With a number of area teams gearing up for a playoff run, it's an exciting time for sports in the Washington area. Here's what you should be watching this week. Don't hesitate to leave your own suggestions in the comments, and, if you're so inclined, shoot me an email with suggestions for next week. Tuesday Most of this week's slate is packed with some great action. Tuesday is an exception. For those that aren't reading......

George Mason capped a successful holiday week by beating South Carolina yesterday to take third-place in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla. Will Thomas paced the Patriots with 22 points and 11 rebounds, solidifying his place on the All-Tournament team. George Mason kicked off their tournament with an 87-77 win over 18th-ranked Kansas State. John Vaughan's 21 points led the team, which put all five starters in double figures. Folarin Campbell's 25 points made......

We're a little short-staffed today, so if you've got any picks to add for this weekend, please leave them in the comments. FRIDAY >> This weekend the Uptown Theater is playing the final cut of everybody's favorite movie about replicants running amock, and young Darryl Hannah being super sci-fi hot, Blade Runner. >> If an apocalyptic future isn't exactly what you're in the mood for, try on Seattle's dream folk rockers, Band of Horses, for......

You’ve gotta love a man who can make the “All The World’s A Stage” monologue not sound like something you’ve heard 80 zillion times before. That man is Joseph Marcell (best known as Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), offering the most nuanced of performances in the generally strong cast of Folger Theater’s As You Like It. Granted, his Jacques is one of the more interesting roles in a Shakespeare work that has its......

There's still a lot that's unclear about a shooting being reported by Orange County, Florida's WESH, but a man named Curtis Ruff has been shot at the home of DeShawn Stevenson, the Washington Wizards' starting shooting guard. Ruff reportedly suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was transported to a local hospital. Still unknown is who did the shooting, or why, but both Stevenson and former NBA player Brandon Hunter were both at the......

In news that will make hard luck single guys everywhere feel better about themselves, Wizards forward Andray Blatche was arrested yesterday for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in Thomas Circle. This isn't the first run in with trouble for Blatche since joining the Wizards: he was carjacked and shot in the chest during his rookie year. Compounding the issue for Blatche is the fact that he currently has a 5-year, $12.5 million......

A scant 21 days remain until my favorite day of the entire year, the NBA draft. And while Cleveland and San Antonio start the NBA finals tonight (9:00 p.m. on ABC), the rest of the league, including the Washington Wizards, are firmly entrenched in the off season. What's in store for Team Zero? Let's take a look. The Wizards have roughly $38 million in guaranteed salaries committed to the core of the team next......

What was once an entertaining season for the Washington Wizards has quickly gone down the proverbial drain so fast most people are afraid to ask "What's next?" In the last 12 days, the team has lost Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas for the season, lost the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, lost the Southeast Division crown to the Miami Heat and also lost six in a row, with four of those......

Hyperbole can be dangerous, but it’s hard to think of a more laugh-inducing scene that we’ve seen on the DC stage this season than Kate Eastwood Norris’s exchange with, well, herself, during Woolly Mammoth Theater’s uproarious production of She Stoops to Comedy. Kate is playing two lesbian lovers, Kay Fien and Jayne Summerhouse. The wonderfully self-aware She Stoops is more than conscious of the fact that the actress has been on double duty, and keeps......

The Washington Wizards found out last Friday that they'd be without Caron Butler for the next 10 or so days, not exactly the type of thing you want to hear with the Miami Heat breathing down their necks for the division lead. As we're sure you all remember, the team was 0-3 without Butler earlier in the season. Lucky for the Wizards then that the struggling New Orleans / Oklahoma City Hornets (aka the......

MONDAY >> Looking for an act whose name you are sure to forget at least once over the course of the evening? We give you an Orlando hip-hop duo with a name like a serial number: X:144 and SPS. Okayplayer called their debut collaboration, M.E., "a producer's wet dream." At the Red and the Black. 9:30 p.m., $8. >> After releasing solo CDs and making babies, Aterciopelados, Colombia's finest rock en español outfit is back......

After last Friday's win in Orlando and upcoming games this week against the Phoenix Suns and Detroit Pistons, Saturday night's game at the Verizon Center against the banged up Boston Celtics had all the characteristics of a trap game. The Celtics were without Paul Pierce, Wally Szczerbiak and Tony Allen, among others, and losers of seven of their last eight games. Should be easy pickings, right? Well, almost. The Wiz built up a big......

The Wizards absolutely crushed the Memphis Grizzlies last night at the Verizon Center in the most one-sided NBA game we've witnessed in a while. D.C. exploded to a 45-18 lead in the first quarter, and set a new Verizon Center record by scoring 77 in the first half. Gilbert Arenas took his new Kobe-inspired mantra of "quality shots" seriously, scoring his 31 points on just 13 field goal attempts in 33 minutes. Thanks to injuries......

A trip out to Rockville is no minor undertaking for a committed city dweller, but the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington hosts a concert series that offers regular enticement. For the Sunday evening recital by Bejun Mehta (his first ever in the Washington area), rain did not prevent an impressive crowd from filling the center's small auditorium. The celebrated American countertenor has been in town this month, for the Washington Concert Opera's performance of......

Don't look now, but the NBA season is just two weeks away. When last we saw the Washington Wizards, LeBron James was carving up their defense and talking Gilbert Arenas out of winning games from the line. The Wiz may not have made as much noise this offseason as last, but sure-handed (and recently re-signed) General Manager Ernie Grunfeld did make some moves. They include: 1) Re-upping coach Eddie Jordan for three more years.......

Good morning, D.C. How're those new Metro express lanes treating you? We know it's only five stations for now, but we're pretty excited by the prospect of a nearly-50% speed-up through the turnstiles during rush hour. There's nothing more infuriating than finding yourself stuck behind a perplexed tourist who's fiddling with his farecard like a newly-tool-using ape at the beginning of 2001 — unless you count the encounter you just had with him on the......

We knew that speeding tickets were unusually common in the District, we knew that the city was making some decent bank off of the violations, and we even suspected racism, or at least wardism, in the placement of automated speed cameras. But just in case you leadfeet had begun to forget the danger of motoring quickly through D.C., we now have the National Motorists Association to remind us. From their website:Nothing can ruin a vacation......

Tired of all those museums, monuments, bars, restaurants and other entertainment options that the District has to offer? Head on out to Fairfax County. There might be something in it for you. From an email we received today: You might be aware of Fairfax County's efforts to increase tourism. In a way, you could say that they are trying to become the next Orange County, CA or Kissimee/Orlando, FLA. Tomorrow, Visit Fairfax will have a......

Internet reports are indicating that the Washington Wizards have bought out the contract of veteran point guard Chucky Atkins, essentially making him a free agent. Atkins, who left the team last week to be with his wife in Orlando as she gave birth, rejoined the team on Monday for their win over the visiting 76ers but did not suit up. We have to admit, this move seems odd given that the NBA trade season......

In a development that will force Washington area residents to trek out to BWI for our cheap flights, we bid farewell this week to budget carrier Independence Air. For an airline that started as an underdog in a tough industry, Independence's problems included leasing small regional jets that didn't turn as much of a profit as the larger aircraft of Jet Blue or Southwest, rising fuel costs, and a unique business model that many in......

DCist was lucky enough to get Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood on our NBA fantasy team this year and so far all three are making us look like a regular Ernie Grunfeld. On Saturday night Arenas and Jamison combined for 53 points and 16 rebounds while Haywood pulled down 10 rebounds and added four blocked shots and the Wizards won their home opener 87-79 over the Orlando Magic. But the team's offense......

(Entry written by DCist contributor Chris Kelly) The Nationals saw their 12 game home winning streak come to an end yesterday at RFK as a result of a 9-5 roasting at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. Orlando Hudson of the Jays broke a 5-5 tie in the 8th with a two-run home run off of Luis Ayala. Sunny Kim gave up two more in the 9th to put the game out of reach.......

Coming on the heels of a weekend in which a well-known volunteer traffic officer was critically injured after being hit at the intersection of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown, the District Department of Transportation has released a draft report detailing the city's most dangerous intersections. Topping the list with 13 crashes between 1998 and 2002 is the intersection at Benning Road and Minnesota Avenue in Northeast, pictured at left, followed closely by Seventh......

It was quite a night for the local hoops teams, both on the college and professional level. Gary Williams and his terrible Terps traveled to Durham and took out the previously unbeaten and 2nd ranked Blue Devils in a 75-66 contest that was much closer than the final score indicated. Winning on the road is always impressive but even more so for the Terps coming off their blowout loss to NC State last Sunday. Nik......

Editor's Note: With the breaking news out of Chile that a retired army chief suspected of human rights violations under dictator Augusto Pinochet has flung himself from a 18th floor balcony at a Santiago apartment tower to his death (say that in one breath?), we thought it was odd timing that we were working on a profile of a monument remembering another violent passage from the Pinochet era right here in D.C.: The Embassy Row......