Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that so much is going on in the world of sports. Of course, none of these goings on seem to benefit any team that your Maximum Leader cares much about…

In baseball, the trade deadline has passed and his beloved Nationals have done nothing to better themselves. On the one hand it is understandable. They are 21 games out of first place in the NL East. That pretty much makes this season a moot one. But one (okay… Your Maximum Leader is the one) could have hoped that they might do something to bring a little offence to town. Or they could have decided not to trade away their (defacto) closer to Arizona. The Nats games get harder and harder to watch, but your Maximum Leader continues to suffer through in the hopes that the Nats can be a spoiler in the NL East race. Since the race is down to the Mets, Phillies and Marlins the winner of the division will likely be decided by which team can beat the Nats more during the stretch. Your Maximum Leader will hope that the Nats show some signs of life and don’t just roll over and die (any more than they already have).

In other baseball news… Manny to the Dodgers. Jason Bay to the Sawx. Wow. Didn’t see that one coming until it happened. Manny had grown tired of Boston - and Boston had grown weary of him. It makes sense really. Manny didn’t want Boston to exercise their options to keep him (so that he could get a bigger deal from someone else). But to do it in the classless way the Manny did it is sad. One hopes that teams would shy away from someone who could basically give up on his team to make a point. But, since Manny is someone who can produce when he wants to, someone will pay him. The Sawx have probably made out pretty well by getting Bay.

In more baseball news… Have you seen those LA Angels play. They just seem to be putting the smackdown on everyone. First the Sawx. Now the Yankees. Eeee! They are looking pretty damned strong right now. One wonders if they can keep it up down the stretch.

And finally… Your Maximum Leader is a Green Bay Packers fan. He is also a huge Brett Favre fan. But now the story is getting on his nerves. Your Maximum Leader hopes that Favre will stay retired. If he does not, the Packers should try and trade him to an AFC team - or at least a non-NFC North team. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure what the hell Brett is thinking when he seems to want to go to Minnesota. You can’t go giving the Vikings a QB when they are a division rival. That is plain ole stupid. At this point, your Maximum Leader just hope the whole thing will just go away…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is one tired guy. He’s been dog sitting and niece/nephew sitting recently. Five kids and two dogs in the ole Villainschloss. That is a handful of domestic responsibility.

To make matters more interesting… The Villainschloss sprang a small roof leak (which we believe was just fixed last night with some roofing caulk), the garbage disposal in the primary kitchen died, and the lovely Mrs Villain has decided to start painting the basement.

Oh… Did your Maximum Leader mention that the cable box/DVR apparently shorted out last night too?

So, your Maximum Leader is taking his own little All-star break. He may, or may not, blog further this week. Check this space for new posts.

Oh… Your Maximum Leader does have a second TV with basic cable - so he was able to watch the Home Run Derby last night. He was sure as Josh Hamilton was going on his first round tear that someone else was going to win the derby. Hamilton blew his wad too early and just didn’t have it in him at the end.

Another Home Run Derby observation… Your Maximum Leader knew all the National League players in the Derby, and most of the American League players as well (being a National League man that is no surprise). But he was disappointed in how many “stars” did not participate in the Derby. Has this All-Star ritual lost its luster? He would have liked to have seen Manny Ramirez, or Junior Griffey out there swinging for the fences…

Go National League! Show those American Leaguers who’s boss…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader loves his baseball. Not only that, he has thrown himself - heart and soul - into his (reborn) hometown team, the Washington Nationals.

Your Maximum Leader lives about 50 miles from the Nats ballpark. The drive, coupled with the cost of tickets and time, limit the number of games to which your Maximum Leader can truck himself (and family). If he lived closer to a Metro station (as opposed to about 30 miles from one) he would likely buy cheap seats and see more games. Indeed, if that were the case, he’d likely buy a partial season ticket plan.

All that talk about going to games aside, your Maximum Leader does watch just about every Nats game on TV. In fact, Mrs Villain, Villainettes 1 & 2 and the Wee Villain also watch the games. (Okay, the Villainettes and Wee Villain don’t watch in rapt attention, but they drift in and out. Mrs Villain can’t just sit down and watch any tv - so she always has something else handy while watching.) That is a lot of baseball on TV. If you wanted to count ESPN games that would be even more baseball on TV.

Well imagine your Maximum Leader’s dismay when he read yesterday that on average about 9,000 households watch Nats games on TV. Out of a metropolitan area with 5.5 million people (5,500,000 for those of you who like numbers written out) a meagre 9,000 watch the Nats on TV.

Your Maximum Leader wonders how Nielsen gets their numbers. But he doesn’t doubt that the number is accurate. Other than Robbo, and one other friend, your Maximum Leader must admit that he doesn’t know anyone who watches the Nats on TV. (So now your Maximum Leader can account for three households - only 8,997 more households to go…)

Your Maximum Leader finds that he agrees with the dismay expressed so well by Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post. Your Maximum Leader believes you should click through and read Boswell’s piece if you are interested. Here is one bit with which your Maximum Leader particularly agrees:

Perhaps the Nats’ TV malady may impact the Lerner family as well. Will the Nats’ owners feel a warm fire being lit under their feet over the next three weeks as they consider whether to make trades that add, rather than subtract, talent and payroll from their major league roster before the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

If it’s true that you could fit every Nats TV viewer into the team’s upper deck — with room to spare — perhaps there’s a frightening future in that stark stat. Can the franchise risk alienating the affections of a city that, just three years ago, rejoiced when the Nats were in first place at the all-star break and the darlings of the entire sport? Washington actually tasted the summer joy that attends a mere wild-card race, even when you don’t make the playoffs. That whiff of success makes the current 102-loss pace more bitter.

Frightening indeed. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t want to regret dissing the Braves if Washington loses their franchise because it withered on the vine…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had to heartily agree with his lovely and intelligent daughter, Villainette #1 who declared yesterday evening around the bottom of the 8th inning of the Nats/Angels contest, “Gosh! Our boys are very disappointing.”

Yes… Those Nats are very disappointing. As your Maximum Leader types these words, his beloved Nats are down 8-3 to the Angels of Anaheim in the top of the 8th inning.

Villainette #1 was wondering aloud tonight (while watching them spot the Angels 6 - count ‘em six - runs in the top of the first inning) why exactly we root (root, root) for the Nationals when they are so bad. Your Maximum Leader explained to his offspring that we root (root, root) for the Nationals because they are our hometown team, they are in the National League, and that suffering in this lifetime will reap a heavenly reward. She bought the explanation up until he hit the heavenly reward bit…

Regardless of the Nat’s poor performance of late, your Maximum Leader has gone ahead and bought tickets to this Sunday’s Nationals/Orioles game… He hope his Nats can eek out a win on Sunday.

While your Maximum Leader is just going on about the Nats… Your Maximum Leader will encourage his team to just spend a little money and get a good “high profile” batter to spice things up a little. Give people a little more to root for. Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes just aren’t enough. And as much as your Maximum Leader loves Dimitri Young (and he does root for Dimitri Young very much), his best years as a player are behind him… Your Maximum Leader encourages Jim Bowden, Stan Kasten, and the whole Lerner family to just splurge a little and get the fans someone fun and exciting to watch. You’ve got some money to spend (at least we hope you do). If you spend a little money now (and go against the “grand plan” of building the team through scouting and the minors) you might put more butts in the seats and make a little more money. 20,000 fans a game at the new ballpark is hardly praiseworthy.

Anyhow… Your Maximum Leader will go back to watching the game now. And he hopes that a little more suffering watching his Nats lose so badly will earn him a little credit in the ledger of life.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been listening to the the Nationals/Cardinals game going on now (it is about 9pm now). This is the second game of a doubleheader (caused by a rainout yesterday).

The Nats appear to be blowing a (once) six run lead. The game is now Cards 6 - Nats 8. But it seems that the “mo” (as in momentum people…) is now with the Cards…

Will turn off computer and watch game now…

If the Nats blow this…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been without internet at the Villainschloss quite a bit of late. Bad thunderstorms through the area have been wrecking havoc on power and telecom grids…

Imagine your Maximum Leader’s chagrin when the power went out at the Villainschloss just about 40 seconds into the first period of last night’s decisive Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. Since it was later and nearly time for the wee Villain and Villainettes to go to bed, your Maximum Leader didn’t fire up the back-up generator. As power was restored about 2am, he missed the game. He saw highlights… A poor substitute, but better than a sharp stick to the eye.

Congrats to the Detroit Red Wings, and their fans. Your Maximum Leader doffs his bejeweled floppy cap in your direction.

Also allow him to add this… Fear not Penguin fans… Your boys are maturing and they will hoist Lord Stanley’s cup a few times before their time is done.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees in the Washington Post today that the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association has made a greviously bad recommendation. Wanna know what that recommendation is?

The sportsmanship committee of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association recommended banning fans with bare or painted chests from indoor games last month. The proposal will take effect if a committee of state athletic directors OKs it next week and the association’s Board of Control approves it June 19.
“People say, ‘Hey, we are attempting to take the fun out of high school sports.’ That isn’t the intention at all,” Tom Shafranski, assistant director of the association, said Thursday.

Au contraire mon frere. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association is trying to take the fun out of high school sports. You can read the whole piece here.

Your Maximum Leader is of two minds when it comes to topless fans. These topless fans are okay:

This topless fan… Not so okay…

Your Maximum Leader believes his position here is clear…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had a choice… Blog or watch Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. He figured that the game would be decided quickly and he could do both.

Boy was he wrong.

Now he is a bleary-eyed Maximum Leader who stayed up way past his bedtime. Sadly, your Maximum Leader actually dozed off for a moment and missed the game winning goal by Peter Sykora. He saw the replay right after it happened. But the live broadcast was missed.

Now he will likely be grumpy all day.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had a great Memorial Day weekend. Although he forgot to put any sort of thank you message up, please know that your Maximum Leader is very thankful for the service given to our grand republic by our soliders, sailors and Marines (past and present). He particularly gives a big shout out to his cousins Karen and Cindy. Both are Colonels in the US Army. Karen is currently in Iraq. Cindy is between assignments overseas. Our whole family (and by extension our nation) are better for their service.

In other news…

Your Maximum Leader and his best buddy (his brother really) Kevin spent just a little time this weekend. Damning gas prices to hell, your Maximum Leader drove to Northern Virginia and picked up Kevin and returned him to the Villainschloss. There we enjoyed some sandwiches in the company of your Maximum Leader’s brood. Then Kevin and your Maximum Leader went and saw “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Your Maximum Leader went to the film with two thoughts. The first was that it would be good to “recapture a bit of youth” with Kevin. It was with Kevin that your Maximum Leader saw the first three Indiana Jones movies. So that was going to be good. The second thought was that the film couldn’t be all that good - so it was best to approach with lowered expectations.

Indeed, your Maximum Leader fully expected IJ&TKOTCS to suck big time. And in fact it did not suck big time. Sadly, it wasn’t all that either. If you expected it to suck big time - then you came away slightly impressed. Your Maximum Leader thought the story was a hodgepodge of charactatures of 50’s “B” movies. The dialogue was campy and forced. And even the special effects (where one would expect the film to shine) were just okay. Karen Allen’s role was merely ornamental - which was sad. And Shia LeBoeuf has a silly girl’s name.

The best that can be said of this film is that in 20 years some 13 year old kid might really enjoy it on a rainy Saturday morning on TV. That is assuming that there is TV 20 years from now and 13 year old kids might watch it.

Your Maximum Leader belives that this past Saturday is the only time he will ever see IJ&TKOTCS. (It is possible that at some point in the future your Maximum Leader might see the movie on TV and stop his incessant channel surfing to watch for a few minutes.)

Anyhoo…

It was very good to see Kevin. Your Maximum Leader is happy that Kevin is on the road fulfilling his wish to walk across America exploring themes of religous diversity around this nation. Kevin is now in Blaine, Washington at the beginning of his journey. Your Maximum Leader prays for Kevin’s safety and good fortune on the road. Fare thee well Kevin. I look forward to welcoming you home after a great journey.

And lastly…

Villainette #1 must be the lucky charm for the Washington Nationals. This past Sunday, your Maximum Leader and his eldest child went to the Nats/Brew Crew matinee. This was, perhaps, the 9th or 10th Nats game Villainette #1 has been to see in person. In all those games, she’s never seen the Nats lose. Your Maximum Leader was sure by the middle of the 9th inning on Sunday that his daughter’s luck was going to change. The Nats were down and it wasn’t looking good. Then all of a sudden they got men on base, men were batted over, and Elijah Dukes scored the winning run on a wild pitch. It was incredible. Then when it was all over, your Maximum Leader and his daughter went down on to the field (and she ran the bases - along with a few hundred other kids…). It was a great Sunday afternoon.

Except for one thing…

This is the “lessons learnt” part of the post…

Your Maximum Leader put some sunscreen on his arms and neck and face… He forgot to put sunscreen on his legs. Now his knees (and pretty much only his knees) are so damned sunburnt that it is painful to do just about everything involving movement of his legs. Indeed, the sunburn on one side (the right) is so bad that it seems as though it is actually swelling.

Lesson is - wear sunscreen.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been enjoying baseball and hockey of late. Lots of baseball in fact. Is there anything better than sitting (laying) on your comfy sofa and watching your team play a friendly game of baseball while enjoying the company of your family? Well… Yes there is… That is actually attending a game…

Your Maximum Leader went out to the new Nats ballpark last Tuesday night to see his beloved Nationals fall to the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 in what was a rather compelling pitching duel. Allow your Maximum Leader to share with you a few of his thoughts on his experience…

First off, it was your Maximum Leader’s first trip to the new park. Nats park is great. The sightlines are great from everywhere. He was sitting in section 129 for the game (about 10 rows behind the Nats dugout). But he went up and visited with some friends sitting in section 318 on the upper deck. Those seats had a lot going for them. You could still see the game really well, and you could look out of the park and see the Capitol dome and Washington Monument. In some ways, your Maximum Leader prefered those seats. Of course, they are considerably cheaper - and that is a plus. And sitting up on the upper deck gave you more of a feeling of being part of the crowd and experience. On the proverbial other hand, the good seats are damned good. You can’t see anything outside of the park, but then again you are there for the game. The good seats seem to have much better access to food and concessions. Those are plusses.

As for the food and concessions… Your Maximum Leader didn’t partake of most of the “local favorites” available in the park. He did buy some Giffords Ice Cream - which was great. But he did not go to “Bens Chili Bowl.” There does seem to be a tremendous variety of food and drink available (at greatly inflated prices). Lines at all the concessions stands moved quickly and efficiently. The bathrooms were as clean as you could expect them to be (it is a stadium afterall). All in all the experience was very good.

Very good.

Not quite excellent.

Let your Maximum Leader be frank. The new Nats ballpark has a lot to commend it. If you exclude Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, for their historic character, how does the new Nats park compare to other newer parks? Alas, your Maximum Leader hasn’t visited many of the parks he’d like to go to in order to make a fair comparison. He’s seen games at Shea and Tampa, and the Nats park is much nicer than either of those. But Shea will be gone next year. He’s seen games at a number of other ballparks that are now gone (in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Seattle, San Francisico and Cincinnati). The Nats park is better than those deceased parks. The Nats park is at least as good as Turner Field in Atlanta. But what gets your Maximum Leader’s goat is that the Nats park might not be as nice as Camden Yard in Baltimore. Perhaps it is the glass and limestone at the Nats park instead of the brick and iron at Camden Yard. Perhaps it is the warehouse at Camden Yard. Perhaps it is that little picnic area in left field at Camden Yard where you can buy (a horribly overpriced) crab feast. But the Nats park doesn’t give your Maximum Leader the same feeling as Camden Yard. From a purely architectural sense, Camden Yard fits it surroundings and its city well. Nationals Park seems like it was placed in a neighborhood. Admittedly there isn’t really a predominant architectural style to Washington DC. That statement isn’t fully true, we do have roman revival or 30s totalitarian gothic. But it was unlikely that the new ballpark was going to be designed to look like the Flavian Amphitheatre or the Nuremburg Olympic Stadium. Your Maximum Leader hopes that the neighborhood around the Nats park will grow up and develop a character that improves the look and feel of the park. It is likely to happen - but it will be some time off…

By the way… Your Maximum Leader and Villainette #1 will be back in section 129 on Sunday to watch the Nats take on the Brewers of Milwaukee. If you are going to be at the game let your Maximum Leader know… We’ll get together.

But before your Maximum Leader goes to see the Nats on Sunday, he will be watching the Detroit Red Wings take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals…

Like our friend Card, your Maximum Leader will be rooting for the Red Wings. (NB to Card: Your Maximum Leader will be looking for you on the TV.) Your Maximum Leader cannot abide by any team in the East other than his much beloved Washington Capitals. Since the Caps are out, it has got to be the Western team. Detroit is one of the original six. Detroit is Hockeytown. And your Maximum Leader has seen the Red Wings win a Stanley Cup. (Yes. Live and in person. Your Maximum Leader saw the last two games of the Red Wings sweep of the Capitals back in 1998.) So he will be rooting for the Wings.

He may even buy some tako to eat while watching the game. Good octopus is too expensive to just throw on the ice…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader will go ahead and share a bad thought he had at the game last night. Although he is happily married and shouldn’t observe these things… There were scads of hot women at the hockey game last night. He isn’t just speaking about “girls” he is talking women. Women of your Maximum Leader’s age. Sure there were lots of hot young things. But there were many sexy women at the game.

If your Maximum Leader were single (which thankfully he is not) he’d have to try and find a way to parley his love of hockey into a date…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was both tired and cranky this morning. The day didn’t get much better.

So… Why exactly was your Maximum tired and cranky?

You might have heard that your Maximum Leader’s beloved (but oft-ill fated) Washington Capitals were defeated by the Philadelphia Flyers yesterday night in OT.

Your Maximum Leader and his lovely daughter, Villainette #2, were in attendance at the game. It was a tremendous experience. your Maximum Leader believes it has cemented Villainette #2 as a true hockey fan. She really had a great time.

Well… A great time except for the losing part.

Now, if you have watched any sports program today you have likely seen the winning goal. Caps goalminder Cristobal Huet (France’s greatest sporting export - and a close second after champagne) thought he had deflected the puck to his left, when it in fact had gone right. It was an easy goal for a professional. (Your Maximum Leader, a piss-poor skater, couldn’t have done it in a million years.) And so the game was lost.

Of course, the game should never have gone to overtime. The clip you may have missed, unless you live in the greater Washington DC area, or are a real hockey fan, was the incident in the second period. In that incident, Flyer Patrick Thorsen pushed Capital Shaone Morrisonn into Caps goalie Cristobal Huet. The result of the push was that Huet and Morrisonn and Thorsen wound up in a pile on the ice to the left side of the goal. Flyer Sami Kapanen shot the puck into the empty net and the goal lifted Philly to a 2-1 lead. (The game would later be tied by Alexander Ovechkin.)

Now, in any regular season game, that goal would have been reviewed. It was clearly interference against the Flyers. But the refs made no call. Your Maximum Leader saw the play live. He’s now seen it on tape a number of times. It looks like interference to him. It looks worse than lots of plays that were called interference during the season. That goal should have been reviewed at the least. In your Maximum Leader’s opinion, the goal should have been disallowed. The Caps was robbed!

Your Maximum Leader got into a huge screaming tirade today. He found himself yelling at Barry Melrose on the TV. Melrose was saying that Thorsen was “going for the puck” and the non-call was the right call. Allow your Maximum Leader to go on the record and say that Barry Melrose is a stupid mullet-topped fuck. He should go back to Kelvington Saskatchewan and leave hockey commentary on ESPN to someone who knows what the hell they are talking about. (Like Don Cherry! Who, alas, is not on ESPN.) Your Maximum Leader doesn’t remember a time he’s been so angry at some idiot sportscaster. Mrs Villain had to tell her irate husband to keep control of himself as the children were likely listening.

Well… As the saying goes… There is always next year. The Capitals are poised to be a great team in the NHL for a number of years. If they can sign a top flight goalie (as Huet is a free agent now…) they will be in a great position to go further into the playoffs next year.

Other than being robbed of the game, a great time was had by all.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. You Maximum Leader, when he has been blogging, has been mentioning sports quite a bit. This is because your Maximum Leader is busy doing Maximum Leaderly things and a quick post about sports doesn’t require much mental exertion on his part. Is this fair to you loyal minion? Well now of course it isn’t. But your Maximum Leader isn’t about “fair” now is he?

Your Maximum Leader is doing something he wouldn’t ordinarily do. He bought (scalped) tickets to go to the Washington Capitals v. Philly Flyers game 7 tonight in DC. Your Maximum Leader is taking Villainette #2 to the game with him. You may be asking yourself “Self, why would my Maximum Leader not ordinarily do this? He is a lifelong Caps fan afterall?”

History.

Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure he wants to have his spirits crushed by a Caps loss. Especially if he is sitting there in the stands with his lovely daughter. He’s seen the Caps lose too many of these types of games over the years to be over confident. Certainly the Caps are on the cusp of being a great team. A win tonight would advance them farther down the road towards greatness. A loss tonight would be a temporary setback. It would be a setback until next season - when the Caps should do much better than they did this year. They have the talent to be a better team than this season’s record would indicate.

Then again… A loss would be keeping with tradition. And as well all know, conservatives love tradition. Even some bad traditions. Just ask the Chicago Cubs…

Wish the Caps (and by extention your Maximum Leader) a good game and a hard-fought victory.

Carry on.

UPDATE - Your Maximum Leader had to correct some spelling and grammar in this post. His errors were too egregious even for him to ignore…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has a lot to say, but so little time in which to type it all out. (NB to all loyal minions: Are you getting tired of your Maximum Leader starting posts this way? Do you wish that your Maximum Leader would start posting via osmosis? Via dreams? Via some other method? Would you prefer just that he just shut the hell up and get on with it?)

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader is consumed with sports it seems. He has been watching his beloved Washington Nationals slip from first place in the National League East and begin to play more in line with how he expected them to play. Your Maximum Leader knows that every team in baseball will win 60 games they will lose 60 games; and that all the action is to see how many of the 42 remaining games they will win. Your Maximum Leader figured that the Nationals would likely be fighting for third place in the NL East this season. He thinks that the Mets and the Phillies will duke it out for first and that the Braves and Nats will duke it out for third. But the hot streak to open the season made your Maximum Leader lose his senses and think that the Nats were better than they were. Now he is beginning to be more sensible about it.

In other news…

If your Maximum Leader hasn’t mentioned it before, the first professional sport he started following was not baseball, but hockey. He has loved ice hockey for many years. For all of those years he’s been a Washington Capitals fan. He’s sat through triple and quadruple overtime playoff losses. He was in the stands as the Detroit Red Wings completed their sweep of the Caps in the Stanley Cup finals back in 1998. He fell away from the whole sport of hockey for a few years after the labor troubles. But this year he’s gone back to the fold. He’s gone to a few games. He’s watched games on tv. And the Caps have rewarded him.

Allow your Maximum Leader to say that he’s seen the greats of hockey in their prime. Gretzsky. Messier. Lemieux. Yzerman. And he’s seen some near greats that only hockey fans might recognize (indeed he remembers seeing a great goal (against the Caps) scored by Alexander Mogilny that stands out as one of the greatest goals he’s seen with his own eyes live and in person). Your Maximum Leader will now say that Alexander Ovechkin has the talent needed to rise to the level of the greatest to play the game. Alexander Ovechkin has pretty much carried the Capitals to their first playoffs in years. If the Capitals can build a team around Ovechkin there is a chance they could be a long-term contender.

So… This week the Caps will start their series against the Phlyers. Damn, your Maximum Leader hates the Flyers. Frankly, your Maximum Leader hates the Penguins, the Islanders, the Rangers, the Flyers, and the Rangers more than he can bring himself to hate the divisional rivals the Caps have now. (That is dating his fandom…) Gawd your Maximum Leader would love to see the Caps just spank the Flyers. He means he’d like to see the Caps just make the Flyers their bitches. It would be sweet.

Of course, having said all that… Your Maximum Leader has a lifetime of Caps first round playoff disappointment to reflect upon. He isn’t going to get his hopes up… (Okay… Maybe just a little…) But let him say that if the Caps can beat the Flyers… He might treat himself to an Ovechkin jersey in the new style.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader knew that the whole Washington-Nationals-on-a-three-game-tear was too good to be true. Your Maximum Leader’s beloved Nats blew a 5 run lead and eventually lost the game by walking in the winning run.

It hurts your Maximum Leader to write about it. It hurts worse to link to the WaPo article describing the debacle.

Then again… Perhaps this is the Nats team your Maximum Leader should be expecting to show up this season… New ballpark not withstanding…

Carry on.