Posted on April 28th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Fans filed out of Capital One Arena Friday night with 1;39 left in the home team’s season, with Toronto in possession of the ball, a double-digit lead, and an upcoming appointment in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Turns out that Game 6 of the Wizards’ first-round series was pretty much a microcosm of the entire season. A real letdown.
Washington had its moments but ultimately didn’t’ have enough to be a serious contender, especially not shorthanded against the Eastern Conference’s best team.
The final score was 102-92, the Raptors having pulled away slowly and methodically over the last nine minutes. They trailed throughout the first half and entering the fourth quarter before knotting the score at 80-all. Never again was the score even and Washington never led again.
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Posted on April 25th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Do you feel a draft? If not get ready, because the NFL is about to blow.
Beginning with Thursday’s first round, we’ll experience drastically expanded coverage of this year’s choose-em-up.
Rounds 1-2 will be aired via simultaneous broadcasts on ESPN, NFL Network and a newcomer, Fox. For the first time, ABC will simulcast ESPN’s coverage of rounds 4-7 on Saturday. This year also will be the first in which every round of the draft airs on network TV.
“The NFL Draft is a unique event on the NFL calendar where the promise and excitement of the future is universally felt among fans, players and clubs,” NFL chief media officer Brain Rolapp said in a statement last month.
(Just wondering: Do fans in Cleveland also experience the promise and excitement? Or is that outweighed by fear and dread, with the Browns poised to spend a first-round pick on a quarterback for the fourth time since 2007?)
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Posted on April 24th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Advances move at light speed, making it harder for old-timers to explain certain things to youngsters. Millennials struggle to grasp once-familiar concepts like rotary phones, handwritten driving directions, and TVs that required you to get up to change the channel.
I suppose young adults who grew up from 1920-1933 had similar difficulty getting future generations to believe the Eighteenth Amendment existed, notwithstanding stories about Eliot Ness and “The Untouchables.”
“No, for real!” grandparents might say. “Alcoholic beverages were illegal!”
Nearly 100 years after the Volstead Act ushered in Prohibition, we stand at another societal crossroads.
This time our major sports leagues are looking both ways and contemplating their next move. And we’re imagining a time when our children sit down our great-grandchildren.
“No, for real!” they might tell the tykes. “The leagues opposed sports gambling and marijuana use!”
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Posted on April 23rd, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
The Wizards’ official social media hashtag is #DCFamily.
I have no idea how they arrived at that phrase to describe a team in Washington.
It’s a strange choice because a large percentage of local fans presumably come from all over. A majority of the 50 states might be represented in a typical crowd at Capital One Arena. This isn’t the type of cozy hometown market where 99 percent of the spectators demonstrate unity by donning the free T-shirts.
But in watching Washington gut out a 106-98 victory Sunday that evened its playoff series against Toronto at two games apiece, “DC Family” made sense.
The Wizards are like those maddening, frustrating relatives you want to smack in the head sometimes because they simply don’t act right.
They’re talented, but too often undisciplined. They’re capable, but too often unfocused. Good advice too often goes unheeded, making you wonder if they’re hard-of-hearing or simply hard-headed
But when the Wizards pull out a victory like they did Sunday – playing the final five minutes without leading scorer Bradley Beal (31 points) – all is forgiven.
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Posted on April 21st, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Fear, doubt and uncertainty were in the air Friday night as the Wizards resumed their first-round playoff series against top-seeded Toronto at Capital One Arena. Nothing over the course of two games across the border instilled much confidence among Washington’s fan base that a turnaround was ahead.
Coach Scott Brooks’ pleas for better defense had gone unheeded. The Wizards had wilted in the fourth quarter of the opener and collapsed in the first quarter of Game 2. Whether it was the execution, the effort, or the X’s and O’s, the Wizards were lacking in every way.
But the Wizards weren’t going down without a fight. Literally.
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Posted on April 19th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Three games, two countries, and one city, the latter full of angst-ridden fans watching from afar.
Or in other words, Tuesday night in D.C.
Trepidation always follows when the calendar conspires to put the Capitals, Wizards and Nationals in action on the same date. Such occurrences typically serve as a warmup act for autumn’s solo performance, when the Nats face all the playoff pressure with none of the emotional support from fellow home teams.
We know how these stories usually end once they untwine.
Take last year, for instance, when the Nats recorded a walk-off win against Baltimore on May 10. Unfortunately, in second-round matchups the same night, Pittsburgh bounced the Caps in Game 7 and Boston throttled the Wizards in Game 5. Five months later at Nationals Park, the Chicago Cubs extended the Nats’ streak of first-round misery.
If this year is going to be different, you couldn’t tell entering Tuesday night.
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Posted on April 17th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
According to a popular theory entering the NBA playoffs, Wizards-Raptors isn’t your typical No. 1 vs. No. 8 series.
Toronto struggled against Washington in the regular season, splitting four games in which the Wizards’ best player, John Wall, played none. The Raptors also carried bad memories of the teams’ last playoff encounter, a sweep three seasons ago.
That series, which began in Toronto, was part of the Raptors’ 10-game losing streak in playoff openers. Six of those series started at home. Embarking on the 2018 postseason with the Wizards in town, the Raptors faced visions of the past, the weight of being No. 1, and the necessity to treat the opener – in All-Star guard Kyle Lowry’s words – “like a Game 7.”
Conversely, Washington treated Saturday’s contest like the eighth game … of the regular season. Like some nondescript matchup against the Orlando Magic or Sacramento Kings in November, when teams are still feeling themselves out.
The Raptors’ 114-106 victory was about as close as the score suggested. Washington’s three-point lead early in the final quarter was erased by an 18-6 run after forward Mike Scott’s flagrant foul on Lowry. The spurt included four 3-pointers, a pair each from role players C.J. Miles and Delon Wright.
The nearest defender on some of those shots and others (the Raptors hit 16 of 30 from long distance) appeared to be stuck in Customs at the border.
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Posted on April 12th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Once again, it’s time to check off some items on my “TIDU List” – Things I Don’t Understand:
*HOW BARRY TROTZ COULD MAKE A BAD CHOICE IN GOAL.
The Capitals coach tabbed Philip Grubauer to open the playoffs in net, not Braden Holtby. It seems like an easy decision given Grubauer’s fine play down the stretch. But Holtby is among the game’s best goalies.
And though the Caps’ postseason history is depressing, the veteran’s goals-against-average in the playoffs is 2.00. Trotz said he’ll choose his goaltender “game by game.”
That’s how we’ll grade his decisions, too.
*WHY BEN SIMMONS IS CONSIDERED A ROOKIE.
Blake Griffin won a Rookie of the Year award, but we shouldn’t repeat the mistake of honoring a second-year player this season. Like Griffin, Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons was injured and didn’t play during his first year in the league.
But playing time shouldn’t be factor … unless rookies glued to the bench by their coach remain eligible for ROY the following season. Injuries kept you off the court?
Oh well, that’s the way the rookie crumbles.
*HOW THE MARLINS REALLY BELONG TO THE VIRGIN ISLANDS.
This might be the most egregious example of “lawyering up” ever: An MLB team claims to be from the British Virgin Islands. Just disregard “Miami” on the uniform.
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Posted on April 9th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
OK, I need another reminder: Why is it that we don’t see two-way baseball players again?
Whatever the reasons, they sound like lame excuses and tired rationalizations after Shohei Ohtani’s performance thus far with the Los Angeles Angels. The 23-year-old who pitched and slugged his way to stardom in Japan is turning convention upside down in the States.
A couple of weeks ago, there were legitimate questions whether he should make the Opening Day roster. Beginning in the minors seemed logical for a youngster adapting to a new culture while struggling mightily on the mound and at the plate. The 27.00 ERA and .125 batting average during spring training couldn’t have done much for his confidence.
The lights at Triple-A Salt Lake City don’t shine nearly as brightly as they do at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Giving Ohtani time to adjust, before placing him under the big-league spotlight, seemed like the considerate thing to do, prudence and protection for his psyche as well as the Angels’ investment.
But Los Angeles ignored his spring, instead putting faith in his raw tools and five awesome seasons in Japan.
Good call.
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Posted on April 6th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Having already recorded his first victory as a manager – followed by his first series sweep, first four-game winning streak and first two losses – Washington manager Dave Martinez donned the home whites at Nationals Park for the first time.
News of general manager Mike Rizzo’s contract extension stole some of Martinez’s shine Thursday, but it was welcomed. That was one less thing to wonder about.
But what were his expectations entering his inaugural contest as the skipper on South Capitol Street?
He predicted more of what he experienced during his last visit – the feeling, not the emotions in the first-base dugout at game’s end.
“This is gonna be fun,” Martinez said prior to the Nats’ 8-2 home-opening defeat against the New York Mets.
He was wrong, unless you’re entertained by seventh-inning grand slams by Jay Bruce. But let’s say Martinez was speaking in general about managing high-interest games in Washington.
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