Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that Alexander Ovechkin (of your Maximum Leader’s much loved Washington Capitals) scored his 50th goal of the season last night. That makes three seasons in a row of 50+ goals scored.

Alexander Ovechkin is the most exciting player to watch in hockey right now. It is certainly possible that by the end of his career Ovechkin will hold many of the myriad records currently held by The Great One himself.

So after his 50th goal last night Ovi did a little show. Here it is:

Not his normal celebration. He just put his stick on the ice and pretended like it was too hot to handle.

Your Maximum Leader can’t decide if this celebration crosses a line he doesn’t like to see crossed or not. Your Maximum Leader can’t stand showboating receivers and running backs in the NFL and their victory dances. If he had his way showboating after a touchdown in the NFL would result in the other team just getting the ball immediately at mid-field without an ensuing kickoff. So, you can see his feelings about this are rather strong.

Most of the time Ovi’s celebrations are more done out of exhuberance than anything else. Your Maximum Leader appreciates how hard it is to score in hockey and doesn’t begrudge a little celebrating to any player. But the premediated staged show of this celebration seemed to be a bit much - in retrospect.

Is it possible that your Maximum Leader is becoming Don Cherry in his older age?

Cherry sported some good looks once upon a time…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has just filled out his form committing to purchase Washington Capitals playoff tickets. He hopes taking this step hasn’t turned out to be some weird jinx-y thing.

Mrs Villain doesn’t approve of the expenditure, but she is holding her tounge as she knows how much it means to your Maximum Leader and the Villainettes.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader enjoyed the big game last night. He didn’t really have a dog in the fight so he can’t say as he is displeased (or pleased) with the outcome. Mrs Villain was rooting hard to Arizona (liking underdogs as she sometimes does). The Villainettes were rooting hard for Pittsburgh (as some of their best friends are Steelers fans). Your Maximum Leader was busying thinking about Danica Patrick when the game wasn’t on.

Congrats to the Steelers and their fans. Now it is time to start thinking about next year and a fourth ring for the Packers.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader must concur with FLG’s positive assessment of this video.

Very cool indeed.

Carry on.

Greetings. loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been hoping against hope for something… He’s not wanted to blog about it for fear that he could “jinx” it.

What is “it?”

It is Mark Teixeira possibly coming to play for the Nationals.

It looks like Baltimore is out of the running. According to ESPN the Angels and Red Sawx are also in the running for Teixeira. That means he will go to Boston or LA (or Anaheim or where ever the Angels are from nowadays).

But the fact that the Nats are still in the mix is cause for irrational hope.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is a Green Bay Packers fan - as longtime readers know. He became a Packers fan out of a great contrarian streak. You see, if you grow up in the Washington DC area (and don’t have strong family influences to the contrary) you are going to be a Redskins fan. If you have a run-of-the-mill-milquetoasty contrarian streak, you will become a Dallas Cowboys fan.

(Excursus: Your Maximum Leader believes that Washingtonians who become Dallas fans to “stick it to the Redskins” are just idiots. Wooo… You’re soooo original. Cowboys vs Indians. Oh yeah… It was almost too subtle to get… Stupid fucks…)

Anyhoo…

You have to have a great contrarian streak to pick a team (that in the late 1970s and early 1980s) sucked terribly…

But your Maximum Leader digresses…

The Washington Redskins have a colorful and interesting history. It was made more colorful and interesting by Sammy Baugh. Slingin’ Sammy Baugh as he was known played from 1937 to 1952. He practically invented the forward pass. He also played both ways. He was an inagural member of the Football Hall of Fame. From the Washington Post Obit:

After starring at TCU, “Slingin’ Sammy” played with the Redskins from 1937 to 1952, leading them to the NFL title in his rookie season and again in 1942.

Baugh was the best all-around player in an era when such versatility was essential. In 1943, he led the league in passing, punting and defensive interceptions. In one game, he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four as well. He threw six touchdowns passes in a game twice. His 51.4-yard punting average in 1940 is still the NFL record.

Your Maximum Leader saw Sammy Baugh at a Redskins game years ago. He remembers seeing Baugh on various sports shows (with George Michael) from time to time. He seemed like a good guy (who could curse a blue streak and drink you under the table).

He was 94 years old.

RIP - Sammy Baugh.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader enjoyed watching the Washington Capitals hockey team beat the New York Islanders last night in HD on tee-vee. He sat and watched the game with the Wee Villain. (The Wee Villain only watched until his bedtime.)

It looked a little dicey for the Caps until Donald Brashear’s goal. Your Maximum Leader was fearing that the Caps losing streak would extend to three games. He is glad it didn’t happen.

Your Maximum Leader especially likes it when the Caps can beat the Islanders. Your Maximum Leader regularly refers to the Islanders as the I-holes. Your Maximum Leader remembers the I-holes beating up on the Caps every time they came to town back in the late-70s and early 80s. He remembers their annoying fans too. It is nice to get a little 20-years in the making revenge.

Did you happen to see Thomas Boswell’s peice on the Caps yesterday? If you are a Washington sports fan you should. The Caps are the best show in town right now. Your Maximum Leader hopes that they will remain so for a while…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader asks rhetorically, “Does the final 2.5 innings of Game 5 of the World Series have to be played in Philadelphia?” Couldn’t you move it down the road to Washington?

It might be your Maximum Leader’s only chance to see a World Series championship awarded in DC…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader’s younger daughter came into his office today holding a manila envelope. She was grinning from ear to ear.

Your Maximum Leader got his Washington Capitals tickets today. (Partial season ticket plan…)

And then he learned that Alex Ovechkin wasn’t going to be in the lineup tonight as he is in Russia visiting his ailing grandfather. Your Maximum Leader hopes for Ovie’s grandfather’s recovery.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was too busy celebrating Trafalgar Day yesterday to have time to post anything… Here is some ADD-style commentary for you all…

In a comment to an earlier post, minion Huck Foley indicated that he was not going to be voting for Mark Warner in the VA Senate race because he didn’t want to contribute to a fillibuster-proof Democrat majority in the US Senate after the election. Actually, your Maximum Leader has thought of that very point in considering his vote. Indeed, that very reason is the only one he can think of to pull the trigger for Jim Gilmore. Alas, the Warner/Gilmore race isn’t even close, so it doesn’t make much of a difference. Your Maximum Leader is still planning on voting for Warner - but he might yet change his mind.

All these polls showing Obama with wide leads over McCain tend to be polls of “registered voters.” Your Maximum Leader is no pollster but he has always been of the mind that “registered” is not as good as “likely.” Polls of “likely” voters are much closer. He thinks these polls will tighten up some. He believes that Obama probably is not doing as well in Pennsylvania and Ohio as many people think. But in the end, he believes that Obama is going to win in a few days.

Your Maximum Leader still can’t decide on which team in the World Series to root for. Would you like to buy your Maximum Leader’s powerful ju-ju as a fairweather fan? He’s open to solicitations for temporary fandom.

Lastly, your Maximum Leader is all excited because he is going to get a short visit at the Villainschloss from the Smallholder this weekend. Your Maximum Leader will have to stock up on beer and snacks. Perhaps we’ll have a Bruce Campbell film-fest!

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had a full day yesterday. One that required lots of driving around and socializing. It was a great day in fact. (NB to Kevin: Sorry for being a schmuck and not sticking around longer to help out tidy things up - especially in light of the length of your later absence.) But on the down-side of the day, your Maximum Leader didn’t get to see any football on TV. Neither did he watch “Meet the Press” in the morning.

So… Colin Powell endorsing Obama. Well… Your Maximum Leader can’t say that he predicted this, because he didn’t. Is he surprised… Well… A little. He thought that Powell might have just kept his thoughts to himself. But, he didn’t. Is this a big blow to John McCain? Not exactly. On the balance these endorsements don’t amount to much. Powell’s might carry a little more weight than most, but still that isn’t all that much. Is your Maximum Leader disappointed in Powell’s endorsement? Sure he is. Is it going to change his vote (or the votes of others who have already determined to vote one way or the other). Might the Powell endorsement sway an “undecided” voter? Possibly. Of course if you are still undecided right now it is likely that you are both stupid and easily swayed by the last person you spoke with. So you will keep on being undecided for a few more weeks…

At this point your Maximum Leader is expecting an Obama victory on November 4th. He will be sad for John McCain for a little bit… But then he’ll move on to being filled with black-hearted glee at an Obama presidency. Many prominent persons (Colin Powell & Christopher Buckley) and institutions (the Washington Post) have endorsed Barack Obama because of the potential he brings for change. The common theme of the endorsements are that he is new and fresh and can be a change agent. (The other common theme of the endoresments is that “Obama isn’t a typical liberal Democrat. Read his books and you’ll see.” (NB to Smallholder: Hummm….) Of course, the undercurrent of that line of thinking is that basically Obama is lying about what he will do upon becoming president. You should take a moment and read Skippy’s take on this.

As your Maximum Leader wrote back in February, he believes that an Obama presidency will be four years of soul-crushing for those who believe he can bring change to Washington and the nation. The nature of Washington, coupled with all the various crises facing the nation right now will not be terribly accomodating to a program of change put forth by a (prospective) Obama administration. Indeed it is going to be very nasty and messy.

In fact, your Maximum Leader is dismayed by our immediate future prospects regardless of who wins the Presidency. It hasn’t gotten to the point where he fears for his children’s future… But it is pretty bad…

Of course, the election hasn’t yet occured and anything is possible. Some polls say the race is “tightening.” Some polls say that Obama is widening his lead. Your Maximum Leader can only speak for what he sees and hears around him. Virginia seems rather evenly divided right now. That is a very bad thing for John McCain. There are going to be a lot of ticket splitters here. This is to say that these people will vote for John McCain for President and Mark Warner for Senate. To be honest, your Maximum Leader will likely be one of these. McCain should be far ahead now in Virginia. But Obama’s huge amount of money is keeping him in the race here and keeping volunteers in the streets. It is coming down to turnout. Your Maximum Leader suspects that it will come down to turnout and legal challenges in lots of areas. The prospect of lots of legal challenges fills your Maximum Leader with dismay. But, it is what our republic has come down to.

In other news…

Your Maximum Leader had written off the Tampa Bay Rays after their Game 5 debacle in Boston. But they have come back and won the game they needed to and are going to the World Series. (So we can see that your Maximum Leader’s predictions are worth crap.) Now it is a Phillies/Rays series. This is a difficult choice in terms of choosing for whom to root. Your Maximum Leader can’t really abide by the Phillies, but he is a National League type of guy. The Rays could be one of those “teams of destiny.” But he just can’t get excited about Florida teams in any sport… Mrs Villain has already declared that she will not watch the World Series because she can’t stand either team. Your Maximum Leader loves his baseball so he wants to watch… But he just doesn’t like either team…

As you can tell… Things are going just swimmingly here this morning…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader turned in last night with the Tampa Bay Rays up 5-0 at the close of the 5th inning. He thought the Sawx were done.

Well… Obviously the Citgo sign bad ju ju wasn’t all that bad.

Sawx win.

If you want to read some painful stuff… Try out Thomas Boswell’s column today.

Or even better… Try this one from Tampa Bay Online.

Ouch.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader became a hockey fan early. As he’s surely noted here before, he became a hockey fan long before he became a baseball or football fan. He became a fan because he could go to games when he was young. The Capitals were so bad that he had easy access to cheap tickets. He bonded with the franchise. He’s been a Caps fan ever since.

This is not to say that he’s always been a hockey fan. Over the years the sport appears to have done just about everything it could to implode. He would watch finals games on tv. If there was nothing else on - he’d watch the Caps.

That started to change the year before last. Then last year you Maximum Leader got pumped up again about the team.

This year he bought a partial season ticket plan.

He is on the bandwagon.

One of the key reasons for his change of heart is Alexander Ovechkin. If you haven’t seen Ovie play, you have missed the most entertaining and exciting player that the NHL has to offer. Your Maximum Leader hasn’t seen a player stir up this much excitement since Wayne Gretzky used to come to town (with Edmonton).

You should take a moment to read the good piece on Ovie that ESPN has put up. Alexander Ovechkin: The Puck stops here. A taste:

Ovechkin’s transformation of Washington has been remarkable because DC puckheads are not accustomed to voting with their wallets. “Let’s be honest,” says Caps legend Peter Bondra. “Washington is not Hockeytown.” No wonder: When it first joined the league in 1974-75, it finished 8—67—5 with a 1—39 road record. Rod Langway, one of only four Caps Hall of Famers, arrived in 1982 from Montreal, where, he says, “18,000 people knew my entire life.” In DC, he adds, “it took two years for people to know me.”

Now, a Russian has turned the Verizon Center into a hockey mecca. During the playoffs, media from as far away as Edmonton and Europe were regulars at morning skates. Ovechkin has even reached across the sports aisle to appeal to the bases of other teams. “Alex has the confidence of the fans and the city,” says Hoyas hoops coach John Thompson III. “He has enthusiasm and cares about what he’s doing. He’s gonna make us win games.” Note the use of the word us. The Caps have Capitalized on Ovechkin’s dedication to a Washington rarity: trust.

Your Maximum Leader is excited. He is excited about the Caps in a way he hasn’t been since the trip to the Cup finals a decade ago. (In fact, he is more excited now because in the cup run you got the feeling that the Wings couldnt’ be stopped. And in fact they could not be stopped.)

If you didn’t see the Caps come back from a 0-3 deficit to win against the Penguins last night, you missed some great hockey. He hopes to see a lot more great hockey this season.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader reads that the famous Citgo sign outside Fenway Park caught fire earlier today.

That can’t bode well for the Sawx tonight…

BTW, Sawx behind 2-0 right now in 2nd Inning.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader would like to bring to your attention a number of things that are just wrong.

Number 1: Game Six of the World Series will be delayed by a paid advertisement from Barack Obama. (If the game is required,) It will be delayed by 15 minutes. Senator Obama is buying 30 minutes of prime time to deliver a “longform” speech to the American people. Your Maximum Leader is offended by this. He is offended when any sporting event is pre-empted by something sort of a serious national crisis. While some of your Maximum Leader’s Obama supporters readers might be tempted to say that we are in a serious national crisis… Listen… Your Maximum Leader means SERIOUS. If a speech can be scheduled in advance it is not SERIOUS. Just have Senator Obama start earlier. Damnation.

Number 2: American gluttony. Apparently some guy ate a 15 pound burger (with an additional 5 pounds of fixins’ and bun) in under 5 hours. This just seems wrong.

Number 3: Irish bookies paying out bets made for an Obama victory - now. Great jeezey chreezey! What the hell is going on in the world that bookies are paying out bets made on the outcome of an event that has not yet occured?!? This violates so many different rules it leaves your Maximum Leader just gobsmacked. Let it be known that this would never occur in the Mike World Order. Never.

Number 4: Palin lookalike strippers to strut stuff. What is wrong with this you might ask? Well… Doctrinal issues aside… This event will take place and your Maximum Leader will likely forget to look for photos on the internet to see how it went…

Carry on.