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While perusing the local sports headlines this weekend, it dawned on us: the Washington Capitals might be the only thing that's saving this town from a potentially large major-league sports coma.
Think about it: both the Nationals and Wizards are stuck in place, wallowing in the depths of their respective league's basements -- and neither appear to be going anywhere fast. Even the Redskins, beloved as they are, seem more concerned with trying to suck all the fun out of the gameday experience than actually improving a team who's had all of three playoff appearances in the last ten seasons.
But the Caps had a magnificent season, both on and off the ice: they finished near the top of the conference, had an epic playoff series (in the process fostering an intense rivalry which could help bring the league back to prominence), and provided us ample opportunities to watch, listen to, and read about Alexander Ovechkin, who's slowly becoming "the guy" -- at least, athletically -- here in Washington.
So it should come as no surprise that the Capitals skyrocketed 39 places to sixth place in ESPN's Ultimate Franchise Standings. The Standings are a measure of every North American sports franchise in the four major sports on a number of different metrics, including coaching and players, the stadium experience, and affordability. The Caps' report card is about as good as it gets: the franchise scores high marks for the gameday experience (hockey spirit squads, woo!), their players (thanks Ovie!), and their ownership (the bearded blogger himself, Ted Leonsis).
Frankly, had the Caps they made it past Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in last season's conference semifinals, they might have challenged the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the title of America's best sports franchise. The weakest link in the Caps' dossier is "Title Track" -- a measure of how close the franchise is to winning a championship -- in which they only ranked 47th of 122 teams.
Alright, so, it's hardly an airtight ranking system. But consider this: surveying the Washingtonian sports landscape, the Capitals finished more than 80 places ahead of the Redskins (#92), the Nats (#97) and the Wizards (#98). That's a mighty large (and fairly depressing) margin.
So what's your take, sports fans -- are the Capitals, as ESPN suggests, the clear class of the D.C. sporting atmosphere?
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I agree that the Caps are the only game worth watching in town. But this season has to be a bit of a failure to not get past the second round after having such a great regular season. If the team won game seven, they would have made it to the finals and who knows. . . However, let's hope they make the moves they need to toughen up defensively and who knows, they may get that number one next year.
At least we got one step further than last season. That's how progress is measured...it's slow progress. But I'd rather have that than go through the "be great and then suck" yo-yo of some professional teams throughout different sports.
One big reason you alluded to is Defense. George McPhee thinks our D is fine. It's not. We need somebody big and intimidating/punishing pronto.
Matt Bradley is now our enforcer...he rarely wins fights. Maybe John Erskine will step it up?
This Ultimate Franchise Standings has got to be the dumbest EPSN feature item since who's now?
Certainly the most fun you can have at a DC sporting event. I would like to see DC become more of a hockey town, but am willing to bet the Caps are only the latest fad. DC sports fans love winners.
What, no love for D.C United? They're in 2nd in the East for crying out loud...
Shocker, a hooligan in the hockey post. Don't you guys get enough damn coverage? Every game you get a huge a write-up on your beloved futbolers. Yes, even the games that end in a TIE. How many of those games have there been this year, 3, 4, 5? YAWN!!!!
People barely care about hockey let alone soccer. It sucks, I know. But shhhhhh.
Well, Tom, as a soccer writer, I'd be thrilled if the Worldwide Leader took it upon themselves to include MLS in these rankings -- but something tells me that with RFK as their home and not having won a title in a few years when they had the talent, United would probably be firmly in the middle of this list, at best.
And sordid, enjoying a draw is just like enjoying abstract art. You need to look past the final score to the athleticism and tactics involved in order to get fulfillment. But hey, to each their own.
Here's the difference... whenever there is a Nats post or a Skins post or whatever, you never get any "hooligans" in the comments trying to shout down the fans of that sport. What are hockey or baseball fans so afraid of from the footballers that they find it necessary to pipe up about how boring soccer draws are? I never come on your blog posts and complain about what whiners hockey players are that they can't skate for two minutes without shoving and punching each other or how baseball highlights on ESPN consist of three minutes of nothing but fat guys craning their necks to watch a small ball travel 400 feet.
Wow. What. Excitement.
Aaron, I understand the importance of draws. In fact Hockey used to end in ties as of a couple seasons ago. But you wouldn't have seen Eli have a long post with multitudes of pics describing, in the end, just a tie. It's not sexy enough.
Bob, I agree w/your point. On our posts it's not berrating the sport, but there is a lot of smack talk between rival teams. I would conclude that due to lack of knowledge of other teams, or maybe even the United themselves, that's why people just beat the dead horse of soccer blows, go back to europe, etc. By the way, do you happen to be an attorney? I once worked with a Bob who was a big United fan.
I love the Caps - and Leonsis has done a terrific job since the strike. But it's kind of odd that two teams that play in the same building, with similar pricing, service and concessions could be so far apart in these subjective rankings. The Wizards have struggled on the court for the last 18 months - but one bad season and injuries put them lower than the oft ridiculed Nationals?
I think there's some knee jerk "oh isn't hockey so great now" since they've sorted the league out in recent years + we have the charismatic (on ice) MVP.
In the last 5 years, the Wizards have made the playoffs 4 times (Caps have been twice and had a lockout). Sure, they've been stymied by LeBron and the Cavs (Caps have had Philly and Pittsburgh daggers), but they've provided some excitement in the Gilbert era. When he and Haywood are healthy this season, they'll be worth watching and right back into the playoffs.
Well, Caps have been the only pro team in town that's really interested me (though I did go to some 'Skins and United games over the years), but that's been true since '97, well before Ovie, and also I grew up in hockey territory.
But I'd have to agree that, over that stretch, there's been a wide diversity of levels of interest, attendance, local coverage, etc., of the Caps and the NHL in general in this town.
That's not necessarily an indictment - plenty of franchises with great traditions have had attendance issues in stretches (ahem, Penguins). The sad ones are those where attendance falls off a cliff the moment the team struggles - even when it has just won the Cup (ahem, 'Canes).