Making Big News on 15th St.

Saturday’s Washington Post has an editorial on, of all things, the Washington Capitals. This is not an op-ed on the sports page; this is an actual editorial in the paper’s A section. The last time we remember this occurring there was in the immediate aftermath of the team’s run to the Stanley Cup finals in June of 1998.
“A New Ice Age for D.C.?” it’s titled. Imagine. The subhead reads, “After the Capitals dazzled the hockey world, we’re believers.” Implicit there is the legacy of the media outlet long being non-believers.
“The Washington Capitals are still fourth in line, behind the Redskins, Nationals and Wizards, in the affections of the city’s sports fans,” the editorial notes. “But the Capitals’ longtime followers can match those of any team for loyalty, intensity and knowledge of the game. The problem has been that there usually haven’t been enough of these fans year in and year out. That may be about to change.”
Encouraging, no? No mention of hockey taking a back seat to NASCAR.
More: “A young team with perhaps the best player in hockey — Alex Ovechkin — got the Verizon Center back to where Capitals’ owner Ted Leonsis likes to see (and hear) it: packed full and threatening to bust the decibel-measuring machine. The Caps’ extraordinary comeback this season . . . made legions of new fans every day.”
“Under Mr. Boudreau, who had toiled 15 years in the minor leagues, the Caps won game after game down the stretch, none of which they could afford to lose. By the time they gained first place and a playoff berth on the last day of the regular season, they’d become arguably the most popular hockey team not only in North America but in Russia as well, [emphasis OFB’s] where Mr. Ovechkin and three Russian teammates competed with the national team for attention.
“. . . who could bet against a player who led the league in scoring and who gets so fired up that he tries to throw himself into the crowd after scoring a game-winning goal (no easy thing in hockey, since there’s a Plexiglas screen in the way)?
Of Gabby the Post’s editorial team says, “He is a true find, one of the most likable, unassuming and (on the outside, at least) calm people ever to stand reassuringly behind a bench full of hypercharged skaters.”
As to the team’s future?
“Perhaps in the next year or two they can deliver an authoritative answer to those who say the Potomac will freeze over before Washington wins the Stanley Cup.”
Color us stunned.

Advertisement