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11Jun

note: tiger is back

In blog, note to self by b murf / June 11, 2009 / No Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

Unless the Orlando Magic can return to the formula that has worked thus far, the Los Angeles Lakers will be capturing yet another NBA championship. And when they do, magically Kobe Bryant will be looked at as a wonderful teammate/person/competitor/etc. because he finally earned a ring without Shaquille O’Neal on the roster. Yawn.

The Detroit Red Wings are set to win their second straight Stanley Cup championship this Friday night, besting the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second-consecutive season. They’ve been the better team all season long and throughout this series, but the league needed the Finals to go seven games in hopes of capitalizing on a wonderfully exciting season. Whatever.

I’d mention baseball, but honestly it’s the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox again. Been there. Done that. Unless the Washington Nationals can set the record for most losses in a single season, there’s not much worth watching this year.

But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost in the world of professional sports. No, not by a long shot. In just over a week all the major names will return to the scene of one of the most exciting events of 2008. That’s right, Tiger Woods and friends are set to return to the U.S. Open and you’d be a fool to miss out on the action.

For those who need a refresher, last year’s U.S. Open was straight out of a movie. For starters, Woods was grouped with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott meaning the top three golfers in the world were all basically facing off head-to-head. And although the biggest names in the sport were the focus coming into the Open, it was Rocco Mediate who came from nowhere to challenge Tiger. While Mickelson and Scott faded, Mediate continued to turn up the heat on Woods, who was clearly not 100 percent.

Trailing by one stroke on the final hole, Woods drained a 12-foot putt for birdie to force an 18-hole playoff with Rocco. A one-legged Tiger went on to win the U.S. Open, his 14th major championship of his career, but that would be his final act of 2008. Two days later he had surgery on his left knee and that was that for Woods.

Eight long months later Tiger returned to action and since that time we’ve seen a new side of Woods. It used to be that Woods was simply better than everyone else and when he’s on there’s no use for anyone else to show up. But if Tiger wasn’t playing his best golf … well … that’s when the rest of the field had a chance to take home a trophy. Well, since his return, Tiger has two wins – the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament. In both instances Woods headed into the final day of the tournament trailing and yet battled back to claim victory.

At the Arnold Palmer (which is also a delicious beverage, by the way), Woods trailed Sean O’Hair by five strokes heading into the final day. Tiger shot a final round 67 and made a 16-foot birdie putt on the final hole to defeat O’Hair by one stroke.

At the Memorial, Woods found himself in a similar situation, trailing by four shots after three rounds. This time he shot a 65 in the final round, including two consecutive birdies to end the tournament as he continues to rewrite the story on Tiger Woods.

Click here for the full article.

Note to self is a weekly sports column written for HoboTrashcan.

09Jun

feeling a draft

In baseball, blog by b murf / June 9, 2009 / 1 Comment

(photo by Irfan Khan)

At 6 p.m. tonight, Major League Baseball’s amateur draft will begin. And once the draft is officially underway, the Washington Nationals will use the first overall pick on San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the highly-touted 20-year-old who instantly gives hope to the entire fanbase.

Regardless of what outrageous signing bonus demands agent/antichrist Scott Boras makes, Strasburg will be the top pick and will be selected by the Nats. Anything else and Major League Baseball should retract the Washington franchise on the spot.

But here’s where things get interesting – the Nationals also hold the 10th overall pick after failing to sign last year’s first rounder, Missouri pitcher Aaron Crow. For those in need of a refresher, the Nats refused to meet Crow’s demand of a $4.4 million signing bonus a year ago, so he’s back in the draft pool and Washington gets to try again with a second high-draft pick.

Let us say this up front: we’ve been called a lot of things over the years, but a baseball scout is not one of them. That being said, if given the chance here’s what we would do if we were acting general manager Mike Rizzo when the Nationals are on the clock with the 10th pick – draft Crow again.

Sure, there’s a good chance he won’t be around when the Nats are back on the clock at 10, but in the event he’s still on the board, take him again. Crow is easily one of the top talents available in the draft. That’s never been in question. The issue was agreeing on a signing bonus (the Nats offered $3.5 million).

But there are two reasons why this can work – Jim Bowden is gone. Everyone else who still remains employed by the organization can simply blame it on him (for better or worse, everyone else around town does). And here’s why you take a second chance on drafting Crow – you’ll have all of the leverage.

Are you telling us he’d hold out again? The kid already sat out a year during one of the most important phases of his young and promising career. There’s zero chance he can afford to sit out another season. Unlike the Strasburg situation where the rookie is in the driver’s seat knowing a.) he’s talented and b.) most of the rest of the roster is not, Crow will have to sign quick and get back into the daily grind sooner rather than later. This is a game of chicken the Nats can actually win.

Chances are Crow will be already be off the board by the time the Nats are ready to select their second first-rounder, but should the unexpected happen and the Missouri righty is still be on the board, the Nationals would be wise to give him a second chance to make a first impression.

07Jun

bear with us

In blog, hockey by b murf / June 7, 2009 / 3 Comments

(photo by Paige Murphy)

As previously noted, we were on hand to witness the Hershey Bears blanking the Manitoba Moose 3-0 at the Giant Center Saturday. Well, while we were going through photos of the festivities, we came across this dandy shot that was taken as forward Graham Mink and the Bears capitalized on their first powerplay goal of the evening.

Who knew that just barely six minutes into the contest Hershey would score the only goal they needed to walk away victorious on this night? More importantly, who knew minor-league hockey was so much fun?

07Jun

bears maul the moose

In blog, hockey by b murf / June 7, 2009 / No Comments

(photo by John C. Whitehead)

Although most of the Washington Capitals roster is in vacation mode, enjoying time off after another impressive season, we’re pleased to report that the future of the Caps organization is alive and well.

With the local sports scene currently in the slowest portion of the calendar year, we loaded up the car for a road trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, to see the Bears (Washington’s AHL affiliate) take on the Manitoba Moose in game three of the Calder Cup finals Saturday.

Some may think of minor-league hockey as a gimmick-riddled event in front of a sparse crowd in some podunk town. However, once we arrived at the Giant Center, we immediately knew that wasn’t the case. The game was a sell out (10,696) and everyone in attendance was fired up as the Bears tried to bring home their 10th championship in their proud history.

And from the very first moment the puck dropped these two teams, who were the top two franchises during the AHL’s regular season, were playing for keeps. This was a very physical back-and-forth game featuring a Bears team led by forward Alexandre Giroux, who became just the fifth player in league history to score 60 goals in a season.

On the other side of the rink you had the Moose, who thanks to goalie Cory Schneider, allowed the fewest goals in the league this season. The top offense versus the stingiest defense. You couldn’t ask for a better setup. And here’s the kicker – the game lived up to the hype.

Neither team scored a regular-strength goal. Both teams threw their bodies around with reckless abandon. You quickly got the sense that whichever team struck first could very well steal the game. Fortunately for the home team, the Bears got on the board first.

Just eight seconds into a powerplay in the first period, Bears forward Graham Mink deflected defenseman Staffan Kronwall’s blast past Schneider to give Hershey the early 1-0 lead at 6:22. Another powerplay, another goal for the high-powered Bears. This time, it was Giroux who found the back of the net, when he fired a one-timer over the shoulder of Schneider halfway through the second period to push the Bears lead to 2-0. Giroux now has a record 74 goals this season, counting the regular and post season.

(One sidenote: the Bears were awarded this powerplay after Moose defenseman Zack FitzGerald was called for roughing. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Um … wrong. FitzGerald was actually sitting on the bench when he decided to grab a Bears player from behind in hopes of preventing him from getting to the puck. That takes talent.)

The Bears added an empty-net goal by forward Quintin “No Spleen Needed” Laing in the final minute to seal the victory and take a two-games-to-one lead in this best of seven series. While we spotlighted the offense, we would be remiss if we didn’t highlight the job in net by Bears goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who looked sharp turning away all 28 Moose shots.

At no time did Neuvirth and the Bears defense look better than when they successfully killed off a 50-second five-on-three penalty situation when the game was still very much up for grabs. With Giroux and forward Chris Bourque in the penalty box, the Bears buckled down and were able to preserve the shutout (even though the majority of the powerplay was spent in their zone and with the same three penalty killers stuck on the ice).

The three stars on this night were Giroux (one goal), Kronwall (two assists) and Neuvirth (fourth shutout of the postseason), but this was a total team effort. While there is plenty of hockey left to be played before someone takes home the Calder Cup, the Bears have to feel good about their chances should they continue to play at this level. They were aggressive on both ends of the rink. They weren’t afraid to get physical, whether by sending a message with a crushing check along the boards or setting up camp in front of the Manitoba net.

And most importantly, they’re loaded with talent. We didn’t even mention guys like defenseman Karl Alzner, who returned from a monthlong absence due to a concussion, or defenseman John Carlson, who at 19 is already one of the players George McPhee and friends are dreaming of having on the NHL roster. Everyone in D.C. is already prepared for the Simeon Varlamov era after his strong postseason run, but if Neuvirth continues to be this rock solid in net, he’s going to present the team with a wonderful problem (namely, which goaltender not named Jose Theodore should they anoint their long-term answer in net).

If you’re on the fence about whether or not to make the trip to Hershey during this championship run, just do it. Besides the fact that many of these guys will be fixtures on the Capitals roster for years to come, head coach Bob Woods has this Bears team playing some inspired hockey. None of our local teams will be winning a championship this year. Maybe seeing Hershey get the job done can ease your pain.

03Jun

cue the clown music

In baseball, blog by b murf / June 3, 2009 / 2 Comments

(photo by Nick Wass)

Win, lose or draw there’s one thing you can definitely say about the Washington Nationals – they’re entertaining.

Clinging to a 2-1 lead heading into the fifth inning, the Nationals showed why they lead the league in errors (and comically bad defense) with 50. Starting pitcher Craig Stammen allowed San Francisco Giants outfielder Fred Lewis and shortstop Juan Uribe to reach base on a pair of singles and then they advanced to second and third after a sacrifice by Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum.

The rookie pitcher would have walked the bases full but his offering to outfielder Aaron Rowand was in the dirt and got past Nats catcher Josh Bard, allowing one runner to score. Had that been the end of it, no one would have given the play a second thought. But for some reason, Bard decided to slide on his knees and blindly throw the ball in the general direction of home plate in a futile effort to get Lewis out. Unfortunately Bard’s throw was nowhere near the plate and sailed past Stammen, allowing Uribe to easily score as well. The only thing the play was missing was clown music. Or maybe Bob Uecker as the voice of a drunken Harry Doyle doing play-by-play.

Sure the Nats ultimately beat the Giants 10-6 and snapped a six-game losing streak, which is no small feat for a 14-36 team. But this play illustrated once again just how far this team has to go before it can reach a point where people feel like they’re watching a legitimate professional franchise. The New York Yankees set a major league record this week by going 18 games without committing an error. Conversely, the Nationals can’t go 18 batters without finding a way to screw up a seemingly routine play.

It’s too bad the Chicago Cubs have coined the term “Loveable Losers.” These Nats might not win very often, but you honestly can’t help rooting for them. The best part of gameday at Nats Park is watching the Racing Presidents just to see Teddy Roosevelt find a new heartbreaking way to lose every night. It’s not any different when the Nats take the field. They’ve got the worst earned run average in baseball (5.69). They’ve blown the most saves (13). They’ve committed the most errors. But at the end of the day, these guys are our losers.

We’ll rally around them now during the tough times just so that once they finally turn the corner and look halfway respectable it’ll be that much more gratifying. It happened for the Capitals. Hopefully, one of these days, the same will hold true for the Nationals.

02Jun

a good time was had by all

In blog, football by b murf / June 2, 2009 / 8 Comments

(photo by Brian Murphy)

You might have heard that the Washington Redskins invited players, team employees, their families and select VIPs out to Six Flags yesterday. Well, for some reason, an invitation was extended to us (even though last we checked, we are not a player, team employee or VIP).

And right out of the gate, let us say this event was a blast. The environment was completely family friendly and the weather was absolutely perfect. We never waited more than a few minutes to ride any of the roller coasters and regularly ran into many of the players and their families, who were more than happy to pose for photos and/or sign autographs for fans. Clearly these guys were just as happy to be at an amusement park as the fans who flocked to see them.

We want to take a minute to specifically mention Clinton Portis, Rocky McIntosh, DeAngelo Hall and Mike Williams.

We hope anyone who has ever dreamed of being a superstar athlete saw the hoard of fans surrounding Portis throughout the event. We never actually saw him partaking in any of the rides or festivities because any time we ever caught a glimpse he was simply signing autographs for dozens and dozens of burgundy and gold fans. Here’s hoping the players got in before the gates were opened to the fans just so C.P. might have actually had some fun too.

McIntosh was great because, as noted by Redskins blogger Matt Terl, he loves roller coasters. But unlike his teammates who happily used “jump-the-line passes,” he had no issue standing among the unwashed masses and waiting in line like the common folk. He was all smiles and was happy to chat with whoever was nearby (which is something media types rarely see from him). We’d be shocked to hear that anyone at Six Flags had more fun than Rocky did yesterday.

When we caught up with Hall he was busy scamming one of the guys from Comcast Sportsnet. He was playing one of the games where you have to sink a basket in a ridiculously tall hoop to win a prize. He paid his money and took a couple warm-up shots, all of which he missed. Once he and the Comcast guy (who shall remain nameless) had a dinner wager, Hall promptly sank three out of four shots while letting his buddy know he got played. All of this was going on while Hall signed autographs and posed for photos with dozens of ‘Skins fans (who also enjoyed the show).

And finally there’s Williams, who up until yesterday we had had little to no interaction with. At 6-5 and roughly 400 lbs., it’s impossible not to notice when he’s nearby. And every single time we saw someone go up to Williams, he kindly stopped what he was doing and was happy to oblige. Dan Steinberg just did an interview with Williams and said it’s tough not to cheer for the guy. We walked away with the same feeling.

All in all, yesterday was a very enjoyable evening that was made possible because the Redskins decided to do something nice for their extended family. We were lucky to be able to attend and immensely enjoyed seeing many of our favorite people – from both on and off the field. For better of worse, the Redskins brain trust gets blasted whenever someone feels they don’t get the job done, but let us take this moment to thank everyone who made this possible. We can’t think of a single way to improve the event.

01Jun

a new-look heyer?

In blog, football by b murf / June 1, 2009 / 3 Comments

(courtesy photo)

When news broke that the Washington Redskins released offensive lineman Jon Jansen Friday, the team’s longest tenured player, an overwhelming theme began to make its way around town.

For whatever reason, whenever someone brought up the move to us over the weekend, they inevitably ended up saying, “They must really like what they see in Mike Williams to let Jansen go now.” To which I replied,”Not if they’re going off of what they saw at minicamp.”

You see, Williams barely participated in minicamp. At 400 lbs., Williams is simply in weight-loss mode so he can get down to a realistic size and then the evaluation phase could begin. For most of camp the rotund lineman was rocking a pair of sweats bigger than most camping tents and was “jogging” around the field while offensive players were busy actually working on drills and such.

But the player who surprised us most that weekend was offensive lineman Stephon Heyer, the third-year pro who was the first player to break Jansen’s stranglehold on the right tackle position a season or two ago.

We’ve never been overly enamored with Heyer’s game in seasons past, but during camp we noticed something that gives us hope this is the year he makes the jump from a so-so player who folks typically only notice when he makes a poor decision, like costing rookie wide out Devin Thomas his first-career receiving touchdown because Heyer took a cheapshot at an unsuspecting Arizona Cardinals player 20 yards away from the play, to a bona fide NFL starter.

And here’s the kicker – it had nothing to do with being on the field.

After practice on the third and final day of minicamp, we ran into Heyer while waiting to knock out a couple of interviews. We started chatting and were immediately shocked at just how different the former University of Maryland product came across. In our interactions in previous seasons Heyer always was a quiet kid who tried to keep his head down when the media was around and in the rare cases when he was asked to speak, often appeared to lack confidence in what he was saying. But on this day it was as if Stephon had taken a crash course in swagger with Fred Smoot.

He volunteered that as far as he was concerned, this was his junior year as a pro and therefore it is officially time to get past the “rookie mistakes” that plagued his game in the past. He said that a lot of people have high expectations for him coming into this season, but that no one expects more than he does of himself. He talked about not being in a learning phase anymore, rather he knows what the plays are and is comfortable with what the coaches are asking him to do.

After we finished talking about that, the topic of conversation switched to the Washington Capitals, who had just advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Again, Heyer seemed like a completely new person as he told us about attending his first-ever Game 7 of any sport and how much he appreciated seeing the town rally around one of its teams. You could easily sense that Heyer would love to see the town in a similar frenzy over an extended Redskins playoff run.

When we walked away, we stopped some of the other media types and asked if they had noticed the same transformation. All agreed that this was our first glimpse at a new and improved Stephon Heyer. Even though we’re one of his biggest critics, Heyer spoke with and carried himself with a level of confidence that had us halfway convinced that he’s turned the corner and is ready to anchor the line on the right side for the foreseeable future.

If we picked this up in the matter of a couple days during minicamp, then there’s little doubt the team is fully aware of it. And if this newfound swagger carries onto the field and translates into improved play, then there’s little doubt that it will be Heyer, not Williams, who will be lining up at right tackle for the Redskins this season.