I can't stand the rain...

Memo to Mother Nature: If you're going to get all pissy and rain/thunder/lightning in the vicinity of our soccer field, please do so well before a game so they can cancel and reschedule as opposed to 20 minutes after the game has started... and we have a 2-0 lead... on a goal scored by me and one assisted by me (not to toot my own horn.) Thanks.

Yeah, the skies looked threatening but our game started on time as the dark gray clouds rolled in. It seemed as if it may pass over quickly (where's a doppler radar when you need one?) and we jumped out to a 2-0 lead. I headed home the first one when one of our girls crossed a ball that was tipped by the keeper right into my path. I ran onto it and left little doubt in putting the biscuit in the basket. 1-0 us. There was a bizarre offside reversal on the play (assistant called me offside, referee waived it off incorrectly - won't go into it here, I'll explain later if you really want) and the goal stood. On the 2nd goal I can't remember who played it in the air to me but I tried to trap it and take it myself but it popped up in the air and away from me into the path of an unexpecting Deep Cover who shot and scored. 2-0 us (more on this later). So the wind starts to blow... lightning gets closer and closer... and the ref pulls the teams off the field, gets me and the other captain together and we decide to wait 10 minutes and see if it blows over. The game was 20-25 minutes old and if we had waited the requisite 25 minutes it would've gotten to halftime. That wouldn't be problem except for if a game gets to halftime and has to be concluded early at any point thereafter it becomes final... so we wanted a 10 minute window to decide which we were provided. So then the rain starts to fall and we gather our stuff (leaving the net and corner flags up, with the intention of returning) and retreat to our cars to stay dry.

The Captain and I walked to my car and sat there for maybe 15 minutes (less?) before it started to come down in buckets. I saw the captain for the other team and we decided to call the game off then to reschedule later. Alright. Cool... except for the net and flags. Me, The Captain, and one of our girls (assister from the 1st goal) sprint down to the field and grab the flags and take down the net - getting absolutely drenched in the process - and walk back to the cars, since we weren't going to get any less wet by running. And by the way, have you ever had to run on pavement in cleats? Good luck.

So, not only will our game be rescheduled, but when we do play again we'll start it over like nothing ever happened. No goal for me or Deep Cover, no 2-0 lead. No nothing. After we got back to the house Deep Cover and I were talking about the shortened never-happened game and before walking away there was this exchange:

DC: "By the way, honestly-"
I-66 [interrupting]: "No"

Translation:
DC: "By the way, honestly, did you mean to pass me that ball (on the 2nd goal)?"
I-66: "No, I was trying to trap it and take it myself"

Using as little words as possible to converse. That's beautiful.

Untitled

I have yet to chime in on Live 8 but I won’t add to the previously existing encouragement. Instead I’ll just say that, armed with my new camera (Canon, 1GB compactflash card, room for 700 pictures... BOOM), I plan on being the primarily responsible individual for the picture taking that will undoubtedly occur. See, Deep Cover tends to take [in my best Bill Walton voice] terrrrrrible pictures while drunk (read: 3 weekend nights out of 2, not a typo), so I must accept responsibility, with the help of some other trip-going less-drunk people.

Also, indeed we have a game tonight but I myself have 2. They’re back to back and at fields that are a couple of miles apart… so that means play, take off the cleats (have you ever tried to drive in them? It feels like your foot isn’t even touching the pedal), drive to the other field, change out of sweaty jersey and into clean jersey, put cleats back on, play for what may be another 90 minutes. I suppose I do it to myself so I ask no sympathy… what I ask instead is that you do an anti-rain dance to make sure our games aren’t rained out tonight – perhaps while listening to “The Rain” by Missy Elliott (I can’t stand the rain…). Thanks. ‘preciate it.

New links

Well, we seem to be getting some traffic from Florida, so we figured, in an attempt to appeal to our audience (hey, we're still new to this, unjaded, and willing to give the audience what they want) we've included a pair of blogs from Florida. They even get their own section.

However, this is conditional. The way we see it, these links can be left up permanently if the Floridians will kindly apologize for Danny Wuerffel and Steve Spurrier. Just apologize for the train-wrecking of my beloved Redskins, and we're friends for life.

I must talk about Live 8 once more. Go to this concert if you have the time this weekend, I know it's in Philly, but it's for a good cause. In addition to the stellar line-up already playing, they just added Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas, Toby Keith and Josh Groban to the lineup. Additionally, stage presenters will be Natalie Portman, Salma Hayek, Chris Turner, Jennifer Connolly, and Chris Tucker, though I could really care less about that.

I-66, Deep Cover and myself went to Happy Hour for our soccer league yesterday evening, at Kilroy's in Springfield. A half pound of shrimp for $4 will probably get me back there a few more times. Wish us luck at our game tonight.

I'm kind of blah about the Wizards draft pick. I-66 seems to be pretty happy with it, I'm wary of most high schoolers not named Lebron. We'll see how it turns out a few years from now.

Working for our Government Blues

In the Washington area, it seems like everyone is packaged neatly into three groups. You're either an intern, a contractor or a government official. I fall neatly into category number 2. I know people get into trouble on these blogs when talking about their work, so I won't directly give away my agency, let's call it Gustoms. My job is the wonderful world of IT support, not even close to my college major, something I had never done before but sort of fell into.

My job consists of answering a phone, listening to people who are supposed to be protecting our borders (shoot, I'm giving it away) complain about how they messed something up. "My e-mail is locked but I put the password in right...my computer is giving me a boot error, and I have a report due in fifteen minutes...I need my insulin!! You can imagine.

Needless to say, I should be looking for another job. Hell, when I was graduating, I threw resumes all over the place. I guess having a job already in place makes you lazy. And they pay me decently. Eventually though, I'll have to move on, and I'll be the guy on the government side of things, where I can then give it all back, call contractor helpdesks and raise my own brand of hell. I can't wait.

Andray > Kwame

WIZARDS DRAFT HIGH SCHOOLER… uh oh.

Fear not, we have not re-acquired Kwame Brown or either of his (perhaps non-existent) siblings Blow-me and Bore-me. Instead, we’ve drafted Andray Blatche. Who? Andray Blatche. A 6’11, 235 pound 18 year-old from South Kent Prep in Connecticut. Here’s a brief rundown:

- Averaged 27 points, 16 rebounds, and 6 blocks per game his senior year
- Was one of 10 finalists for the Naismith Award (best high school player in the nation)
- Is originally from Syracuse, NY
- Models his game after Bill Wennington

Ok, I made that last one up.

Wizards brass (boy, that sounds weird to say) says that he’ll likely spend some time in the NBDL in what we hope is a situation where he can hone his skills and eventually put in some time at the 4 for us. I can’t believe that I’m actually saying this about a Wizards pick but… I like it. Here’s a guy who has no #1 overall pick expectations and can just come in and play. He’s not highly publicized and there should not be too much pressure on him to produce right away (though, yanno, that’d be saWEET if he did). I believe that the Wiz will give him the time he needs to grow (talent wise and physically) and that he’ll end up being a glass cleaner for us off the bench at the very least.

Andray Blatche, welcome to the family. Good job Ernie and Eddie. You’ve done well, I think, with limited draft resources. Now, how about using some of those monetary resources to re-sign Larry Hughes?

Odds and Ends

First things first, we need to get the LIVE8 reminder out again. Anyone out there who wants to be where the DC Sports Guys will be this weekend, get yourself up to Philadelphia for the free concert to benefit Africa. Again, it's FREE, and here's the band list one more time:

Will Smith
Bon Jovi
Dave Matthews Band
Destiny's Child
Jay-Z
Kaiser Chiefs
Keith Urban
Linkin Park
Maroon 5
P Diddy
Rob Thomas
Sarah McLachlan
Stevie Wonder

Should be a great time.

Okay, second thing to be addressed. It was asked previously if rooting for Andy Roddick was okay, being that he is not from our area, but from Nebraska (yes, I looked it up.) Though the question was asked in jest, rather mockingly as I recall, and coming on the end of a rant, the short answer is yes.

The long answer is that tennis, golf, the Olympics, etc. are country based sports, not regionally based like football, baseball and basketball. In this case, being born in America, you should root for the Americans. Born in France, root for the Frenchman. This is not to say I encourage dislike of other nationalities, far from it. It is a natural impulse to pull for your countrymen and women. National pride should never falter, and I say this regardless of your current views on our administration. You should still be proud to be an American.

Now then, there are exceptions to every rule. As a representative of America, it is your duty to compete and also to give the country a good image. It's part of the job of being a public athlete, and it comes with the job, whether you like it or not.

For instance, I will never pull for Jon Drummond to ever be successful in anything. For those of you who aren't into track and field, Jon Drummond is an American sprinter. At the Olympics in Sydney (I think it was these Olympics) he and three other men won a 4 x some distance sprinting event, taking the gold. Rather than celebrating amonst themselves and/or congratulating the other countries, all four of them ripped off their shirts and started doing poses, mugging for the crowd, and generally rubbing it in. Just what we need to help our image abroad.

The reason I singled out Drummond over the other three is because Drummond managed to make an asshole of himself a second time. A few years later, during a track event (it may have been the World/National championships, I don't remember) Drummond false started and was disqualified. Unfortunate? Yes, he worked a long time to get there. However, most people have to accept that they screwed up. Not Drummond. Drummond whined, begged, and finally laid down ON THE TRACK, across some of the lanes, so that the race couldn't be run. He stayed there for at least ten minutes, until he was finally threatened with suspensions.

I should point out, one of the other four sprinters in the Olympics episode was Maurice Greene, who was the veteran of the squad and should have known better, and set a better example. Greene tore his hamstring this weekend in a 100 meter qualifying heat for the US Championships. I'm not saying anything except the karma police have a way of catching up sometimes. Now, I'm not going to wish for anyone to get hurt, but if I have to choose between Greene, a noted showboat and jerk, or Justin Gatlin, the winner of the heat, and a good guy by all accounts...well, Greene will lose every time.

The original point of this was Andy Roddick. Here's my take on Roddick. He's a good player who uses a dominating serve to hide holes in other parts of his game. I like Roddick, but I think he acts like a child sometimes, when he throws little tantrums on the court. This was on display this past week at Wimbledon when Roddick decided it was too dark, packed up his stuff and left the court in the middle of the match. Brilliant move Andy, way to improve your reputation and the world view of spoiled, bitchy Americans in general. In interviews with the press afterwards, Roddick was surly, deflecting questions by asking reporters if they would "Read a book in the dark?" His general defense was that it was too dark to see and return serves.

This is ridiculous for two reasons. First off, Andy Roddick's return game sucks anyway, so I don't know what difference it would have made. You want to see someone with a return game, watch Roger Federer. Secondly, Roddick is the hardest server, consistently, on the men's tennis circuit. This complaint should have come from his opponent, if anyone. His opponent who still wanted to play, I might add.

Andy Roddick is a great player, and I do support him, but he needs to mature up a little. He will win a few more majors, I'm sure, but he'll never be as good as Federer, and there may be a few younger guys, like Nadal, who overtake him soon. As to this episode, if I was in charge of Wimbledon, I would have given Roddick five minutes to get his sorry butt back on the court, and if he refused, I would have forfeited the match to his opponent. Pack your bags, see you next year.

And yes, I'll still be pulling for Roddick to win the U.S. Open.

A farce and a lie?

I may be reaching a bit here but I consider this to be a pertinent subject matter and it is sports related so let’s let it fly.

I don’t know how many of you are long-time ESPN.com readers, especially of Page 2 as it applies here, but some time ago there was an article written by Stacey Pressman about women as sports fans and their attractiveness to men. Personally I find some knowledge of sports to be almost a necessity in terms of the women I choose to date. I don’t need you to be able to explain the Cover 2 defense better than Tony Dungy (but if you can, more power to you) or explain the offside rule in soccer with salt and pepper shakers and packets of sugar on a restaurant table, but having a knowledge of sports tends to be pretty hot. Pressman disagrees, saying that the claim that men will like women with sports knowledge is “a farce”, “a lie” and “not even remotely true”. Strong words.

I urge you to read the article if you haven’t done so already. I don’t know a single guy that is threatened or somehow turned off by the fact that the beautiful woman sitting next to them knows the difference between a 5 yard facemask penalty and a 15 yarder, knows that Chris is not even close to Chris Webber’s given first name, or knows the difference between a reverse and an end around. I hope the men out there in the world of the blog will back me up and support the idea that women sports fans are indeed desirable and that the women out there will not be put off by the few insecure guys that are threatened by sports knowledge. After all, you don’t really want anything to do with insecure men to begin with, do you?

Nationals Game!!

Last night, Deep Cover and myself, along with two others took in the Nationals game at RFK stadium. Great game, and a Nationals victory to go along with it. The highlights:

1. Deep Cover sneaking a flask of rum into the stadium, and spiking his drinks. He was gone by the fifth inning.

2. Livan Hernandez pitching like an absolute stud, going 7 1/3 innings and getting the win, improving his record this season to 11-2.

3. Rubbing everything in the face of AJ, one of our friends, who was born in Toronto.

4. Nationals fans. It's an interesting mix really. I've sat in the lower bowl for games, where everyone is more reserved, but knows their baseball. Last night, we were in the upper deck with the hardcore fans and the drunks. No one was violent or got out of hand, although there was one guy who was baiting anyone wearing a Red Sox or Yankees hat to fight. Problem was, there were no Yankee or Red Sox hats, he was drunk and just yelling in the air, sounding off about the cities of New York and Boston.

5. The fact that no seat, even in the upper decks, is a bad seat at RFK. I was able to see the game just as well last night from 548 as I was from 203 or anywhere else I've been this season. I hope when the new park gets built, they make the place just as intimate.

Anyway, on to the pictures.

Livan Hernandez stares at Vernon Wells, the Blue Jays center fielder, and best hitter.





Wells grounds out harmlessly to third. Livan was practically untouchable for the first six innings.







Rocke, a drunk Deep Cover, AJ, and The Captain, who can be seen representing the DC Hat in this picture. Saturday night was also Floppy Hat giveaway night.









An error!! The Blue Jays score, ruining Hernandez' shutout. The Captain can't believe it. AJ, the Blue Jays fan (wearing a Nationals Hat) smiles and foolishly hopes for a comeback.








Bring on "The CHIEF!" (Nationals closer Chad Cordero)








Deep Cover celebrates the entrance of Chad Cordero with a Matrix like hand movement, and more rum.








While this may look like an empty field, the scoreboard has "Nationals Win!" on it, which was the original point. Now, an empty field is all you get.

Snap Judgement

In recent years, I haven't been much of a baseball fan. I went from being an Orioles fan to hating Peter Angelos for trying to keep baseball out of DC. Of course, now we have the Nationals who are leading their division and playing improbably good baseball in their first season here, but in recent years past I haven't watched baseball until October. Even now I'm having problems transitioning over to being a full-time baseball watcher. Now that the NBA season has come to an end, Major League Baseball is the only of the big 3 that remains (NFL being the other, NHL doesn't matter at this point and, despite desiring otherwise, MLS is not big enough to be considered a 4th), and I find myself wishing that football was up and running. Will I ever fully come around? I support my team as well as I can. I root for the demise of its divisional rivals (and the Yankees) regularly. I hope we get to see October baseball here in DC (if you'd told me a year a go that 2 of DC's teams would make the playoffs in the coming year I would've called you crazy... if you had told me then that it would be its basketball and baseball teams I would've actually called the insane asylum). But for the time being it's hard for me to be a committed baseball fan. I guess I'm jaded by years of Peter Angelos stupidity... but football can't be here fast enough.

The Champion

Looks like yesterday was interesting. It appears The Blonde of "Blackberry Debutantes" fame is willing to defend her Baltimore roots tooth and nail. I will say this, military exemptions should probably be in place for the rules mentioned in the last post. Admittedly, I was wondering whether or not to feel bad for the "poor girl with no home" until the part where she was slapping me up the frontside of my grill. Well disguised shit-talk, but rest assured, this isn't over.

Now then, onto my triumph. Not that I would ever be accused of being full of myself, but if I may be so bold, all of you are in the presence of greatness. Why, you ask? Because yesterday evening, I took down a tournament on Pokerstars. That's right, first freaking place. Now sure, you could say it was only a $1 Sit N Go tournament, that there were only 45 players, and that I only won $14, but to hell with you then. How many people get 1400% return on anything? I'll just sit here while you all bask and worship me. Worship DAMMIT!!

On another note, a bunch of us are going to be at the Nats game tonight, watching them smash the Blue Jays. Thankfully, a game was finally on last night, so at least I was able to do something while I was busy re-imaging my entire computer (don't ask.) A 3-0 gem by Loaiza, who I have to admit turned out to be a much better acquisition that I expected. I'm going to get to see Livan Hernandez for the first time tonight. I don't want to be overly confident, but I see that Nationals with yet another victory, widening their lead.

Oh and Ms. Blonde, I might point out that with last night's unfortunate loss, your Orioles are no longer in first place in their division, while my Nats are. SUCK IT TREBEK!!

So did I mention I won a poker tournament last night...

They're YOUR team, like it or not

This should have likely been addressed much earlier in our blog's short lifetime, but it's going to happen now, in response to some comments on our blog and a few other places. Ask yourself a few questions:

1. Where were you born?
2. We're you generally aware of sports before you moved from there.

If the answer to your second question is yes, guess what...the teams that reside in the city nearest to answer number 1 are YOUR teams, like it or not.

Why is this coming up? A few reasons. There's been some good natured talk going on over in Cleveland Park Men's Club over the recent NBA Finals. The Senator, one of their members, is a Detroit Pistons fan. And that's okay, because even though he lives in/around the D.C. area, he's FROM Detroit. At least he claims to be, it could be a cover job, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

It's people who decide they like a team because the team...
1. Wins constantly
2. Is from the city their parents were born in, but not the city they were born in
3. Has pretty uniforms
4. Has J.J. Redick/Derek Jeter etc.

...that bandwagons occur. Evil, disgusting bandwagons created by leeches who like the Yankees, the Red Sox, Duke teams, or worst of all, the Cowboys. Think I'm kidding, that I don't practice what I preach? Wrong. I broke up with a girl in college because she admitted she was a Cowboys fan. Sure there were other reasons, but I'm convinced deep in my soul that this was at least 10% of it. One of my co-workers, a delightful man in his late 40's, has two baseball hats, the Yankees and Braves. Why? Because the Yankees win all the time, and the Braves were easily accessible on TBS...and they win all the time. I have envisioned running him over with my Dodge Stratus.

(Sidenote: Yes, I drive a Dodge Stratus. No Will Ferrell jokes. For every Will Ferrell joke I hear, I'm going to kill a kitten, I've heard so damn many of them. Think before you post any Will Ferrell crap, and remember that Furrball's life is in your hands.)

I was born here in the D.C. area. You think this has been easy? The Bullets/Wizards last won a championship in 1979, a few months before I was born. The Skins won three Superbowls in the 80's/early 90's. I was ages 2, 8 and 11. Did I appreciate the last one. Of course, but I wasn't nearly as aware of it as I would be now. This is the first year I've had a home baseball team in my life, and no the Orioles don't count. They were a loaner team, and any pretense of caring for them is out the window with Peter Angelos running the show. D.C. United has won four championships in seven years. That's just great, though I'm not much of a soccer watcher. Ask I-66 or Deep Cover how elated they are.

Point is, it's been hard, but I've stuck with it, as any good fan should. And it's paying off. Wizards made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. Nationals are in first place somehow. The Redskins...well, the Redskins have Joe Gibbs dammit.

We've had at least one person mention being an Orioles and Ravens fan. Again, I can accept the Orioles, but we have our own team now. The Ravens...you know, that just hurts. The Redskins are a Washington institution. Why Baltimore? What do they have on us, besides a harbor? If you wanted to hurt me, why don't you just dance around in a Troy Aikman jersey and break my spirit?

And for the lady who appears to be from Florida...J.J. Redick? You're from FLORIDA, root for FLORIDA teams. You are in violation of the first and fourth bandwagon tenets, at a bare minimum. There are probably other tenets of bandwagonism I'm forgetting that you may also be in violation of.

What we need around here is some old-fashioned Orwellian sports re-education. There will be no double-speak, and four legs are definitely worse than two legs! Big Brother is watching you.

Jingling and Jangling

Okay, so I was a game off. Last night the San Antonio Spurs proved themselves true champions, overcoming the Pistons who, in the 3rd quarter, threatened to pull away. If the series were three games only it was one of the better series in recent memory, but it was a seven game series and the first four games were not remotely close. Kudos must be given to the Pistons who did not give up their title without a fight. But despite only turning the ball over half as many (6/13) times as the Spurs, and forcing twice as many steals (8/4) the Pistons could not climb the mountain. Detroit's three point shooting was horrid, as they went 2 for 14 from behind the arc, and their seemingly most reliable offensive option in Game 6, Rasheed Wallace, was not a factor until the 4th quarter when the rest of the Pistons decided to offensively disappear.

To me the MVP race was a toss up between Duncan and Ginobili and in the end I think it went to the right guy. Tim Duncan was strong on the glass and in the paint - just not from the free throw line until Game 7 when he went 5 for 6. The pressure was on for Duncan to perform in Game 7, and while he did not shoot well from the floor, his 25 points were a game high, and his 11 rebounds and 2 blocks were tied for the game high.

While the Spurs are celebrating, the Detroit Pistons and their fanbase will await the "final decision" of Larry Brown - when he will likely decide, if he hasn't already, to head to Cleveland. Count me as one of the individuals that believes that he hasn't devoted as much attention to the success of his current team with so much swirling around the potential move to his new one. Personally, I believe he moved games ago.

So there it is, the San Antonio Spurs are the NBA Champs. Thankfully, with the threat of any labor dispute eliminated, we have a season to look forward to and the Spurs will get to defend their crown. It feels strange to say, but suddenly I can actually do it and at least be taken semi-seriously... here's hoping the Wizards will have something to say about any kind of repeat next year.

Calling All Yankee Haters

I can't resist.

I hate the Yankees. Well, first I hate the Cowboys, then the Yankees. Duke Blue Devils basketball is close but the Yankees are definitely 2nd. Granted my rooting interests are with the Nationals, but way back before the Expos left treadmarks in exiting Montreal on their way to DC and before the pile of crap that is Peter Angelos made so public his efforts to keep baseball out of our wonderful town, I once rooted for the Orioles.

- I saw games at Memorial Stadium.
- I got burned on my arm by hot coffee and had to go to the Fairfax INOVA Hospital ER on the night that Cal broke Gehrig's streak and demanded not to be seen before the game was in the books and the record officially broken.
- I hated Jeffrey Maier.

And we all know that one cannot be an Orioles fan and like the Yankees too... besides, who likes the Yankees but Bronx residents and gutless bandwagon jumpers? So, without further delay, the picture that has brought a smile to my face and at least 7 consecutive minutes of laughing:

Yahoo photo, click here ... and check out Gary Sheffield's hands.

A real life Crash Davis

It's taken me some time to think of how to address this, and even now, I'm not sure I'll do the man any justice, but a post had to be made in honor of Rick Short. Much of the information comes courtesty of Washington Post Staff Writer Dave Sheinen.

If you don't recognize the name Crash Davis, you haven't seen one of the best sports films/dramas of all time, Bull Durham. In fact, I'd suggest you quit reading this post write now, and go watch it. The post will still be here when you're done. In Bull Durham, Crash Davis is a career minor-league catcher played by Kevin Costner. I won't go into much detail, but a quick rundown of the plot (the baseball part) is that it's Davis' job to help rookies acclimate themselves to minor league life, and move on to The Show (The Majors.) As Davis reminisces in the film, he tells the rookies how he was "In The Show" for three weeks at one point in his career.

Rick Short has played 1106 career minor league games over 12 seasons in various organizations. On June 9th, Rick Short got called up to the Washington Nationals, the major leagues, for the first time in his career. He made his debut the next day against the Seattle Mariners, and I was lucky enough to be at the game, Deep Cover in the seat next to me. If you don't think Hollywood storylines ever happen in real life, you should have been there.

Short was called to pinch hit for the pitcher (Sunny Kim) in the 5th inning. Furthering my appreciation for the Washington area fanbase, everyone gave him a standing ovation. Pretty neat stuff for a guy making his debut. You could hear the buzz in the stands, everyone pulling for him to do well. Short went down 0-2 quickly, then laced a single to left field, scoring a runner from second base. Another standing ovation. The next hitter grounded out to end the inning. As Short was jogging off the field, his night finished, he was given a third standing ovation.

He was sent back to the minor leagues a day or two later, and didn't appear in another game. With him, he takes a perfect 1.000% batting average, an R.B.I. and three standing ovations. I don't think it could have ended any better for him, and if he never makes it back to "The Show" again, he'll always have the story of his one moment.

We should all be so lucky.

Blackberry Recognition

Well well well, it looks as though drunken nights in Adams Morgan are indeed not in vain. Cheers to the Blackberry Debutantes who were more than kind enough to sign our friend's bachelor party shirt on one of his last nights of freedom, and who have now linked to us from their blog. I'd have a drink (or three) in their honor if not for the fact that we have a soccer game at 9:15 tonight - so I will await the weekend to properly celebrate the occasion. Wish us luck, anyways, as we hope our game has not been cancelled due to Mother Nature and her cranky attitude. With proper fortune we will return victorious.. and sweaty.. and smelly.. but mostly victorious!

What The Public Wants

It seems as though my point of view on Phil Jackson going back to LA has been solicited - and who am I to deny such a request? So, speaking of eating crow...

It is difficult for me to believe that, after saying so many derisive things about Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson can go running back to Los Angeles to coach the Lakers. What happened, Phil? I thought there were so many differences between you and Kobe that you wouldn't go back. Were there no other good job offers? Did Jeannie Buss threaten to wear a chastity belt unless you came back? It's too bad the news of this broke during the playoffs because there should have been a bigger deal made about Phil's change of heart. The supposed "Zenmaster" trashed Bryant in his book and all of the sudden decides (seemingly) that he was wrong all the while and that Staples Center is big enough for both he and Kobe's ego -- and we're supposed to just accept it? I hope the Lakers go 32-50 next season. I hope Kobe scores 40 points a game and the Lakers lose at least 15 games by that many points or more.

When Michael Jordan came here to Washington there was much talk about him sullying his legacy and that his career would lose its luster. I think there is a decent chance that, if the Lakers tank, Jackson's coaching career will lose some luster itself. Critics already point out that he only goes where there are already stars, and that they think he can't win a title without them. What we have in LA now is a star player who has proven already in one season that he cannot carry a team with mediocre players to the playoffs. Let's not forget that, even with the added fire power of Gary Payton and Karl Malone (both aging, but still quality players), Jackson could not get the Lakers back over the hump - instead they just looked over the hill. Now Shaq's gone to Miami, Gary Payton's out east, and Malone's looking for little Mexican girls. All that's left is Bryant, Lamar Odom and Caron Butler and a bunch of Chris Mihms and Chucky Atkinses... not exactly the stuff that championships are made of - a "me first" player and a bunch of "you first" players. Phil Jackson has a commercial for Toyota in which he tells a couple of guys that (paraphrasing) "he who crows loudest eats the most crow." How ironic.

Our First Batch of Links

Well, this certainly qualifies as a momentous 24 hours. During some of my downtime, I've managed to figure out how the coding on this site works, and was able to get our first batch of links set up. Of course, the links to every Washington team homepage are an absolute necessity, even the Mystics, which took a lot of internal debate before I decided to include it.

We've also started a link section with a few of the more interesting blogs in the Washington area. DC Blogs has probably about the best collection of Washington based blog links there is, one we hope to be included on eventually.

The Blackberry Debutantes is run by two women who we've actually met in person. The wedding referred to in previous posts was preceded two weeks earlier by a bachelor party in the Adams Morgan area. We met the Debutantes outside The Angry Inch, they were pleasant and signed the bachelor's shirt. Thanks for contributing to the evening ladies. Of course, signing the shirt as "Blackberry Debutantes" confused us, we had no idea what it meant, but Google is a wonderful thing, and that led us to their blog, which is actively posted to and entertaining. The phrase "Reverse Nuclear Dating Option" will probably work it's way into my vocabulary at some point.

The Cleveland Park Men's Club is a social group located in, you guessed it, the Cleveland Park area. I can't say I necessarily agree with everything they write, (the hell if I'm splitting a check evenly if I've eaten burritos and everyone else had lobster) but their blog certainly gets a lot of traffic and generates a little controversy here and there. These are all good things, and they seem like decent guys.

The Cleveland Park Junior League, I haven't had much time to look at. They seem to be affiliated with the Cleveland Park Men's Club, in what capacity I'm not sure. It seems only right to include both groups, we're certainly not exclusionary people.

The Cleavage Park Grrrls Club, as with the Junior League, seems to be affiliated with the Cleveland Park Men's Club in some fashion. From recent posts, it appears they were running a charity event recently, which gets a high mark in my book, as do most people who take time to help others. They are being added even though they violate one of my major pet peeves, the intentional misspelling of words. However, these ladies seem cool enough to get away with it.

Lastly, I would be remiss if the Wonkette were not included. The Wonkette is one of the foremost politics and newsworthy blogs based out of D.C. Though her blog is extensive, she will always be linked to the Washingtonienne scandal that she helped bring to light last year. The Wonkette is a Washington blog institution, and we're proud to have her there.

I'll take mine "medium", thanks...

Crow is not a dish best served cold, but I must eat it this morning.

The Spurs showed the ability to miss every shot they needed to make and even Manu was missing from the foul line. While I don't like the fact that Detroit won last night, the enjoyable product though is an NBA Finals Game 7 - something we haven't seen in a while. Here's hoping it's not a blowout like Games 1 through 4. Here's hoping it's not a 73-70 final. Here's hoping they score more than 170 points combined. And, last but not least, here's hoping the Spurs come out on top.

Deep Sixed

I said it before game 1 and I'll say it again now.

Spurs in 6.

The Detroit Pistons had more than a few chances to salt game 5 away and head to the SBC Center needing only to win 1 out of 2. Not only would they have a 3-2 lead in the series, but they would've taken 3 in a row from the Spurs who never lose 3 in a row -who cares if it was at The Palace? Instead the Pistons have just lost one of the better NBA Finals games in recent memory, an overtime thriller that had it all: stars rising to the occasion (Duncan going for 26-19, Billups dropping 34-7), stars choking in the clutch (Duncan at the final buzzer of the 4th, Duncan at the free throw line in the 4th, Hamilton's terrible play at the end of overtime, Rasheed leaving Robert Horry), the memorable jump-out-of-your-seat moment (Robert Horry's long-range lefty slam over Hamilton), and the last-second shot to win it (Horry from 3, with his team down 2) with the bonus that he wasn't even supposed to get the ball on that play.

Did you know that the Pistons lost games 1 and 2 by an average of 18 points each game? Have you seen Larry Brown show any semblance of caring about what happens in this series? Did you realize that the two highest individual point totals for the Pistons in both games 1 and 2 were 25 (Billups, 1) and 15 (McDyess, 2, off the bench)? Or how about that the Pistons went 1 for 12 on 3 pointers in games 1 and 2 combined? Yeah. How sillly of me... they are right on track to win game 6 tonight. And game 7 on Thursday too.

So now it's "do or die" for the defending champs. "Win or go home" they'll say. I feel like I don't even need to watch this game to know how it ends. I'll tune in though - I don't want to miss the party.

Spurs in 6. Mark it down.

A Grab Bag of Information

Just a few quick updates here:

As if this, my first home team baseball season couldn't get any better, there was the story of Rick Short, a modern day Crash Davis. If you don't know who Crash Davis is, then go watch Bull Durham. I had the luck to be there in person when Rick's moment happened, and it was electric. There will be a later post devoted to this.

Additionally, though it isn't home team based, we will likely be posting/ranting on the NBA finals soon. I'm going to let I-66 handle this one however, since he's more basketball savvy than I am.

Deep Cover has been removed from the blog member list at his own request. In the true spirit of sports, let's say their were "contract language" issues. Basically, Deep Cover enjoys the idea of maverick journalism, and posting while drunk. This is admittedly very amusing, but I-66 and myself are intent on keeping this blog, while not always serious, at least fact based. While Deep Cover may have been removed, the description at the top of the page will remain "three great guys..." in his honor. Additionally, we may attempt to con him into posting every once in awhile, if there is something he chooses to add.

In fact, he's already unearthed this nugget. For those of you already familiar with Live Aid, you'll recognize this. For those that aren't, Live Aid was a mid-80's super concert attempting to provide aid to famine starved African countries. Live8 is a similar concert, 20 years later, calling on the "Great 8" leaders to double their current aid output to Africa, as well as forgiving all debt. July 2nd, there will be five concerts running in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and here in the States, Philadelphia. The line-up in Philadelphia is as follows:

Will Smith (host)
Bon Jovi
Dave Matthews Band
Destiny's Child
Jay-Z
Kaiser Chiefs
Keith Urban
Linkin Park
Maroon 5
P Diddy
Rob Thomas
Sarah McLachlan
Stevie Wonder

Go to www.live8live.com for more details. Ticketing information is scarce, but according to Deep Cover's rumors, the concert should be free.

Stuck In Traffic

I've seen more Amish in one weekend than I ever have in my life.

What turned out to be a damned good weekend started out like ass, as a trip that should have taken less than 2½ hours turned out to be about 4 hours long. My date and I arrived in Strasburg after the rehearsal and with enough time to check in, change clothes and haul ass to the restaurant and the rehearsal dinner just after the bread was served. Things slowed down after that. The lot of us spent the late hours on the 2nd floor deck drinking ourselves into tiredness. J (formerly referred to as Deep Cover) was more than 3 sheets into the wind most of the weekend - but really, what did you expect?

The aforementioned wedding was perfect - save the groom, best man, and 5 groomsmen (of which I was one) standing in the sun in black tuxes and being cooked to a nice medium rare. The strangest thing happened after the wedding, when the groom's car was apparently vandalized by some people with balloons and beer cans and a bunch of glass chalk. I don't know who could've done such a hideous thing but I assure you I had nothing to do with it -- or the writing of my initials on the windshield. The reception was a good time, though unnamed individuals did not care much to "dance with the one(s) that brung them." This particular unnamed individual did manage to find another dance partner who was more willing to have fun on the floor as opposed to in her chair. After a long night of post-wedding partying most of us changed and then we moved to the Hospitality Room (not to be confused with the Champagne Room -- though that would've been better) for some post-wedding-partying partying.

In the morning it was checkout time and then onto the day-after picnic. Now, I'm not sure whether it qualifies as a picnic since it was indoors, but I won't split hairs since the food was free. After eating and drinking (iced tea or lemonade.. or iced tea with lemonade and SoCo for some who may or may not include me) and many long goodbyes and congratulations it was off to Northern Virginia and what was a much shorter trip than the ride up. SO... long story short:

Did:
- participate in a wedding, eat a lot of food - mostly good, drink a lot of drinks - mostly beer, learn what a rocket pop is in liquid form, miss my mattress at home, witness the funniest requested dance in wedding history, avoid the garter, dance with multiple bridesmaids

Did not:
- play golf, object, get a hangover, get a good nights sleep, spend inordinate amounts of money, have anything to do with the vandalism of the groom's car or the requested dance mentioned above, hook up with multiple bridesmaids

Good times... Good times.

Holy (Hell) Matrimony

Ah, back in good old Washington D.C. after one of the longer weekends in recent memory.

This weekend, we experienced a milestone of early adulthood, the three of us. The first member of our old high school group got married. So though I felt strangely weird during the entire experience, fun was had, the wedding went off without a hitch, Deep Cover drank himself silly, and we had a pretty good time.

I discovered my golf game needs work. Deep Cover shot a dead even score of 72 the morning of the wedding...over nine holes. I managed a 63, while the father of the groom, who claimed not to have played in 20 years or so, nailed three pars and wound up in the low 50's. This is not to suggest that Deep Cover or I are avid golfers who had a bad morning, far from it. I myself have played 10 times or so, this was Deep Cover's second go-around. Normally, our golfing consists of going to the driving range and trying to aim for things.

Though I personally dislike the movie (and Adam Sandler in general) my golf game can best be described as "Early Happy Gilmore." I can drive the hell out of the ball, my short game leaves a little to be desired. I also have a notoriously bad slicing problem, which resulted in my losing seven balls to the woods/cornfields. Finally, on hole 8, a par-4, 350 or so, I gave up and just aimed left, as if purposely trying to lose my ball in the rough. This worked, as my ball immediately veered back to the right, and landed about twenty yards from the green. Seizing my best chance of the day for a par, I immediately hit two ten yard shots with my wedge, and three putted for a six.

Anyway, the four days off were nice, but it doesn't make dealing with any of these Customs people easier. I also missed the gym all four days, not something I personally am happy with. I think I gained about ten pounds thanks to all the free booze, and the crab meat served in various styles. Man, am I a sucker for crab.

DC United 4 - 3 Chicago Fire

Greetings everyone, I-66 here with my first ever blog posting. Tonight I had the pleasure of being at RFK Stadium for DC United/Chicago Fire. Our boys in red and black (that's DC United for the color-ignorant) have been in a bit of a slump, going winless in 3 games and scoring exactly zero goals over the same span, going 0-1-2. Two consecutive 0-0 draws highlighted our lack of offense and strangely quality defense but we needed to break out of the funk and it seems the surging Fire (4 wins from 5 games scoring 14 goals during that span) were just what the doctor ordered.

A pretty good crowd filed into RFK and I found myself, flanked by the lovely "Maverick" sitting not far from the loud and boisterous Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles. There was never much screaming to start with when Brandon Prideaux was tracking back towards goal on a ball through the middle of the field and attempted to clear it across the face of the goal only to have it bounce off of Chicago's Chris Rolfe and into the net, 1-0 Fire. Eight minutes later Nate Jaqua found net for the Fire, only pissing me off since his father, Jon Jaqua, once played for the Redskins in RFK. 2-0. Just before half Santino Quaranta got "dragged down" (read: got tugged lightly, went down hard) in the box and earned a United penalty kick. Jaime Moreno (James Brown in English) stepped up and converted it with ease, sending RFK into a frenzy. The ball bounced back out into the box after hitting the net and Jaime, in true scorers fashion, ran over to get it and Zach Thornton, the recently beaten GK ran to stop him. Jaime took one touch and got tackled from behind (!!!) by a sliding Thornton and went down in a heap. The ref showed Thornton a yellow and only a yellow, sending the slightly-drunken Irishmen behind us into a tizzy. Thornton was booed throughout the rest of the game everytime he touched the ball. 2-1 Fire at half.

Christian Gomez scored early in the 2nd half to level the game at 2, only to have Gonzalo Segares give the Fire the lead back moments later (something to remember: the assisting player on the play was marked by the one and only David "Holy crap I get paid to play soccer?" Stokes, the worst player on the entire roster. When he entered in the 2nd half I booed loudly and declared that he sucked and lamented every give away he committed to the glee of the Irish... just note it). 3-2 Fire. Gomez struck again to level the score at 3 with something like 15 minutes to play. RFK was buzzing as the boys in black looked to at least salvage the draw. In the 85th minute off of a cleared corner kick, Stokes found himself on the wing with the ball and crossed it into the box. There was a deflection and it fell to the feet of Bobby Boswell, rookie fullback, who put the biscuit in the basket. Bedlam. 4-3 United. And total razzing at the hands of the Irish towards yours truly. "Oy I thought you said he sucked." " 'ees your boy now isn't eh?" Even the sun shines on a dog's ass some day.

Victory. Quite a finish. Good times. Bobby Boswell? David Stokes? I guess it doesn't matter, we'll take the 3 points and the W. And David Stokes still sucks.

The Inaugural Post

Is Washington D.C. a great city or what? Is there another place where you can throw the word "inaugural" around, have it actually relate to your city, and not sound like a tremendous dork?

Welcome to the "DC Sports" blog. Contrary to the title of said blog, we don't deal strictly with sports here. Leisure activities will be discussed as well, we certaintly wouldn't want to be thought of as one-track.

So who are the men of "DC Sports" and are they qualified to host this blog? I think you'll find us competent. The three of us have lived in the D.C. area our entire lives (in my case) or at least moved here early enough in life that we've known nothing else (the other two.) So it's time to introduce the line-up.

Leading off is I-66. I-66 is a former competitive track runner, and currently plays co-ed soccer (We're all on the same team, but he's the GM.) He has been a sports announcer, and used to have courtside seats for the Washington Wizards. Gave those up a few years to early, it would seem. His area of expertise covers the Redskins, Wizards, DC United and various other topics. Additionally, he is our resident human stat library. You want to know who lead the Redskins in rushing in 1986, ask him. He'll likely tell you the name and the total within 25 yards or so. I-66 is currently employed by Fannie Mae, but not in an accounting capacity.

Second is Deep Cover. Like I-66, Deep Cover ran track and also played competitive soccer in his youth. Currently, he is on the same co-ed soccer team, and is training to run in the Marine Corps. Marathon this October. Deep Cover has much to offer on the Redskins, Wizards, DC United, and the tennis circuit. Additionally, Deep Cover has the best grasp of the local music scene, as well as the pool halls in the area. Deep Cover currently works for the E.P.A.

Lastly, there is myself, currently going as The Captain. My area of expertise is baseball, as I have played it competitively about 75% of my life, though not for the past few years. As long as I post on this blog, the Nationals will get their due recognition. My contributions will also include various sports which don't get as much attention, such as boxing, swimming, and wrestling. I'm probably the only one of us who has actually paid money for a Mystics ticket. It's been said that I'm into my Irish heritage, so I'll occasionally be found at local festivals, or an Irish bar. Currently, I work for the Customs Service.

So that's us. Read us, comment to us, link to us, do what you will. Just remember to hate the Dallas Cowboys while you do so.