In case Patrick’s thinly veiled plea to go see him on Saturday night doesn’t speak to you (or, the far more likely event is that so many of you rush to buy tickets that the show sells out) I’ll throw out another suggestion for Saturday night-The Washington Wizards open their season on Halloween night. 

Maybe its a testament to how scary last year’s basketball season was that the Washington Wizards are opening the Home season on Halloween.  Of course, with the return of Agent Zero Gilbert Arenas to the floor, The Wiz are already 1/19th of the way to matching last years total and are probably “dressing up” for Saturday as the team they used to be-a low seed playoff team and early first round exiter.  Of course, making the playoffs (or just being competitive) will be a huge step up for this team and attendance at basketball games should increase.  They’ve already shown their Western Conference underachieving counter part, the Dallas Mavericks, that they mean business handing them a home opening loss on Wednesday night. 

The Wiz should play a good game Saturday night, and even if they don’t they are encouraging costumes so you’ll be able to hide in shame-unlike certain other franchises that are run as if they are a small Central American dictatorship I could name.

Free Masks, Candy and Schedule Magnets for fans as well as a contest for best costume-which will win you season tickets, so nothing to sneeze at there.  What would be a wining idea for a costume?  I’m thinking a LOT of people will go as a, wait for it, WIZARD so if you go that route make sure yours is killer.  Also, tasteless stuff is probably not going to cut it, even though I’d give you style points, it is a family event. 

My suggestion is to tape a lot of fake money to your shirt and go as the Wizards first round draft choice-CASH.  (If you have a friend, they can be “Cash Considerations.”)

Whatever you do, dont’ be a ceiling fan.  Please.  For me.

Two things disappointed me about the Redskins loss this past Monday:

1. Chris Cooley dyed his hair an extreme shade of blond, perhaps paying homage to Ochocinco.
2. He broken his ankle early in the game and was feared to be out the rest of the season.

Despite the fact Cooley is one of the only bright spots on the disaster that is the Redskins, he’s my fantasy tight end on two of my five fantasy football teams. Good thing that the injury isn’t as bad as it seems, Chris’ brother Tanner reported on The Cooley Zone that Chris will need a few pins but could make, “a speedy recovery.” The post would of been news if Cooley wasn’t scooped by ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter who tweeted that Cooley could be back in 4 weeks.

Tanner tweeted a few hours ago that Chris has completed the operation and is all right (and was kind enough to post a photo)- but it doesn’t answer the question Tanner originally asked, “How do you get scooped on your own injury report?”

I am now convinced that Adam Schefter is just that good.

If you aren’t listening to Bill Simmons’ B.S. Report podcast, then you don’t know what you are missing.

Sports fans may know him as the ESPN columnist that’s a die-hard Boston sports fan (which appeals to me as a former Bostonian), I know him mainly from his daily podcasts that feature interviews with his friends, fellow writers, and the occasional GM or actor. His experience writing for the Jimmy Kimmel Show has given him a broad background and network that makes his podcasts entertaining for both fans of sports and pop culture.

So you can tell that I was thrilled to hear via Twitter that Simmons will be kicking off his book tour in Washington DC with a midnight signing at ESPN Zone. He’ll be there tonight to release his latest book, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy, and he’ll be signing copies that you can purchase or you can bring in your own copies to be signed (he’s already recommended going to Amazon or Wal-Mart to get the best deals.)

So if you want to know where I’ll be tonight, I’ll be the one with the Red Sox cap standing in line downtown- however I have a feeling there’ll be a lot of Boston caps in line, maybe I should wear my Nationals hat instead.

UPDATE: It was great to shake The Sports Guy’s hand and get him to sign my copy of the book with an insult to my Alma Mater (which neighbors his Alma Mater of Holy Cross.) The event was so big that they didn’t have enough books for everyone, and the line rounded the corner and went down three blocks- glad to see DC has a lot of Bill Simmons fans!

The District unveils its new "Wrong Way" sign....

I kept thinking to myself “I really have to lay of the ‘Skins.  Everything you write about them is just terrible.  I’ll wait until they do something right before I post about them again.”

Well after the Warriors of Washington lost the battle of Little FedEx Horn, I’m not sure that day is going to come. Zorn has been relieved of his calling the play duties, Campbell benched-these things are as close to  “positives” as Washington will see for a while.

At this point, I think this youtube video is about as close as I can get to something to be positive about.  Lionel Richie in the background is very relaxing to be honest.  I grieve for you Washington-I suggest you start getting interested in hockey real quick.

Hee-Haw. A seething commentary on the state of the Nats, or are these guys just a couple of Asses having some fun?

Even on the tail end of a 100+ loss season, it is nice to end with a sweep of a division rival complete with walk off grand-slam to send the fans home for the year.  It seems like years (not months) ago that the DC Metblogs crew stopped out to the stadium for opening day-and yet that is just what bad baseball is, a long season.

Over this past year though I’ve come to realize something about at least myself with regards to bad baseball-I’m okay with it.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m really looking forward to good baseball (or at least the .500 baseball we had our first season) finally coming to town-but baseball has really started to take a foothold in this town.  How can I possibly say that when the ratings are awful and the park is nearly (or more than) half empty every home game?  I think the above photo is part of that evidence.

The fact is that, good or bad, the Nationals are part of the landscape in DC now.  The new stadium isn’t ALL that new, the players aren’t all just faceless fill-ins, guys like Zimmerman and Strassburg are intent on committing to play in DC, NATS FAIL took off this year, and two fans decided to dress up like Dunn-key’s for the game.  It’s not great when your team is the joke, but at least people are laughing and not just walking out.  Apathy still reigns with regard to the Nationals and the larger DC community, but I think its fair to say that the hardcore fans are there now.  The people who want to watch baseball, rain or shine, good or bad and are otherwise committed to team are established.  That base is here now, and everyone else is at least aware that there is a team to go see if they want to.  Attendance next year probably still won’t be what everyone wants it to be, but I expect that at times it will spike (When the Opening Day, Strass pitching, etc.) and with a team that will finally, probably start playing better baseball (at least .400 I would guess) my hope is that this team is finally turning around.

And if they don’t-well they are at least a good laugh every now and then.  Something for the casual fan to kvetch about at the water cooler without really knowing what they are talking about (It’s easy to pick up on the fact that the “Nats Stink”), and a great place for the newly committed fan to go and watch a ball game and commiserate with some others that know what the score is.

I imagine later this year we’ll do a full recap of the season and a look forward to the next, but for now I just have a vaguely optimistic feeling about this club based on the appearance of a couple of jack-asses.  Go Nats.

I was wondering when it would go live, but Fire Jim Zorn (at blogspot) went live today.

Redskins faithful, your favorite team lost to the Detroit Lions.

I’m sorry-maybe you didn’t hear me.  The DEEEEE.  TRRRROOIT.  LIIIOONNSSSSSS…..

While I do think that Jim Zorn isn’t helping the situation, and any responsible organization would fire him from being head coach tomorrow-let’s keep in mind that this is not a responsible organization.  I think we all know who is to blame for this “bottom of a public toilet” they call a football team here in DC-but since you can’t fire him…well…Zorn is going to go.  The question is just…when.

It’s kind of like throwing out your coffee mug because the coffee tastes bad when your $4.5 million coffee pot is broken-it doesn’t really make sense, but its all you can do.

In any event-Redskins fans, prepare for endless, endless talk about what is wrong with the Redskins from now until they beat an NFC East team via all forms of local media.  My deepest condolences.

Tracking the Media Meltdown

(Note: At 8:31p I don’t see an official story on the WaPo covering the game in my RSS feed.  Sad.)

Sports Bog: Someone’s got to go.

Sports Bog: Worst loss by a DC Sports team in 2009

Olie the Goalie

I know y’all are used to seeing sports posts from Frank and Patrick, but I just can’t help putting my two cents in on the news that Olaf Kolzig, beloved former goalie for the Capitals, has announced his retirement.

When I moved to the DC area in 1993, I was in dire need of a team to adopt!  I was raised in New York, where kids have to choose their team loyalties early (mine were, of course, Giants/Mets/Knicks).  Back then DC had no baseball, and pretty much all I could say was that I did know the difference between hockey and figure skates.

And so the Caps became my local favorites.  Over the years I’ve watched many a Caps game.  Olie was there through nearly all those years — from the days of carpooling out to the old Cap Centre in PG County (where said carpool driver once nearly ran over Dale Hunter by accident — thank God that didn’t happen), to the games in the new-fangled Phone Booth.  My friends and I learned the nuances of icing. I went to games wearing my #22 Konowalchuk sweater, as he rose from fourth-line to captain.  We griped when the uniforms changed to “Wizards” blue-and-gold, and cheered when they went back to their old logo.

Then!  In 1998!  It finally happened!  The Caps were able to help me check an item off my Lifetime List of Things to Do: seeing the Stanley Cup Finals.  Sure, the RedWings skated away with the Cup, but it was a blast and the team owed a lot of its success that year (and in other years) to their giant Godzilla-like keeper, “Olie the Goalie.”

The Post is polling its readership on whether the organization should retire #37.  I, personally, believe the correct answer to this question is, “Duh,” and it looks like there are those who agree (as of 4:30 PM the polling was 89% in favor)!  Sure, the Caps don’t have title pennants flying from the rafters, but in my opinion old #37 deserves recognition as the best goalie in franchise history.

What do you think, DC?  Share some of your favorite Caps moments and your opinion on whether the Caps should retire #37!

Regardless, let’s all say thanks for some great play and join in a virtual chant:  Olie! Olie! Olie!

(At least Remy kind find a funny side of the ‘Skins.  If you can’t see the video, I got it via the Sports Bog.)

So the Redskins managed to win a game yesterday, a boring 9-7 affair that was supposed to be a confidence building blow out.  I even started Clinton “Fantasy Killer” Portis in my league this year (over Fred Jackson, btw) because the consensus was “the Skins were going to bounce back hard.” (Note:  I will never ever start Clinton Portis in a fantasy league again.)

Well a 2 point win with no TDs against what is clearly one of the worst teams in the league during your home opener isn’t going to build a lot of confidence in your football program.  Which may be why some fans were booing the Skins yesterday at FedEx field-to which I say good, they deserved it.

Yes, despite the effort by the NFL and its franchises to engender a truly familial feeling between its team and its fans, the brotherly love has been seeping out slowly and surely since Dan Snyder took over the team.  Sunday some paying fans decided to express their feelings about that, and I applaud them for doing so.   Not only has this team underperformed on the field, but there has been well documented mistreatment of the fan base off the field as well.  Any fan, or non-fan really, has the right to voice their displeasure in any way they see fit (See: First Amendment).

Skins fans have seen this dance before, and they’ve been watching it for years now.  Close wins in games that should be blow outs, barely losing games they have no business in all to either not make the playoffs or make the playoffs and then do nothing.  Skins fans know that a team that cannot get into the end-zone against the Rams at home, could very well lose to Detroit on the road.  They weren’t booing a victory, but that they’ve been duped into watching a rerun.  Again.

(more…)

Fellow Metblogs author Frank should be thrilled this week.

Fresh from his departure from Monday Night Football, he begged and pleaded for Tony Kornheiser to return to radio, well yesterday his dream came true as the The Tony Kornheiser Show returns to ESPN 980 AM, the place where he broadcasted between 1998-2004.

The show is going to air weekdays from 10 AM – Noon and should be available on ESPN 980’s website in on-demand and podcast formats. You should also be able to stream audio live from their website but certain people had trouble listening to Tony’s debut show yesterday. Maybe the return of his show had everyone hitting up ESPN 980’s website.

I first heard about Tony’s return on the B.S. Report with Bill Simmons, and I am a fan of PTI whenever I get a chance to watch it (almost never) so this morning I went to the site and took a listen. I have to agree that Tony really comes alive on radio, and as Jim Williams over at the Washington Examiner puts it, “you tune in to hear about sports and you come away with current events, pop culture and, most of all, an entertaining show — something rare on sports talk radio.”

Now I know what everyone in D.C. has been missing- and I’m glad he’s back.

It’s an amazing testament to the NFL’s drawing power that a team like the Redskins still have the following they do.  Since 1997, the ‘Skins have posted just three winning seasons, signed ineffective, aging former superstars to contracts for ungodly amounts of money, sued fans, tried to stop you from walking to the stadium, or at least made you pay for parking even if you didn’t drive, and have supported the nuttiness that is Daniel F. Snyder.

None of which has dissuaded the Redskins faithful.  It is still one of the most profitable sports franchises in the world, potentially racist logo and all, despite the many missteps of the past twelve years. Still they show up, not just paying the overly expensive face value for a ticket, but often paying 2-3 times that through the “secondary” market.  “Oh well” you’re thinking, “If this is what the market demands…”

But maybe it doesn’t.

Unfortunately, it looks like the ticket sales for the ‘Skins aren’t all they are cracked up to be-and it probably cost you a lot of extra dough to boot.  The Post reported today that the people in the Redskins ticket sales office sold lots and lots of tickets to brokers (which, as Deadspin points out, is a fancy way to say “scalper”) directly.  You know, rather than to fans who wanted to go to the game.

So guess what-if you bought a ticket from Stub Hub, or (like I did) Ebay and you paid more than face value for those tickets last year, there is a chance you got hosed.  Not just by the scalper, but by the Redskins as well.  Honestly, of all the anti-consumer, disloyal, unfriendly and just bad things you can do-this takes the cake.  In most states there are laws that prevent the sale of tickets directly to brokers to protect consumers from being over charged for the value of the ticket.  Creating a scarcity of tickets by not making them available directly to fans is abhorrent, and I’m kind of glad I’m not already a fan-because this wold be something that might put me over the edge.  The idea that I could have maybe bought my tickets for a fair price but couldn’t because the team I spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a year on was complicit in this act?  Unconscionable!

The official story is that this was the act of rogue employees who have been “dealt with” (whatever the heck that means!) and that Snyder was shocked and outraged-but I remain skeptical.  Especially since the one broker who spoke with the post said he was offered the lower seats only if he bought more expensive ones as well.  It seems very possible that this was just an easier way to sell tickets, and create a demand around a franchise that, frankly, hasn’t been good for a long time.

Between the ‘Skins’ excuse that it was actually only a small portion of the actual tickets sold, and the “Broker’s” opinion that without him it would be really hard to get tickets I am about to lose the coffee I had for lunch.  This isn’t a case of someone buying a bunch of tickets to lift a TV ban so that folks can see the game-this is a case of the company you support actively ripping you off.

And it won’t matter.  Fans won’t see one dime of that money back, and the organization will continue to think of the next way to squeeze a dollar out them for, at best, a mediocre product.  And DC will just keep showing up.  Maybe the Nationals should triple their ticket prices and sell them exclusively on the secondary market-demand might go up.  Hopefully a team that is performing, like the Caps, will engender this kind of blind loyalty when they fall on bad times and under perform.  There is a lot mediocrity in DC sports, but the ‘Skins seem to be the only ones going out of their way to treat their fans like garbage.