D.C. Sports Bog Live

D.C. Sports Bogger Dan Steinberg was online Tuesday, May 5, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the Caps, the Nats, the latest sports news and your questions and comments about his latest bog posts. bog posts.

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Dan Steinberg: Hey people, I have this eyelid twitch that hasn't stopped since the NHL playoffs started. Very disconcerting. I fought through the twitch to post Caps fan photos while watching a Wizard throw a first pitch at the Nats game this afternoon, then sprinted back to the office to answer your most very pressing questions about D.C. sports, so make 'em good. Or at least weird.

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Arlington, Va.: I am thrilled Ryan Zimmerman is having a great start to his season. Which of these do you think it is more attributable to: 1. Relief after signing long-term contract 2. Being 100 percent healthy 3. Having Dunn and Dukes hitting behind him 4. Being freed up from blogging duties allows him to be totally focused at the plate. Have you asked him about this?

Dan Steinberg: I'll say 3, 2, 1, 4, in that order.

Actually, I think he is still blogging occasionally on CSN's site, so let's strike 4 altogether. And I'd even be willing to call 2 and 3 a tie. I generally discount things like "relief" as a way of explaining long-term success, but what do I know, having never experienced relief over becoming a mega millionaire?

This is obviously the Caps' time in D.C., but take away three blown saves, and put the Nats at 10-14 with perhaps baseball's hottest hitter, a fairly successful and likable free agent slugger, two phenom starters and an entertainingly wretched defense, and at least we'd be varying away from "easy punch line" territory.

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Sec. 406 and Sec. 141: Here's the question of the day: if you count the post-season, what's the chance the Caps win total exceeds the Nats, despite a season that's half as long? Caps max win total would be 66, FYI.

Dan Steinberg: Do the Nats get to count the postseason too?

If the Caps actually got to 66, this could be stunningly close. I'm willing to throw out the opening-season seven-game losing streak, though we'd need to add those seven losses onto any other projection. Since then they're 7-10, which would work out to something like 67-95 over a full season. And they're down early today. Defense seems to be more important than can be reflected in a blurby preseason projection.

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D.C.: Yesterday, Wilbon said that golf is "THE sport" of the European working class. Golf?! Is this the dumbest thing ever said in the history of the universe? Or just in the history of Washington Post online chats?

Dan Steinberg: He must have just forgotten about the popularity of American football in large pockets of Germany. Don't hold it against him.

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take away three blown saves, and put the Nats at 10-14: Ridiculous. You might as well "take away" 40 losses from 2008 and put them at 99 wins. Or if you are just handing out wins, give 3 to every team in the league and the Nats are no further ahead. All that matters is what a team's actual record is. What it "should be" (whatever that means) or could be is irrelevant.

I expect this type of "but if this hadn't happened, and if that hadn't happened, then our record would be X" drivel from drunk fans at the park but not from a WP writer.

Dan Steinberg: Hey, I didn't ask to take away five poor 'pen performances, just three.

And what the Nats' actual record is doesn't matter at all, since not one person in the living breathing world thought they were competing for a postseason spot this year. What matters is the extent they can keep Washingtonians interested through July or August, which right now is looking like an iffy bet. If the 'pen hadn't imploded so often, and they were at least mediocre right now, their chances of keeping our attention into the summer would be better. That's all I meant.

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Good afternoon,: Why is "blog" and "blogger" misspelled three times on the chat page?

Dan Steinberg: Massive shortage of "L" keystrokes available due to the declining ad revenue of the newspaper industry. Look for the masthead to go with Washington Post in the near future.

No, if you're asking about the Bog thing, Ralph Friedgen once told me he didn't even know what a Bog was, which gave me the idea for the name. It also led to me having to answer this question every time I speak to college or high school journalism students, which is surprisingly often, all things considered.

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Cambridge, Md.: Dan:

I tried to ask this yesterday in Tarik's session, but has anyone spoken to Jose Theodore since his last public comments (I think after Game 3 vs. Rangers?) Then, he was saying all the right stuff, and I saw him embracing Varlamov after a victory. I just wonder what his demeanor is right now in practice, on the bench, etc.

It seems like he's handled this situation better than Kolzig did during last year's playoffs.

Dan Steinberg: Yeah, Bob Cohn from the Wash Times did a piece on Theodore over the weekend I believe. Jose said he really didn't want to talk to Bob because he didn't have anything else to say, but I think he got a quote or two. Much of the story was from coaches/teammates.

I've seen what you have: Jose hugging Varly after wins, banging him on the pads after warmups, etc. He obviously would rather be playing, and who knows what he's saying behind closed doors, but nothing negative at all has come out in public yet, which is a massive credit to him. Although I would gladly earn millions to watch hockey.

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Washington, D.C.: Dan -- for me last night's Caps game is definitely the best professional sporting event I've ever attended. Where does last night's game rank for you?

Dan Steinberg: I think it's harder to sit back and appreciate something like that when you're kind of on a mild deadline, not to mention Twittering and taking photos of the socks of NFL coaches, etc. Also, the double-hat-trick nature of the game gave it a huge boost in "all-time-best" rankings, but that happened so late in the game that it's hard to know how much importance to place on them. It was sort of later, after we had run around doing interviews and writing up stories and blog posts, that a lot of people started whispering stuff like, "wow, did that just happen?"

My all-time best (non-professional) sporting event remains George Mason's win over U-Conn at the Verizon Center. Without putting together an actual list, I'd say last night was easily Top 10 for me. Had it been a Game 7, obviously, I'd be more deranged with the list thing.

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San Francisco, Calif.: Hi Dan -

I'm a VA/DC Native living in SF. I can't really follow the team (at least watch the games live) until the playoffs, which I have enjoyed. A question about the Ovi/Crosby "rivalry" -- you get a general sense that these guys really don't like each other -- is there an "All Star Game" mid-season like the other sports where they might actually be teammates? Ex. at the NBA All-Star game, it's like best friends from competitor teams that haven't seen each other in a while. If there is an NHL All Star game, I missed it but was wondering what Crosby and Ovi are like on the same team.

Dan Steinberg: There is indeed an NHL All Star game, and one of the big stories at this year's was the burying of hatches and vodka bottles between Ovechkin and Malkin.

As for the Ovechkin Crosby thing, I think it's fair to say that they aren't good friends and probably never will be. Would they order up eggings of each other's homes? That would surprise me. But to watch the way Crosby has talked about Ovechkin's supposed head-hunting, or Ovechkin's mocking display toward Crosby's referee banter....didn't seem all too friendly.

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Barno, Md.: Seems like we're hearing a lot fewer "a series doesn't begin until the home team loses" phrases uttered this year. Last year, that phrase was repeated ad nauseum throughout the NBA and NHL playoffs. I guess the people who kept saying it finally realized how idiotic it was, given that the Celtics had multiple 7 games series last year in which the home team never lost. I guess people finally realized that a series does begin whether a home team loses or not, and a 2-0 lead means something, as does a 4-3 series lead.

Not really a question, just an observation.

Dan Steinberg: I would like to second your non-questioning observation. There are many things that are repeated at rote by sports figures and announcers, but this might be the most factually incorrect one. Having researched the topic extensively, I can tell you for sure that virtually every series begins once the first game of the series has begun.

Which reminds me, Barry Svrluga is fond of this story. He was sitting and watching the end of the third quarter of a competitive college football game with a longtime columnist. Many longtime columnists do not long humor sports editors. So an editor came over, and asked the columnist, "If the game ended now, what would your lede be?"

At which point the columnist answered, "Well, if the game ended now, it would be For the first time in the history of the ACC, a football game ended after three quarters."

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Washington, D.C.: Two things.

#1. The Caps seem focused on keeping Malkin shut down much like Detroit did last year. You take him out and let Crosby do whatever.....you still win.

#2. Does it seem that the Pens players get excited for whenever Crosby scores...BUT, they don't seem excited about who did it? Dollars to Doughnuts says that he isn't all that popular on his own team. The whining must be killing them.

Dan Steinberg: There was a school of thought entering this series that the incessant "Ovie vs. Sid" promotion was potentially ignoring the player who would have the biggest impact on the outcome. Thus far, the incessant "Ovie vs. Sid" promoters look pretty smart, and Malkin looks pretty invisible. Varly had it right after Game 1: he just didn't notice him that much. Malkin had a bunch of shots yesterday (5 or 6 I think) and you still hardly noticed him. I think that will change at some point.

As for your Pens thing....I don't know, I didn't notice that, and I think you may be reaching. These players almost always go to physically painful lengths to achieve postseason success, and even if they actually had ill feelings toward a teammate, they'd have to be pretty twisted folks to see a key playoff goal and express joy for that goal without sending a ray of joy toward the goal scorer.

People in Pittsburgh love Crosby. There's a lot of subjectivity at play here.

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Caps v. Redskins: In yesterday's chat, Wilbon mentioned that the NFL doesn't care about the average fan. Nowhere is that more true than at FedEx Field.

Your piece on Ted really impressed me about the way Ted is about creating a true fan experience for the Capital fan, and that he does seem to care about the people purchasing his product.

While I doubt that the Redskins will ever be replaced as the game in town, how much of a threat are the Caps to the Skins? To be honest, I was a rabid Skins fan and Caps fan, but given the clear direction of the Redskins front office, I'm done with them. I just purchased an Ovechkin jersey to replace the one I threw away after the 1992 Penguins Debacle at the Cap Center. Win or lose, I love how Ted is managing the growth and development of the team.

Am I the rule and not the exception, or should Danny be scared?

Dan Steinberg: I don't think the Redskins should be scared about the Caps. I think the things they should be scared about (selling ever-more tickets in a tough economy for a team that hasn't been to a conference title game in 15 or so years) exist independently of the Caps. I've heard from plenty of Redskins fans who were giving up season tickets, but I've yet to hear one cite the Capitals as the reason.

To use one of my favorite, completely unscientific measurements, our Redskins blog scored more traffic than our Capitals blog on Saturday, I believe. The Capitals were beginning the league's most-hyped second-round playoff series against perhaps their most-bitter rival. The Redskins were having a May mini-camp.

I think there was, for a while, an open question as to the No. 2 franchise in this area, and right now, in terms of fan interest, that question is no longer open. Whether the Caps can turn this wave into permanent No. 2 status remains to be seen.

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Follow-up re Wilbon re Golf: It's not that golf is the sport that everyone in Europe is playing, it's that golf has become more affordable in Europe than ever before and more average, working class people play it than ever. In the U.S. there is still a perception that golf is the sport of the privileged class; in Europe that attitude has changed significantly. While soccer may still be the most followed sport, and the World Cup taken most seriously, in the U.S. watching auto racing is the most popular sport, despite what others think. Wilbon was correct in his comment.

Dan Steinberg: Well, I'll trust you on Europe and golf, but if auto racing is more popular than American football, my name's Tony Kornheiser.

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Stone Ridge, Va.: Picture your daughter 15 years from now (30 years from now?) -- who would you rather she date, Ovie or Crosby?

Dan Steinberg: If my 17-year old daughter is dating a 39-year old Alex Ovechkin, I'm suing Eastern Motors.

Ovechkin is a tremendous talent, obviously, and has shown playful and witty and magnificently entertaining sides. I"m trying to think of a tasteful way to finish the "But...." sentence. Ah, you know what I mean. I'd rather my daughter just find some fourth-wing checker. Or a perpetually depressed sports blogger or something.

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Washington, D.C.: Any idea where Al Koken, formerly of WTEM, might end up? And can you please dispel the stories that he was fired; his contract ran out and it wasn't renewed. That's an entirely different thing than being fired.

Dan Steinberg: My goodness, I've gotten three questions about Al Koken today. There's a campaign afoot.

Len Shapiro wrote a nice piece on Al for our site on Monday; maybe we can link it here. Al would like to get back on the radio, but there's currently only one sports-talk station in town. There are indications that won't last forever. He'll also keep doing lots of work for Comcast SportsNet, perhaps predicting the scorers of future game-winning goals.

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A comment for Mr. Kornheiser: The previous commenter was right. More people attend auto races than football games, but that doesn't mean it translates into television or even radio ratings. Kind of like comparing crab grass and crab legs, or chicken salad and chick .... (other things).

Dan Steinberg: Is this possible? I don't think this is possible. Are we counting every single dirt track in the country? In that case, don't we also need to count every single high school, college, minor-league and arena-league football game?

On a typical NFL weekend, those 16 games have to be drawing, what, 900,000 discrete folks? You can combine Sprint Cup, IRL, Truck Series, NHRA, Nationwide Series and whatever else, and I don't think you're finding 900,000 discrete folks on one weekend.

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I'd rather my daughter just find some fourth-wing checker.: You want your daughter to date Matt Bradley?

Dan Steinberg: See, I was hoping no one would follow that to its logical conclusion.

Anyhow, for a while, Bradley was a superstar up on the third line, right?

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People in Pittsburgh love Crosby. There's a lot of subjectivity at play here. : Did you see the ESPN poll earlier in the year? Other NHL players voted Sid the guy most likely to complain to the refs, or whine.

How do you think his teammates feel about that?

Dan Steinberg: Wizards fans have serenaded LeBron James with the whiner/crybaby stuff for years. I know this is a different situation, but I just think it's hard for anyone living in this market to be objective about this whole issue.

Anyhow, my point was merely that it's hard/impossible to, spur of the moment, in the late moments of a hard-fought second-round Stanley Cup playoff series, separate "I'm really just scored!" from "Golly, I rather wish someone other than El Cid had lit the lamp."

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Aldie, Va.: How many Caps are married? Do you ever meet the wives? And on a per-capita basis, which D.C. team has the most married players? The fewest?

Dan Steinberg: Wow, this would require more thought/research than I can provide right now. The Caps are a pretty young team, with plenty of obviously non-married stars (Green, Backstrom, Laich, Ovechkin). Many of the guys with wives are of the John Erskine or Brent Johnson mold, a bit older and less flamboyant. The wives/family members mostly go into the family room on the event floor during games.

A bunch of wives around town, like the Nats wives, do charity events on a regular basis. Anecdotally, I've found the Wizards wives to be most visible; they're at all kinds of Wiz events, and they mostly sit together about 20 rows off the bench. I've met more Redskins and Wizards wives than I have Nats or Caps wives. Just today, I talked with Caron Butler's wife, who went to cheer him on as he threw his first pitch at the Nats game.

On a per-capita basis, I'd guess either the Freedom or the Mystics have the fewest wives.

(That was a joke.)

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Leesburg, Va.: Dan, as the nation's pre-eminent expert on post-season facial hair, I would love to hear your take on what can only be described as Crosby's "Playoff Bad Teenage Mustache?" Aptly complimented by what I am assuming is a bad teenage goatee...

Also, did I see a poster above say that they threw away an Ovechkin jersey in 1992? I would be remiss if I didn't ask how said jersey traveled back in time over a decade?

Dan Steinberg: Let's assume the previous questioner meant he/she threw away his Caps jersey. Which still seems odd.

I was thinking about the Crosby beard thing last night. Look, we can all see the comedic potential there, but this is absolutely not his fault. Neither is it to Karl Alzner's credit that he already looks like he's been living in the woods and surviving on tree grubs for the past six months. You can't really do much to control the quantity or quality of your facial hair.

That being the case, you don't want to look ridiculous, either. I thought maybe he should have shaved the beard and proclaimed he's doing a playoff mustache. He's big enough to flout the rules, and then he'd be more like a disturbing Adam Morrison type, in control of his admittedly strange destiny. I think that'd be better. The mustache's fail is a symptom of the beard.

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Matt Bradl, EY: What's wrong with Matt Bradley? I'm 31 and I'd happily date him! He's quite cute, and more importantly, a CAP!

Dan Steinberg: Matt Bradley is one of my favorite Caps, because he at least recognizes the sort of humor stuff I'm going for. He mostly refuses to give it to me, but at least he gets what I'm going for.

As for you, that's fine. I'll set you guys up. You're 31. My daughter is 2. That's all.

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Houston, Tex.: So, I understand it was raining in D.C. last night, but WOW! Was at a bar to watch the Caps game and they had the Nats/Astros game on too -- it was so embarrassing to see how few people were at the stadium -- we decided there were more people at the bar in Houston watching hockey.

Dan Steinberg: So you're saying it's not worth Stan Kasten's time to go on Houston radio stations in an attempt to sell tickets?

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Follow-up re Follow-up re Wilbon re Golf: The fact that golf is more affordable in Europe than it is in the States DOES NOT MEAN THAT GOLF IS THE SPORT OF THE EUROPEAN WORKING CLASS! IT IS NOT! SOCCER IS! THE END!

Dan Steinberg: I think we should start a European golf blog. I'm guessing we could get some good comments.

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Newark, Del.: Steinz,

Is Ted's "locals only" really all that kosher?

Will he just dismiss any attempts by Caps fans to get tickets in Pittsburgh by saying, "fair's fair?"

I don't think away fans should be completely shut out. I'd rather see something like European futbol, where there's a well-guarded away fans section, to prevent any shenanigans.

Dan Steinberg: I don't know, I can't really muster much outrage either way. It's nice to see friendly faces in red at Caps road games, but I never have and probably never would be that person. I mean, it's one thing to see the Barra Brava in an empty New Jersey stadium, but when tickets are scarce and tensions are high, it would just give me the willies to cheer for the wrong team. I'm not sure how much fun I'd have, either. Not that I'd be worried about violence, just that it wouldn't seem like much fun.

But yeah, I'm sure that Ted would use that "fair's fair" line about Pittsburgh. His concern, for now, is keeping his own building an advantage for his own team.

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State of Play: Didn't I see you in a cameo appearance at Ben's Chili Bowl in the movie, State of Play with Russell Crowe? I swear that was you.

Dan Steinberg: Nope.

Mike Wise maybe?

At least once a week people call me Mike Wise. I mean, even when I'm not wearing a credential or anything. Honestly, let's all agree, I don't really look that much like Mike Wise, absent the haircut.

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Crysbaby, Pa.: In the annals of whiners, is there anything better than Crosby asking the refs to make an announcement for Caps fans to stop throwing hats after Ovie's trick last night? I wish they would have cause I guarantee it would have led to 10 more minutes of hats and other unrelated projectiles being thrown on the ice.

Dan Steinberg: Put aside every other thing you know about Crosby except his reputation. Saying that last night was brutal, just brutal. As soon as he said it, I wanted to sprint out of the interview room (they've turned the Wiz practice court into a playoff media center) and run back to my computer. It was just a ludicrous thing to say, even if it's what he believed, because it's so easy to parody.

And as another media friend pointed out, he ended with a serious note that he wasn't complaining about it, just observing, and he seemed really to believe that.

But you're right. An announcement would have made things worse, especially if they had said "after a request from the Penguins." And there will be hats galore on Saturday*.

* If necessary

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A second sports station in D.C.?: We had two sports stations very recently and there wasn't enough listeners to support two stations (one of the reasons that Mr. Snyder started Red Zebra radio, and in turn buying out WTEM). What makes anyone think there'll be enough listeners (and advertisers) for two such stations? And what about the possible second station?

Dan Steinberg: Since I'm not really a sports media reporter, exactly, I'd refer you to DCRTV.com, which has been on the "second potential station" story for a while.

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Rodanthe, N.C.: Have you had any conversations with Varly, sans translator? Is he actually reasonably conversant, if not fluent?

Put another way, in your estimation is Varly or Semin better at English?

Dan Steinberg: Well, I've never had any conversations with Semin, so it's tough to say. Varly is very close to being able to do this on his own, and the guess is next year he starts. On the other hand, he's extremely witty and intelligent in Russian, and that comes through in the interpretation. Or whatever. In other words, his answers aren't just pleasing for us English-speaking schlubs, the Russian interpreters/journalists also like them. So I'm content to keep things like this for now.

He definitely understands much/most of what we English-speakers are saying. I think the bigger hurdle is the answering part, understandably. If I had to guess, I'd say Varly is better, but obviously you'll see him speak English on TV before you see Semin.

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Caps Jersey: It was a Caps jersey with no number that I threw out. Too many bad memories associated with it, especially the 5 or 6 thousand Pens fans chanting empty seats before a game 7 Stanley Cup playoff game at the Cap Center.

Dan Steinberg: Gotcha.

Still, Goodwill? No?

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Atlanta, Ga.: Who is the most promising Redskins rookie to deliver Bog-worthy material in training camp? Or even new Redskins addition? Gotta be the 400 pounder right?

Dan Steinberg: Mike Williams is not, in fact, a rookie. Just a former rookie who has been out of the league and saw his weight balloon. Is there another 400-pound rookie I'm missing?

I didn't go to OTA's because of Caps duties, but based on his Twitter feed I think Chase Daniel has some serious potential. Kevin Barnes is also a smart kid and has some bravado; I guess I'll choose him.

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Vienna, Va.: I hate to say it, but one of the reasons hockey will never get close to football in this town is the lack of African-American interest in the sport. D.C. is majority African-American, and the crowd at Verizon Center is probably 95 percent white. That's not the case at Redskins games, or even Nats. Not casting blame here, it just is.

Dan Steinberg: I can't say what the future will hold, but I've said before that Caps games are whiter than any other D.C. sporting event: Georgetown, D.C. United, Mystics, Nats, Redskins or Wizards.

Not casting blame either, just agreeing with your observation.

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Arlington, Va.: Speaking of facial hair, have you had a look at D.C. United's Greg Janicki lately? Now, that is some weird thing goin' on there.

Dan Steinberg: Amazing, though I'm told he shaved.

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Arlington, Va.: So, what happens to all of those hats? Do they give them to Ovechkin? Or do they just end up going to the landfill?

washingtonpost.com: Crosby Objects to Hats on Ice (D.C. Sports Bog, May 4)

Dan Steinberg: I was hoping to scoop the world on this one, but for all I know it's already out there, so I'll bite:

The Caps are building a display in their Ballston practice facility that will be filled with hat-trick hats. In the meantime, all these hats are being kept over there in storage somewhere. I aim to find and photograph them before the playoffs are done.

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Gilbert's Corner, Va.: So did the PA announcer admonish the crowd about throwing hats on the ice when Crosby scored his 3rd goal? Seemed to work...

Dan Steinberg: Rim shot!

I think you can forgive Pens fans. They're a minority, their team is down by two, there are 33 seconds left, maybe their heads are chilly....Lots of reasons not to throw a hat.

More importantly, who the heck was the guy right by the glass who got the first Ovie hat on the ice? I mean, that thing was in the air before the light was lit? Amazing timing. In my mental image, that one hat beat all the others by at least a full tick onto the ice.

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Cambridge, Md.: Speaking of the Washington Times, it seems lately the Post -- at least in online formats like Capitals Insider and the Bog -- does a lot more mentioning of other papers, even posting notebooks from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Is this a new trend, whereby the brotherhood of journalists are helping each other out in these rough times for newspapers?

Dan Steinberg: The macro answer is, we should have been doing this earlier. We should have created some national sites: Newspapers do the NFL, newspapers do the NHL, newspapers do MLB, etc. Beat writers from every city blog for one big site, maybe a few national writers from the papers that can still support that, all the breaking news throughout the day rising to the top, etc. All the material then feeds into the hometown papers, as applicable, but then the locals could theoretically be a destination for national fans in a way they just can't on their own.

The micro answer: I've sure been trying to link to papers since this thing started three years ago. We're gradually nudging some of our other blogs in that direction, the idea being that it doesn't matter if the Times gets some traffic too, as long as people are going to The Post in order to be directed to The Times. I think.

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Dan Steinberg: Ok, time for me to finish up a few blog items (Tyler Sloan's dad!), mow the lawn and get ready for a 6 a.m. wakeup call. Svrluga and I (and maybe Wise) are driving to Pittsburgh tomorrow a.m. and hope to be at the Igloo building structure in time for the Caps 1130 skate. Then we hope to go around town and find charming evidence of the lovable sports town that has been so much the focus of our recent lives. Wish us well, and send along your best vegetarian finds in Western PA

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