The Washington Redskins were hoping for a holiday miracle as they traveled to Nashville three days before Christmas. That’s because, after losing four out of five games, the Redskins needed to win and — and get help from others ahead of them in the standings — just to back into a playoff berth. And while no one likes to see opposing players get injured, Washington had to feel encouraged after knocking Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota out of the game. But […]
For 44 years, the Washington Capitals were consistently good enough to get their fans hopes up. As soon as those fans let their guard down, the team promptly self-destructed in the most soul-crushing way imaginable. Losing a quadruple-overtime playoff game—on Easter Sunday? Check. Being eliminated, time and time again by the Pittsburgh Penguins, their most hated rivals, rubbing ample amounts of salt in the wounds? Yep. Winning the President’s Trophy as the league’s best regular season team, just to blow […]
For the first time in more than a quarter century, a professional sports franchise in one of the big four leagues located in Washington, D.C. brought home a championship. While a team needs an abundance of luck to accomplish such a remarkable feat, there’s more to it than that. Closing your eyes, crossing your fingers, and praying that some sort of divine intervention bails you out at the 11th hour doesn’t really constitute much of a plan. Unless, of course, if […]
Say it once more with feeling—the Washington Capitals are the Stanley Cup champions. If it feels like the powers that be will have to pry the Stanley Cup from Alex Ovechkin’s cold, dead hands a year from now, that’s because most of us felt like this day would never come. While plenty of locals jumped on the bandwagon during the team’s magical postseason run, diehards know nothing has ever been guaranteed when it comes to this franchise. In order to […]
The main reason the Washington Capitals have always been my favorite sports franchise is that the vast majority of people reading this didn’t care about them when I was growing up. My father worked with a guy who had a second job at the old Caps Arena, and because the building was almost never full back in those days, Tommy would regularly call us up and say, “If you guys can get here before the puck drops in 45 minutes, […]
Just 24 hours after thumping the Islanders 7-3 in Brooklyn, the two teams squared off again as the Washington Capitals hosted New York at Capital One Arena, March 16. Franchise goalie Braden Holtby, coming off a rare rough patch in which he was pulled from net in three of six outings, got the start and did not disappoint — stopping 22 of 25 shots he faced to earn his first victory, a 6-3 rout, in nearly two full weeks. While […]
Led by All Star shooting guard Brad Beal, the Washington Wizards jumped out to a huge first quarter lead over the Miami Heat at Capital One Arena, March 6. Unfortunately for the home team, by the time the opening quarter ended, Miami had already cut the deficit to just five points. At halftime, the Wizards led by nine. But once again, the Wiz were unable to close out the Heat. Thanks to 30 points from Beal, who made six of […]