Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader feels it is time for him to do a sports post. He’ll start off with the best news in his sporting fandom. Namely that his beloved Washington Nationals are playing better than he expected.

The Nats, with an impressive win last night in Atlanta, are now sitting on a .500 record. Your Maximum Leader was not exactly expecting the Nats to be at .500 at this point in the season. Why were his expectations low? Mainly due to the fact that Ryan Zimmerman is out, and will continue to be out for a while while he recovers from abdominal surgery. Jim Riggleman, the Nats skipper, has been moving utility men in and out of different positions and messing with the lineup regularly. In years past that type of movement would not have the intended result, namely of keeping the Nats on a good and upward path. This year all appears to be working better.

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t believe that getting Zimmerman back later in the season will result in a sudden win streak and make the Nats contenders. It should enable the Nats to keep playing well and not be an embarassment to their fans and the game. Your Maximum Leader isn’t quite ready to revise is earlier prediction of the Nats winning 76 or more games this year, but right now - very early in a very long season - it is looking good for the Nats.

So, your Maximum Leader is pleased with his baseball team. He is not as pleased with his Washington Capitals. The Caps were eliminated from the playoffs and your Maximum Leader is only now able to write about it. Your Maximum Leader, now that the Caps are out, will inattentively follow the playoffs until the Stanley Cup finals at which time he will half-heartedly root for the Western Conference champion to defeat the Eastern Conference champion. If your Maximum Leader were pushed he’d declare himself for the Vancouver Canucks. He would like a Canadian team to win it. But we’ll see how it plays out.

And what of the Capitals? Well… This playoff loss was hair-wrenchingly bad. It was made worse because your Maximum Leader really isn’t sure what could have been done to improve the Caps chances of going the distance. Player moves during the regular season worked out. The defensive scheme that Coach Bruce Boudreau implemented was one that worked. Basically, the Caps were outplayed by the Tampa Bay Lightning (a division rival - ack!) in the series. Your Maximum Leader thinks that the only thing that could have been done differently would have been to keep Braden Holtby (a rookie goalie in our farm system) playing for the team into the playoffs. But even that path is fraught with danger as rookie goalies rarely win it all.

Your Maximum Leader doesn’t know what could be done to make the Caps winners. They are already contenders. They will continue to be contenders… But they aren’t getting over the hump and your Maximum Leader doesn’t see a clear path to improvement.

And then there is football…

Your Maximum Leader is nearly gleeful at all the issues surrounding football right now. He hopes that it goes badly all around and both the owners and players are taken down a notch for hubris. All in all, if you forced your Maximum Leader to take a side, he’d come down on the side of the players. He is all for lower rookie salaries, keeping the 16 game schedule and providing more retirement money for players. But all the same he feels like both sides are being petulent and childish in risking their status as the premier sport in America by fighting the way they are. Frankly, your Maximum Leader would be pleased if football were supplanted by baseball as the premier sport in America, but it isn’t likely to happen - sort of a major regular season work stoppage. (A stoppage your Maximum Leader doesn’t see happening.)

It is particularly funny to live in the DC area during all this turmoil in football. DC is, afterall, a football down. It is the Redskins all the time. Redskins fans are on sports radio breaking down the draft. They are speculating on the QB situation. They are talking in a way that completely ignores the real (if remote) fact that there might not be a 2011-2012 season. If there are missed games (or a missed season) your Maximum Leader doesn’t know what Redskins fan would do. He wonders how they would make it through the winter…

Anyhoo…

The long summer is still all ahead of us and we’ve got more baseball coming than we imagine. Your Maximum Leader hopes the Nats continue to play strong and stay near .500. If they are able to it will be a turning point for the organization and a cause for rejoycing among fans.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had a very enjoyable (if too short time) time at a book signing last night. The author was the Amazing Ben Thompson - creator of the completely awesome web site Badass of the Week. The book being signed was his second “Badass: The Birth of a Legend”. Your Maximum Leader will enjoy reading Ben’s new book. If you like his site, you will love the book and should rush on over to Amazon and buy yourself a copy. Your Maximum Leader’s only regret on this meeting was that he couldn’t spend more time with Ben (assuming that Ben would have wanted to spend time with your (and his) Maximum Leader). Your Maximum Leader had to be fatherly and pick up the Villainettes from piano lessons and return to the Villainschloss to look after Mrs Villain and the Wee Villain (both of whom had little stomach viruses). Your Maximum Leader would gladly have bought Ben a drink or two. (NB to Ben Thompson: if you are back in the neighborhood let me know and I’ll buy…)

After meeting Ben, the second big event of yesterday was the beginning of baseball season. Sadly your Maximum Leader’s beloved Washington Nationals fell to the Atlanta Braves. One hopes that the Nats can recover and claw their way up to .500 on Saturday and surge to .666 on Sunday.

Since it is that time of year… Your Maximum Leader predicts that his beloved Nationals will will 76 or more games this year. We might even very close to being a .500 team. He would love to regale you all with predictions of a playoff berth, but it just isn’t going to happen. He’ll root the Nats on and will lookfor great improvement this year.

Play ball and go Nats!

One last thing as it is the first of the month… Rabbit.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader mentioned, a few days ago, that he’d been at a fancy dinner in DC recently. The guests of honor at the dinner were Cal Ripken, Jr. and Alex Ovechkin. The event was hosted by Lindsay Czarniak of DC’s own NBC 4 news. Your Maximum Leader sadly doesn’t have an impromptu photo with Alex Ovechkin that turned out okay. (Most were slightly out of focus.) But he does have a few others for your viewing pleasure.

Here is your Maximum Leader and Washington Capitals Coach (and hockey lifer) Bruce Boudreau. (Clicken to embiggen.)

Here is your Maximum Leader and Cal Ripken Jr. (Clicken to embiggen.)

And here is your Maximum Leader with Lindsay Czarniak. (Again, clicken…)

Your Maximum Leader hopes that the official photographer was able to capture your Maximum Leader and Alex Ovechkin. And once again for the record… Lindsay Czarniak is both charming and attractive. She also shows a tremendous amount of patience with middle aged men who want to be photographed with her.

In the sports musing department…

Your Maximum Leader has been watching a fair amount of hockey of late. His beloved Washington Capitals are something of a puzzle. They are getting and taking shots. But they aren’t scoring. Coach Boudreau is mixing up the lines to good effect, yet the big superstars of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin are not scoring. The team is surviving on good play from the second and third lines.

The Caps have been playing a more defensive style of game, rather than last year’s (very exciting) wide open game. The defensive habits they are practising now should help the Caps if they make it to the playoffs. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t want to jinx the team, but right now they are in a tight race for the lead in the Southeast Division. The Caps can’t afford to assume that they will win the division and make the playoffs. After crushing the other teams in the division for so long those other teams have been able to build in the draft and are now showing significant signs of improvement.

Anyhoo… Your Maximum Leader is generally pleased with what he sees from his Capitals. They are on the right path and he is hopeful that they will continue to travel on this path for a long while.

In other sports news…

Your Maximum Leader is darn near estatic over how the football playoffs have been going. His much loved Green Bay Packers have found a running game to compliment Aaron Rodger’s great control of the passing game. Your Maximum Leader is giddy with anticipation over the NFC Championship game this weekend. The Packers and the Bears. The oldest and most storied rivalry in the NFL. The only way the game could be better would be if it were held at Lambeau and not Soldier Field. But Soldier Field in January is pretty good… Your Maximum Leader thinks the Packers can pull off the upset. But he will be watching very closely.

Lastly… Is it too early to be thinking baseball? Your Maximum Leader’s beloved Washington Nationals have been pretty active this off-season. They have been overpaying players to fill out the roster. Of course, when you suck for a few years and don’t show an inclination to win you have to spend some big bucks to attract good players to come to town and turn around the team. Your Maximum Leader thinks it is too early to judge if the moves have been good, but his early gut feeling is that the Nats should have kept Dunn. The offence Dunn produced for the team generally offset his defensive shortcomings. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that LaRoche and Werth are going to fully make up those runs (but they will save runs on defense). Your Maximum Leader should probably engage in some advanced statistical analysis to figure out how the runs would change, but he doubts he’ll do that…

With that… Your Maximum Leader will cheer on his Caps and Packers and hope for the best for them.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader hasn’t blogged much recently due to a chronic case of TV viewing. Of course when you have a new Panasonic Viera 54 inch Plasma TV you may want to spend your time watching it. If you want to know your Maximum Leader’s thoughts on his new TV here they come: this TV is awesome. Yup. This TV is completely awesome.

FYI… The first film he watched on his new TV, on BlueRay, in true 1080p HD was Zombieland.

Well my minions…

Your Maximum Leader has been completely infected by the bug again. The Venice bug. It has been in the forefront of his mind quite a bit over the past few weeks. He doesn’t recall if there was a particular trigger for the bug, but it is all-consuming.

For a city to which your Maximum Leader has never traveled Venice holds a strange manic fixation for him. He reads about Venice, he thinks about what he’ll do in Venice, he thinks about the future and past of Venice. This year he actually started worrying that when he finally does get to Venice that he’ll hate it or find something to dislike about it. But even those thoughts can’t keep him from thinking about visiting La Serenissima. He worries that Venice’s problems will ruin the image of the city he has in his mind.

Venice has so many problems and so few viable solutions to any of them. The first problem is, well, the water. As your Maximum Leader has highlighted on this blog many times (and he’ll do so again now), the acqua alta (or high water) is affecting the city more and more frequently and is getting higher and higher with each passing year. The high water yesterday was reportedly over a meter deep in St. Mark’s square.

Another problem is the over-commericalization of Venice. People (Venitians and outsiders) think that the city is becoming “Veniceland” and ceasing to be a city. They contend that the 20 million tourists that flood the city by day in the warm weather months are driving out reasonably priced apartments, grocers, and many of the people and businesses that make a city a city. The population of Venice has declined to between 50,000-60,000 (from a late 1950s popluation of nearly 130,000). Without some way of keeping prices down in the city more citizens will leave and eventually Venice could become a tourist city with the workers coming in by train or boat from their homes on terra firma and leaving after the tourists in the evening.

In the over-commericalization vein, the costs of keeping up the city continue to skyrocket. Many people are complaining about how the city is auctioning off advertising space on scaffolding around historic buildings in Venice (including this ghastly ad for Coke - a product your Maximum Leader completely endorses - on the side of the Doge’s Palace). Sadly, your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that there are many other choices for preserving the city. With a dwindling tax-base you have to sell the assests you can to raise money to preserve the landmarks that draw in the tourists. The mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, earlier this year proposed a tax on tourists. The proposal was that every tourist who enters the city, but does not spend the night in the city, should pay a 10 Euro tax. The city would then spend the tax on keeping up the city buildings and services. Frankly, your Maximum Leader is all for this proposal. 10 Euros a person and 20 million tourists. Let’s say that 2 million of those tourists spend the night (which seems a little high, but he’s going with it anyway) that is still 180 million Euros in revenue gained. That seems like a reasonable visitation tax with a worthwhile purpose.

But even with all the talk of overcommericalization, sinking and crowds of tourists, your Maximum Leader feels the city is pulling at his soul. The city calls him to visit. He hopes that his visit will be like the one he recently read about on-line in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (although the piece is orginally from the New York Times - your Maximum Leader doesn’t read the NY Times as a matter of policy, unless he is in New York City). In the piece Rachel Donadio relates her first visit to Venice in many years. It is a great travel piece that your Maximum Leader will commend to you. Here is a taste:

I HADN’T been back to Venice in years when I found myself there on assignment. It was November; the city’s scattered trees had begun to turn brown. The light, as always, was beyond compare and there was a watery chill in the air. I loved it immediately.

Or rather, I remembered how much I loved it. Italy can do strange things to your perspective. Memories of a place become more real than the place itself. I had lived for years with the Venice of my recollections — traveling there at 19, drinking peach iced tea in the July heat, discovering Giorgione — and then last November I was back. I was older, so was Venice.

The visit whetted my appetite, and not long afterward I returned one freezing January weekend, armed with several sweaters, boots and a well-worn copy of “Watermark,” Joseph Brodsky’s marvelous prose poem about Venice in winter, which would be my guide. It is an emotional guidebook more than a practical one, but, I would argue, just as reliable. In Venice, maps fail. As everyone knows, to be in that floating city is to be forever lost and disoriented, as if in a labyrinth.

On that November foray, I had listened to a group of American college students talking as they wandered around near the Rialto Bridge. “I don’t mind if we’re, like, lost all day,” one told his friends. “Dude,” another replied, “I don’t think we have a choice.”

Goethe could not have put it better. Venice, as he famously wrote, can be compared only to itself. So many wonderful writers have captured Venice, from Goethe to Henry James to Evelyn Waugh, that it is all the more remarkable that in 1992 Brodsky, in “Watermark,” managed to create a truly original piece of writing about this cliché-worn city.

Your Maximum Leader read “Watermark” last Christmas. It is one of the most lyrical short books he’s ever read. Brodsky could really turn a phrase and capture a moment in poetic prose. If you can, pick up a copy and read it. It will take you a short afternoon (or a long one if you savor the words).

Anyhoo… Venice is on your Maximum Leader’s mind.

You know what other Italian thing is on your Maximum Leader’s mind? No? Well let him tell you. Mara Carfagna. Yes, the beautiful and talented Minister for Equal Opportunity in the Berlusconi government. Your Maximum Leader has read over the past year that Minister Carfagna had gotten a lot of press for trying to outlaw street prostitution and provide more protection for homosexuals and victims of rape. Right around Thanksgiving in the US your Maximum Leader read that Mara Carfagna (Bella Mara as the Italian papers seem to call her) was going to resign from her position. Your Maximum Leader had read about the ongoing garbage collector strike in Naples and the growing mountains of refuse in the city; but now that crisis had real impact to him. Carfagna was going to resign over the government’s inability to resolve that situation. Your Maximum Leader was going to lament that the world’s most beautiful government minister was going to resign over garbage. Apparently, and luckily for all involved, Carfagna and Berlusconi must have worked something out because she is going to stay on (for a while at least). If you would like a little news analysis on Mara Carfagna here is a nice piece in Spiegel International called: Neither Saints Nor Whores.

Well, that is about all the Italian stuff brewing around in your Maximum Leader’s brain right now. He’ll leave the blog now and check out some college football. Today he’s rooting for the USC Gamecocks to put the smackdown on Auburn (mainly because he wants to see TCU try for the National Championship) and the Virginia Tech Hokies in the ACC championship.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader predicted back in April that his beloved Washington Nationals Baseball Club could win at least 70 games and perhaps as many as 80 games. Well… The bloom wore off that rose in mid June. The Nats started off well, but then lost their way not quite half-way through the season.

The Nationals have finished the season 69-93.

Sure that is an improvement over last season. But your Maximum Leader is a little disappointed. Through the beginning of August he’d hoped that the Nats could win 70-75 games. Frankly, if the Nationals had played the Florida Marlins like they play the rest of the NL East then they would have crested 70 wins. Playing a little better on the road against any opponent (and here your Maximum Leader is looking directly at the pathetic Baltimore Orioles) then they would have perhaps crested 75 wins.

Of course, the Nationals have shown that they are on a track that is moving them (at a glaciers pace) upward. Your Maximum Leader hopes that the Nats will do the smart thing and sign Adam Dunn now that the season is over. Dunn, while something of a defensive liability, is a big bat in a lineup that needs offense. Dunn’s presence in the lineup makes Zimmerman, Willingham, and all the others better hitters. Nats management needs to show that they are willing to pony up a little money to give us some wins now. The Nats played pretty good at home over the season. Without Dunn and the offense he brings, the Nats might start to get boring at home. When the home town fans start to go it is hard to win them back (and you have to resort to inviting Philly fans down to fill seats). Please sign Dunn now.

So, your Maximum Leader is finding himself without a team to root for in the post season. He’ll likely pull for Texas in the AL just to pull for some team out there. In the end he’s an NL man and will root for any NL team over the AL team in the World Series, but for the moment it will be Texas…

In other sporting news… Hockey season starts this week… The Washington Capitals must play hard and make the playoffs (and avoid an embarassing first round exit). Not like there is any pressure there to win…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been spend a lot of time watching and thinking about baseball and football.

On the baseball side of things, your Maximum Leader’s son, the Wee Villain, has started to play organized ball. The Wee Villain has been enjoying himself very much at practice and is looking forward to the first game (which is Saturday). In terms of his skills, he has a good and reasonably accurate throwing arm, he is a slow runner, he is still somewhat afraid of balls hit in the air coming down and hitting him, he is good at fielding grounders, and his swing is terribly aggrevating. All in all he is a middling player in his group. Your Maximum Leader believes that he’d be much better if he could improve one element of his swing. When the ball comes at him he “steps out” with his front foot. He completely opens his stance and misses the ball. The motion causes him to lose the ball visually, it messes up his swing (which otherwise would be okay) and completely takes away any power he might have in the event he made contact. Your Maximum Leader has gone so far as to lay on the ground behind the Wee Villain and hold his ankles when he swings so he can’t move his feet at all.

It is going to take more and more practice. Then again, he is six…

As far as your Maximum Leader’s beloved Washington Nationals are concerned… There is all at once so much and so little to say. Your Maximum Leader had predicted that the Nats would win 70-75 games this year. That is still a possibility, but it is a little reach. Most of the Nats’ games are against NL East opponents; and we have a pennant race in the NL East. On the good side of the equation (for Nats’ fans) is that the Nats have played NL East teams that are not the Florida Marlins very well. So well in fact that they have a winning record against the NL East (except Florida). But the Phillies are highly motivated to play well to make sure they make the playoffs and have some “mo” working for them. It will be interesting to watch as the Nats could play the role of spoiler to some team.

In other Nationals news. Your Maximum Leader believes that the team should offer Adam Dunn a 3-4 year contract and keep him. If this season has shown us anything it is that you never know what will happen with your prospects. With that in mind, give the big lug a contract and let him stick around. Sure he isn’t a great fielder (and in a perfect world he’d be a DH for an AL team - a role he’d fit exactly) but he does pop the ball and he makes Ryan Zimmerman a better hitter. Keep him for his offence says your Maximum Leader. We like Adam Dunn and we’d like to see him stay on as a Nat.

Nyjer Morgan however… Your Maximum Leader has turned on Nyjer. Last year he was fun to watch and greatly entertaining. This year he is making mental errors and being a little more belligerent than he should be. His “baseball IQ” is not as advanced as others and he probably has been working himself out of a job in DC. If Morgan winds up being traded, your Maximum Leader wouldn’t shed a tear. The Nats have plenty of talent coming up that can play outfield and likely do better at it than Morgan is now.

So that is baseball…

As for football…

Your Maximum Leader has been souring on football more and more over the years. He can actually see himself not watching it at all within a few years. The problem for him now is head injury leading to early death. He finds himself wincing at hard hits and heads snapping back in blocks and tackles. All of the research coming out about the connection between head trauma and dementia, ALS and other problems has actually scared your Maximum Leader a bit.

Of course, your Maximum Leader doesn’t play football, hasn’t played organized football and has nothing to fear from injuries he’s never sustained. But at some level now that he knows what is going on out there he doesn’t like watching it as much. It was hard to watch his (beloved) Green Bay Packers play the Philadelphia Eagles. It was hard to watch because Aaron Rodgers was getting sacked quite a bit early on. With every sack your Maximum Leader wondered if a few months were taken off Rodger’s life - or the life of the defensive player who got the sack.

Because your Maximum Leader can’t let this subject go without some sort of snarky political comment… Here tis: You know that with nationalized health care coming up they will eventually have to outlaw (or othewise prohibit) football being played like this because it is too dangerous and the public cost will be too high to bear.

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader hasn’t stopped watching football, but it is sort of hard. He can say this, the Wee Villain will never play football. EVER. That doesn’t stop others from sacraficing their sons to the allure of the gridiron… Your Maximum Leader is happy to let others do that…

All this angst aside, it was good to see the Packers win. Very good in fact. It made your Maximum Leader very happy.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been full of opinions and anxious to spew them forth into the ether of the interwebs. Sadly, this week has not been condusive to doing such. It is hard to explain just how strangely this week has in fact progressed. Very strange indeed.

Thanks to Robbo your Maximum Leader found this wonderful article by David Hart at First Things: A Perfect Game. Hart is a little over the top in some of his platonic analysis of baseball, but all in all he does capture some inchoate feelings your Maximum Leader has felt towards baseball for some time now. Robbo quoted a portion of the article near the beginning. But this one struck your Maximum Leader:

Now, of course, when I speak of baseball’s “idealism,” it is principally Platonism I have in mind: Greek rather than German idealism. But I have to admit that, as I have just described it, much of the game seems to speak not only of the finite’s power to reflect the infinite but also of a kind of fated, heroic human striving against the infinite. There are few spectacles in sport as splendid and pitiable as the batter defiantly poised before all that endless openness. We know that even the most majestic home run is as nothing in its vastness, that even the greatest hitter is a kind of Sisyphus, proudly indifferent to the divine mockery of that infinite horizon; and it is precisely this pathos that lends such moving splendor to those rare Homeric feats that linger on in our collective memory: Babe Ruth in Detroit in 1926, Frank Howard in Philadelphia in 1958, Mickey Mantle in New York in 1963, Frank Robinson in Baltimore in 1966 …

Good stuff… (NB: Although your Maximum Leader will admit that the Homeric feat of Frank Howard in 1958 is lost on his collective memory. Your Maximum Leader seems to recall that Frank Howard (of the Washington Senators) had a great home run streak in 1968 (when Hondo hit something like 13 home runs in 20 at bats). Perhaps there is some other Frank Howard tale from 1958 with which your Maximum Leader is not familiar.)

Of course this essay by Mr Hart is made more wonderful by the fact that the Washington Nationals were able to pull out a win against the Red Stockings of Cincinnati this afternoon…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader isn’t in a particularly good mood right now. Where oh where to begin?

First off, your Maximum Leader is having a tough time seeing straight. That isn’t really true. He’s having a hard time seeing. Something happened to his glasses yesterday and they are causing him to have headaches if he wears them for more than a few minutes (as opposed to every waking minute - like normal). He went by the eye doctor to check up on his prescription and perhaps get some new lenses, but the eye doctor reminded your Maximum Leader that it has been 3 years since his last visit. It hardly seemed possible. Normally your Maximum Leader goes to for an eye exam every two years, but apparently the doctor’s office forgot to call and set up an appointment. Anyhoo… Your Maximum Leader will have to muddle through tomorrow without proper corrected vision. This is a pain in the arse.

When his eyes weren’t bothering him, his beloved Washington Nationals were bothering him. Sadly, they were bothering him right in front of his very own eyes (which were seeing just fine at the time).

Your Maximum Leader stopped blogging about the Nationals a few weeks ago. Around the same time he determined that he also would not view games on TV as religiously has he had from April on. He was going to try and be more casual about his fan-dom. Guess what happened then. The Nats actually would win games that your Maximum Leader wasn’t watching on TV, and they would lose games he was watching on TV.

As you surely know, baseball is a game of rhythms and streaks and superstitions. Your Maximum Leader determined that perhaps HE was the cause of some of the Nationals’ distress on the field. If he stopped watching then they might be better. That worked for a few games here and there, but that little streak came to an end. Then came this past weekend. Your Maximum Leader loves his baseball, but he rarely goes to games on consecutive days. This past Saturday and Sunday were the first time, in a very very long time that your Maximum Leader went to games on consecutive days.

Of course the Nats lost both games against the Giants of San Francisco. (Your Maximum Leader pointed out to his children that the only World Championship of Baseball won in the City of Washington DC was won by the Washington Senators over the then-Giants of New York.) The Saturday game was a real hard one. The Nationals led for most of the game 5-0. Then they started playing sloppy and giving up hits and then runs and next thing you know, they lose 10-5. Yesterday’s game got out of hand early (with a run in the first) and it was no looking back for the Giants. The Nats lost 6-2.

Oh yeah… Not only did the Nats lose, but your Maximum Leader got a sunburn. You might have seen him getting a sunburn on the TV actually, he was sitting just a few rows beyond Ryan Zimmerman. Mrs Villain (who was not attending yesterday’s game) mentioned that she thought she saw your Maximum Leader and Villainette #2 on the TV.

So let us recap a little shall we?

Glasses have had something go wrong with them and your Maximum Leader is having trouble seeing.

Your Maximum Leader has a sunburn.

The Nationals keep losing.

That just about covers the weekend situation.

Oh yes… One more thing… Although he doesn’t know how he did it, apparently your Maximum Leader has pulled a muscle in his back and it is causing a dull, yet constant, aching.

He’ll stop bitching now and let you get back to whatever you were doing.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that it is Spain versus The Netherlands in the final of the World Cup. It should be a good match. (To the extent that soccer has good matches.)

Of course, this matchup is, in your Maximum Leader’s mind, something of a grudge match between these two ancient combatants. In a way this soccer match is going to be just another skirmish in the wars that go back to the Thirty Years War and the Dutch Revolt.

Your Maximum Leader will be rooting for the Bourbon Dynasty - since it doesn’t seem possible to root for the Hapsburgs in this one.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader mused yesterday that he should, perhaps, give up the third person blogging style he’s employed here for just shy of 7 years. Our good friends Buckethead and Polymath suggested that we not give up the third person blogging, but instead add more villainy. In the immortal paraphased words of Larry the Cable Guy, “I don’t care who you are. That there is a good idea.”

So, in the interests of pleasing both Buckethead and Polymath let’s have a little villainy.

Most of you out there know who Michael Vick is. He was the standout quarterback at Virginia Tech who was drafted (1st overall) by the Atlanta Falcons. Vick was always the most entertaining player to watch on the field on any team. He would scramble and run and keep plays alive that one was sure were dead on arrival.

Then came the dogfighting.

Vick was involved in a dogfighting ring at one of his homes in Virginia. Many of his childhood friends were implicated in the dogfighting ring as well.

Now, as a particuarly old-fashioned villain, your Maximum Leader doesn’t object in principal to bloodsport. He does watch football afterall. He prefers his bloodsport of the gladiator type, not the animal type. Your Maximum Leader is a dog man, so he is actually quite put out by dogfighting and those who support dogfighting. Vick was found guilty of the dogfighting charges brought against him and served time in prison. Your Maximum Leader would have forgone prison for him and thrown Vick in a pit with a few of the hungry and maltreated dogs he bred for fighting to see how he liked it. But the American justice system just doesn’t do things the same way as your Maximum Leader.

Well… Upon getting out of prison Vick got a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles and a very short leash from football commissioner Roger Goddell. Many people thought that Vick would be able to stay clean and behave himself.

Of course, “many people” are not your Maximum Leader.

Your Maximum Leader was pretty sure that a stint in prison and some faux contriteness (coached by Tony Dungy - a man of whom your Maximum Leader repects) hadn’t changed Vick. He was going to be in trouble again. Your Maximum Leader was sure that we’d all see Vick’s name associated with something bad fairly soon.

Well… It is good to be right. Vick is denying that he was involved in a Virginia Beach area shooting that took place at a birthday party held in his honor.

According to the piece Vick is claiming that he left the club where the party was held before the shooting took place. The shooting victim is alleged to be one of Vick’s friends who was also convicted in the dogfighting incident. Apparently video shows Vick leaving the club and heading in the direction of the shooting about 3-4 minutes before the shooting took place.

Now… Your Maximum Leader isn’t going to hold Michael Vick up as an example of villainous behaviour. Vick is at best a talented henchman. To use a Shakespearian turn of phrase, Vick should be a pack-horse in the affairs of a great villain. To give you all the villainous breakdown of the best possible explanation of this incident… Vick needs a clean break with the past. He needs all the hangers-on and old posse members to disappear. But at the same time he needs some credibility on the street. He needs a repuatation. If he played his cards right (which your Maximum Leader doubts by the by) he was able to “convince” some wanna-be hanger-on that the former associate needed to be “dealt with.” The wanna-be took the hint and waited until Vick conveniently left the club do “deal with” the former associate.

From a villainous perspective, this is amateurish. If Vick really wanted to have this go down better he should have taken a page from history… He should have followed the example of Henry II of England… This is how it should have gone down. Vick should have been having a quiet get-together many miles away and days removed from the scene of the crime. At this quiet get-together Vick should have flown alternately into a rage and then into distraught anxiety all the while declaring that his former associate was the root of his emotional problems. Then he could muse aloud, “Oh if only something would happen that could rid me of this terrible problem I have.” At this point the wanna-be (who should have been carefully pre-screened for having a murderous temperament, lack of self-control, and shown a penchant for bad judgement - but no prior criminal record) would get a clue and later run off and do what needed to be done.

Sadly, Vick is just a thug and has no sense of history, drama or even self-preservation. Vick wouldn’t make the cut as a second-tier thug for your Maximum Leader…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that his good friend Robbo was able to take in the Nationals/Royals game last night at Nats Park. What a game it was! Your Maximum Leader feared (feared greatly indeed) that Matt Capps was going to blow it at the end. Thank goodness he did not.

That means that Nationals phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg will start tonight with a chance for the Nationals to sweep the (mostly hapless) Royals.

Your Maximum Leader has decided to indulge himself… He’s going to the game this afternoon. Not only that… He’s sitting in one of them fancy boxes. That means he’ll have access to special food and drink. But most importantly, he’ll not have to be too concerned about any thunderstorms that might pass through. He will also have air-conditioning.

Woo-hoo!

Go Nats!

NB to Robbo: Google search results seem to show that Charles Caleb Colton said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I didn’t know myself…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has two quick sports related items this morning.

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks! The Hawks have won their first Stanley Cup since 1961. Since your Maximum Leader has a pathological hatred of Philly sports teams, he is very happy by this outcome. He watched the 3rd period and the OT last night. (He was true to his pledge to not watch any hockey games except for the Stanley Cup finals after the Caps went out. He watched game 1, 2, 4 and part of last night’s game.)

It is good from time to time to have an original six team win it all. (Unless that original six team is in the East, like Montreal, Boston or NYR.)

The second item is baseball related (of course).

As good as Strasburg’s game was the night before, last night’s game between the Pirates and the Nationals was tough to watch. So much sloppy play. Sure the Nats won (and we’ll take all the wins we can get); but it wasn’t fun to watch. Your Maximum Leader was sure that John Lannan was going to be pulled as early as the 4th inning. You know, your Maximum Leader hopes that John Lannan can relax a little and work on being the best pitcher he can possibly be. He has been “the Ace” for the Nats for the past two years. On most top-tier baseball clubs Lannan would be a number 3 starter. He’s had piles of pressure on him. We can hope that the pressure on him will be less now and he can focus on his game and doing what he does best (which is not getting Ks but getting guys to ground out).

So once again… Congrats Blackhawks and citizens of Chicago! Citizens of Natstown, continue to support your team on days when Strasburg isn’t pitching…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is impressed. Stephen Strasburg was really THAT good last night.

Your Maximum Leader watched one of Strasburg’s starts at AAA and felt he was really ready for the big show. But there was still a nagging thought in his mind that once Strasburg started facing all big league batters you might see a crack in his game.

Well… So far no cracks in Strasburg’s game.

Your Maximum Leader wasn’t too far off in his predictions. Nats did win. Strasburg got the win. And Strasburg’s ERA was 2.57 and not 3.1X. Your Maximum Leader didn’t believe that Strasburg was going to pitch a perfect game (or a no hitter even) in his first outing.

Strasburg struck out 14. He didn’t walk anyone (that was a feat that deserves a little more praise). His movement to the plate is short and quick. A little statistic people aren’t mentioning but should. That game last night was 2 hours and 20 minutes long. If it hadn’t been for commericals your Maximum Leader bets it would have been under 2 hours. It was a great start to what your Maximum Leader hopes will be a long and distinguished career (most of it in Washington).

All in all Nationals fans have a lot to be excited about. If Strasburg can pitch like this every fifth night, and if Drew Storen is able to move into that starting rotation soon; then the Nats will have two dominating pitchers and a good chance to pull out wins in 2/5th of their games.

If your Maximum Leader has been tenative up to now he isn’t anymore. That Strasburg kid can really pitch good. (NB: Your Maximum Leader isn’t ready to annoint him the second coming of Walter Johnson yet, but he understands the comparisons better now.)

Go Nats!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader imagines that you’ve heard the baseball news out of Washington by now. (That is unless you willfully don’t listen to sports news or you live under a rock.) Pitchining phenom Stephen Strasburg is set to debut tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Nationals Park.

Yes, your Maximum Leader has high hopes for Strasburg. He believes that with a little time and maturity he’ll be a great pitcher. He’s not sure that Strasburg is the second coming of Walter Johnson or anything; but he should be really good.

That is he should be really good in another year or so…

Your Maximum Leader isn’t imagining a near-perfect outing for Strasburg tonight. He imagines that the jitters, anxiety and high expectations of a city wanting a winner will have an effect on the young man in his first MLB start.

Prediction?

Nats beat Pirates. Strasburg earns first win but ends with 3.1X ERA.

Go Nats!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is upset by the blown call in last night’s Cleveland Indians v Detroit Tigers baseball game. He’s sure you’ve seen the blown call by now. Your Maximum Leader was watching the Nats v Astros game when he got the call from his brother-in-law about what had happened. Your Maximum Leader went and switched to MLB network and saw what was going on from that point.

Your Maximum Leader really does feel awful for Armando Galarraga. Everyone knows it was a bad call. Them are the breaks sometimes.

Of course what this will lead to will doom the game of baseball forever…

First off Bud Selig (baseball’s big stupid idiot commissioner) will likely “feel bad” about the whole thing and will order the game recorded as a “Perfect Game” in the record books with an asterisk or something.

Then they will start on the replays… There will be instant replay in baseball in the next few years. It started with the replays for home run calls. Next season they will have challenges and a “booth official” to review base-running calls. Then you will have computers that sense balls and strikes on every pitch…

The up-side of all of this will be that there will never be a blown call again… The downside… Games will only last about 5 hours…

Your Maximum Leader should admit that he’s grown tolerant of replays for close home run calls. But he is still piping-hot angry about interleague play and all the stupid changes to the All-Star game.

Ugh.

Carry on.