John Feinstein: Washington Is First in War, First in Peace, Last in Everything Else

It has never been easy being a sports fan in the Washington area. Oh sure, there have been moments, the most recent being Maryland's men's national basketball championship in 2002. Georgetown won a title, too, but that was 25 years ago. The Redskins won three Super Bowls, the last one coming during the first Bush presidency, around the same time that most of this coming fall's college freshmen were born. And there are a few folks still around who remember Wes Unseld and the Bullets winning an NBA title in 1978. D.C. United's loyal fan base will remind us in an instant about the team's four titles, the last coming in 2004, and there is a cadre of fans who will point to the Maryland women winning their championship three years ago.

There have been other moments of real joy that shouldn't be overlooked: George Mason's miracle run to the Final Four in 2006, the Capitals' surprising dash to the Stanley Cup finals in 1998 and the return of baseball after 34 empty summers in 2005.

That's pretty much the list.

Oh wait: The Washington Mystics have hung several banners . . . for best attendance, proving that Mystics management can give away tickets better and faster than the rest of the WNBA.

In all, there just isn't a lot to talk about if you come from these parts. Consider this, simply as a momentary means of comparison: Since Super Bowl I was played in 1967, the city has won a total of four professional championships in the four major sports: three Super Bowls and one NBA title. Throw in the championships won by the Georgetown and Maryland men and you're up to six titles in the six major sports -- pro and college football, pro and men's college basketball, hockey and baseball.

Compare that with Boston, for years thought of as the City That Suffered Most in sports. In the last 10 years, Boston has won three Super Bowls, two World Series titles, an NBA championship and, because it is the major city nearest to the University of Connecticut, two men's college basketball titles.

Washington is most like Philadelphia when it comes to losing. Then again, the Phillies ended a 25-year drought for the town's pro teams by winning the World Series last fall.

Right now, things around here are about as bad as they can possibly get. Of course, a week from now they might be considerably better. Then again . . .

Let's begin with the one team that has given people real reason to hope in the last year: the Capitals. Since the day Bruce Boudreau was hired as coach in November 2007, the Caps have flourished. There's no doubt that Alex Ovechkin is hockey's best and most exciting player, and there was no doubt at the end of this regular season that Washington was one of a handful of teams with a legitimate chance to win the Stanley Cup.

There was one "if" in that equation, and that was goaltending. The three most important elements to success in playoff hockey are, in order, goaltending, goaltending and goaltending. When it was written here during the all-star break that going into the playoffs with José Theodore as the No. 1 goalie was risky, some local hockey fans took serious umbrage to a "non-hockey" columnist (who grew up in the blue seats at Madison Square Garden for those of you scoring at home, but is not a Rangers fan) critiquing the Caps goaltending.

Okay, maybe you will settle for Boudreau's critique, which was to yank Theodore after he gave up four goals on 21 shots in the opener of the Caps' first-round series with the Rangers, a 4-3 loss on Wednesday. For the second game, Boudreau put the fate of his team in the hands of 20-year-old rookie Simeon Varlamov.

Varlamov was better than Theodore, but the result was the same: a loss, this time 1-0, putting the Caps in a 2-0 hole heading to New York and local hockey fans in a very bad mood.