“THERE WILL BE A GAME 7 AT VERIZON CENTER!”
That’s how Caps’ play-by-play man Steve Kolbe ended his awesome call of David Steckel‘s game winner last night from Pittsburgh.
Nothing like OT playoff hockey on the radio.
The game started lousy for the eventual winners. At the end of the 1st period, with the Caps down 1-0 and trailing the Penguins in shots on goal 18-5, the Kolbe and, particularly, his booth partner Ken Sabourin, sounded resigned to a bad ending.
“The Penguins got help from the official on that one. Check’s in the mail!” said Sabourin after Kris Letang’s goal gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead early in the third period. His point was that a referee had deflected the puck right to Letang, and was clearly on the take.
“Check’s in the mail!” is what you want from the home crew!
The Caps scored twice over the next 88 seconds.
Steckel’s shot snapped the franchise’s long losing streak in playoff overtime games and kept ’em alive to tighten up the 1-7 record in playoff series with Pittsburgh.
But, that’s the past. Once again: Doesn’t this year just feel different?
We’ll find out tomorrow. I’ll be listening.
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The Caps’ post-game show, aired on WJFK during the playoffs, isn’t for everybody: An earnest and nervous caller said he wanted to “give props” to the Capitals only to have the rest of his garbled goodwill message cut off mid-thought.
The hosts, led by Jonathan Warner, announced that only callers 18 years old and older are allowed on the air and quickly hit the next line.
Within seconds an older and unsober sounding dude was yelling “Me and my wife, man, our heads literally went through the roof!” He got to say his whole piece.
Yes, the airwaves are an adult domain.
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Ryan Zimmerman’s at 29. Half-Dimaggio plus one!
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Is there turmoil in Georgetown sports?
Yesterday Hoyas Athletic Director Bernard Muir announced he’d be leaving the Hoyas to take a job at the University of Delaware.
On paper, doesn’t seem like a parallel move. Muir’s new title will be Director of Athletics and Recreation Services.
“Recreation Services”?
Sounds like Muir’s job description just went from overseeing one of the NCAA’s highest profile basketball programs to making sure the Ultimate Frisbee field in Greek Circle gets watered.
Muir’s leaving comes just as Hoyas e-fanzines are buzzing about the departure of Robert Burke, a Georgetown assistant basketball coach and head coach John Thompson III‘s longtime court partner.
Burke played alongside JT III at Gonzaga, coached with him at Princeton and came to Georgetown at the same time in 2004.
The school has not announced that Burke is leaving. And until an official reason is given, the message boarders will provide their own rationales.
Posters at mdhigh.com, a high-volume rivals.com site, have attributed Burke’s departure to game strategy and recruiting problems, and some sort of squabbles between the program and Curtis Malone, the idolmaker behind DC Assault, one of the strongest AAU programs in the country.
There are also alleged sub-plots involving David Falk, the super-agent who has historically represented a lot of Georgetown talent.
Maybe, in the end, we’ll find out it’s just because Georgetown beat most of the top teams in the country early on, then lost 12 of its last 16 games.
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Just as the Have Nots were on the verge of Having, Mother Nature threw a curveball.
Bishop Ireton of Alexandria has won just four boys athletics titles in the Catholic schools conference, now called the WCAC, in the last 40 years: three in soccer and one in lacrosse.
None have come since 1994.
But last night, in WCAC’s baseball championship game, Ireton was up a run over Paul VI in the sixth inning. With the biggest sporting accomplishment in the school’s history within sight, the clouds opened up, and umpires suspended the game.
DCSPORTSFAN.COM says the replay is tomorrow night. Because of the 48-hour rain delay, Paul VI will be able to put its ace pitcher, who was resting last night, back on the mound.
God has both dogs in this fight. But if Taylor Swift has any say, Ireton’s a cinch.
In the tabloids, that is. A Baltimore stripper named Theresa White has sold her tale of three-way romance with the Olympic swimmer to News of the World.
If you believe the news, he’s spent all his time since Beijing banging or bonging.
But his stamina remains world class, says Stripper Theresa.
***
Roger Clemens‘ nickname was Rocket, not Rocket Scientist.
Clemens showed up this morning on “Mike and Mike” on WTEM, where the pitcher plead his innocence by saying “my stepdad” had heart disease, so therefore it would be “suicidal” to “take any of these dangerous drugs.”
Your step-dad can give you swine flu, Rocket. But not heart disease.
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Wonder how Roger would do on the Wonderlic? Take it yourself.
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