D.C. Fan

For those that support the sports teams of our nation’s capital, you have a lot to be happy about lately. I remember growing up with D.C. faithfuls who seemed to be disappointed year-round. The Capitals always stunk, the Redskins usually generated offseason buzz that sizzled out on the field a few months later, D.C. United wasn’t worth watching, the lack of a D.C. baseball team pushed desperate fans to adopt the Baltimore Orioles, and the Wizards, even at their best, were never a real contender.

However, 2010 marks a new day in DC. While much is still to be proven, the Washington locals are excited about the near future of their beloved teams.

This year’s NFL offseason started with a shocker in Washington. The division rival Philadelphia Eagles agreed to trade quarterback Donovan McNabb, an 11-year veteran and team leader, to the Redskins for a second round pick and a future third or fourth round pick. Seemingly every year there are discussions that McNabb will be shipped out of Philly, but I don’t think anyone expected him to be traded to a team in the same division, let alone a rival.

McNabb was not the only addition to the Redskins—Mike Shanahan returned to coaching after his brief time away from the game following his contract termination in Denver. Shanahan brings many years of playoff experience and a Super Bowl ring. He plans to develop a winner’s mentality in Washington, and with Shanahan and McNabb as the team’s leaders, Washington appears to be headed in the right direction.

The Nationals started the season with an astonishingly good record, surprising most. D.C. fans have become accustomed to poor baseball, as the Nationals general managers consistently traded away any proven talent for young prospects. These one-sided trades often led to empty seats at Nationals Stadium and a city full of disgruntled fans. This year it appears that bad fortune has finally left the Nationals dug out. For the first time in the team’s five-year tenor, the Nationals have the chance to finish the season above .500. After a fast start, the wins haven’t come easy for the hometown team, but all is not lost based on rookie Stephen Strasburg’s 14-strikeout debut in June. Unfortunately for the Nationals, Strasburg can’t pitch every game, and even if he could, that may not be enough because the bats have not been swinging lately for the Nats.

Outside of Strasburg, the Nationals had the pleasure of holding the number one draft pick this year. They decided to take highly heralded 17 year-old Bryce Harper. At just 17, Harper stands at 6’3 and weighs a solid 205 lbs. He has remarkable power for someone his age and many call him the Lebron James of baseball.

Currently at 43-58, winning just three of their last 10 games, it appears the Nats are taking a step in the right direction and will likely surpass their abysmal 59-103 record from last season. Things may not be great right now, but the future is bright.

The rebirth of hockey has hit the metropolitan area in the last couple of years also. Die-hard fans have been on a roller coaster ride over the last ten years, watching the Caps go from being a playoff contender in the early 2000s, to completely rebuilding a few years later (in 2004 the team tied for the second worst record in the NHL), to becoming a consistent title contender for the last three years.

The last decade has represented two eras for the Capitals. The new era is led by hockey sensation Alexander Ovechkin, who has lived up to all the expectations of a number one overall pick.

Over the last three seasons, the Capitals have seen an improvement in their overall record, finishing 28-40-14 in 2006-07, 43-31-8 in 2007-08 and improving to 50-24-8 in 2008-09. This year, the Caps posted the best regular season record in franchise history, finishing 54-15-13, and advancing to the playoff quarterfinals.

The city of Washington is in desperate need of a championship, and as it stands, the Capitals are the most likely team to bring one home.

The Washington Wizards are looking to start a new era of their own.

In recent years, the Wizards have seen early exits out of the playoffs, particularly when they ran into the “Cleveland Lebrons.” The former Cleveland all-star has shattered Wizard fan’s hopes and dreams several times, ranging from the creation of the infamous “crab dribble” to the release of Jay-Z’s song about DeShawn Stevenson’s underachievement.

Apparently the Wizards’ solution to last year’s playoff woes was to avoid it completely and not even make the playoffs this year.

Mid-season, the franchise player Gilbert Arenas pulled a gun out on teammate Javaris Crittenton over an alleged money dispute. After weeks of poor publicity and ill-handled press conferences, Arenas was ultimately punished with a short stint in jail and a season- long suspension.

However, that was just the beginning. When it rains, it pours, and Washington felt like Seattle this season. It was time to rebuild, so off went Jamison to Cleveland. Then Caron Butler and “Brenda” Haywood were packaged together and shipped to Dallas. In return, the Wizards received expiring contracts and role players.

With no star and no identity, the Wizards finished 26-56. Did I mention the team’s long-time and loved owner, Abe Pollin, died at the age of 86? Pollin owned the Wizards for 45 years before he died last November.

At this point the Wizards needed a blessing from the basketball gods, and luckily for them, their prayers were answered. The team won the NBA lottery and selected college-standout John Wall. Wall is an amazing talent and will be the Wizards first true point guard in a long time; and with the NBA slowly becoming a point guard-driven league, Wall will excel.

Unlike Kwame Brown, the Wizard’s 2001 first pick bust, Wall is a can’t miss, no risk and high reward type of prospect. At 6’4 with superb athleticism and passing ability, Wall should be the floor general for the Wizards the next 12-15 years. He is truly the real deal. It won’t be a quick turnaround, but behind Wall, the Wizards are preparing themselves to be a contender again in the near future.

Being a Washington sports fan can be frustrating at times, but for now things don’t look so bad. Hopefully, the near future will bring a championship home to D.C.

Franchise Year 2

So it turns out that I won our draft competition with a total of 30 points to Justin's 28. To recap, we each created a mock draft predicting the order in which the NBA executives would choose the players of the draft class of 2010. For every pick that was spot on, we awarded 3 points. For a pick that was one slot too high or low - 2 points, and for a pick two slots away - 1 point. We only mocked the first round and I won for a third time out of our four total contests the last four years.

Second order of business...

Justin won the first year of our Franchise competition in which we each chose five players from the 2009 draft who we thought would be particularly successful at the next level and charted their statistical prowess. We based scoring on each team of five's cumulative marks in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, and three-pointers made with respective team win totals as a tie-breaker. Justin's team won five categories to my one making him the year one Franchise champion.

Justin's team included Tyreke Evans, James Harden, DeJuan Blair, Sam Young and Terrence Williams.

My team included Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, Jeff Teague, Gerald Henderson and a reach on Patty Mills that failed to pan out - to say the least.

The plan is to drop two players and add three each year until our rosters have ten players a piece. Each year we will count the cumulative totals of each team's statistics to determine the winner for that year. Stats from previous years will not count in determining the winner for each year. For instance, last year's totals will not have any affect on this year's competition.

Last year we selected our players before the draft, however, this year we opted to make selections after the draft but before summer league moving forward.

Team Justin dropped Sam Young and Dejuan Blair while adding Evan Turner, Derrick Favors and Al-Farouq Aminu. This gives Team J a 2010 roster of Evans, Harden, Williams, Turner, Favors and Aminu.

Team Chad dropped Gerald Henderson and Patty Mills (who I still think has a chance to be a solid pro) while adding Demarcus Cousins, Wes Johnson and Luke Babbitt. Thus, the Team C 2010 roster includes Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, Wes Johnson, Luke Babbitt and Demarcus Cousins.

First over picks are not available to be drafted in the Franchise competition.

If you're scoring at home, the overall competition score is now 3-2 in favor of Team C (3 draft comp wins for Team C versus 1 draft comp. win and 1 franchise year win for Team J.)

Basketball Notes

Well "Lebron Day" has come and gone. King James rocked the sports world by leaving Cleveland to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The move made sense but for some people it was hard to accept. Depending on who you ask, Lebron James is the biggest name in basketball. You would think players would lineup to play with one of the leagues biggest stars but that wasn't the case. In fact, Lebron couldn't even talk his good friend Chris Bosh into coming over to Cleveland. There is no way I am the only person that thinks it is weird that Lebron had to leave his team (a team that has had the best regular season record two years in a row) in order to feel he could seriously compete for an NBA championship. Regardless of the decision, I support the road Lebron has taken. He showed that it is not all about money (he is not taking a max deal) and he is truly most concerned about winning. I find it funny that everyone got on Lebron for never winning a championship but now that he puts himself in a serious position to win a championship for the next five years, a lot of people are mad that he sacrificed being the superstar (it has been labeled a cop-out). I guess you can't please everyone, oh well. We will see how Miami surrounds their big three.

Bill Simmons posted an article today and if you haven't read it yet, you should take a look.

So what happens to the Cavs now?
For the past seven years we have heard about Lebron James weak supporting cast. So with James headed to South Beach, what does this mean for the Cavs. At this point they have no franchise player and no one to fill James role, so I suggest they start over. They possess several assets that many competitive teams may be interested in. I say they shop the whole team and try to accumulate young talent and draft picks. This is a team with no nucleus and with all the big named free agents signed, it appears the Cavs are the biggest loser this summer. Their owner should put up a clearance sign that says "everyone must go." Who knows they could land high school sensation Harrison Barnes, who many scouts have compared to Kobe Bryant. You never know, the basketball can't possibly just leave this team in the dark, something positive should come from this (optimistic thinking).

Lastly, what are the chances Shaq is calling Lebron and Wade asking for one more shot?

Time Capsule

Here is a link to an article I wrote for NBA.com about four years ago.

http://www.nba.com/dleague/difference_makers_070921.html

Interestingly enough, four of these guys stuck in the league. One of them, Amir Johnson, was even successful enough to "earn" one of the most outrageous of this summer's ridiculous contracts, signing with the Toronto Raptors for five years and $34 million. In any case, I'm proud to say I saw something in these fellows even as they struggled through the muck of D-league play.

Image of the Week

The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Wesley Johnson with the fourth overall pick in last weeks draft. I'm not sure if Johnson has superstar potential but he definitely has a unique style. Check out his draft day outfit.