JESUS!!

"Because when you see him throw, thats all you can say..."- Nyjer Morgan in spring training

There hasn't been a more hyped debut of a rookie in Washington DC history. Sure Jordan had hype. Gibbs 2.0 had serious hype. Diehard Caps fans were pumped about Ovechkin.

But nothing matched tonight. Ever

According to the Nationals, 200 media credentials were given out, which is about how many are given out for an LCS. ESPN's baseball crew was in town. The NBA Finals, Stanley Cup and World Cup going to page 2 for this.

And he didn't disappoint at all.

Stephen Strasburg's stat line

7 IP, 4H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 14Ks

Yes, that is 14 strikeouts, in only 7 innings and 94 pitches in his MLB debut. The kid only had the entire baseball world watching him.

JESUS!

Watching the game, you weren't just impressed by the 98 mph fastball, the raw power, the overwhelming stuff, you were impressed by the movement on his pitches, the sick curveball, breaking ball, slider, the quick pace he had, the focus, the "I am going to CRUSH YOU" attitude to his pitching, all you could say was "JESUS"

Most impressive was how he bounced back after the 4th inning. As a good friend of mine thought the Pirates were starting to figure Strasburg out, it turned out just to be a blip on a dominant night. Giving up 3 hits, and a 2 run HR in the 4th, Strasburg went on to retire the last 10 batters he faced, and struck out the last 7.

JESUS

For once, DC sports fans were not let down. For once, a Washington athlete delivered well beyond the hype. For once, we were able to cheer and say "this guy is ours"

Welcome to Washington D.C, Stephen Strasburg. The high bar you set in the minors has only gotten higher

The 2010s: A reversal of fortune for DC pro sports

When you look back at the 2000s, it was by far the worst decade for DC sports in over a generation.

No championships. No championship appearances. No semi final appearances

3 division titles (Caps 2008, 2009, 2010)

Only 3 playoff victories (Redskins 2005 vs Bucs, Wiz 2005 vs Bulls, Caps 2009 vs the Rangers)

And way too many last place finishes, head coaches, failed draft picks/FA acquisitions and general heart break to even count.

Folks, the tide is turning.

The Capitals are already a contender, and still young, despite the incredible disappointment from the playoffs this year. The team is going to be contending for a title each year for the next decade so long as Ovechkin and Backstrom stay healthy

The Wizards have new ownership, and are about to draft a star, both on and off the court. Ted Leonsis has proven that he can stay out of the way and let his people build a winner with the Caps, and will bring that to the Wiz.

Today is the biggest day in Washington Nationals history since they came to DC. The Strasburg era begins. Bryce Harper was just drafted a few hours ago. The team is on the upswing from back to back 100 loss seasons. The cupboard is full of young talent and an organization ready to take the next step in the next few years

And it finally appears, after a decade of mistakes, Dan Snyder is finally letting go of the reigns of the team and letting professionals run the show. Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan are successful football men that come with a winning pedigree. Kyle Shanahan is an up and coming coach who potentially could be the leader of the team for the next 2 decades after his father retires. The team has quickly re-tooled to compete now, and will hopefully start to re-stock the cupboard with more draft picks in the next few years.

It was a pretty crappy first decade of the century for DC. But today, June 8th 2010, is one of those watershed days where you can feel the tide turning for our sports teams

Change has come to Washington in 2010

Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Mark Carrier, Chad Morton, Brandon Lloyd, Antwan Randle El, and Albert Haynesworth are the ghosts of Redskins free agent past. The Dan Snyder era in Washington failure. The 2010 offseason, all of 4 days in, thus far represents real change that was promised in Washington when Vinny Cerrato was fired, and Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan brought in to turn around the franchise.

Bruce Allen, in an interview with Peter King, described the offseason philosophy of the Redskins in a nutshell “"Free agency isn't a day, and it's not a weekend. We think free agency runs 'til the first day of training camp, let's see who you have a couple of months from now, not just who you have after a couple of days. What difference does it make when you sign them, if they help you”

Music to the ears of Redskins fans. No March press conference the first day of free agency to show off a new shiny overpaid star (Julius Peppers anyone?). No unwarranted optimism, no big signing bonuses, no new jersey’s to buy. Just silence.

By now, the front office plan should be obvious. Reading the list of players who will be visiting Redskins Park over the next week, and the guys who have come in for visits, and in the case of Hicks signed, its obvious what the overall plan is.

Shanahan/Allen are trying to bring in solid veterans that can fill gaps short term to avoid epic disasters of 2009. Guys who are pros and know how to prepare/play in the NFL.

What they are trying to avoid is having the 2009 situation where several positions were not manned by NFL caliber starters.

The contract Hicks signed is for 3 years. I am guessing Pashos and Clifton were offered similar lengths, as will Parker and other visitors.

It will give the front office 3 drafts, 2010, 2011 and 2012, to stock up on young talent, have them slowly work their way into the starting lineup and have the team ready to be competitive by 2012.

Lets face it, 2010 isn't going to be a good year, but there is no way Shanahan is going to allow himself to be embarrassed the way Zorn was in 2009. Bringing in solid vets to help field a competitive team while young guys learn is the best approach to set the team up for the next decade

Joe Bugel retiring; the end of a glorious era

When people think of the Washington Redskins in the 1980s, people think of the Hogs first. Yes there were Superbowls, MVPs, division titles, domination, but the foundation of all of those teams was the offensive line; the most famous offensive line in the history of the NFL.
The leader of those men was Joe Bugel, the fiery, energetic o-line coach, who took unheralded players such as Joe Jacoby and Jeff Bostic, and molded them with the likes of Russ Grimm, to put together one of the most dominant o-lines in NFL history.

This image, of John Riggins dragging Don McNeal to the endzone, is one of the most famous images in Redskins history, and only could happen due to perfect blocking by the hogs up front.
The Washington Post's Dan Steinberg had a great article on Joe Bugel over the summer
Amongst the highlights was this quote "That first hit, I feel great," he said, after full-contact tackling had finally returned. "That's the big explosion right there, you know what I mean? That puts you on a high. Pro football's always been the sport for me. After 32 years, I love to watch the competitiveness, the explosion, the blocking, the tackles. That's my turn on, that's my entertainment: violence."

And his Hogs were violent, and they were dominant and they announced to the NFL in the January 1983 NFC Championship game against the Cowboys that they would be the dominant force of the decade. There are rumors that Bugel was so fired up prior to kickoff that he flipped the bird to the Cowboys d-cord before kickoff!

From the Washington Post write up of the game in 1983:

But on this afternoon, no one was stopping Riggins or the line, which just gave up three sacks.
Riggins, who had 199 yards two weeks ago against Detroit and a career-high 185 against Minnesota last week, gave the offense the power it needed early and late against a usually overpowering Dallas rush defense. The third straight 100 yard plus performance in the playoffs was an NFL record, and afterward , he was ecstatic.

Riggins was helped by a revised Redskin game plan. "We changed some stuff for this game," guard Russ Grimm said. "We were zone blocking last time and not coming off quickly. We went more man-to-man, more double teams this time.
"We decided to take them on, be physical and let the best man win. But we knew we had to run if we were going to win."

Bugel's o-line would dominate the Cowboys that day, and would kill the clock in the 4th quarter with a time consuming drive filled with runs by John Riggins. If you search carefully on the internet, you'll see quotes from center Jeff Bostic talking about how by the end of the game they were telling Cowboys DT Randy White exactly where they were going to run before each play, and would still gain 5-6 yards a play!

The dominance that o-line displayed would continue the following week in Superbowl 17, where the climax occured when Riggins would bust through a huge hole on 4th and 1 in the 4th quarter, run over Don McNeal and hit the end zone to give the Redskins the lead.

Those were Bugel's boys leading the way, taking every ounce of energy from him and destroying the opposing d-line as the Redskins ball control offense would dominate the early 1980s.
Joe Bugel would leave for the Phoenix Cardinals in 1989 as head coach, but he eventually returned home to the Redskins in 2004. His o-lines, in part due to injury, were never able to capture the level of play they had in the 1980s, but you could see the work he did and how much improvement there was in 2005, 2006, and how he took an o-line in 2007 that was missing its entire right side, and turned them into a dominating unit in December on the way to the playoffs.
Bugel's legacy was built though in the 1980s, on 70-chip in Superbowl 17, on Timmy Smith's 204 yard day in Superbowl 22, on players like Joe Jacoby and Jeff Bostic becoming all pros, on being the foundation of a dominant team

Thanks for your time Joe, enjoy your retirement

A new decade of blogging DC sports

First post. A bit uneasy about this blogging world, despite thousands, hell millions of words on various message boards over the past 10 years, talking all DC sports.

I am looking forward to this though, and in particular the exciting decade the Washington DC sports scene is about to embark on.

Lets start with the good; the Washington Capitals. Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green, Nick Backstrom, Alex Semin, Semyon Varlamov, a core for the next 10 years, seeing they are all stars 25 or younger. After an awful downturn in the middle of the decade, owner Ted Leonsis started over, stripped the team down, got lucky in the 2004 draft by winning the lottery, landed Alex Ovechkin, and DC sports could be witnessing the start of a hockey dynasty.

I’d like to say lets go to the bad, but lets be honest, its been pretty ugly. DC United, the 5 star franchise of MLS since its founding in 1996, has only one MLS Cup title this decade, and that being in 2004. The Freddy Adu experiment was a failure, and 2009 saw United fail to make the playoffs.

The Wizards, 4 straight playoff appearances in the middle of the decade, but as of this writing the team is imploding, Gilbert Arenas is suspended “indefinitely” due to being a jackass with his guns, and the team is on its way to a 2nd straight appearance in the draft lottery.

The Nationals have been a national joke in MLB with back to back 100 loss seasons, former GM Jim Bowden getting tricked by a Dominican, Manny Acta being completely ineffective as a manager, low attendance and just overall cheapness. The tide appears to be turning with the hiring of Mike Rizzo, some smart offseason signings, and the drafting of pitching prodigy Stephen Strasburg

And the Redskins. A decade of high expectations usually ending up in flops. One season of 10 wins, 2 playoff appearances, no division titles and a losing record, with 2009 being one of the worst seasons in 30 years as the team fell to 4-12 and last place. Change is coming out in Ashburn though as Vinny Cerrato resigned, Jim Zorn was fired and it appears Dan Snyder has given full control of the team to new GM Bruce Allen and new head coach Mike Shanahan.

So yea, basically the majority of my 20s was spent watching losing teams, playoff disappointments, losses to hated rivals, witnessing these losses live (stupid game 6 in ‘06 vs Lebron and the Cavs) and just complete failure.

The 2010s have to be better…