Posted on May 9th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
The 2018 top-seeded Toronto Raptors are over there in a dark corner, nursing their drinks and muttering about being swept in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The 2015 top-seeded Atlanta Hawks are in another corner, reminiscing about their 60-win season and the broom they endured in the Eastern Conference finals.
Across the room, the 2017 top-seeded Boston Celtics and the 2011 top-seeded Chicago Bulls (62 wins) have their heads together, peering at tablets that loop highlights of the sole victory each managed in their respective conference finals.
Those loud voices coming from the bar? They belong to the 2014 top-seeded Indiana Pacers, bragging about how they extended their conference finals to a whole six games.
The Pacers disparage everyone assembled but speak especially ill of the 2012 Chicago Bulls, who otherwise might’ve qualified for admission here but were upset by No. 8-seed Philadelphia in the first round.
That’s real ignominy, not what Toronto just suffered. The Raptors shouldn’t feel too bad about joining this club, identified by a gleaming plaque on the door:
“Top Seeds Vanquished by LeBron James.”
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Posted on May 7th, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
When the Nationals began their first homestand of the 2018 season, Dave Martinez said he expected to have fun in the home opener, specifically, and his rookie managerial season, in general.
The scoreboard didn’t cooperate that day (Stephen Strasburg took the loss against the New York Mets’ Jacob deGrom) and neither did the injury bug (outfielder Adam Eaton’s awkward slide forced him to the disabled list a few days later).
It was the beginning of a pattern.
DL stints soon followed for outfielder Brian Goodwin and third baseman Anthony Rendon. Victories became scarce. The Nats were 4-2 entering that homestand, 7-9 when they departed. They remained below .500 upon their return to D.C. and promptly lost two games against Arizona to fall to 11-16.
Martinez contributed to a 10-inning loss with a glaring rookie mistake, calling for reliever Adam Austin before the Diamondbacks announced their pinch-hitter, a gaffe that contributed to Arizona’s winning run. “I completely take ownership to that,” Martinez told reporters afterward. “It will never happen again because I will make sure I look right at (the pinch-hitter) and say, ‘Is he in the game?’”
It was another one-run game with the Nats on the wrong end, dropping their record to 1-8 in such affairs. The offense was scraping along, increasing the stress and workload of a thin bullpen. The NL East leaders were six games ahead and the division was shaping up as much more competitive than the last two seasons.
Suffice it say the first month wasn’t much fun, not for the skipper or his team.
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Posted on May 3rd, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
The Capitals and Penguins have played three games in their second-round series. The action has featured a pair of shoulder-to-head hits by Washington’s Tom Wilson, the latest resulting in a broken jaw and concussion for Pittsburgh’s Zach Aston-Reese in Game 3.
Caps fans would be livid if, say, Brett Connolly was knocked from action with a borderline hit from the same Pittsburgh player who caused, say, Matt Niskanen to exit the previous game after a similar blow.
Washingtonians’ opinion entering Game 3 would’ve been loud and clear: There should’ve been a suspension!
But since Pittsburgh defenseman Brian Dumoulin was on the receiving end Sunday in Game 2, Caps fans were relieved when the NHL decided Wilson and his shoulders could carry on. After reviewing the play, the Department of Player Safety determined that Dumoulin moved his head just prior to contact, making the contact unavoidable.
Maybe that was the right call. Just like in the NFL, deciphering split-second. high-speed movements in super slow-motion is an exceedingly frustrating – and often ineffective – way to legislate games. Especially when trying to gauge intent.
The league also ruled in Wilson’s favor during the first-round series against Columbus, when his shoulder-to-head hit drew a penalty and caused Blue Jackets forward Alex Wennberg to miss the next three games.
The trend is bright red, in all caps.
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Posted on May 1st, 2018
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
The NFL draft isn’t art, science, or luck, though all three elements play a part.
There’s no foolproof method for 32 teams to divvy up college football players. Teams even disagree that concentrating solely on their sport is prudent; the Philadelphia Eagles drafted an Australian native who stands 6-foot-8, weighs 346 pounds, and has never played a down of football.
“It’s a fun sport,” 20-year-old rugby star Jordan Mailata said in an NFL Network interview. “Why not give it a try? It’s been an absolute brainstorm of an experience.”
The Eagles’ brain trust thought enough of the prospect to move up 17 spots to grab him, albeit in the seventh round with the 233rd pick. Mailata, who spent several months learning football and blocking techniques at a Florida training facility, is considered an offensive tackle momentarily.
Having constructed a roster that won the last Super Bowl, Philadelphia’s front office can live off its reputation for a couple of seasons. The Eagles could bring home a ‘D’ on their draft report card and no one would care. (Speaking of report cards, they might be the only exercise more useless than mock drafts; there should be a three-year moratorium before grades are assigned).
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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 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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