Spoke Too Soon?

I finally started to get back into the swing of things last week and updated my blog, much to the disappointment of a dozen or so of you. After evaluating the piece I wrote and what has happened since then, I regret to inform you all that I do not know what I am talking about. Also, I am a jinx. Bad luck. I'm a cracked mirror in a locker room or a black cat crossing the path of an upstart team, cursing them with whatever dark power I posses; a power I cannot control. I should be shunned, silenced and given a dirt nap for the good of all sports teams and players I align my loyalties to.

Since I went on record last week stating how the Caps were up and comers, leaving behind their horrid start to climb back into contention in the Eastern Conference, they have lost two of three and have played less than stellar hockey, culminating in last nights drubbing at the hands of Le Habitant. (Apparently, that is french for "the Canadians". Whatever, eh?. Pull your tuke down tighter and take-off, you hoser.) The Caps not only lost 4-0, but they were out worked, out shot, out muscled and left out of breath. You could just see Coach Bruce Boudreau's head about to explode as each mistake piled up. I heard Coach Gabby was running the boys into the ice this afternoon, full scrimmage, full contact. After last nights egg laying, I can see why he feels the need to do so.

I guess I should call him and tell him that it was my fault. I said the Caps were no longer bad. As soon as I put it in print, they start a tail spin, precipitated by the continuing injury bug that has kept the team from putting its planned product on the ice since day 1. Once Gabby took over and they started to win, it didn't seem the injuries mattered much. But Shaone "I Got More Consonants in My Name than Martha Stewart has Hair on Her Chin" Morrisonn went down with a bruised foot and they haven't looked the same. Morrisonn got hurt after I wrote my last blog. See, I am dishing out all kinds of ill fate.

Need more proof that I am jinxed? Well, I watched the Maryland game and they lost to Duke. I am a Nats fan and Paul "Lo and Behold" Lo Duca tore his knee up at home. I kept saying all last year and this year that Joe Gibbs would win the Super Bowl next season, the last season of his contract, and just look at the disarray is Ashburn.

Want more? Okay, the Wizards. What happened to them the other night when I watched the game against the Milwaukee Bucks, a Bucks team sans Michael Redd? Lost. And the Wizards game against the Cavaliers last week, where the 'Zards (almost wrote "Tards" just now, haha!) were riding a 6 game winning streak.? They didn't just lose, they got shellacked! Or how about the fact that as soon as I started to check the Baltimore Sun to see what's up with Eric "I Hate Baltimore" Bedard getting traded, the deal hits a snag and is left bouncing around purgatory as we speak. (I recognize that I may have nothing to do with the Orioles bad luck since the "Curse of the Frog-Faced Barrister" trumps my bad luck to the 20th power.)

What does this all mean? That's right, you guessed it: Absolutely nothing!

I was just trying to be funny and witty... but, don't be surprised if the Patriots perfect season ends and the Freaking Giants win the Super Bowl. Actually, you might want to call your bookie now and place your bets.

Oh, and Tony Romo is gay.

The Patriots and the Giants!?!

So, the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl, going for the first ever 19-0 record. Their opponent will be... wait a minute...the New York Giants? The Freaking New York Giants?! When the hell did that happen? The team that was supposedly done before the season began, with the Manning who wasn't a winner, a coach who had lost his team, a defensive end who almost retired and their best running back in the NBC Studio all season? The Freaking New York Giants?

I'm sure all of you are in shock, much like I am, to see that the Freaking Giants are going to the Super Bowl. Who would have picked them four short months ago, besides Giant Fans on crack that is? You have to agree that none of us saw this coming. There were other teams that made more sense to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XVII before the Freaking Giants.

Green Bay was the feel good pick as I see it. The Packers were young, poised and beat the Giants early in the year. Story book ending in the making, with Favre beating the Patriots, ending their bid for perfection. Who didn't want to see Brett Favre retire with another ring?

Dallas was the hip and most logical choice. They were arguably the best team in the NFC for most of the year, mowed down the competition and had the pretty boy quarterback dating hot-ass Jessica Simpson. Even though I was dreading it, I was preparing for the 'Boys to go to the Big Game.

Even the Redskins made more sense then the Freaking Giants! They had a roller coaster year filled with close wins and painfully close losses. People really questioned whether Gibbs still had it in him. Then, Sean Taylor was murdered and it seemed like the season was done. Instead, after the two-timeout-Buffalo fiasco, the Skins suddenly put it all together and won four straight-- two of which were against the Cowboys and Giants, mind you--and the praise for Coach Gibbs and the talk of destiny began to reverberate not just in DC, but all over the airwaves as well.

But the Freaking Giants are in the Super Bowl? They beat the Cowboys in Big D? They beat Green Bay, in Green Bay, on a field goal in OT, in the minus 1 degree weather after their kicker missed twice in regulation? Eli Manning (who looks like Timmy from South Park) suddenly learned how to win? This team limped into the playoffs and now is in the Super Bowl? Are you kidding me? The Freaking Giants?
I think Jesus Christ is getting ready to make an appearance here on planet Earth real soon, folks. That's the only explanation I can come up with.



Caps Over .500



So, after a start that had them in 30th place in a 30 team league, your Nations' Capitals have gone 16-7-4 since Thanksgiving Day, pulling with in 2 points of the eighth seed for the playoffs and 3 points of of 1st place in the Southeast Division. Alex Ovechkin leads the league in goals and is only 4 points out of leading in points. Nickalus Backstrom is second in Rookie scoring, Mike Green is the Blue Line Stud the Caps haven't had in years and their new coach, Bruce Boudreau, was in the movie "Slap Shot". What a turn around! Not to mention that I love the new uniforms.

As much as I liked Glen Hanlon, he was a teaching coach, not a winning coach. He set the table for Boudreau and the Caps owe him a debt of gratitude for bringing their young players along the way he did. The most impressive part of the Caps turn around has got to be the fact that they have been missing key players thru the whole streak (Alex Semin in the beginning; Chris Clark for the past 20 games; Brian Pothier, Tom Poti and Shaone Morrison from the blue line, not to mention Michal Nylander is out for the year).

If you haven't watched a game recently, I encourage you to turn on a Caps game soon. They are fun, exciting, never give up when they are behind and are on their way up in the standongs toward a playoff birth...FINALLY!


Oh, and Sidney Crosby is a pussy.