Curse of Calvin Coolidge

Not much to say about our hometown Nats. Despite the heroics of Bryce Harper our disappointing hometown team was undone, in my opinion by: 1. a severely underperforming starting pitching staff; with 2. some help from genius Mike Rizzo.

1.  Our starters were supposed to be the Nationals' strength. But outside of Scherzer's first half, Strasburg's second, and Zimmermann all season they have stunk; Gio has been Gio, too many walks, and Fister completely lost it.  So for most of the season we had the equivalent of 2 reliable starters, not 5.  That's on the players.

Number 2 is on Rizzo (Matt Williams too) for the way he constructed then deconstructed the bullpen. Coming out of spring training we were too dependent on guys like Treinen and Barrett. In my opinion Rizzo made things worse by adding Papelbon and shifting folks' rolls. The lack of confidence in Storen ruined his season, and certainly didn't help the team. Hind sight is 20/20, but it can't be a coincidence that since adding Papelbon the bullpen has gone from iffy to horrendous.

Of course, the injuries to Craig Stammen and Denard Span were two killers. No one, not Treinen nor Roark, could replace the steady Stammen. And our record with Span is that of a World Series-bound team.  Without him we're a team 7 games back of the Mets with 20+ games to go.
  
But I think everyone is avoiding THE real reason the Nats have under performed - the literal elephant in the stadium - and that's the lack of bipartisanism in the Presidents Race! 

The addition of a reformist Republican like Taft didn't hurt the Nationals last season but Coolidge is THE Curse of Lez Nationals! 

Not only was he a terrible and tone-deaf President, one not worthy of a giant puppet head and tiny-in-proportion-T-rex arms, he makes the President's race as unbalanced (FOUR Rs, 0 Ds) as the Texas State Legislature.

The obvious win-win - and win a World Series - solution is to subtract Coolidge (and not for Harding) and replace him with inarguably one of the 3 greatest Presidents of all time, Franklin Roosevelt.

The first win: not only is he a Democrat that would make the race bi-partisan, he's a Democrat who successfully fought polio, the Depression, Tojo and Hitler. Think he couldn't help the Nats fight off the Mets and Barves?

The second win: he would be in a wheelchair, thus reminding us that even folks with disabilities can race and win. Who knows, seeing a guy with polio compete in a wheelchair could even toughen up guys like Strasburg, Werth, Zimmerman, etc.

Come on Nats! End the Curse of Coolidge! Give us a Democrat!  Give us a racing Roosevelt and Happy Days Are Here Again!

Crazy DC Sports Weekend

Has there been a crazier DC sports weekend, or week, than this past one?

Consider what happened in the last few days:

• The Wizards trade Gilbert Arenas
• Maryland practically fires Ralph Freidgen
• Donovan McNabb is benched
• The Nats go nuts in signing Jayson Werth
• and the Caps keep losing

I guess DC United was out of town this weekend.

Hard to figure what the biggest story was.  Generally you go with the Offensive Nicknames, but Daniel Snyder has done something that even the most cynical, inside-the-Beltway hack thought was impossible: he is making folks in DC apathetic about their Offensive Nicknames.

The ONs look especially dysfunctional this season, with Albert Haynesworth failing to get in shape or play, and then the demoting of Donovan McNabb a few weeks after signing him to a lengthy contract extension (but since the NFL has a terrible, co-opted union most of the money is NOT guaranteed). 

 

Last weekend there were thousands of empty seats in 'Raljon,' and a quick glance at Stubhub reveals lots of seats on the market for the remaining home game versus the Giants.  Of late Offensive Nicknames games have resembled Nats and Wizards games, with a stadium full of fans from Philly or New York, or there to root for Kobe or the Knicks.  

As a result nd fans are staying away.  That's how far the Redskins have fallen thanks to Dan Snyder.  Fans are staying home and worse, have stopped getting their hopes up.

Of course, that was par for the course for years here in DC when it came to the Wizards.  That changed when Washington signed Gilbert Arenas. Granted, the Zards only won one playoff series with Arenas but he made pro basketball relevant in Washington, which is a grassroots basketball hotbed.  

It seem like decades ago, but as a Wizards fan it's easy to remember that month in 2003 when Washington has the best record in the Eastern Conference, led by Agent Zero.  In January that month Gerald Wallace fell on Arenas' knee, and the injuries started to haunt Arenas.


Injuries, then the incredibly boneheaded gun play in the locker room a year ago, sunk Arenas - and the Wizards, too.  They literally unraveled after the gun incident, and now Arenas has been traded to the Magic for Rashard Lewis.  


With Arenas - and Jamison, Butler and Haywood - it was easy to forget that since the early 80s the Wizards had basically been the Clippers East.  Well, dust off those memories DC sports fans: with Arenas gone, and even with John Wall, we're entering the Clippers East; Phase II era.


A few more low notes:

• Six months ago the town was abuzz with talk about Wall and Stephen Strasburg.  Now there are both hurt, proving once more than the Curse of Les Boulez is real;
• Can anyone name the previous coach of Maryland's football team? I doubt it.  Like Arenas, he made Maryland football relevant again - without the gun play! Friedgen has quite a trifecta this year: going to a bowl, named the ACC Coach of the Year AND being offered a buy out to leave town.  
• The Caps have lost 8 in a row and are now in third place.  At least that's what Evan tells me.  I do know that losing 8 in a row is bad.
• Still not crazy about breaking the bank for Jayson Werth.  And trading Willingham is not the worst thing in the world, but what is the plan after the first four spots in the order?  Lest I remind folks, last time DC imported a high priced player from Philadelphia he was benched. 
• Despite the platitudes offered by Nats management at the Werth press conference it's hard not the assume this team is waiting for 2012 (which is the name of Evan's new blog, by the way).