After starting 2-8-1, the Capitals have quietly surged back into first place in the division and the playoff hunt. Washington has won five straight and 9 of 11 to climb to atop of the Southeast Division and the #3 seed. It also helps that the three worst teams in the conference are in the division and the Caps would be the 7th seed overall in the playoffs or 8th in the Western conference.
The key to the resurgence has been Alex Ovechkin’s return to MVP form as well. The team captain and leader has scored eight goals in the past five games and is tied for the lead for goals in the NHL. After only scoring two goals in his first ten games, the Great 8 has 20 points in the past 11 games.
Overall the team has turned things around from the beginning of the year. Earlier they were only scoring 2.3 goals a game, now they are putting it in the net 3.7 times, and instead of giving up 3.6 goals a game, the keepers are down to 2.2 a game. The goalies have improved their save percentage from 88% to 92% and the defense has limited their penalties to 2.3 a game, down from 4.7 earlier.
Maybe the team has finally bought into new coach Adam Oates’s system and these playoffs will be better than the bitter disappointments in previous years. We shall see…
Ten games into the lockout shortened season, Washington only has five points, which is dead last in the league standings. The Capitals have made the playoffs the last five seasons, with four division titles and even the best record in the league just three seasons ago. What happened? Why is DC in the basement with the season already a fifth of the way over?
Well, you cannot win if you do not score. In the past five seasons the Caps scored an average of 3.1 goals a game, no lower than 2.7, while this season Washington is only scoring 2.3 a game.
You also cannot win if you give up a lot of goals either. In the past five seasons the Capitals gave up an average of 2.7 goals a game, no higher than 2.9, while this season DC is letting in 3.6 a game.
To go along with that, you need to have a good goalie to win as well. In their playoff seasons the Caps goalies had a 90.9 save percentage, while this season it has slipped to 88%, which is fourth worst in the league.
The losses cannot be blamed solely on the goalies though. Through ten games, Washington’s defense has already given up 47 power play opportunities and 12 power play goals, both of which are second worst in the NHL. Additionally, the 1.2 and 4.7 per game averages are higher than the five year averages of .7 and 3.8.
Maybe Capitals fans blame the losses on the refs, complaining they are not getting equal extra man opportunities. However, DC’s 8 power play goals on 40 opportunities for a 20% success rate rank in the middle of the league this season, and are similar averages to their playoff seasons.
It certainly does not help that the Caps' best players have not produced to their caliber yet either. All-Star center Nicklas Backstrom only has 8 points, which is tied for 44th in the NHL, while face-of-the-franchise Ovechkin’s 5 points are tied for 123rd. Alex’s .5 points a game are well below his 1.2 five year average and Backstrom’s .8 would be the lowest in his career as well.
What’s next? Departed players/coaches Alexander Semin, Bruce Boudreau, and Dale Hunter do not seem to be the problems this time……
Now that we are nearing the election, I am no longer fast forwarding through tv commercials as fast to actually notice the political ads. In the process, I’ve come across some sweet local sports celebrity ads. While typical local sports ads are for car dealerships and are poorly acted, some can be funny with high production values.I’m not talking about Peyton Manning for MasterCard or Nike, but the backup qb making some bucks on the side for the local bank.Here’s the evolution of some local DC ones through the years:
First you start off in a big group:
A catchy jungle helps:
Then you move on to singular speaking roles, albeit not in English
Now closer English (luckily never aired):
Even the fluent speakers still need their jerseys or name recognition:
Sometimes the coaches cash in as well:
And then the English improves:
Eventually you get a commercial with the main local star before even playing a game:
Finally after all the bad acting, staring into the teleprompter, you get some actually well- produced funny ads:
There is a new era in Washington as the Wizards won the draft lottery for only the second time in franchise history in DC.Even though they had the sixth best chance of earning the top spot, they lucked out over several teams to draft first overall in June 24ths’s draft.The New Jersey Nets had the best chance, who, with new Russian billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov at the helm, were trying to entice Lebron James to come to Brooklyn with the #1 pick and Jay-Z.
The consensus best player in the draft is Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall, followed by Ohio State’s Evan Turner. Luckily this gives the Wizards the perfect opportunity to part ways with Gilbert Arenas and usher in a new era for the franchise. After jettisoning Jamison, Butler and Haywood, Washington can now ship out the gun-toting Arenas and the rest of his $100 million contract to make room for Wall.
Another part of the new era of the franchise is the arrival of new owner Ted Leonsis, taking over for the late Abe Pollin. Hopefully he follows his model with the Capitals, which includes drafting Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, Semin and Varlamov, and not the Wizards’ formula.The Wizards either draft well, but trade the players before they reach their potential, like Devin Harris, Steve Blake, Richard Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace, or makes a colossal bust.At least Jordan isn’t around anymore to work out the players before hand and botch the only other time they had a #1 overall pick with Kwame Brown.
This will be the fourth #1 overall pick since 2004 for DC area sports teams, which isn’t surprising for the city with the longest 4-team title drought.While Strasburg has yet to pitch a game, and the Nats have not even drafted their #1 pick this year yet, the Wizards can only hope that Wall will pan out as well as Ovechkin has for the Caps.They could easily trade down and draft more players to fit their many needs, but the Wizards desperately need a new face of the franchise.
Well that was a disastrous spring. My sweet playoff beard for the Caps and Cavs lasted all of two rounds, barely a month. They both had the best records in the league, Presidents Cup, MVP, all for nothing. Now the future of both teams are cloudy. Obviously Lebron can leave after July 1, but the Cavs need to retool to keep him here. Shaq is too old and slow, Jamison is too soft, Mo Williams is too inconsistent, but there are many promising free agents to be Lebron’s Pippen if he wants to stay. Meanwhile, the Caps need to resign Backstrom, who is the key to the offense, as well as find a shutdown defenseman who is not looking to score first, like Green. At least the Nats are going on a World Series run and have their own savior.
Now that Lebron has won his second MVP trophy, the Cavaliers are now seeking a more important one, a NBA title.However, setting records and getting multiple shiny trophies is obviously secondary to team success. My favorite NBA, NHL, and NFL players are now the two-time reigning MVP’s but have had no team success to show for it at the end of those seasons, with only this year’s Cavs left. After winning his third and forth MVP the past two seasons, Peyton Manning’s Colts failed to claim the Lombardi Trophy. Alex Ovechkin’s MVP seasons ended in first and second round defeats for the Caps. This year even though OV is a finalist for another Hart Trophy, Washington was bounced early from the playoffs yet again. Last year, after winning Cleveland sports’ first MVP since Brian Sipe 30 years ago, the Cavs fell to the Magic before reaching the Finals to meet Kobe and his Lakers. In fact, when Peyton did win his only Super Bowl in 2006, Tomlinson was the MVP.While the most valuable player not winning the title is nothing new, the stats are interesting.
If Lebron doesn’t deliver Cleveland a championship, he’ll be the seventh straight MVP in the NBA to fail to bring home the Larry O’Brien trophy.Tim Duncan was the last to accomplish both, in 2002-03, part of a 37% correlation since 1956. However, of the 20 instances out of 54, 8 were just two players, Jordan and Russell.
In the NFL, only 26% of MVP’s won the title, with Kurt Warner in 1999 being the most recent.Strangely enough, between 1993 and 1999 seasons 5 of 7 MVP’s accomplished the feat as well as 4 straight in from 1959-1962.
Even though the Hart Trophy has been around in the NHL for 82 years, only 15 or 18% of those winners took home the Stanley Cup.Even when the Great One rattled off eight straight MVPs, the Oilers only won three championships.The last instance was Martin St. Louis and the Lightning in 2003-04.
The MLB is a little different since there are two MVP’s and less teams in the playoffs. The correlation that one of the MVP’s wins the World Series is higher than the other sports at 47%. From 1939 to 1948, all ten champion teams had the MVP on their roster. However, only one MVP has won the Commissioners Trophy in the past 25 seasons, and that was Kirk Gibson…on one leg.
When looking at one of the most prestigious individual awards in team sports, the Heisman, there is a small correlation as well at 14%. Even though the Heisman sometimes is just the best player on the best team that season, like this year with Alabama’s Ingram, the numbers for the BCS trophy are still low.
While winning the MVP is by no means a curse, like Madden cover or Sports Illustrated cover, it is no guarantee of team success as well. Here is the sporcle with the full list of MVP and Title winners.
Note: I used the AP Poll for the NCAA Football title, and I’m well aware that my favorite NFL player should be a Cleveland Brown.But come on, how could any of these QB’s, RB’s, or WR’s be a fan favorite?Hopefully Josh Cribbs does not have a letdown after his contract year last year.
This week begins the time honored tradition of growing facial hair for your favorite teams in their playoff push. Whether it be full beards or patches of peach fuzz, you gotta support the team, especially since it’s for charity. Unless of course, you’re Crosby, and its just embarrassing.
After another thrilling matchup between the Caps and the Pens, Washington has beaten their arch rivals all three times so far this season.The Ovechkin-Crosby rivalry is currently one of the best in sports and is boosting the NHL’s TV ratings.Commissioner Bettman and NBC would be salivating if they continued the showdowns in the playoffs. Washington’s 109 points currently leads the league and would be the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.Meanwhile, the Penguins are tied for the #2 seed, therefore if they meet, it won’t be until the Eastern Conference finals.
After the 7 game series defeat last year and decades of playoff misery at the hands of Pittsburgh, should the Caps want to face the Pens again in the playoffs to exercise demons? Or should they root for other teams or upsets for an easier route to a possible cup because the Caps are 40-10-8 against teams in the conference this year? Would a Cup feel less worthy without going through the defending champion Penguins?
Other rivalries and great players have gone through the same vindication. The Red Sox had to overcome the Yankees and the Curse of the Bambino in order to end their World Series drought. Peyton Manning and the Colts had to come from behind against Tom Brady and Patriots to win his first title after getting bumped out of the playoffs by New England twice before. Michael Jordan lost to the Pistons three straight seasons before beating them to advance and win his first title.
Does Ovechkin need to beat Crosby in the playoffs in order to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup? Obviously, this is all assuming both teams even get that far.
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