Category Archives: Sports Fix

Sports Fix, The Features
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Nats starting pitching: Yes, as bad as you think

Photo courtesy of
‘1ST_4709’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

Cherry blossoms have come to D.C. and with them the idea that it should be Spring here in the nation’s capital. Yet, the weather does not seem to agree with a patina of chill and frost still clinging to the ground every morning as we wait for the bright sun and temperatures of April to finally melt away the doldrums of winter.

Nevertheless, it is time to play baseball.

The Nationals start their regular season tomorrow with the general hope that today will be better than yesterday. That is not a hard hope for a team that has averaged 62.33 wins a year over the last three years. Nats fans have had a dismal time of it and late-season empty stadiums have been the proof that baseball in Washington is not yet a full-fledged member of the city’s pastime.

Well, here at WeLoveDC, WeLoveBaseball.

Tom Bridge, Rachel Levitin and I are all credentialed for Nats home games this year and will bring you the blow-by-blow of how the Nats fare, through the hope of spring into the eventual doldrums of another losing summer. Belief me this: it will be another dismal year.

But there is hope.

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capitals hockey, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Hurricanes Batter Caps, 3-2


Semyon Varlamov faced a penalty shot.
courtesy of PackaPucksPics

The Caps couldn’t muster enough energy last night to play a complete hockey game, falling to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout. “I feel like at some points in the game we were just coasting a little bit instead of pushing the envelope and that’s what bit us in the end,” said rookie defenseman John Carlson, probably the best player on the ice in red last night. “We gotta be able to compete and beat any team that’s going to come hard because everyone is going to be fighting for their lives in the playoffs.” Let’s hear it for rookie leadership.

Indeed, the Hurricanes were five points out of the playoffs coming into last night’s game and will likely have to win all of their remaining games to qualify for the playoffs, so the intensity was high. And after resting some key players during a recent road trip, the Caps lineup last night looked remarkably like a playoff team. Continue reading →

Sports Fix
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What YouTube Tells Us About Jordan Crawford

Photo courtesy of
‘Jordan Crawford’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

I’ll admit that I didn’t stay up for all of the Wizard’s 119-127 double overtime loss to the Clippers last night. Those West Coast games are killer on a work night.

However I didn’t need to see the entire game to see the unfolding story of Jordan Crawford. By the time I turned off the TV he was already racked up 20 points and 10 assists, pacing John Wall in assists as he was ended the night with a 25 pt, 10 ast line. Crawford has started to show some production with the increased playing time he’s received as the Wizards are recovering from injuries to Nick Young, Andray Blatche, Rashard Lewis, and Josh Howard. Crawford has taken advantage of the opportunity, racking up 20+ points in four of his last five games.

If I was a real basketball analyst I’d fire up Syngery and probably do a film study on him to see what he’s doing well.

Unfortunately I don’t have the thousands of dollars it probably costs to afford such sophisticated technology. So I went to the only film room I had access to: YouTube.

Sure clips on YouTube will be a cherry picked, highlight-laden, collection of clips. But at least I’ll be able to see what’s “public tape” on him.

So I ran a search and here’s what I found.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Position Battles Remain with 2011 Nationals

Photo courtesy of
‘LSE Sports Day, Malden Sports Ground, c1920s’
courtesy of ‘LSE Library’

We’re down to just 9 days before the Nationals starting 9 take the field against the Atlanta Braves (tickets still available), and there’s a pretty decent chance a couple of those positions aren’t yet full. The Nationals have been sorting out the position struggles over the last month or so, and there are still a few places with more questions than answers.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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D.C. United Rolls in Season Opener


‘Barra Brava’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

They said he was lucky to be alive. They said he would never walk again, much less play. But 522 days after a devastating car accident killed a friend and nearly claimed his life, D.C. United forward Charlie Davies played in his first competitive game since the accident and scored two goals in United’s 3-1 win over Columbus to open the 2011 season. With the scars on his head still visible, Davies was on the verge of breaking down while being interviewed after the game by Comcast SportsNet. (Ed. – This is a must watch)

18,132 were present at RFK Stadium for the scene, as a slow first half with few chances for either team got the game off to a choppy start. Early in the second half, fellow United newcomer Josh Wolff sent it past Columbus keeper Will Hesmer for the first D.C. goal of the season in the 51st minute. Davies came on to replace Joseph Ngwenya in the 52nd, and United was awarded a penalty kick just ten minutes later when Chris Pontius was fouled in the box. In postgame interviews, Davies was quoted as having insisted to captain Dax McCarty that he needed to take the penalty kick. Davies easily slotted it home to give United a 2-0 lead.

It was then the 77th minute when Davies got loose, showed the speed that enthralled American fans in 2009, and beat the keeper in a one-on-one for his second goal of the evening, and sent D.C. well on their way to a victory on opening night. Robbie Rogers would score for Columbus in the 78th off a penalty kick, the only negative to an otherwise fantastic showing by United assistant coach-turned-goalkeeper Pat Onstad.

D.C. sees action next Saturday with their first road game of the season, kicking off with New England at 4:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution open their season tonight at Los Angeles.

Sports Fix
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DC United 2011 Season Preview


’10/23/2010 DC United vs Toronto FC’
courtesy of ‘Paul Frederiksen’

While for most people the arrival of March means looking ahead to whether the Nationals and Orioles will lose 95 or 97 games, for others, it beckons the start of the season for D.C. United, the most successful franchise in Major League Soccer.

Entering their 16th season of play, one of the charter members of the league and four-time MLS champion United have much to look forward to as the 2011 campaign begins on March 19 at RFK Stadium against Columbus. After winning the MLS Supporters’ Shield (given to the team with the best regular season record) in 2006 and 2007, the Black and Red have fallen off the last three seasons, with 10th place finishes in 2008 and 2009, before ultimately bottoming out last year with a 6-20-4 record, settling them firmly in last place.

The excitement for 2011 comes with the first full season under head coach Ben Olsen. After the release of Curt Onalfo as head coach following a 3-12-3 start, Olsen took the reins of United and turned the team around considerably, finishing the season with a still-disappointing 3-8-1 record, but enough of a turnaround was shown that team management felt it appropriate to retain Olsen.  Not included in the record was a Cinderella run to the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, a tournament open to nearly all American professional, semi-professional, and amateur clubs. Olsen, 33, nicknamed “The General”, had an illustrious playing career for D.C., scoring 29 goals in 221 games for the Black and Red, as well as suiting up for the United States national team 37 times, including seeing action in the 2006 World Cup. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Capitals revamped defense: Stanley Cup worthy?

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_6246.jpg’
courtesy of ‘bridgetds’

Nine straight games.

Pretty good for a team that folk said was in complete disarray and out of the Stanley Cup picture three months ago. The Caps current streak now exceeds its lowest point of the season, the eight-game losing streak in December that led up to the Winter Classic. The highest high is now greater than the lowest low.

And Washington is looking to get higher.

The questions have been about the offense. Why haven’t they been scoring? What is wrong with Ovie? Traditionally though, with this group and this coach, scoring has not been a problem and the Caps are showing signs of getting out of the doldrums that plagued them throughout the middle of the season in the scoring department. The defense this year has been surprisingly competent in front of young, solid goaltending. Through the nine-game win streak, Washington has given up 13 goals for an impressive 1.44 goals against per game.

The question becomes – can these new defensive dynamics lead the Caps to the Promised Land?

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Sports Fix, The Features
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Spring Training through the eyes of the fans

Fans watch practice at Space Coast Stadium in Viera FL

Spring Training is always an optimistic time in baseball.  Fresh off a cold winter, and usually full of fresh faces, it’s easiest to have hope for even the most doomed club.  Look at the throngs that travel from Chicago to Mesa, Arizona to HoHoKam Park and swear that this will finally be the year for the Cubbies.  Sorry Rachel, I don’t think they’ve got it this year. The Nationals probably don’t either, but you wouldn’t know it to talk to their fans.

Nationals fans flocked by the hundreds to Space Coast Stadium in Florida this February and March to watch the Nationals take the field with unusual lineup combinations and positions, as they try to figure out what the team will look like come Opening Day on March 31st.  The sunny picture in their minds may still be brought down to Earth by May, but for now, these are some happy and optimistic fans.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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The Blake Show Topples The Wizards

Photo courtesy of
‘Blake Griffin’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

For a 122-101 loss against The Clippers, there was something about the night that made it somewhat enjoyable.

Well at least until the last quarter.

Maybe it was the energy of the sold-out crowd or my return to the Verizon Center’s blogger’s row after a lengthy absence (I was busy watching Oscar films for much of February). Maybe it was the anticipation of watching the 2009 top overall draft pick go up against the 2010 top overall draft pick. Whatever it was I found myself having a great time with my colleagues.

However I know The Wizards can’t say the same thing. They lost. Badly.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats’ late heroics top Yanks, Harper sent down

Nationals vs Yankees at Space Coast Stadium

Spring Training is full of common hero tropes, and that’s part of what makes Sports into big entertainment and big drama for the fan. Today, we got a bit of the “underdog makes good” plotlines as the Nationals beat the Yankees 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth off the bat of a young phenom that the club is very excited about.

No, I don’t mean Bryce Harper (though he was right there when it happened, he was on second base), I mean catcher Derek Norris.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nationals face off with the Mets in Spring Training Action

Nats v Mets

The Nationals are off to quite a start in their Spring Training in Viera, Florida.  Their 7-3 start makes it the best start since the club left Montreal, but March baseball isn’t the sort that counts in the longterm.  Today’s matchup with the Mets was delayed slightly by a torrential downpour that covered much of Florida, but that didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the fans or the club.

In front of a light audience, the Nationals put on a clinic in the first, getting a pair of singles from Nyjer Morgan, and Ian Desmond, and a nice full-count walk to Jayson Werth put Adam LaRoche up against the Mets’ Mike Pelfrey with no one out and the bases loaded.  Another six feet on the ball he crushed to dead center would’ve put the Nationals up by four, but it was enough to put the Nationals ahead by a pair.

The Mets would threaten against the Nationals in the fourth, but Chad Gaudin worked himself out of a 1-out jam with runners on the corners with a filthy off-speed strikeout and a well-timed short fly.  The Nats play a pair today, we’ll have a full wrap of the games after this evening’s tilt against the Astros.

Sports Fix
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The chain gang: Where did the Caps’ offense go?

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_3758.jpg’
courtesy of ‘bridgetds’

A year ago, the Capitals were the high-flying, big scoring red machine that cut through the Eastern Conference regular season like scissors making a paper snowflake. They led the league in scoring with 313 goals and were buoyed by the best top line in the game in Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin.

This year has not been so kind.

The difference is striking, on the ice and by the numbers. Washington’s struggles on the ice have been well chronicles and denizens of the Verizon Center hope they have been remedied with the additions of another puck moving defenseman (Dennis Wideman) and a bona fide second line center (Jason Arnott) brought to D.C. at the trade deadline.

Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Last year the Caps scored 3.82 goals per game, more than half a goal higher than second place Vancouver at 3.27. The top line of Ovie, Backstrom and Semin tallied 3.93 points (goals and assists) per game. The top eight scorers on the team averaged 7.86 points per game. An amazing seven Caps scored more than 50 points with six of them above 20 goals.

Where has the production gone?

And why?
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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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UDC Basketball: $17,000 per win for head coach Jeff Ruland

Photo courtesy of
‘Part of UDC’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

The UDC Firebirds finished their basketball season last month with a 11-17 final record, well out of contention for the D-II March Madness tournament, not that they were allowed to go even if they’d steamrolled the season.  In 2008, the NCAA suspended the school’s athletics programs from championship eligibility until 2013, citing the “single most egregious lack of institutional control ever seen by the committee.” They refer, of course, to UDC’s total inability to keep records about its student athletes, and allowing 248 student athletes to practice and compete while in violation of its rules.

Recently, as UDC University President Sessoms has come under scrutiny for records surrounding his travel for the institution, so too have other officials at the school.  Head Basketball Coach Jeff Ruland, a former NBA player with the Bullets, has had his $187,000 salary revealed. That makes Ruland one of the most well-paid coaches in Division II, earning more than triple the Division II average from 2005.

Ruland’s tenure with UDC has gone slightly better than his 2006-7 season with Iona College, in which his team won just 2 games, and when you think that he can’t host recruits, and has a diminished number of scholarships, 11-17 might well be a triumph, but do we need to pay a basketball coach $187,000?

There’s no question that Ruland has a hard job.  Recruiting students is difficult when your school is in rough straits both with the NCAA, its board, and its own student body.  But is $187k the right pay for a rebuilding basketball program in D-II?

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Kastles relocate to Waterfront for 2011-12 Seasons

Photo courtesy of
‘Kastles Tennis’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

For each of the last three years, the Washington Kastles (The District’s World Team Tennis franchise) has played on a bespoke temporary court at the corner of 11th and H Street NW across from the Grand Hyatt.  This season, with construction slated to begin at the city center site in April, the team has had to put together other plans.

The Kastles will play in a temporary stadium on the new site at 800 Water St SW on the Waterfront, between Zanzibar and Phillips, for the next two years.  The temporary stadium will closely resemble the temporary stadium built at 11th & H, but will remain up year-round and be programmed by the Kastles and their partner PN Hoffman.

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Sports Fix
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The Wizards’ Building Blocks For 2011-2012

Photo courtesy of
‘Wizards v Jazz – 01.17.11’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

Today the Wizards will lose yet another player as Al Thornton is expected to officially clear waivers after the team waived him earlier this week. He is expected to sign with the Golden State Warriors, the same team that defeated the Wizards last night 106-102. Meanwhile the team also made an addition this week, re-signing D-leaguer Mustafa Shakur to back-up John Wall at point guard.

We’ve mentioned before about the level of turnover that’s occurred this season, when you are a 15-45 team in the basement of the Eastern Conference that’s to be expected. Even owner Ted Leonsis knows that this rebuilding season means going through a lot of losses and I commend the team for sticking to their strategy of amassing picks and young talent to build upon instead of taking the Synder-esque approach of patching the team through expensive free agents.

The team tried that last year when they patched their aging core of Arenas/Butler/Jamison with Randy Foye and Mike Miller and we all know how that went: a 26-56 record. With 23 games left in the season it’s realistic that we could match that again without the expensive contract/lackluster performance of Gilbert Arenas or the injuries that have plagued Butler and Jamison this year. Who knows if Caron or Antwan would of been injured had they stayed with the Wiz, but the fact they are both pushing 30 doesn’t bode well in general.

Looking at the Wizard’s strategy of rebuilding through the draft and young talent, I took a look at the team to see who’s a part of winning the Wizard’s future. Who we should be watching the rest of the season, and who’s pretty much as good as gone come the end of April.

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Sports Fix
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Nationals Beat: The Start of Spring

Photo courtesy of
‘9TH_7847’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

Spring Record: 2-0

With an off-season that was both hit and miss, the Nationals have arrived in Viera, Florida, and have begun workouts and spring play for the 2011 season.  In 29 days, the Nationals will open their season against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park.  Between now and then, though, let’s get ready for the drama of the springtime.  The Nationals have some hard decisions to make between now and then, especially in the outfield.  Let’s take a look at the state of things, shall we?

The Outfield

Welcome to Thunderdome, er, Viera, Outfielders! There are 11 of you in camp, seven on the 40-man roster, and four more non-roster invitees. We’re fairly sure that Jayson Werth will be one of the five or six carried forward at the end of the month, and that means ten of you are fighting for four more slots. Bryce Harper, despite his presence on the 40-man won’t make it to Opening Day (sorry big guy, but congratulations on your first hit yesterday), so we’re down to 9.

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capitals hockey, Sports Fix
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Looking at the Caps’ 2011 Trade Deadline Day

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_4927.jpg’
courtesy of ‘bridgetds’

So the NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the Washington Capitals made the most of it. Truth be told, the Caps started a few days ago, acquiring Marco Sturm off waivers from Los Angeles, and then added two new pieces of the current puzzle yesterday. Dennis Wideman joined the blue line corps early in the day, and the biggest catch came at the buzzer with the Caps announcing the acquisition of center Jason Arnott from New Jersey.

Do the Caps believe they’re ready for the post season with these three players? Caps management seems to think so. Let’s break it all down and see if we agree. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nationals Announce New Radio Partner, Spring Schedule

Photo courtesy of
‘Radio AM/FM/Short Wave, Datsun Cedric’
courtesy of ‘johnrobertshepherd’

The Nationals this morning announced an agreement with WJFK 106.7 “The Fan” to broadcast Nationals Games on the station, as well as on 1500AM, WFED.  The Fan will operate a studio behind (natch) Section 106 during home games, as well as a spot in the Nationals’ Shirley Povich Media Center high atop the Park. The team’s broadcasters, Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler, will be returning to their microphones for the Nationals as the voice of the team. Below the break are the first spring training games and their respective outlets.

The move to add an FM station as flagship will significantly bolster the service radius for the Nationals broadcast, as WFED’s broadcast range isn’t nearly as broad as WJFK’s broadcast range. The spring schedule indicates that they’ll be running daytime games (after the WJFK debut on March 6th) on 1580AM WHFS, which has a slightly different broadcast range.

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Fun & Games, Sports Fix, The Features
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Running For President

Photo courtesy of
‘Dave and his alter ego 3’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

For about 15 minutes this President’s Day Weekend, I managed to fulfill one of my Kindergarten aspirations – I was one of the Presidents of the United States.

You know, kind of.

Background: it’s become a bit of a President’s Day tradition that the Nationals host their annual mascot auditions at Nationals Park. As Rachel’s awesome recap last year was quick to note, sticking to the holiday weekend that recognizes the same men these mascots represent is so important that the try outs are held shine or snow.

I joined in with a few other members of the media – Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post and Danny Rouhier from WJFK 106.7 The Fan – and we got a chance to go through the whole process. I will tell you: my respect for the people who don the Presidential Gear for about 35 games every season has shot through the roof after spending a lap inside the costume.

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