D.C. Sports Bog

Mark Brunell and Chase Daniel make it big

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:34:32 -0500

I mean, of all the NFL players in the world, look at who made it to the front page of NYTimes.com on Tuesday. Simply incredible. All that was missing was the glamor shot of Leigh Torrence. Other stuff that happened: * Obviously you already know about this, but the Send Mark Zuckerman to Viera campaign was a huge success. Congrats to Mark, and to the many Internet types who helped make this happen. Chico has more. * Now the National Review is blogging about Redskins rap videos from the '80s. With help from The Gormogons. * And from there, straight to the Wang jokes! MASN goes with "A Wang Worth the Wait" as its headline. Nats.com chooses "Nationals 'aggressively pursuing' Wang." And Nationals Enquirer says "the Nats have made just one upgrade for the 2010 starting rotation: Jason Marquis," which is why "the Nationals are looking to pay for

Caps-Pens draws playoff-type rating on NBC

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:24:13 -0500

(There are a lot of numbers here, and some of the key ones are buried later, so here's the news: Friday's Caps game on CSN absolutely slayed the network's record for the most-viewed regular season game, beating it by 33 percent. Sunday's game on NBC drew as many D.C. households as last season's playoff opener against the Penguins on the same network. But more people still watched the game in Pittsburgh.) At least some media members were surprised that the fantabulous Penguins-Caps game on national television during Super Bowl Sunday didn't draw a bigger national rating than 1.3. "We expected a tad better on Super Bowl Sunday, didn't you?" Puck Daddy asked earlier this week. That said, the 1.3 tied NBC's season-high for an indoor game, equaling the rating for a Penguins-Flyers game last month, according to Puck the Media. That's why the Penguins are on NBC every week, and

Quintin Laing and the win streak

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:46:26 -0500

(AP file) On Jan. 13, the Caps came back from three goals down to tie the Florida Panthers on the road, and then secured a win in the shootout. Quintin Laing took eight shifts, totaling about six minutes of ice time, during the win. It was the eighth time he had dressed in 11 games since returning from injury. And then? "And the next 13 I've had a good seat for," Laing joked after Tuesday morning's practice. Indeed, the winger was a healthy scratch the next time his team took the ice. The Caps put up six goals against Toronto in that game. All four lines seemed to be clicking. And as Washington put together the longest win streak in franchise history--14 and counting heading into Wednesday's game at Montreal--the lines have remained intact, leaving Laing watching from the press box. Which means, as his team has attracted perhaps

Best Snovechkin Ever

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:51:33 -0500

Chatting at 11:30, I guess. Submit questions here. As you can see, below, there have been plenty of outstanding Snovechkin sightings over the past few days. I'll award best-in-show to the above example, sent to me by one of the m members of Pummeler, the anti-Crosby band. Of course. It's in Laurel, and it took about two hours to create. And, most awesomely, the lettering is actually colored with red wine. Doesn't get much better than that. Which is not to say others didn't try. Some fine work, all around.

LaVar Arrington responds to Clinton Portis

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:41:19 -0500

I've transcribed more Redskins radio interviews than almost anybody alive, but LaVar Arrington's response to Clinton Portis Monday afternoon is well beyond my powers to communicate. You simply have to listen to the second segment yourself. (Download the audio here.) Saying Arrington was passionate doesn't do it justice. Saying his voice was raised doesn't either. I don't think I've ever heard sports-talk radio quite like this, and I reckon you haven't either. Again, the words can't come close to describing the emotion involved, but because this is what I do, I'll include some lengthy highlights. Obviously, this all started when Portis told the NFL Network that LaVar "didn't want to be in D.C. any more. He gave back $15, 20 million to leave D.C., because he felt like he wasn't the main money guy, because everybody was getting [paid]....It was like whoever gets the money was the captain." Arrington took

Fred Smoot in Wale video

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:24:16 -0500

I mentioned last month that Clinton Portis will appear in Wale's music video for "Pretty Girls." Turns out Fred Smoot beat him there, with a cameo for both Smoot and his Rolls-Royce Bentley in Wale's "My Sweetie." See the still above, and see the full video below. And let me be the first to say that if you're going to call yourself Wale Ovechkin, you better deliver No. 8 in a music video at some point. No, not Mark Brunell. (Via @dcsportsjam, @FireDanSnyder and @tabibonney)

Local Poll Week XI: Snow'd Dominion

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:13:28 -0500

(Photo by Reuters, editing by Ian Oland. Follow his twitter feed.) A few observations: * Our number of voters was virtually cut in half this week. This is the sort of week you learn who really wants it, and who lets a little snow stand in the way of a vote in a meaningless college basketball poll. Some of you just don't have that fire in your sternum. * What the heck, we'll publish it anyhow. * The remaining voters finally shook things up. Richmond made a massive climb, from ninth to fourth. Old Dominion dipped from third to fifth. Virginia dipped from fifth to seventh. The actual 11 teams did not change. * The top six teams each have at least 16 wins, and no more than 7 losses. That's pretty impressive. * The week ahead promises more excitement than a blizzard in July; George Mason faces both

A Redskins music video from the 1980s

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:17:08 -0500

I've tried to write a few sentences of introduction to this sensory masterpiece about seven times, and each time I've had to press delete. Really, there are no words that could do this justice. You just have to revel in it yourself. We can each enjoy this in our own way. (Via Terl) (Embarrassing: I posted the exact same video about three years ago, and was equally amazed then. This is what it feels like to get older, I guess. Gimme another year, and I'll be smothering our young whippersnapper bloggers with sarcasm and disdain.)

NBC's Caps-Penguins coverage

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:01:47 -0500

Let's first acknowledge that NBC could have muted its announcers and instead broadcast Sunday's Caps-Pens game to the soundtrack of monks chanting "OV for MVP" and nuns singing "Unleash The Fury," and a certain subset of Caps fans would still have been convinced that the broadcast favored the Penguins. Let's also acknowledge that it's not much easier for me to objectively review the network's performance than it is for many Caps fans. I'm not a fan, of course, but I care about the Caps, and I don't care about the Penguins. I know many of the Caps in a way I don't know any of the Penguins. So objectivity's pretty hard to muster here. That said, knowing in advance that Caps fans would complain about the wretchedly biased announcers, I watched the game live, and then watched most of it again on DVR, attempting to determine if such bias

Clinton Portis riles up LaVar Arrington

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:55:20 -0500

(2005 photo by Toni L. Sandys - TWP) The football season ended on Sunday, and it was fitting that Super Bowl Week would serve up one final Clinton Portis feud. He's had a lot of these lately. (See below.) Portis would likely argue that the media are to blame, seizing on the slightest of quotes and taking them out of context, turning the innocuous into the villainous. But when it keeps happening and happening and happening...well, I don't see the same trap enveloping Ladell Betts, anyhow. So during Portis's appearance on the NFL Network set--the same appearance in which he admitted he asked coaches to bench Mike Sellers--the tailback was asked what has changed from the Clinton Portis who played in Denver to the Clinton Portis of today. "The Clinton Portis in Denver was young and fun, not a care in the world, 20, 21 years old, I was

Jeff Schultz takes on Sidney Crosby

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:52:18 -0500

If you would have asked me Sunday morning which Caps player would be most likely to end the second period jawing with Sidney Crosby, Jeff Schultz would have been off the board. Not an exaggeration; I almost certainly would have had him behind everyone besides Jose Theodore and Michal Neuvirth. Yes, Schultz would have been behind I-don't-speak-English Alexander Semin. Yes, he would have been behind Brett Leonhardt. I mean, I'm not joking. Approximately, I'd have guessed Tom Poti, Brooks Laich, Shaone Morrisonn, Alex Ovechkin, Matt Bradley, David Steckel, Jason Chimera, Mike Knuble, Eric Fehr, Brian Pothier, Mike Green, Brendan Morrison, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Boyd Gordon, Tyler Sloan, Tomas Fleischmann, Jeff Schultz, off the top of my head. But lo and behold, there it is. And not only did the two jaw a little bit; Crosby turned his head as he skated off, as if to say "Yeah, that's

George McPhee takes Metro to Caps-Pens

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:21:40 -0500

Well done, George McPhee. Way to ride with the people. Makes me all embarrassed that I remained hidden in my house all day. (And yeah, now that commenters put it out, it sure does appear that he spent the ride chatting with Jimmy Cafritz, the former team director who got plunked in the head with that puck a few weeks back.)

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Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:21:40 -0500

Ovechkin smashes goal cam

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:36:45 -0500

There were plenty of unforgettable moments from Sunday's matinee masterpiece between the Penguins and the Caps. Many of them involved players other than Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby; Eric Fehr's handiwork comes to mind. But Ovechkin and Crosby accounted for five of the nine goals scored, so we're allowed to obsess over the rivalry one more time. And Ovechkin again showed his undeniable knack for putting insane flourishes onto his goals. Three days after recording that one-hander against the Rangers, Ovechkin put the Caps on the board Sunday afternoon with a breakaway tally, a shot that "just explodes the goal cam," as Pierre McGuire put it during NBC's broadcast. The goal cam wound up being fine. And, an hour or so later, Ovechkin was the recipient of his first round of hats of the season. "I mean, to come in here and say listen, 'Hey Ovi, I'm still your

Scottie Reynolds Metros to Verizon Center

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:59:53 -0500

(By John McDonnell - TWP) When Villanova's Scottie Reynolds, a teammate and a couple of staffers took the Metro to Verizon Center on Saturday morning, the predictable happened. Dana O'Neil told the story on ESPN.com: Reynolds and Pena kept their blue sweatshirt hoods pulled over their heads and kept their heads down, but decked out in Villanova gear they would have needed a burqa to go unnoticed. As they finally boarded the Metro and headed to the back of the train, students whipped out their camera phones and pointed. "Is that Scottie Reynolds...on the Metro?'' one girl asked her neighbor. "Wow, we're riding with Scottie Reynolds,'' another guy said before adding, 'Go Hoyas.' And yet I can't find any photos of Scottie Reynolds on the Metro. Send 'em here. In the meantime, here's the rest of last week's Atlantic 11 pith. 1. Georgetown [Joke involving guns and the President's

Russ Grimm: Hall of Fame prankster

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:35:15 -0500

(AP photo) Plenty of other writers will discuss Russ Grimm's actual qualifications for the Hall of Fame. But having already gone through the tale of Grimm re-ingesting an upchucked hot dog, I felt it my duty to mention that Grimm was also a Hall of Fame practical joker. All you need to read is this excerpt from the great Rick Snider's 1998 profile of Grimm-the-coach, which was published in the Washington Times: While legendary as a player, Grimm may be even more notorious as a prankster. Among the printable training camp gags attributed, though not always proven, to Grimm: