Category Archives: Sports Fix

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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D.C. United Trades for Perkins

Photo courtesy of
‘D.C. United vs. New York, 2006 Eastern Conference Semifinals, October 29, 2006’
courtesy of ‘The West End’

D.C. United made a big move yesterday heading into the MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia: they went after their old keeper, Troy Perkins. With Josh Wicks sidelined until the middle of spring due to an injury, and two much much younger keepers on the roster, United courted a face they knew and managed to get Perkins to come back from Norway to play in the Black and Red again.

So, here’s how this all works. Perkins is coming back from Europe, which means he’s eligible for the SuperDraft. United was to pick 7th overall in the draft, but wanted to ensure that Perkins came home to DC, so they traded for 1st pick in the SuperDraft, which belonged to the Philadelphia expansion team. United sent Fred, allocation cash, and their 7th pick in the draft just up the road so that they could secure Perkins for 2010.

We will miss Fred, and wish him well in Philadelphia, but it’s great to have a winning keeper back on our side.

Update: Via D.C. United’s Kyle Sheldon: “The way in which we acquired Perkins was actually via the allocation order – separate from the SuperDraft. The SuperDraft, which takes place today is only for college players who have made themselves eligible. The allocation order is a separate ranking order used to obtain players who have signed with MLS, but are not yet with a team. It is just coincidence that both Philly’s spot (1st) and our spot (7th) is the same in both the SuperDraft and the allocation order.”

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Verizon Center Takes Down Arenas Banner

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcwashington.com/video.

NBC Washington has the video of Verizon Center personnel removing Arenas banner from the side of the building this afternoon. It’s not clear if this is a deliberate move by the Wizards, or by the Verizon Center management, but either way, Agent Zero’s profile is a bit smaller right now.

Interviews, Sports Fix, The Features
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Capitals Hockey: Mid-Season Report Card

Photo courtesy of
‘Center Ice’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

We’re just passed the halfway point of the 2009-10 hockey campaign for the Washington Capitals. Successful? In many ways, absolutely. Joining me on the breakdown is Adam Proteau, writer and columnist for The Hockey News and a regular contributor to THN.com, who kindly offered up some of his own analysis of the Caps season so far.

Overall, impressive. The Caps have hit 50 points faster than any other incarnation of the team before and are definitely on pace – barring a complete and total Jagr-esque breakdown – to end in one of the top four playoff seeds.

“They’re looking like a complete, versatile, dynamic team very early on in the year,” says Adam. “I thought it would take them longer into the season to fully assimilate Seymon Varlamov and some new veterans and function as an effective unit of a championship caliber, but I think they’re there already.”

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Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Firearms Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘_MG_5524’
courtesy of ‘dbking’

Redskins
Record: 4-12
Last Two Weeks: 0-3
Place: Last in the NFC East

Well, this is one season no one will want to revisit anytime soon. This morning, Jim Zorn was fired (my only surprise was that he rode their plane home), after the Skins put up their worst record since they went 3-13 in the 1994 season. Zorn finishes his tenure with the Redskins at a tremendous 12 and 20 (.375), or, just where Steve Spurrier finished in 2003. He is the sixth coach of the Skins to be fired since Dan Snyder bought the team in 1999, none of whom have an over-.500 record.

There’s little to celebrate at the end of the season. Jason Campbell still isn’t the Quarterback-leader the Skins are hoping for. Chris Cooley is on the mend, this is true, and he’ll be a bright light for 2010/2011, but there’s a lot of rebuilding left t go.

But if the Skins were to do one thing this off-season to engender trust from their fans? Take Dan Snyder away from the reigns of the team. Entirely. Hire Shanahan and then take two years away from the team, Danny boy, and maybe then you’ll be alright.   Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Hampton Roads Just Says No to Skins/Chargers

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Hampton Roads/Virginia Beach should be a no-brainer Redskins market, right? I mean, who else would you cheer for? Well, this weekend they pulled the Redskins game off the air so that WVBT could show the Dallas/Philly game that has actual consequences for the playoff picture. That’s just how bad the Redskins are this year. The sports director at WVBT said the Skins were “unwatchable,” and that emails after he read the decision on the air on Tuesday night were running 30:1 in favor of the Cowboys/Eagles game.

Yowch. Sorry Skins.

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Redskins’ Orakpo Named to All-Pro Team

Photo courtesy of
‘Brian Orakpo being interviewed’
courtesy of ‘Chris Doelle’

Congratulations to the Skins’ Outside Linebacker Brian Orakpo, who was named to the Pro Bowl 2010 Team today. He’ll be headed to Hawaii Miami for the only Postseason action any of the Redskins see this year (unless you count Shaun Suisham going with the Cowboys…) in the Pro Bowl. Orakpo’s 11 sacks share the team lead, and he remains the one good thing that Vinnie Cerrato did, so I suppose that’s something to be comforted by, Skins fans.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Snow Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Ovechkin about to score’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Capitals
Record: 22-8-6
Last Two Weeks: 4-3
Place: First in the Southeast

The Caps hit a bit of a skid this week. Sure, it’s hard to say that 4-3 is a skid, but when you’re as dominant as the Caps have been this season, it’s tough to watch losses at all. Especially when they’re shutouts like the game against the Sabres last week. Sure, Ovechkin is lighting it up like crazy, with 23 goals and 41 points, and Nicholas Backstrom is proving to be the assist machine with 28.

Injuries continue to be a bit of a plague, as they’ve sidelined important parts of the Caps lines, and now include Semyon Varlamov with a groin-strain. Perhaps the team is just road-weary? Long road-trips have taken their toll on teams past, so that’s entirely possible

One important piece of info, though, for Virginia-based Caps fans, the drive for a Capitals Vanity Plate for your car continues, and they need your help. On Frozen Blog has the details and applications close on the 31st.

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News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Skins’ Cerrato Resigns

Photo courtesy of
‘FIRE VINNY!’
courtesy of ‘Tony DeFilippo’

I’m sure these two fans are very happy this morning as Vinnie Cerrato has resigned this morning according the ESPN 980. Cerrato was the Executive Vice President in charge of Football Operations and has been calling the plays for the Skins since they moved that responsibility from Jim Zorn several weeks ago shots in the front office for the team.

It’s not immediately clear who will replace Cerrato, but I’m hearing that there will be a press conference at Redskins Park this afternoon to discuss the situation. As soon as we know more, you will, too. Cerrato has been a controversial figure for the Skins this season, and his departure will likely be hailed by many as a long time coming, This season has been very disappointing for the Skins, and likely Vinny’s taking the blame for poor performance on the field. Good choice? That remains to be seen.

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Congratulations DC Hornets!

Congratulations go out to the DC Hornets, a DPR Pop Warner Football team from the Watkins Rec Center, on their victory in Saturday’s Pop Warner Super Bowl! They defeated the Florida City Razorbacks 22-8 and earned a heroes’ welcome yesterday, with a salute from the Mayor. Coach Delante Williams will be given the key to the city at a future city council meeting. You can see a post-game interview with Coach Williams courtesy of Pop Warner. “They played a very physical game,” he said, and attributed their success to hard work. The Hornets only gave up one touchdown, and it was on the very first play, with the Razorbacks returning the kickoff for a touchdown. After that, it was lights-out defense and strong offense that lead to a win for the Hornets.

Congratulations, boys, you’ve done your city proud!

Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix: So Close, But So Far Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Pile-up’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

Redskins
Record: 3-9
Last Two Weeks: 0-2
Place: Last in the NFC East

Heartbreak. Heartache. That’s the two words that best sum up the last two weeks. These were two games that the Skins showed up for, playing their hearts out against the Eagles and the Saints. There was an offense, there was a defense, and this looked like a totally different football team than the first half of the season. However, they couldn’t pull it out, either time, and came up short yesterday against the Saints in OT (33-30) and last weekend against the Eagles (27-24).

There were two occasions in yesterday’s game could’ve taken a dramatic turn for the Skins, and I’m thinking here of Suisham’s short attempt with less than two minutes to go, and that awful call in overtime. The fumble call…well, it was a fumble alright, but let’s look at the procedures here. The Saints burned a timeout right afterward, and managed to convince the officials to review the call in the booth. That’s supposed to be the booth’s job, and the result was the turnover that lead to the end of OT. It would’ve been better if he’d not fumbled the ball, but at that point, when all you have to cling to is procedure, then that’s what you look at.

So, that leaves the question, DC: Which is worse? A team with no hope? Or a team whose hopes are dashed? We’ll find out next week in Oakland, as the Skins head west to break their string. Considering the Raiders just beat the hapless Steelers? Who knows.

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Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix: The Five Sport Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Jim Zorn’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

Redskins

Record: 3-7
Last Two Weeks: 1-1
Place: Last in the NFC East

Tom’s lack of optimism rings true of this week’s crushing loss for the Redskins against division rivals the Dallas Cowboys. Sunday’s match-up against the Dallas Cowboys came to a sudden halt with a 1-point, 7-6 loss. The worst part about it is that the Skins looked like they’d pull through this time.

What’d they do right? Shaun Suisham had the potential to be a game-winning hero. Instead, he gave his best shot, scoring two fields goals (one in the second and one in the third), keeping his team ahead of the opposition for the majority of the game. The Skin’s defense, along with Jason Campbell’s stellar work on third down plays looked promising.

“Two minutes is what we do very well,” Campbell said. “It wasn’t pressure because there’s still a lot of time on the clock. We felt like we could just continue to run our offense, move the ball, do our no-huddle, do two-minute.”

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Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: No Ovechkin Yet Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Randle El’
courtesy of ‘headsoak’

Redskins
Record: 2-6
Last Two Weeks: 0-1
Place: Last in the NFC East

I think by now it’s pretty safe to say it wasn’t Jim Zorn’s playcalling that was the problem with the Redskins Offense. What is the problem? This week against the Falcons, the Skins controlled the ball longer, had more total yards, gave up just one turnover and yet came up two touchdowns short. Sure, the one Redskins’ turnover was a touchdown, and the Skins did amass 10 penalties for 89 yards, which looks to be the difference in this bout. The Skins were definitely missing Chris Cooley, who suffered a leg fracture in the game against Philly two weeks ago. Todd Yoder and Fred Davis filled in for Cooley this week, but neither were the same caliber player against the Falcons. Davis’ bauble resulted in the interception that put the Skins at such a disadvantage, but Yoder came up with a TD in the corner of the end zone, so you win some and lose some. Cooley’s not likely to be back this season, though the surgery to repair the break in his ankle was successful.

Next week, the Broncos show up at FedEx field, with their 6-1 record (plus whatever happens tonight against the Steelers) and an offense that is, by comparison, fairly potent. The Skins defense may have failed them this week, but I suspect next week, they’re the best chance to keep the game close. After that, it’s week-of-weeks: the Cowboys in Dallas. Somehow, I’m not as optimistic about the pre-Thanksgiving battle as I was last year.

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News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Wizards Kick It Off Tonight

Photo courtesy of
‘Washington Wizards’
courtesy of ‘RMTip21’

The Wizards kick off their season tonight in Dallas against Mark Cuban’s Mavericks. While it seems the Wiz will wait even longer for the holy trinity of Arenas/Jamison/Butler to be united, but since we’ve been waiting since 2007, anyhow, so what’s another 3-5 weeks? This will also mark the Washington debut of coach Flip Saunders, who took over at the helm during the off-season. Saunders’ past success with Detroit and Minnesota make him a candidate to lead the turn-around for the Wizards, but much is dependent at this point on getting everyone healthy and keeping them that way.

The Wizards start of with a brutal first fifteen games. Four of their first five opponents made the playoffs this year, and they’ll be down Antawn Jamison until mid November at the earliest. It’s not exactly the sort of situation you want a team that has so much to prove to be in so early in the season. This is the kind of stretch you want to see much later in the year, once the engine’s running on all cylinders. But, if Saunders can keep the keel even, and can come out of that first fifteen with six or seven wins, then I’d say there’s a fair chance the Wizards might be back to their earlier form. Don’t hold your breath.

Tipoff’s at 8:30 tonight, and the game’s on Comcast Sports Net.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Prelude to a Season

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Alex Barth’

D.C. United
Record: 9-8-13
Place: Fourth in the East
Last Two Weeks: 1-0-1

At the end of it all, United couldn’t win when they had to, and settled for a tie in Kansas City. They tied more than they did anything else this season, which is why they’ll watch the playoffs from their homes. Needing a win in Kansas City, they managed to put up the offense, but the loss of Wicks in goal meant they gave up a pair of goals they shouldn’t have.

So, what happens now? The good news is, United is still DC’s football team that doesn’t suck. The bad news, well, Coach Tom Soehn may be done. It’s not clear if that’s all that bad.

As usual, Ben Olsen nails it: “This organization’s not used to [missing the playoffs]. If that’s the case, then we’ll handle it. You know, take part of the blame. We lost this organization some points out of this year, and we’re in this together and move forward. You can’t make it every year, but two in a row is alarming, and we’ll certainly look to coming back next year.”

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Adventures, Fun & Games, Sports Fix, The Features
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Newcomer’s Guide to Capitals Hockey

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_4085’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

After attending the Predators – Capitals game on Saturday with a friend new to hockey, I came to a sudden realization. The Capitals are pretty much the only local pro team that is resisting the giant sewer of suckitude. With their winning ways, it’s an easy bandwagon to jump on, something I pointed out first last spring.

To that end, we’ve got some new fans showing up at the Verizon Center (I still refuse to stoop to calling it “the Phone Booth”) to cheer on the Capitals. So why not lay out some ground rules and info for you newcomers to the great game of hockey? Besides, it’s a good refresher course for out out-of-town visitors and rabid fans in general.

I give you the “Unofficial Guide to the Washington Capitals Fan Code of Conduct.”

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Skins Face Sixth Straight Winless Team

Photo courtesy of
‘Teddy’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

The 2-3 Redskins face the 0-5 Kansas City Chiefs this weekend, making them unique in one way this season: Every team they’ve played thus far this season hasn’t had a win. They faced the 0-0 Giants, the 0-1 Rams, the 0-2 Lions, the 0-3 Bucs and the 0-4 Panthers. Sure, some teams like the Giants, were unlikely to have lost to the Skins. If you take out the Giants’ record, the Skins went 2-2 against teams with a current 2-17 record. Yikes.

So, with Zorn’s job on the line this weekend, will the Skins deliver?

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Support for Charlie Davies

num9.jpg

If you’re headed to the World Cup Qualifier at RFK tonight, there’s a campaign to support USMNT Forward Charlie Davies who was severely injured in a car crash on the GW Parkway the other evening. Charlie’s likely done for quite a bit, and his career is likely on the ropes after a surgery like last night. So, please, if you’re going, let Charlie know you care. Print out this PDF and hold it up during the 9th minute of tonight’s game. Charlie’s #9, and we’re all pulling for him.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Long Monday Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Chocolate cityâ�¦’
courtesy of ‘dharmabumx’

Redskins
Record: 2-3
Last Two Weeks: 1-1
Place: Last in the East

Yikes. A loss to the Panthers? Really? That’s disappointing. It also probably spells the end of the rope for Jim Zorn. It’s not all his fault, though, as there’s some question about a few of the calls (specifically on a fair catch), and Jason Campbell threw for just 145 yards, and a pair of fumbles by the offense made for a rough row to hoe.

So, where to from here? Fans and Owners are likely calling for Zorn’s head. Campbell’s got to wonder if his job is safe, as well, and Clinton Portis has to be wondering if he might be a better announcer than running back. Perhaps coaching is in his future. Either way, it’s more dark days for the Skins and the fans. Next up? Kansas City. They’re 0-5, and have looked pretty lackluster, so my guess is we’ll be losing that one, 17-9.

D.C. United
Record: 8-8-12
Last Two Weeks: 1-1-0
Place: Fourth in the East

The end is nigh! The end is nigh! Just two more MLS matches and a CONCACAF match, and that’s the end of United’s regular schedule for 2009. It’s must-win for DC in both leagues, after a loss to Chivas USA at home, and things look fairly grim in the MLS. United would need to pick up, at a bare minimum, a win and a tie — and more likely two wins — to make the last wild card slot. With 36 points, they’re two points back of the red line in the standings between who advances and who spends late October in front of the television. Their last home MLS match of the year is this Saturday against the Columbus Crew, so get the red on, and head on down to RFK to see our boys fight for their playoff spot.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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One Last Hurrah

Photo courtesy of
‘Nats Park at Night’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

Tonight was why I still love the Nationals.

They’ve been horrid this season, with occasional bright spots, and tonight was one. John Lannan went 6 full with good control in front of spotty and dicey defense, and then, when it counted, Justin Maxwell planted one just over the left field wall. Bang, Zoom went the fireworks, and the crowd went absolutely wild.

Thanks for a good time tonight, Nationals. Now, go out and get better this off-season and give us something we can be proud of more often than not.