Tag: Washington Capitals

Cross posted from Dump Comstock Barbara Comstock has constructed an image of herself as a fearsome campaigner, but she lacks even the basic political instincts...

by Lowell Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, June 8. ‘These 6 countries represent values’: French leader...

by Lowell Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, June 5. It's Trump against the world on tariffs...

by Lowell Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, May 24. Go Caps! North Korea says US Vice-President...

In sports, it's very common for teams on a losing streak to fire their managers. Whether that's an effective course of action or not is hard to say, but the fact is, when the coach/manager isn't able to win games, one way or the other, his job's going to be at risk. It's even more pressing when that coach/manager has "lost the locker room" and shows no signs of regaining it. The latest example is the Washington Cspitals:

Bruce Boudreau was fired as coach of the Washington Capitals on Monday, two days after his team was humbled, 5-1, in Buffalo by an injury-depleted Sabres team that was without nine regulars.

[...]

In four-plus seasons behind the Capitals' bench, Boudreau posted a regular season record of 201-88-40 in 329 regular season games, recently becoming the fastest coach to record 200 regular season victories.

But the team's recent struggles, the decline in captain Alex Ovechkin's play and repeated postseason failures forced General Manager George McPhee to make a change.

Now for my George Allen-style "sports as politics" metaphor. In the case of the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA), as I pointed out recently, they've just suffered their third-straight disastrous season election -- the 2009 Deeds debacle, the 2010 loss of three House of Representatives seats, and the 2011 loss of 7 House of Delegates seats and 2 State Senate seats. Yet, so far at least, there are no signs of any personnel changes at DPVA.

Now, to be fair here, all the problems Virginia Democrats are facing do not trace back to Brian Moran or to any one individual. However, right now it seems that the Democratic grassroots has largely lost faith in the ability of DPVA management to formulate - let alone execute! - a plan to turn around the disastrous situation we find ourselves in at the moment. That seems to cry out for a change in management, a change in approach, a change in skillsets, a change in chemistry, you name it. In the case of the Washington Capitals, they just fired a coach who had achieved great success, but simply was not demonstrating the ability to connect with his players or to turn around the team's fortunes.

In the case of DPVA leadership, first and foremost Brian Moran, there is basically ZERO track record of success, at least going back to 2009 (and it's hard to be impressed with the results in 2007, either), let alone a plan to turn things around. Which leads to one, obvious course of action to take. If the "powers that be" in the Virginia Democratic hierarchy can't see that, then they're not nearly as smart as Caps' General Manager George McPhee.  

The Washington Capitals start their season this Friday against the Thrashers. Hopefully, this will be the year they take home Lord Stanley's Cup. In preparation for that, the Caps are training hard at Kettler Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia. Here's some video from this morning's workout. Go Caps!

The Green Miles grew up in Boston & during my high school years, I took full advantage of the Red Sox sucking. The team finished an average of 4th & while attendance remained strong at 30,000 a night, there were plenty of cheap seats & standing-room-only tickets for a kid with $10 & a T pass.

By the time the Red Sox had won World Series in 2004 & 2007, you could add a 0 to the end of that ticket price. Hardcore fans were priced out as going to Red Sox games became the trendy thing to do. Attendance was less a statement of your dedication as a fan than a fashion statement. The wave of new fans became known by its most recognizable symbol -- the Pink Hats.

I couldn't help but think of that brand-new-baseball-cap-and-chinos crowd on Friday evening as I walked past this fan sitting outside a wine bar near the Verizon Center. Apologies for the low-quality cell phone pic, but imagine a Frasier Crane lookalike in a pastel polo shirt with a brand-new, still-stiff Alex Ovechkin jersey folded neatly over his shoulders. Horrifying, but telling -- it seems like DC's Gallery Place neighborhood is overrun the night of every Caps game with fans who only know the Red Line as what they took to the game.

As the Caps prepare to close out the Canadiens tonight (knock on Eric Belanger's new teeth), I kick of this Caps open thread with a question: Is Caps fandom at risk of being overrun -- and possibly even defined -- by bandwagon fans like this guy?