Bedside Tissues

By the title of this article I could go a number of ways with this blog. Fortunately for 99% of you, I'll keep it clean...ish.  I watched the Wizards last night, and once again went to bed in a bad mood. It's been a common theme over the years to end the day on a bad note. But I never thought it'd get to this point.

The Skins are throwing out dreams of Peyton Manning being our next QB.
The Caps are struggling not only to find an identity, but to just make the playoffs.
The Nationals are about to introduce the "Most Hated Athlete in DC" as one of their franchise cornerstones.
The Orioles...just suck.
And the Wizards look like they're staying the course...which in this case leads right back to the starting line.

I feel like I complain more than the average DMV fan...and I'm OK with that. What I'm not OK with is having to refill my bedside tissue box on a weekly basis, & falling asleep to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'".

Until next time fans...FIGHT ON!

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BREAKING NEWS: Nationals Catcher Kidnapped

The Washington Nationals have a budding star on their roster in Wilson Ramos, a 24 year old catcher who batted .267 with 15 home runs last year. The only problem is, he's kidnapped. Ramos was in Venezuela playing for the Aragua Tigers in their winter league. Kathy Vilera, the Tigers spokeswoman had this to say, "It's sad, worrisome and true that Wilson Ramos was kidnapped."


That sounds more matter of fact, and less bothered by the fact that one of their players has been kidnapped. 


Four gunmen entered his home in Venezuela Wednesday night and took him at gunpoint authorities say. They escaped in a van which was later found in the town of Bejuma, 60 miles from his home. According to Venezuelan officials, their "best investigators" are on the case. 


"Prudence and an even head are important in this difficult moment that the Ramos family is going through," Tigers President and General Manager Rafael Rodriguez said in a statement. "With God's help we will end up well in this complicated situation."


Baseball is extremely popular in Venezuela, and this is not the first reported crime against players in the area. CNN reports the following:


In 2009, the 11-year-old son of Texas Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba, as well as his brother-in-law, were kidnapped for ransom. The pair were released the next day, reportedly with no ransom paid. 


Former major league pitcher Victor Zambrano's mother was also kidnapped that year, and rescued in a police operation.


The brother of Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Henry Blanco was kidnapped and killed in 2008.The trend of Venezuelan ballplayers being at risk goes back at least to 2005, when the mother of former big-league pitcher Ugueth Urbina, was kidnapped and held captive for months. -CNN.com


While headlines are all about Penn State right now, there is a missing person in Venezuela. I guess people go missing every day, so it isn't worthy of headline news. Right now, the FBI is not involved in this case because Wilson Ramos is not a US citizen, though they have offered any help Venezuelan authorities need.


I'm not sure what to make of this, Ramos is still missing, authorities are waiting for a ransom demand, but what if that never comes? 


This has Celtic Pride written all over it. . .Fight On DMV will keep you posted as the story continues.





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Davey takes over

Washington Nationals announce that Davey Johnson will stay on as manager for the 2011-2012 season. Johnson took over in mid June last year and went 40-43 to finish the season one game under .500 at 80-81. Davey has some lofty expectations for his club for the immediate future and has made that very clear:

"Winning the pennant. Winning the division. Winning the National League. . .I couldn't have said that last spring. I didn't think the talent was ready," Davey explained. "But after being there and seeing the progress that some of the young players made, I think we definitely can contend. And I would be sorely disappointed if we didn't do just that. The talent's there."

We shall see, Mr. Johnson. We. Shall. See.



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About the "Author?"

BEN. Short, simple, dare I say. . . perfect.

Here's a quick bio of one of the men behind the curtain for this blog. I've stared at this screen for a few minutes filtering out important information from the unimportant, or vice versa, and then it hit me like Brian Orakpo hit Cam Newton's spine. Most of my background doesn't matter. If I took the time to create a blog dedicated to professional sports in the DMV, that sums it up fairly well I would think. Most people who read this blog can probably relate at least on an extremely superficial level to me. We've all felt the sting of what seemed like 72 botched snaps and missed field goals in 1999. We all feel as though we are stuck in some kind of "sports owner purgatory" while stuck with Dan Snyder and Peter Angelos running the show. But hey, in the end it's all good because at least there is a show, right?


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Pregame Bullsheet

What Up Sports World,

My name is Rick, an avid sports fan of our beloved DMV (actually just the D&M, but I won't discriminate). I grew up playing every sport you can think of...doesn't matter if I was actually good at them or not, so shut up! I'm born and raised in MD and have loved our Skins, Caps, Bullets, Terps, DC United, & Orioles since forever. And no, I am not a Nationals fan. Just because a new team rolls into town doesn't mean you jump ship! If that were the case, I would've been a Ravens fan a long time ago...but F*ck that noise. If you are one of these unfortunate Natty or Purple Nurple fans have no fear..I'll still give you all a shout out from time to time.

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