Pollin and Massenburg: Two for the Ages

Rumblings Under the Ice

Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld isn't the only personnel boss in town facing the challenge of re-signing star players. Capitals GM George McPhee has the task of keeping Alex Ovechkin in town and happy while out-of-town news reports regularly speculate about Ovechkin's future.

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While the Capitals can match any offer to the 21-year-old Ovechkin until he turns 27, the superstar forward will be enticed with at least as much as the $8.7 million annual salary Pittsburgh has committed to its phenom, Sidney Crosby. Ovechkin earned about $3.85 million last year, more than two-thirds from incentives.

"When the time comes, we'll do the right thing by Alex," McPhee said.

Meantime, Leonsis has set the bar high for the team, McPhee and Coach Glen Hanlon.

"It's our year to dream," Leonsis said. "The expectation is for us to be a good team. The rebuilding is over."

Clear enough.

Cue the Tinkling Pianos

The bye week that followed the Redskins' loss to the New York Giants resulted in so much hand-wringing, I expected Ken Burns to show up at Redskins Park to document: Clinton Portis running, Santana Moss kvetching, Brandon Lloyd rapping, Joe Gibbs and Bubba Tyer doing their "Grey's Anatomy" thing and Joe Bugel's agony. Thankfully for Redskins fans, Detroit, 0 for 20 in these parts, is at FedEx today.

I joined Maryland journalism students in taking in The Post's third-ranked DeMatha Stags' 38-6 victory over No. 8 St. John's last Saturday. DeMatha began the season ranked No. 3 nationally before its season opener, a 28-7 loss to No. 1 St. Xavier of Cincinnati in a game televised by ESPN. Was the national hoopla too much?

"It's nice to be on television and the national stage, but we're talking about high school kids," DeMatha Coach Bill McGregor said. "We have to be careful about overemphasizing all this. But you play a team like St. Xavier, in that atmosphere, it sets the tone for the season."

Big-time high school sports sells, so the trend likely will continue. But the setting at St. John's Fernandez Stadium in Northwest D.C. last Saturday -- about 2,500 fans in the stands and on grassy slopes, two enthusiastic teams -- seems good enough for anyone interested in, or playing, high school football.

"Friday Night Lights" Update I: Guess who replaced Eric Taylor as head coach of the Dillon Panthers? Bill McGregor, that's who. A fictional tough guy from Tennessee who has DeMatha's McGregor saying, "I don't know how this happened."

R.I.P.

In the past week, the Orlando Sentinel and Gainesville Sun reported the practice of football fans of the University of Florida -- my alma mater -- being permitted by UF officials to spread the ashes of a dead relative in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (i.e., "The Swamp"). The Sun quoted Natalie Gonzalez, coordinator of operations and facilities at UF, saying, "They can go to Row 1 and kind of sprinkle" the ashes without actually going on the field.