My House Survives the Latest Caps Implosion

My brother Dennis, who reads my blog, asked me if my boyfriend, dogs and household appliances survived the latest streak of lousy playing and losses that the Caps have had. They did, although I must admit, when I start screaming at the TV for some bone-headed move the Caps make, the dogs run downstairs cowering. I've had lots of reasons to scream lately.

Being a Caps fan feels like an exercise in futility at times and now is one of those times. I attended my first Caps game as a child in 1974 and became hooked on hockey. I was still an avid Redskins fan at the time and for many years afterwards, but Dan Snyder ruined my passion for the Redskins and I barely watch them. Now, my sports passion is focused solely on hockey and the Capitals which sucks right now (not that I'm missing anything by ignoring the Redskins).

For years, Abe Pollin, the Caps owner, could care less about hockey or the Caps (the Wizards are his baby) so it was a given the Caps were going nowhere fast although they had one Stanley Cup championship appearance against Detroit in 1998. It took me about 2 minutes into the first game of that championship series to realize the Caps were going to get destroyed by Detroit and they did, 4-0. Today, Caps fans have an owner who cares about hockey in Ted Leonsis and it's fun to watch them play when they win, but will they ever go deep into the playoffs again? Certainly not with the players or prospects they have now, especially on defense.

There's been a lot of debate in my house about the whole "rebuilding" versus "buying players" strategy to get the Caps deep into the playoffs. Getting Jagr was a disaster that the Caps are still playing for and Dan Snyder's "buy a Super Bowl team" strategy was a complete disaster for the Redskins. I don't know the answer to the right strategy, but I do know the Caps will never contend with a defense that isn't NHL caliber. And, young defensive prospects and players take a long time to mature so I'm wondering if the rebuilding plan is a 10-year plan. Sigh...

Thanks for letting me rant....

And, thankfully, it's the All Star week so I don't have to watch any Caps hockey. Let's hope they come back with the same enthusiasm they played with after the Olympic break last year and win a lot of games.

Let's go Caps!

p.s. The Caps did squeeze in a nice win at Carolina before losing again to the Florida Panthers, but I didn't get a blog post up. The 1:00 Saturday game against the Panthers threw me off schedule.