike Rizzo has kept the team running, but sinking, and made transactions, but has not had a full offseason to work. There is time of course, but the Redskins had time too when Joe Gibbs 2.0 retired and look how quickly they settled hired Jim Zorn.

The Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences ended their fight against the BCS by signing the Bowl Championship Series agreement. Again, the power conferences and greedy NCAA get the upper hand and allow the BCS to continue without formal objection for the next few years.

I've stated disgust of the BCS system and this changes nothing. Now that practically any team that would be worthy of the national championship is included in the BCS. But then again, not really. With the BCS calculations, who you play and when you play them become important. There is no guarantee that Notre Dame will decide to play a WAC team. Or that Florida will play a MWC school. While not perfect, the 8 team playoff suggested by the MWC can help. The biggest issue with the BCS is how do you decide who is the better undefeated teams between 3 teams. Or three 1 loss teams? An 8-team playoff helps with this unless there are 9 undefeated teams or other combination that puts some teams in and some teams out with the same record. NCAA, let's try this again in a few years and get it right? In the meantime, I'll wait till November when the basketball season starts.

The Manny Acta watch is on Day Whatever. His job continues to be on the line and according to the Nationals front office, he will be evaluated on a series by series basis. What confidence they give this man! Seriously, of course changes need to be made to this team. But firing Acta will not immediately improve the team. It may not even improve the team next season. Simply, there is no one out there who can say he's a good or bad manager. He's being evaluated as a miracle manager. That's not the way to run a baseball team.

So now that the worst team in baseball beat the hottest team, does that mean he buys an extra day? Series? Do we chalk it up as a win if they take one of three? Maybe not as they beat Chien-Ming Wang.

If the front office were baseball smart, and it should be after Jim Bowden left, Acta should keep his job through this season. Call up the best minor leaguers in September and see how they stack up against major league competition. By best, I mean the players who are major league ready, so Stephen Strasburg can stay down too, if he still needs tinkering in the minors. While not the best way to evaluate Acta, it's better than canning him now. Jim Riggleman is not a miracle worker either. Unless you can convince a Joe Torre type to take over the team, no manager can turn this team around.

Greivis Vasquez, star of the Maryland Terrapins basketball team, opted to withdraw from the NBA draft and return to Maryland for his senior season. This is great news for Gary Williams as he attempts to build a team to contend in the ACC and return to the the NCAA late rounds.

Vasquez has been a great asset for the Terps. While basketball is team oriented, he alone could change the game, like against NC State late this past season. Some might have worried that Vasquez would take the leap to the NBA or worse yet, stay with the team and work like John Gilchrist did his junior season. Terrapin fans will remember that Gilchrist played to impress NBA scouts, thereby creating some friction with Williams.

Vasquez looks like he's back to help the Terrapins continue to rise. With a good recruiting class, including the possibility of Lance Stephenson, Coach Gary may be able to gel together a team that can contend with Tobacco Road foes. Maybe an ACC Championship is in the works.

The Redskins released James Thrash today. The wide receiver had spent most of his career with the Redskins, save a short stint with the Philadelphia Eagles.

This move is not surprising. Thrash has spent 12 seasons in the NFL. Though not ever the number 1 receiver with any team, he proved to be a fairly good number 2 and in recent years beat out younger, healthier players for playing time. More than a good player on the field, by all reports he was a great teammate and locker room leader.

Following the dismissal of Jon Jansen in recent weeks, it is unlikely Thrash will sign with another team and should concentrate on healing. Jansen subsequently signed with the Detroit Lions. The move by the team on Thrash clears the way for second year players Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly to step up and take stronger roles in this coming season's offense.

Major League baseball history was recorded yesterday in rain soaked Washington, DC. Randy Johnson, the Unit, won his 300th game of his career. This has been a benchmark for guaranteed Hall of Fame induction in retirement. It also marks the last time we will see one in quite awhile. With the modern era of short careers, bouncing back and forth between bullpen and rotation, and diluted pitching prospects make 300 a long shot for anyone.

While Johnson may not have been the favorite pitcher of his era, we should celebrate his accomplishments. However, I think we should also take the powers that be to task. Why was this game played? Sure, his attempt at 300 was already delayed a day due to rain. But yesterday was no better. The San Francisco Giants do not return to Washington the rest of the season. Maybe that's it. But really that rain was terrible. I don't see any reason this game should have been played except for the Unit.

With the LA Dodgers holding the NL West and the rest of the division in shambles, the Giants could only contend for a wild card berth. Still unlikely as the NL East is still popping with the Phillies, Mets, Marlins, and the reconfigured Braves. Don't forget the Central as well with Cubbies and Cards. The need for these games to be made up at the end of the season are unlikely. So why was the game played? More boggling is that the game was the one scheduled for a 4:30 ET start. 1:30 PT on a Thursday afternoon. The TV draw would be low. The whole decision seems to be a thorough lack of thought.

The Atlanta Braves released Tom Glavine today. He signed a one year contact this season, but never pitched an inning this season, starting it in on the DL with rehab starts in the minors. Glavine has already stated that he wants to pitch somewhere this season.

While reportedly pitching only in the high 80's, he may have value to other teams Nationals?. OK, I may be joking, but I thought this might have been a good fit before he re-signed with Atlanta. Still, a real veteran arm (i.e. not named Cabrera), could give all the pitching a boost, even though the Nationals just replaced their pitching coach. Plus Glavine could draw bigger crowds to Nationals Park given his 305 wins and probable Hall of Fame in the future. His contract with the Braves would have cost at most $4.5 million. While not cheap, that may be a small price to pay to put some respect back in Washington pitching.

The Nationals released Randy St Claire from his pitching coach position yesterday. They replaced him with the AAA pitching coach Steve McCatty. When looking at a team with the highest ERA in the majors, you want to say it is a pitching coach problem. Except you have to look at the Nationals pitchers.

The bullpen frankly sucks. There is no secret about that. While some might argue there was no talent out there, the Nationals truly sat on their hands for pitching, opting to go for hitting power instead. St Claire did not get this team to produce, but I argue that anyone could have. Ultimately its the pitchers out there on the mound and they are responsible for their actions. All St Claire could do is make sure they were as prepared as possible. The talent is just not there.

Now that McCatty is taking over, the pitching might improve. Hey, they held on to the lead in his first game, winning 10-6. Yeah! Wow cheering for 6 runs given up. What I find unbelievable is that time and time again, a mid-season change in coaching is expected to produce. It almost never does. We will see how the Nationals respond long term. But the bullpen is bad. There's no getting around that without acquiring new talent.

Steroids are back in the news and not because Jose Canseco got beat badly in an MMA fight. No, this time it involves the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals.

Richard Thomas, of Florida, was arrested Tuesday and apparently ranted that Nats and Caps were some of his customers. The Capitals and the NHL responded this afternoon and refutes the claims.

It is a wonder why Thomas would specifically name Washington teams and no others. No Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, or Florida Panthers. The details are sparse at this time, so only further investigation will do. These accusations cast a small shadow over the Caps great season. However, this places another level of distraction on the Nationals. Already reeling from poor pitching resulting in a pretty bad season, steroids accusations just pile it on. Testing is not perfect, but there has not been any public notification of steroid accusations for either team.

Now comes the hard part...proving a negative. Both teams need to prove that they didn't take steroids. For the Nationals, it is almost easy to believe, given the bad season they are having. However for the Capitals, it is an image they'll have to fight after a fairly successful season in a very physical game.

Tony Kornheiser has stepped down from the Monday Night Football telecast. He will be replaced by Jon "Chucky" Gruden, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach. Kornheiser stated his fear of flying as the major reason for giving up the spot.

Gruden appears to be a great choice. As the third man in a three man booth, he will have to fight for time against Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski. One thing Gruden has over Kornheiser is that since he is a recent coach, he can bring insight that Mr. Tony could not. Kornheiser had previously stated his struggle for voice/face time in the MNF booth against the seasoned ESPN veteran Tirico and analyst and former player Jaworski.

Still yet to be determined is Kornheiser's future plans. While he will continue doing Pardon the Interruption daily on ESPN, he did give up his daily radio show a couple of years ago. He cited that his MNF duties would consistently conflict with radio. Coincidentally, Kornheiser and the Washington Post separated "permanantly". For the past year or so, he had been doing video for the website and rarely penning a short column. Only one I really remember is his annual March Madness bracket breakdown.

Left only with PTI, will he return to radio? He had mentioned in the past that radio was his favorite gig. That would be very interesting to see how this would work out. There is no obvious choice in AM/FM radio in the DC area for late morning drive, which is the only schedule that he would take and not conflict with PTI. What's left may be satellite radio, since he famously had a "vacation" from ESPN radio years ago. Besides, their schedule is packed too.

Thanks Mr. Tony, for MNF. It was short lived, but let's say you were so much better than Dennis Miller.

The Washington Capitals continue to fight for the Stanley Cup, by staving off elimination in Game 6. The Caps beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in overtime. This marks the first OT playoff win for the team in 7 tries.

While Simeon Varlamov gave up 4 goals, he fought off many including a very busy first period where it appeared that Pittsburgh controlled the puck and stayed on his doorstep all period. Names non-Caps fans would not recognize like Viktor Kozlov and David Steckel provided some of the offense. Kozlov put 2 in to help keep the Caps in the game and helped them take a 4-3 lead. Steckel tipped in the game winner by re-directing Brooks Laich's shot to get past Marc-Andre Fleury.

The win keeps the Caps in the hunt for the Cup and headed toward a Eastern Conference showdown. Game 7 is Wednesday night at Verizon Center. The Caps were lucky in Game 6 and benefited from Varlamov's great goaltending in Period 1 holding them to only one score. Defense needs to step up at home for Game 7. Also power play efficiency needs to improve. The Caps have the momentum and experts say home ice is important for Game 7's.

Manny is Manny, except when he's not. So what is he now that he has been suspended from playing in MLB for 50 games? From Alex Rodriguez to now Manny Ramirez, baseball has been jolted further by the performance enhancing drugs scandal. In prior seasons, the revelations have been largely taken by stars who have retired or no longer playing, like Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens. Or they were players unknown to even the average baseball fan. With A-Rod and Manny, we've now hit the players around their peak.

While A-Rod is arguably the best player in baseball, his positive result was during the so called "safe time" when steroid testing was merely a phase to see if regular testing was needed. The revelation was an act either intentional or not, of leaked information, that Bud Selig has no grounds to act on.

Manny, however, is to have taken a drug that is on the published ban list. If his doctor really prescribed something in error, then it's a sad mistake. Yet it was one that could still have been avoided. Time and time again, those that blame the prescribers, like Barry Bonds and Manny, all have the option to take the drug to MLB to have it tested.

It is disappointing to see this occur for Manny. A-Rod is hated by much of baseball fandom including some Yankees fans. Manny on the other hand, while irritating, is only hated by the Boston area, and probably New York. It was also interesting timing as A-Rod makes his return to the field tonight and Manny starts his suspension only a day earlier. We'll have to see if these next two months can win back the fans.

Tell me if you have heard this before. Sidney Crosby whines. Live in attendance at the Verizon Center, the Sports Freak and I witnessed hat tricks by both Alex Ovechkin and Crosby. Ovie got his first and the shower of caps (pardon the pun) came flying down. Apparently to Crosby's dislike.

I may be a Caps fan, but I am aware there are great players not on the Capitals. Crosby and Malkin are two such players. I felt that Crosby might have been misunderstood prior to Game 2. His style is very different from Ovechkin's. Crosby is the quiet player who is out to do his job efficiently. Such as he did last night with the hat trick. But to complain about the hats flying down is just unbelievable. Crybaby is an understatement. Your team is now losing the game 4-2, so shut up and play. You had 7 minutes left. You got one on a 6-4 advantage. Good for you.

I wonder if one day Crosby collects a hat trick in Pittsburgh, he'll ask an announcement be made to stop the rain of hats. Or maybe the arenas should be emptied like some football matches in Europe. No fans, no hat trick celebration. Perfect in the Crosby world. Really, you don't understand why the Caps fans were excited by a hat trick by their star player, in the playoffs, leading to a win and the 2-0 advantage in the series? Really?

I knew it! Something was so fundamentally wrong with the Bowl Championship Series. It was un-American or something. Rep Joe Barton (TX-R) put it together for all of us at a meeting of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. "It's like Communism. You can't fix it."

Those of you who know me and know of my hatred for the BCS know I agree with Rep Barton, to an extent. Those that don't know, here's a primer, my rant earlier this year and my plan to fix it. I don't know Joe Barton from Bartolo Colon. While I appreciate his passion for changing the system, comparing it to Communism is crazy. After all the reason the BCS and it's predecessor, the Bowl System, exist is because it's all about the money. Surprisingly John Swofford, the BCS coordinator and ACC commissioner, said that very thing in the same meeting.

While many of us do not prefer the BCS, it's here to stay for awhile. Really, Barton and his bill co-sponsor, Rep Bobby Rush (IL-D), should be concentrating their efforts on something more important. Like how the new Yankee Stadium could have been built so poorly for wind management.

In case you've been living in a cave for the past 24 hours or so, you know Donald Brashear was suspended by the NHL for 6 games for two incidents. 5 of those games for his hit on NY Ranger Blair Betts. Let's put aside whether the hit warranted suspension (probably) or the number of games (too high?) and focus on the task the Washington Capitals have at hand tonight.

Game 7 brings the Caps the momentum after defeating the John Tortorella-less Rangers on Sunday. As many experts say, home ice is not really important, except in Game 7. The loss of Brashear tonight will impact the team to the effect that the Caps don't have that enforcer they signed from the Philadelphia Flyers a couple of years ago. It's kind of like losing that 10th man off the basketball bench who usually comes in at the end of a half or end of the game to commit or draw fouls.

The defensemen will need to step up to fill the void. Given the Game 7 scenario, there will likely be lots of hitting and crashing the boards. It's a matter of whether the officials will give leeway or clamp up, giving us either a blood bath or a drawn out game with lots of open ice. Still the Capitals have home ice and coming back from a 3-1 series deficit shows they can and should win this game.

The Washington Capitals are facing another elimination game today at Madison Square Garden in Game 6 of the series against the New York Rangers. After a resounding win Friday night, with scoring by Matt Bradley (2), Alex Ovechkin, and Alexander Semin, not to also forget great goaltending by Simeon Varlamov, they still need to win 2. Today's game will have an interesting twist as the Rangers coach John Tortorella is suspended for this game for the following video. Note the first few seconds has no audio.

If anyone has video of the beer pouring, we'd love to see it!

The suspension may put the Rangers in disarray or prove to be a rally cry for the team to beat the Capitals. In any case, it's the last chance for Washington. Given the pre-season hopes, and how the team has played all season, no Stanley Cup would be a disappointment. The only bigger letdown might be losing in the opening round to the 7 seed.

The Redskins choice for the draft was not QB Mark Sanchez. Nor was it any one of the wide receivers. In an effort to improve the defensive line, they selected DE Brian Orakpo out of Texas. Orakpo fell to the Redskins after a series of moves and surprises before them. The New York Jets traded up to #5 to take Sanchez. And in Al Davis' brilliance, the Oakland-LA-Oakland Raiders took Terp WR Derrius Heyward-Bey.

Orakpo fills a void the Redskins have had since the days of Charles Mann and Dexter Manley. Sure, they've had players there, but while stars were targeted, then turned out less than stellar in their Redskin careers. Orakpo may finally fulfill that role.

Back to the moves that caused Orakpo to fall to #13, the Jets taking Sanchez left the Redskins with no reason to move up in the draft. Then the Raiders surprise pick of Heyward-Bey, who was projected at a mid-first rounder at best, made WR Michael Crabtree available to teams who figured he wouldn't be there for them. The Heyward-Bey pick was criticized by many including the one and only Mr. Draft Mel Kiper, who said that the Raiders should've traded down if they wanted Heyward-Bey that bad. Nobody was going to go after him that early. We're all happy for Heyward-Bey as now he can demand a Top 10 conract. His pick also caused some Redskins fans, including the Sports Freak and myself, to worry that Crabtree might interest the Redskins. There was little chance he would fall to 13, but if San Francisco had not picked him up at 10, who knows what would have happened?

While Orakpo was a lucky break for the Redskins, it's also a smart one. It also again puts pressure on Jason Campbell, since the defense has shored up some more. He needs to prove himself throughout the 2009 season to justify a new contract. Otherwise, he'll follow in the footsteps of Gus Frerotte, Patrick Ramsey, and other Redskins QB's of the past in journeymen roles. That's if he's lucky.

Raise your hand if you knew the Washington Wizards signed their new coach this week. Hello, is anyone out there? OK, can you name the interim coach from the 08-09 season? Did you know Washington has a NBA team?

The Wizards signed Flip Saunders to guide the team for the next four years. Saunders has previously coached the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, leading both teams on playoff runs. Since the coaching days of Wes Unseld ending in 1994, the past 15 years has produced 11 head coaches of varying degrees of success. Bernie Bickerstaff, Gar Heard, and Leonard Hamilton all failed to lead the team to championships. The "best" of the herd might have been Doug Collins and Eddie Jordan. Jordan was fired after a dismal start of the 08-09 campaign where he didn't have 3 of his best players to start the season.

Saunders will be tasked to bring this team back to prominence. At best, the 3rd favorite team in the DC area behind the Redskins and the crowd pleasing Capitals, has in the past advertised games by featuring the opponents coming in to town. How about a winning coach and a winning team? Victories seem to cure all ills.

So here we go again on our own. Sorry, I couldn't think of an appropriate message from Bon Jovi, so Whitesnake will need to do. The Eagles get a second shot in the first round and after OT Eben Britton, they need to look elsewhere. While they have running backs, one could argue all they've got is Brian Westbrook. He's 30 and has never played all 16 games in a season. While we've seen in the past his injuries do not hamper Philly greatly, they are pressing their luck going yet another season without solid backup.

28th pick: Knowshon Moreno, RB Georgia

Cheesesteak-ville could use Moreno in Andy Reid's version of the West Coast. A good receiver and tack in back to back 1,000 plus rushing yard seasons for the Bulldogs, he should give the boost the Eagles need in the running game, as well as adequately fill in for Westbrook when the inevitable injury comes along. Besides, what team doesn't want two quality backs? His drawback might be his rough version of play, making him vulnerable to injury as well.

The New York Football Giants are on the clock for the 29th pick.

OK, this is one of those rare DC United articles.

The Prince George's County Council rejected a study of the construction of the new soccer stadium. In effect, it negates the possibly of the United moving into PG County.

The United will be back to the drawing board trying to figure out where they can build their stadium. In these troubled economic times, it is a wonder how they expect to get any government support. This affects the Washington Redskins indirectly, as the rumored dome that might be built on the RFK Stadium site hinges on RFK being empty of a home team. The United have few options. The Anacostia site has been on hold for years. One suggestion to play at the Germantown Soccer Complex in MD is a rather long stretch given that it is situated in an essentially far suburb for some fans and is still a few miles from the nearest Metro stop.

Jeff Garcia finally gets signed by a team. ESPN report that Garcia has signed with the Oakland Raiders for one year. He is slated to be the backup to JaMarcus Russell.

This move seems to put the Raiders in a good position for QB. While Russell is the starter, if they see potential for a good run they could replace him with Garcia to improve the offense, should Russell struggle. Obviously not a long term fix at QB, Garcia gives them a good veteran to help develop Russell, even if he is on the sidelines.

In the depths of March Madness, we might forget that there is another brand of basketball still being played. In this here town too. They are called the Washington Wizards. They play in this league called the National Basketball Association. Yeah, I'm surprised too, I thought this NBA thing didn't start until April or May and only involved 16 teams playing the same opponent for best of 5 or 7 series.

So looking down the roster, i recognize some names.

Gilbert Arenas - isn't he that guy who writes the great blog?
Caron Butler - I remember him from UConn. Boo!
Juan Dixon - now here's a player I know. Terrapin great. Helped Maryland win it's first national championsihp.
Brendan Haywood - hated NC Tarheel. Boo!
Antwan Jamison - see Haywood, Brendan
Darius Songala - he played somewhere in the ACC right? Not Maryland though.
Nick Young & Etan Thomas - sound familar, but I don't know who these characters are.

Then the rest I have no clue. Andray Blatche, Javaris Crittenton, Mike James, JaVale McGee, Dominic McGuire, Olesksly Pecherov, and DeShawn Stevenson. Really, can someone tell me who these are?

Is that Jordan guy still playing for the team? How about Chris Webber or Juwan Howard?

So recently we've heard about Twitter creeping into the professional sports world. Charlie Villenueva of the Milwaukee Bucks tweeted about his play and how he has to step up. Shaquille O'Neal actually twitters away at all times of the day. OK, really night. You can follow Shaq at @THE_REAL_SHAQ. The amazing part is that he does a bunch of it from his Crackberry Blackberry.

There are also a few parodies of front office people. Like your hockey? Follow Brian Burke or Bob Gainey. For a local twist, Vinny Cerrato is waiting for you.

If you did not already know, you can follow @thedcsportspage for some live commentary. We tweet often.

The Maryland Terrapins headed out to Kansas City and defeated the California Bears 84-71. It was a close game almost from the beginning until late in the game when the Terps broke out and held the double digit lead. Cal, the best 3-pt shooting team in the nation, could not get traction from long range. They also could not contain Maryland's offense.

Greivis Vasquez led Maryland with 27 points while Dave Neal scored 15 and Eric Hayes added 14 from the bench. This again was a total team win, like their efforts in the ACC tournament last week. From the opening tip, Sean Mosley, and Adrian Bowie ran up and down the court. MD's defense held Cal in check and provided a highlight of a steal at midcourt with key passes finishing with Vasquez leaving it for Hayes for the easy lay-in. Another highlight was the rare dunk by the Terps as Hayes missed a lay-in with Dino Gregory picking up the rebound and a light slam.

It was good to see that every minute of every Terp helped contribute to the win. They'll need it to handle Memphis on Saturday and take sight of the Sweet 16. There are already calls that Maryland can win against the Tigers. Memphis plays in the weaker Conference USA. Howvever, after the close call with Cal State Northridge in their opening round game, Memphis will probably be on their guard against Maryland.

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!" Only the original version, not the remakes. This is the real sporting event. College Bowl season? It's actually as long as a season now, so who cares? The Superbowl? A great event, but until recently, blowout city. World Series and NBA Finals, are they over yet?

So here is how I observe it.

1. Upsets - I see Dayton over West Virgina, USC over BC, Texas A&M over BYU and MD over Cal. I just don't feel it for WV, BC is spotty and A&M over BYU is my one 9 over 8. Of course I have to pick my Terps over Cal.

2. Like the Sports Freak, I don't see it going chalk all the way. I see Syracuse and Missouri making runs to the Elite Eight. Also UCLA will take out Villanova this weekend.

3. In the end though, I got all #1's in the Final Four.

Unlike our President, I don't see UNC taking it all. Pitt over Louisville. Yes, even as an ACC alumnus, I get 2 Big East teams into the finals.

Good luck in your brackets.

The Maryland Terrapins had their ticket punched for the NCAA Tournament yesterday. They return as the 10th seed in the West to face formidable California on Thursday at 2:55 ET. Congratulations to Gary Williams and his team for the accomplishment.

The Terps took the hard road getting there. The consensus was to win at Virginia in the regular season finale to get in, but after losing they had to make a move in the ACC Tournament. Even then it was thought that MD had to get to the ACC final to get in. But with wins over NC State and Wake Forest concluding with a well fought battle against Duke, that catapulted them in the dance. Suprisingly they received the 10th seed, indicating they may have not been the last team in.

Maryland was projected to finish last in the ACC, so getting in as the 7th ACC team shows the real accomplishments that Gary Williams put together in a team that does not have the best skills. With only 2 ACC wins projected, they took that and nearly went .500, even losing enough games close that it was conceivable to be 10-6 in the ACC. The anti-Gary detractors should now realize and remember that there is a reason the real fans call College Park Garyland.

The Maryland Terrapins keep their NCAA bubble alive by beating Wake Forest 75-64 last night in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. They finished this game, unlike the home finale where they lost to the Demon Deacons after leading much of the game. This takes the Terps to 20 wins and an even 9-9 in the ACC. Some bracketologists believe that the 2 wins have punched MD's ticket to the dance. But Gary Williams and the team aren't taking that advice and are looking at Duke and the ACC title.

Greivis Vasquez led the team with 22 points and 9 assists. Dave Neal continued his senior season by contributing 10 points. As the Sports Freak has said, the Terps can't win with Neal as the second leading scoring. In this game, Sean Mosley stepped up and scored 12 points. It was a team win as Eric Hayes brought 11 points to the game from the bench. Landon Milbourne scored 8 points and was active on the boards with 11 rebounds.

While 20 wins and a .500 conference record are generally enough for an ACC team to get to the NCAA's, another win should shelve the question. Also in mind is that with Duke today and presumably North Carolina in the final, the Terps have a shot at the ACC crown. First things first though. Beat Duke.

The Maryland Terrapins took the first step toward receiving their NCAA bid by beating the NC State Wolfpack 74-69 in the first round of the ACC Tournament. This time Greivis Vasquez was not the leader of the Terrapins, but another guard, Eric Hayes was. Hayes stepped in when MD was down 13 in the first half and scored 3 straight 3 pointers to help MD turn that deficit into a 3 point lead. He scored a career high 21 points including some key free throws in the last 2 minutes of the game to ensure the Terp win.

This was a group win. Vasquez, while only scoring 4 in the first half, came back in the second to finish with a double double, 17 points and 10 assists. Dave Neal continued his spectacular senior season with 10 points. The second half stayed close until the last few minutes. Probably the only drawback in the game was the slow start and the double digit deficit they had to fight back from.

Up next is a rematch with Wake Forest tomorrow. The bracketologists say the Terps need 2 or 3 wins in the ACC so tomorrow is yet another must win.

So as a Redskins fan, I have little reason to cheer for the Philadelphia Eagles. I got to give them props for the way they handled themselves in the playoffs and we know in the Snyder era, they've come closer to the Superbowl than the Redskins. But never fail, the Eagles will burn that goodwill for this stupid act.

Fire an employee for saying something on their Facbook status? Granted, I don't know how Snyder would react if a ticket taker at Fedex did the same thing. But I wonder what would have happened if say Jason Avant said the same thing? Or Donovan McNabb if he didn't have that great comeback late in the season. The employee removed the offending status, realized his mistake and apologized and they fire the guy. If you take game time work only, and let's say he works 8 hours a shift for 10 games (including the pre-season games). At a generous $20/hour (not his actual salary), we are talking $1,600 for the season. Cold and heartless. I hope they change their mind. The guy seems to be a big fan and genuinely wants to work for the Eagles.

So the rumored cut of Terrell Owens from the Dallas Cowboys spurred new rumors of who will sign him. The Washington Post reports today that the Redskins are saying no.

Good for them and us. There is no argument that he could help the Redskins on the field. Antwan Randle-El would probably have to go, but Santana Moss and Owens starting would be a pretty strong receiving team. But at the cost of his money and his mouth? Probably not. Of course until Owens is actually signed by a team, he could always use the Redskins as a ruse to get a bigger contract. Or then again, like last season, a key injury to a player might bring a trade or in this case, a signing that was denied earlier.

I like T.O. as a player. He is on my fantasy team right now. But if you ask me if I want him on the Redskins, I might would say no.

The Maryland Terrapins couldn't close the game against Wake Forest last night. After leading by 7 at the half they lose by 2. While the score appeared close, last minute scoring including senior Dave Neal's game ending 3 closed the gap on a 7 point deficit with less than a minute to play.

It was senior night and Neal was greeted to chants of "Dave Neal" in the pre-game ceremony as well as parts of the game. He collected 2 quick fouls and sat for much of the first half but played most of the second half draining 3's and driving the lane at times. He had a "career" game although it may not have really been his best game. He did look good out there and showed why he's important to this squad.

Jim Bowden resigned yesterday as General Manager for the Washington Nationals. He cited that it was difficult for him to conduct Nationals business while the allegations of skimming money are still looming over him. He also denied that he participated in that wrongdoing.

We should feel bad for him. While he has not been charged with any crimes, he is "guilty by association" in related aspects. The age scandal over the prospect who is now really 23 instead of 19 or so involved a Dominican player, which is where some of the suspected money skimming has occurred.

Aside from the controversies, we need to analyze Bowden as a GM. He had a tough task ahead of him, taking the Montreal Expos underspent payroll, decimated farm system, and zero fan base to a team that at least you could say was a Major League Baseball team. Then the unenviable task of taking that team and competing against the Mets, Phillies, and Braves, in arguably one of the better divisions in baseball. His work was not stellar, but he has made progress. Sometimes in the process, the GM has to be sacrificed. In a few years, we'll know if Bowden really had the team headed in the right direction.

Maryland continued to improve their NCAA tournament resume by defeating the NC State Wolfpack 71-60 down in Raleigh, NC. Greivis Vasquez stayed out of foul trouble today, playing nearly the entire game with 38 minutes and scored 33 points to lead the Terrapins. The Terps move to 7-7 in the ACC with Wake at home Tuesday and Virginia in Charlottesville to end the regular season.

After losing to Duke last week, this win was a necessary step to push for an at large bid in the NCAA's. It also showed that Maryland could shake off the loss and get back in the game. Sean Mosley, who played with a noticeable limp after getting injured in the Duke game seemed to have healed and was playing strongly tonight. The Wolfpack's bigger lineup could not clamp down the Terps scoring. While Dave Neal and Eric Hayes contributed 11 and 9 points respectively, 2 of the most important points came from Cliff Tucker. Late in the game with a slim lead, Tucker scored a jumper with just a second left on the shot clock.

The TV broadcast team noted early that Vasquez plays with so much emotion. As the NC State fans taunted him late, he responded by scoring more and giving a key no-look pass assist to Dino Gregory. Still at the end of the game, his emotion continued to show as he shot a 3 pointer to end the game, although the Terps already had a 8 point lead. Gary Williams will probably speak with him about that, as he has to keep it in check and respect the opponent.

The home finale will be Tuesday against current #13 Wake Forest. It will also be Senior Night, where we'll send off Dave Neal, hopefully with a good performance and win.

Update: 11:30 AM. So I found Youtube video of Dave Neal's screen on Nolan Smith. It's a bit grainy, but well worth the watch. It's embedded in the story on the second page. Enjoy!

So the final score was not exactly close. The Terps lost to Duke 78-67 in an effort to upset another ACC leader just days after knocking down North Carolina. But the game was much closer than that until the last few minutes. As usual for MD-Duke, the arena was packed. The game started with old tradition as Maryland students read the Diamondback during Duke player introductions. But for this battle, the Comcast Center was filled with newspapers so everyone got to participate. Maryland continued to wear the yellow jerseys that have brought them good vibes this season.

Maryland hung tough, holding off Duke the entire first half. A few times, Duke came close and finally tied it in the last minute of the half. The Sports Freak noted that Maryland couldn't break that 4 point lead barrier. But still, this was not the same Maryland team that was blown out a month ago at Cameron Indoor.

It was a physical match that had uneven officiating. Many a time, Duke players would hand check, charge, or manhandle Terps with no calls. Fans sitting behind us noted Coach K's defensive instructions. "Place your left hand on the opposing player's hip and then switch to the right hand". Possibly the worst call was Brian Zoubek in the paint shoving senior Dave Neal to the floor and using the open space to score easily. On the Terps, most handchecks and charges were called, sending many Terps to the bench, including Grevis Vasquez.

Thomas Boswell wrote an excellent column in the Washington Post today regarding the waiting game on Jim Bowden. It has more insight, but there's no real new news there, so we'll move on to things that are occurring on the field.

Oh wait, this doesn't occur on the field either.

Odalis Perez decides not to show up for Spring Training. Does he call the team? No. E-mail? No. Communication through the agent? No, even the agent is MIA. After signing a $850K minor league contract, Perez is not communicating and not showing up. It reminds me a little of the late Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor. Except Taylor was good, under contract, happy with it, and was seen at the University of Miami. Perez seems to be gone.

From his stats, his best season appears to be 2002, when he had an ERA of 3.00. Not too shabby, but the rest of the time except for 2004, he hovered around 5.00 or higher. And he expects to get a bigger contract? Or maybe he wants a major league one.

I guess time will tell, as now that he's a free agent again, he can test the market. But remember, Manny Ramirez is still out there. Maybe he's got an advantage since he's a lefty pitcher, but they've all reported in the past couple of weeks. Some team will really need that southpaw to sign him. We'll see if he gets closer to a million or is he just getting $875K?

Despite the fact that he is New York Yankee, many people respect Alex Rodriguez as one of the greatest current players, possibly even one of the best of all-time. His Hall of Fame chances were never in doubt, until the past two weeks. Still people say he had a HOF career before taking "boli".

But really there are still so many questions. Was 2001-2003 his only PED taking period? Was it just "boli"? What is "boli"? Too many questions to really say if he should be in the Hall. Jeremy Schaap of ESPN recently discussed this. In the ESPN Extra Point Podcast from 2/20, he discusses the chances of A-Rod's induction. I'll say that this is one of the few times I have agreed with Schaap. I usually find him too arrogant to believe, but here he makes a good argument. A-Rod takes these PEDs for 3 years sure, but what are the long term effects? How do we know they don't have a long lasting tenure to allow him to enhance his play? Moreover, why should he deserve to make it to the Hall when Pete Rose and Joe Jackson are banned for life? Rose and Jackson have been banned mostly for non-play actions, although one could argue their actions have affected play.

So the question now becomes, why shouldn't A-Rod get into the Hall? Arguments are that the Hall of Fame is a museum, so the "good" and the "bad" should be in. But the Smithsonian does not hold induction ceremonies, so how is that the same?

So the Nationals have their own little medical mystery of their own. In July 2006, the Nationals signed Esmailyn Gonzalez as a 16 year old shortstop prospect. However it has been revealed that he has aged to 23 and is really Carlos David Alvarez Lugo as si.com reported Tuesday.

Team President Stan Kasten has called it a deliberate fraud. The juicy details are showing several connections to the Nationals front office, as the team's own website is reporting. It goes as far up as Jose Rijo, special assistant to GM Jim Bowden. Given this little tidbit, I don't think it's a stretch that Bowden is on the hot seat. Rijo and Bowden are being investigated for skimming money designated for development of Dominican players and Bowden's previous drunk driving accusation in Florida are not making this situation easier. Also that Bowden was an MLB hire by previous team president Tony Tavares when the team was still owned by the league and not a Kasten/Lerner hire.

To me, they shouldn't do anything until his contract expires or he is officially charged with said crimes, if he is involved in this Gonzalez Lugo debacle. While his hands have been somewhat tied by a non-public salary cap, his performance as a GM is not the brightest. Not the worst, but not the best. I hope he is clean from all of this and the Nationals can make a clear decision based on his work as the GM.

This seems to be an odd circumstance. Alex Rodriguez was never suspected of using performance enhancing drugs. That is until Sports Illustrated published a little story a couple of weeks ago. I was at work today, so unlike the Roger Clemens fiasco where I was home sick in bed, I am only reading the pieces of the press conference he did today.

What gets even better is the oddities of his story.

- Selena Roberts is a stalker? I am paraphrasing of course, but he seems to have an issue with her. I heard this morning that she received a private apology. However, based on what I read, he did not apologize publicly during the press conference as some might want.

- He didn't know what he took last week, now it's "Boli"? I guess there is truth to that, as he's not sure what Boli is. So now, we've gone from having your teammates shoot you up in the ass, to cousins doing it. Hey, keep it in the family.

We've created this poll. We'll close the voting Friday night.

You know we've been looking at Peter Angelos so wrong. Maybe he knew all the problems and got rid of the players at the right time. Miguel Tejada, Rafael Palmiero, and Sammy Sosa...all suspected performance enhancing drug users.

Sosa - The Orioles used his bat for a year. His arrival came with the departure of Jerry Hairston, Jr. Hairston was a problem as he was a better than average second baseman and had to share time with real starter Brian Roberts. Sosa came in with the Cubs footing nearly half of his salary. Orioles opted not to pick up his 2006 year, as he waived the option prior to the trade. Excellent move.

Palmiero - Provided great years for the Orioles, though apparently juiced up. First solid first baseman since Eddie Murray left. In what was going to be his final year anyways, he tested positive. No harm, since it occurred in August or September and the Orioles were already out of the race.

Tejada - This is the one that boggles the mind. How did Houston not see this coming? The Orioles manage to dump him off to the Astros for nothing. He immediately comes under scrutiny for PEDs and now faces charges today of lying to the courts. Another good move, and possibly the best of all.

Amazing. Maybe we've had Angelos wrong all these years. He's genius!

And we thought the Clemens stuff was interesting last year. Unless you have been under roid-rage since Friday, it was revealed that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in the 2003 "survey" testing. On Monday in an interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons A-Rod admitted to taking it from 2001-2003.

What's interesting is that this is not the most shocking part, IMHO. It's his accusations against Selena Roberts. Stalking him in NY and Miami? This makes Joe Torre's Single White Female accusations seem plausible, if you didn't believe it last week. Wait, Torre doesn't know SWF. I'm confused. Are there police reports of this? Certainly the part about Roberts attempted break-in while his children were sleeping warranted a call to the authorities?

As to the PED's, A-Rod also notes that he's not sure what he took. Excuse me? From Jose Canseco and his band of "Roiders", we learn that it's best to ask your friend and teammate to inject you in the ass when you need a fix. Now we learn from A-Rod that you just get the stuff, not knowing what it is, and take it. Cyanide pill please?

OK, aside from this shocking revelation, at least he came clean unlike Mark "The Past" McGwire, Sammy "No Hablo Ingles" Sosa, and Roger "Rocket has a totally different meaning" Clemens. Maybe he'll get into the Hall of Fame. Because we have also learned from Pete Rose that lying to the baseball public is the worst sin possible.

Maryland football has solidified the future of the team by naming James Franklin the future head coach after Ralph Friedgen steps down. "Fridge" still has three years remaining on his contract. This is a good sign for the program as they won't have recruits wondering about the coaching of the team. They will know Franklin will be there. Since he is the current offensive coordinator, there may not be much change in the system.

This is where the Terps athletic program is succeeding, by allowing a plan of succession. Let's hope Debbie Yow and her staff can give Gary Williams the room he needs to work. While she supported him earlier in the week, that does not guarantee future seasons, thus putting recruits at the position of guessing if Williams is still around when they play.

Yesterday, Debbie Yow put forth her support of Gary Williams in the regular pre-game press conference. Maryland Athletic Director dispelled rumors of Williams being on the hot seat. The timing of the support was delayed because Yow was with her family after the loss of her sister, NC State Coach Kay Yow last week.

While delayed, this support came at an important time. The Terps face 3rd ranked North Carolina this evening. A blowout or likely loss to the Tar Heels will bring more talk of getting rid of Williams. Talk, IMHO that is not warranted. Yow's comments yesterday should put the talk down for the rest of the season.

Tom Glavine, an Atlanta Braves great and arguably one of the best all time lefties, is showing interest in pitching for the Naitonals. His choice is to resign with the Braves, but if that is not the case, he might turn to Stan Kasten, current Nationals team president and former Braves excecutive.

This is not exactly the best choice for the Nationals in pitching. Glavine might have a best a couple of years left in him, but if they are looking to improve on last season's abismal record, Glavine could give them those extra few wins. Even with his age, he is probably better than all the current projected rotation, except possibly Daniel Carbrera. If the Braves do pass on him, Washington should not hesitate to work a deal, especially given the relationship he already has with Kasten.

30 Rock, Law & Order, Scrubs. Three solid shows. Also three things I'll be watching off my DVR Thursday night instead of the Fedex BCS National Championship Game. BTW, to the powers that be, "BCS National Championship" is redundant, since you have Championship twice. Those of you who know the real BMT probably know of my hatred of the Bowl Championship Series. The rest of you now get the details. This has been something that has been brewing in my mind long before we started the DC Sports Page, but I have motivation to write it this BCS season.

Michael Wilbon wrote a column that inspired me to write this even more. Like I really needed more impetus to do it. While I am not a sports journalist, and have never been a huge fan of college football, I agree with his stance 100%. Why watch any bowl game except one, when it has already been decided, down to two teams, who the champion will be? And they can't even get that right.

The Terps won the Humanitarian Bowl yesterday 42-35. I'd like to provide some insight, but I only caught the last 10 minutes of gametime because they started this game at 4:30 PM EST on a Tuesday! If you need details, go to ESPN.

So begin a mini-rant on the inequities of the bowl system. First, of course there are reasons that the game started at 4:30. The evil TV empires dictated it. It's 2:30 Mountain Standard Time and that's when bowl games are played in the mountains. The time was dictated prior to the invitation of the participants. I know, it's because the Terps basketball team had a big game against Elon at 7:30 EST.

Really there is no good reason to have this bowl game at that time. It is December 30, a Tuesday. If it were a weekend, a Friday, a holiday, even New Years Eve, I might buy the time. But over half of America is at work then. That is those of us who have jobs in this economy. We don't all have TVs in our offices or at our desks.

Besides the fact that bowl games provide revenue to participating schools, there is no reason to have this game. My alma mater is getting money, and now we can rejoice. We are the Humanitarian Bowl Champions! Or maybe we are the great Humanitarians!

I'll step off the soapbox for now until I write the full BCS story I've had in my head for quite awhile.

After nearly three decades, George Michael and WRC-TV, NBC 4 are finally set to part ways permanently. Last week, as first reported by DCRTV, Michael (not the singer) was informed by management that his contributions to NBC 4 sports, in the form of weekly interviews of Jim Zorn, the weekly Redskins Report panel show, and offseason related show Full Court Press would no longer be needed after this season.

It's down to two. Anabel and Noriko have made it to the finals. Much like in sports where the teams might bring a little different game, we have new photos for each contestant. Voting will last until 1/4/09. Many thanks for those of you who voted in the past.

We have a winner. Thanks to everyone who voted.

Today, we received a message from one of our readers who supplied this post from U.S. News and World Report, an entry written by John Farrell. So are we to expect a Stanley Cup in June? Only one can hope to break us out of this DC sports slump. Please stop me, I'm starting to sound like a Philadelphia fan.

Week 1 playoffs are done. Here is the week 2 lineups. We are featuring 3 this week because Dawn and Anabel ended in a tie. Unfortunately Poll Daddy is having issues again this morning. Maybe they are depressed because of the cold weather and the holidays. As soon as it's working, we'll get the new poll up.

Update: 3 PM The poll is up now.

Update: we have a winner!

Uh, what happened? Last I checked, the Cincinnati Bengals are bottom feeder. The Redskins were playoff contenders, although in a long down-spin. The Bengals dropped the Redskins 20-10 and also erased Washington's playoff chances.

The Sports Freak and I agreed that no pre-game analysis was needed. It's been the same for weeks...keep up the defense and step up the offense. Glad I didn't waste those 30 seconds of my life. Chris Cooley, of all players, fumbled the ball on the first drive to allow Cincinnati to score early. Then they never looked back. The offense was slightly better as they seemed to go down the field more often. Santana Moss was getting looks, passes, and receptions down the field. Of course with this incarnation of the Redskins, downfield means more than 10 yards. Even Fred Davis, the backup to Cooley, got a catch.

But there were so many problems, it's hard to say what caused the loss. Besides, Cooley, Mike Sellers fumbled the ball at the goal line to give up an easy touchdown. The Redskins kicker, who I will not address by his name any longer, because that would mean I have an ounce of respect for him, sent a kickoff out of bounds again. I don't know how many he's kicked out this season, but it feels more than just accidental. The defense, who has played pretty admirably all season with constant injuries, could barely stop the Bengals. The Bengals The only bright side seems to be the patchwork offensive line. But even then, they've played as well as they have all season, so that's not saying much.

While playoffs are out of the picture, the team has to get their act together next Sunday when the Eagles come to town. We should work hard to spoil their chances.

After 4 weeks of voting, we have some results so we'll put on playoffs. This week features Toccara and Noriko, winners of the first two weeks of voting. We'll pit the third and fourth week winners after this poll ends and then the championship the following week. At least we put our championship unlike the BCS. Poll on the right hand side.

Update, 12/14, 4 PM: Poll Daddy seems to be having trouble on their website. As soon as it is back up, I'll post the poll.

Update, 12/14, 4:45PM: It's working now. Poll on the side.

The Results are in!