Posts Tagged ‘Washington Capitals’

Why Don’t Free Agents Choose Washington?

Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of RMNB

Image courtesy of RMNB

When Washington Nationals All-Star and former NL MVP Bryce Harper departed last week via free agency for Philadelphia, it further validated a baffling phenomenon in sports for me; How come top-tier free agents neither stay in nor find Washington, DC to be an attractive destination?

 

Ok, for $330 million dollars, many of us who love DC would gladly leave for Mars. BH

 

But the evidence of this reality long preceded Harper. Kevin Durant would not even give his hometown team, the Wizards, an interview. The last big-name free agent to sign with a Washington team was Albert Haynesworth.

 

That did not work out quite so well.

 

Normally, I pose a question and answer according to the world of Gus…supported by as much history and current day facts as I can find. Not this time. I have no idea why free agent marquee athletes don’t consider Washington as a viable option.

 

There are the usual suspects as explanations go such as the “lukewarm” enthusiasm of the Washington fan base about its teams.

 

I must come to the defense of DC fans on this one. Other than the magical title run of the Caps last year, what have the collective of Washington Sports teams produced on a consistent basis that would excite any fanbase over the past 25 years? Besides, does anyone think that San Diego fans are any more hyped about the Padres? Yet, Manny Machado signed there for the same $300 million that the Nats offered Harper, and I am sure would have given Machado.

 

Then there is organizational mediocrity to outright dysfunction.

 

To that I say that the high functioning organizations are rarely big players in the free agent market because, by definition, they need the least help. How often over the past 20 years have the Spurs or Patriots been big players? Baseball is a different animal because it does not have a salary cap, and the luxury tax is hardly a disincentive for the likes of the Red Sox, Dodgers, and Yankees. Simply put, in most cases the team that the upper echelon free agent bypassed Washington for, is likely to be as dysfunctional as the DC team. Why is their dysfunction more attractive than ours?

 

So what the hell is wrong with DC? We have a bustling metropolis with diversity to spare. We are relatively progressive in a political sense. If the city is not one’s preference, there are the beautiful Maryland suburbs or the rural Virginia suburbs.

 

For young Black athletes, which make up the majority of the NFL and NBA free agents, I am even more mystified. Why on Earth wouldn’t a young Black man with a pocket full of cash and at the height of his physical prime not be attracted to Washington DC?

This brings me to a possible solution for the football and basketball teams: Howard University!

HU

 

Both teams need to partner with the venerable HBCU. No, not to hire young women in the classless, exploitative way some colleges do to lure recruits. They would simply arrange visits to campus during the fall and spring semesters. One stroll across “the yard”, and the free agent success rate will immediately improve.

 

I know! I AM A HOWARD MAN!

 

Otherwise, I am open for other ideas about why Washington cannot attract high-caliber free agents. I am all ears.

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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The Long and Enduring Climb of the Washington Capitals

Wednesday, June 13th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

WC

About a month ago, several of you may recall a column I penned called “Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Washington Sports Fans”, in which I analogized DC area sports fans as hopelessly doomed for disappointment as the Peanuts character in his never-ending attempts to kick the football held by Lucy. While all four of the major sports teams have contributed to the agony of long-suffering DC fans, without question, the Washington Capitals were the biggest culprits. So perhaps it is fitting that for the first time since 1992, the team that had teased Washington sports fans the most, finally rewarded them when the Caps won their first Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history.

Charlie Brown finally kicked the damn ball!

Moreover, they did it in true Caps style…..giving their fans a heart attack in the process. They were down in every series, forced to slay the longtime nemesis Pittsburgh Penguins, had key players suspended, loss 3 straight games to Tampa, and still somehow clinched every series on the road, including a game 7. In other words, in every area that this franchise had historically failed so often to the point that its fans could anticipate the doom, this team passed with excellence. The Caps’ 10 road wins ties four other teams for the most in a single postseason.

However, you must be around hardcore Caps fans to really appreciate what it meant. This is from just such a fan:

“I have rooted for the Caps since the 1993-94 season. They lost in the second round of the playoffs that year to the New York Rangers. It was upsetting at the time, but I had no idea how many years of frustration it would be after that. There certainly have been a lot of players since then….The 1998 Stanley Cup Final run brought out the best in Olie Kolzig, Adam Oates, Joe Juneau, and my favorite, Peter Bondra….There was the failed Jaromir Jagr experiment and the many promising but ultimately faltering goalies….For a long time it seemed like the Ovechkin era would go the same way. The core players were great, but after many years of failure it seemed like they, too, were destined to be a great regular season team with no chance of winning it all. I had resigned myself to waiting another 15-20 years, long after the Ovechkin era was over, before the Caps would have any chance of making another run.

And then this year’s playoffs began.

At first, it was more of the same, losing two to the Columbus Blue Jackets (at home). But then something clicked in Game 3 and they never looked back. Anytime they had their backs against the wall, someone new stepped up. If it wasn’t Ovechkin, it was Backstrom, Carlsson, Oshie, or Holtby. Or it was an unexpected source, like Eller, Smith-Pelley, or Beagle. Hell, even Brooks Orpik played well when we needed him! I didn’t want to hope, but I knew something was different about this team than any Caps team I have ever seen. They had grit, resiliency, and patience on top of talent, and the result was different from any Caps team I’ve ever seen. A lot has happened in since 1993-94, good and bad. The world is a much different place then when I was 14, watching my first hockey playoffs. But after all of the heartache and frustration, after all of the times having my hopes raised and then dashed, I am finally able to say, after 25 years of pulling for them, that the Washington Capitals are Stanley Cup Champions. Cheers.” – Tom Goldstein

None of this is to suggest that sports will bring about world peace, justice for oppressed people, or a cure for cancer. It most certainly will not. However, what it can do is provide hope for the human spirit and as a well-read book says, “A man without hope is most miserable.”

So add the Caps to a list that includes Caroline Wozniaki and Simona Halep for winning their first major tennis titles and the Philadelphia Eagles for winning its first Super Bowl this year. All are symbols that no matter how many let downs or how much frustration, if we keep getting up and we are willing to struggle, someday we can be champions and win a better world.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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Charlie Brown, Lucy, and the Washington Sports Fan

Thursday, April 12th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

CB

Those of or around my generation remember Charlie Brown attempting to kick the football held by that female joker Lucy. What was fascinating is not that Lucy pulled the ball away to get Charlie Brown once. Anybody can be had once. However, ole Chuck kept falling for Lucy’s okie-doke over and over again. It was suckerism on steroids.

I hate to say it, well actually, I do not, but the Washington sports fan reminds me of Charlie Brown.

When you think about it, it is incredible. How can anyone run the same game on his/her victims repeatedly and have them fall for it repeatedly? It is not as if the game has been cleaned up or got a makeover. It is as if Bernie Madoff were released from prison tomorrow and a significant number of his victims would buy into yet another of his Ponzi schemes.

Every year across the four different major sports, the fans of this area are every bit as optimistic as Charlie Brown charging to kick that damn football. The fact that history does not dissuade them from accepting their inevitable fate is either delusional or optimistic on the level of spiritual faith……some will argue that their little difference between the two.

This isn’t just hyperbole. When the Cleveland Cavaliers won its first NBA title in 2016 and the first of any kind for the city since the 1964 Browns, that left Washington, DC and St. Paul/Minneapolis in the lead for title droughts among cities with at least three major sports teams. Not since 1991 has either city/metropolis won a title.

It is not just that they have not been able to win a title in nearly 30 years, but how they have lost. Each sports team has managed to tease its fans just enough to make them dare to believe, only to give up the ghost in the end. Personally, if my teams are not going to be good, put me out of my misery early. Giants let me know by May, Lakers let me know by December, etc., etc.

The biggest culprit among Washington sports teams is clearly the Capitals. They have blown five 3-1 post-season leads to lose game seven, twice to their nemesis, the Pittsburgh Penguins. I cannot think of any franchise in any of the four sports that has the number of another franchise the way the Pens own the Caps. Of their ten playoff encounters, Washington has only beaten Pittsburgh once.

The Penguins may as well be Lucy.

Then there is the Washington Nationals, who have yet to win a playoff series. They have been eliminated at home three times. I was at the 2012 collapse against the Cardinals and it was by far the most depressing sports atmosphere of which I had ever been a part. I was there in 2014 when my Giants rolled in for two games and rolled out with two wins. In 2016, it was the Dodgers, and last year it was the Cubs.

The Cardinals, Giants, Dodgers, and Cubs may as well be Lucy.

Then there is the Wizards who are good for winning road games against superior teams only to come back home and lose when they have a chance to get a strangle hold on a series. The last time the Washington Wizards franchise won at least 50 games was 1979, when they were the Bullets and defending NBA champions.

Finally, there is the football team. I contend that just maybe its racist name might be the curse over all of the city’s sports teams. Until they change it, I have no sympathy for them.

It is a shame because Washington has one of the truly great fanbases in America.

However, as the late native Washingtonian great Marvin Gaye would sing, there are “four” things in life for sure: taxes, death, trouble, and Washington sports fans believing that this year Lucy will not pull the damn football away.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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