D.C. Sports Bog: December 19, 2010 - December 25, 2010
Caps-Penguins earns huge audience
With hype from HBO, hype from the local media, hype from the upcoming Winter Classic and a Thursday night holiday weekend audience, the Caps-Penguins game did well on television. Very well. Thursday night's telecast on Comcast SportsNet earned an average household rating of about 3.6 in the D.C. market,...
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Dan Steinberg
| December 24, 2010; 12:22 PM ET |
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Caps, Media
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Scott Van Pelt on the Friedgen firing
ESPN's Scott Van Pelt is certainly one of the most visible Maryland super fans in the country, never hiding his Terptitude on TV or the radio and frequently coming home for games. So I think maybe he had his finger on the pulse when ESPN 980's Kevin Sheehan asked him...
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Dan Steinberg
| December 23, 2010; 4:06 PM ET |
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College Football, Media, Terps
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Local comic still making D.C. sports jokes
Back in June, I chatted briefly with Alycia Cooper, a Temple Hills comedian who advanced to the semi-finals of NBC's Last Comic Standing, partly on the strength of a joke about D.C. sports teams. Her bit had been taped in March, though, before the McNabb/Strasburg/Wall trio arrived to redeem us,...
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Dan Steinberg
| December 23, 2010; 3:35 PM ET |
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Caps, Mystics, Nats, Redskins, Wizards
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LaRon Landry has an Irish potatoe on his shoulder
Just FYI, if you aren't on Twitter or you don't follow LaRon Landry, I thought you might want to know that he has an even bigger potato on his shoulder than before. Oh, and that it's possibly green. From Thursday morning: Gm World!!!! Fresh out anesthesia and surgery!!!! And when...
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Dan Steinberg
| December 23, 2010; 2:29 PM ET |
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Redskins
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Andray Blatche's missed layup
When I posted the video of JaVale McGee's spectacularly missed dunk a few weeks back, some people accused me of reveling in the bad stuff. So I stopped myself from posting his subsequent full-court sprint into a flung-ball long jump offensive foul. But this Andray Blatche maneuver, I cannot...
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Dan Steinberg
| December 23, 2010; 10:53 AM ET |
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Wizards
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The Caps, fist pumping
HBO 24/7 - Capitals Celebrate Jersey Shore Style from Greg Wyshynski on Vimeo. I mentioned this in my rundown of 24/7's second Caps episode, but it probably deserves a post of its own. When the Caps finally broke their epic losing streak with that comeback in Ottawa, they celebrated in...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 23, 2010; 9:50 AM ET |
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Caps, Media
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Caps 24/7, episode two
If you have HBO, you've already watched episode two of the network's 24/7 look at the Capitals and Penguins, and you already love it, and you're already planning on having multiple nightmares revolving around a life-sized version of Sidney Crosby's lucky cup pumping its fist in the club to Jersey...
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Dan Steinberg
| December 23, 2010; 12:45 AM ET |
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Caps, Media
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Who started the "We Want Pittsburgh" chant?
(Photos by Toni L. Sandys - TWP) As the day grew late and victory had been assured, a clamor rose in the stands behind FedEx Field's northwest end zone yesterday afternoon. It started small, buried in the throats of the heartiest few, the truest of believers and then slowly...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 22, 2010; 5:11 PM ET |
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Caps, Redskins
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Shanahan on his relationship with Dan Snyder
(By John McDonnell - TWP) Perhaps my favorite part from the 2009 season of Vinny Cerrato Unplugged came in one of the final episodes, when Cerrato was guaranteeing that Jim Zorn would finish out the season. Before the sun went down on that show, he managed to transition from...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 22, 2010; 2:51 PM ET |
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Media, Redskins
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Gilbert didn't want to get Haynesworth'd
Gilbert Arenas might be in Orlando, but D.C. sports still course through his blood. When reporters asked him on Wednesday how he handled things down the stretch in Washington, he made the ultimate Washington sports analogy. "I noticed things, so I knew I was gonna be out of there...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 22, 2010; 12:14 PM ET |
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Redskins, Wizards
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Brooks Laich was worried he'd get traded
(By Blair Gable - Reuters) During that dreadful losing streak thing, Brooks Laich again served as one of the Caps media spokesmen, defending Bruce Boudreau while acknowledging that changes were inevitable if the losses kept piling up. Wednesday morning, Laich said he feared he would be one of the...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 22, 2010; 11:10 AM ET |
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Caps
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1991 Redskins playing for ESPN's best-ever title
(By Al Messerschmidt - Getty) ESPN.com has been running this goofy "Super League" promotion all season, featuring 16 Super Bowl champions facing off using simulations from Accuscore. Each matchup is simulated 10,000 times, yielding a final score and a single box score typifying the most common result. The League...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 22, 2010; 10:14 AM ET |
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Redskins
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Ovechkin makes SI Most Memorable list
(By Toni L. Sandys - TWP) 'Tis the time of year for 2010 retrospectives, and while many folks in our humble sports department look down their noses at such things, I think they're great. Certainly more interesting than radio transcriptions. I'm going to do some sort of year-end D.C....
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 22, 2010; 9:55 AM ET |
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Caps, Media
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Redskins in masks, masquerading
The promotional material for the Redskins Midnight Masquerade Ball is intriguing, to use one word. Bring in the new year with an evening of intrigue, mystery, and fantasy! The Midnight Masquerade Ball will transform The Ritz Carlton, Tysons Corner into a Venetian carnival featuring world-class entertainment, luxurious silent auction...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 22, 2010; 9:19 AM ET |
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Redskins
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Caps fans chant "We Want Pittsburgh"
Well, with their second straight win, this one quite comfortably, the Caps appear to be back. And good thing, too, with the way the other D.C. sports teams have performed in December. The Caps also nabbed a convincing win in time to make Wednesday night's episode two of HBO's...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 21, 2010; 10:50 PM ET |
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Caps
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Atlantic 11 Week 5: Georgetown. Still.
(By Toni L. Sandys - TWP) Georgetown dominates this poll, now and forever. Again. Always. All their players could get traded to the Magic, and the Hoyas would still finish No. 1 in the area. The Hoyas are just one first-place vote from being unanimous this week. The rest...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 21, 2010; 3:28 PM ET |
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Atlantic 11, College Basketball
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Football Insider Live: Future QB options, Jags preview and how it went wrong in 2010
Dan Steinberg and Rick Maese joined Barry Svrluga and host Jonathan Forsythe on this week's webcast to talk about Rex Grossman's future and how the 2010 season slowly fell apart. You can also download the podcast of this show or subscribe to the podcast....
By
Washington Post editors
| December 21, 2010; 2:00 PM ET |
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Year-end sports quiz
Some WaPo folks put together this year-end sports quiz, which I'm hereby presenting to you. If you get all the answers right, you win nothing. If you get 6 correct, you win a mini-cucumber. Stop by my office any time to claim your prize. I'd love to present a year-end...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 21, 2010; 1:47 PM ET |
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Colt Brennan on Rex Grossman and McNabb
(By John McDonnell - TWP) The good news about Colt Brennan's recent appearance on the LaVar and Dukes show is that he's on the road to recovery from the serious car accident that left him with multiple fractures and serious head trauma. He said he's just weeks away from...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 21, 2010; 1:34 PM ET |
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Media, Redskins
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D.C.'s longest tenured athletes take another hit
(By Toni L. Sandys - TWP) It's been hardly more than a year since I compiled this list of D.C.'s longest-tenured athletes. There were 13 names on the list. With Gilbert Arenas's departure, only three names remain in D.C. Tough line of work, this pro sports business. From my...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 21, 2010; 12:37 PM ET |
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Caps, D.C. United, Mystics, Nats, Redskins, Wizards
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When Ralph Friedgen had a drink with Gary Williams
Since this seems to be the season to write long, emotional blog posts about departing sports figures, let me direct you to Kevin Van Valkenburg's top-notch farewell to Ralph Friedgen for the Baltimore Sun. It's really, really great. I'll skip the greatest parts -- which provide insight into Friedgen's character...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 21, 2010; 11:28 AM ET |
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College Basketball, College Football, Terps
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Goodbye to Gilbertology
(By Preston Keres - TWP) I have a very clear memory of the day in February of 2008 that I bought a copy of Men's Journal for the Gilbert Arenas interview. I heard there was some good stuff in it. I wasn't disappointed. Here's the passage that most caught...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 4:53 PM ET |
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Wizards
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When Ralph Friedgen named the Bog
(By John McDonnell - TWP) Two personal reflections on Ralph Friedgen's departure from Maryland, termed a "strategic business decision" by AD Kevin Anderson. I'm not getting into the should-they-or-shouldn't-they-have question, though it's hard to see a guy who returned the program to respectability and just won the ACC coach...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 3:27 PM ET |
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College Football, Terps
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Boudreau doesn't want to be known as the F-Bomber
(By Elsa - Getty) I've clearly overcovered the issue of Bruce Boudreau and profanity, but now that it's become kind of my thing, I can't really stop. And so, here was Boudreau, talking about 24/7 during a Monday interview with 105.9 The Edge. "That's not how we usually act,...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 2:58 PM ET |
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Caps
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Keyshawn Johnson, Ditka critique Shanahan
The tide of Mike Shanahan-directed anger may have subsided after Sunday's game, which was actually exciting and not very embarrassing for Redskins fans. But before the game was played, the analysts had great fun teeing off on Mike and Kyle Shanahan for their decision to bench Donovan McNabb. This little...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 1:02 PM ET |
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Media, Redskins
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Redskins market McNabb to sell season tickets
Football organizations are wide-ranging outfits, with marketing and business and community-relations and football operations arms. You can't really expect the football people to tell the ticket people what they're doing. And yet still, you have to admit it's an odd sort of week when the coach benches his starting...
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Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 12:36 PM ET |
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Redskins
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John Beck's mullet is majestic
(Photos by Ricky Carioti and John McDonnell - TWP) A few weeks back, I was in the Redskins' locker room in Ashburn when John Beck walked by, talking to one of the team's public-relations pros. He mentioned that he would not be cutting his hair until the playoffs were...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 11:35 AM ET |
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Redskins
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Who had the worst week in Washington sports
The standard answer for this question is "the Fans," now and forever. But especially this week, when D.C. pro sports teams collectively ran their losing streak to 17 games before the Caps finally broke it with a win in Ottawa. But since answering with "The Fans" every single week would...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 10:31 AM ET |
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Caps, College Football, Redskins, Terps, Wizards
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Vincent Gray vs. Larry Michael on McNabb
Next up in the never-ending cycle of Redskins Feuds: D.C. mayor-elect Vincent Gray vs. Voice of the Redskins Larry Michael! This fun little back-and-forth started Friday afternoon, when Gray was asked by the political press corps what he thought of McNabb being benched. Via City Paper: "How do you...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 10:22 AM ET |
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Redskins
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Bruce Allen says McNabb trade "was a good move"
I guess in sports, sometimes people get asked questions and they just respond with random words, and you're not really supposed to think about it too hard. It's a holiday week. Just take a quick read, then pass the egg nog. Or the Silk Nog, if you're lactose intolerant or...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 20, 2010; 9:45 AM ET |
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Media, Redskins
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Jurgensen: McNabb didn't practice 100 percent
Enough words were uttered over about Donovan McNabb's benching since Friday to keep even a professional transcriber like myself busy for the next three or four years. But I'll pick the most interesting words I heard for now, and focus on them. These words came from Sonny Jurgensen, and...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 19, 2010; 5:04 PM ET |
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Media, Redskins
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Redskins-Cowboys, best and worst
Best and worst from the Redskins' 33-30 loss to the Cowboys in Dallas. Best Yawn Donovan McNabb! This was one of the 714 times McNabb was shown during Fox's coverage of Sunday's game. But for as much as the 48 hours before the game were about McNabb, the aftermath...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 19, 2010; 4:47 PM ET |
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Redskins
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McNabb jersey prices slashed
July: Bruce Allen, talking to Comcast SportsNet, says the Redskins see Donovan McNabb "as part of our future...and we think he's gonna be a great Redskin for years to come." December: Home replica Donovan McNabb jerseys go on sale for $39.95, half off the normal price. That means his...
By
Dan Steinberg
| December 19, 2010; 9:11 AM ET |
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Redskins
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