Olympic Fever

Over the past week or so, NBC has been starting to cover the Olympic trials on their sister channels like USA and Universal HD. Something that brings great joy to my wife who was a high jumper in college. The other night we witnessed one of the most exciting races in the Men's 800 meters.

Now let me preface this by saying my wife could care less about sports in general. When I am watching hockey, she rolls her eyes with every goal I celebrate, and gets peeved when I get upset over a blown call or a stupid penalty. Don't try talking hockey with my wife either, she could care less. When ever I have news or think something is exciting and I share it with her, I usually get a "I really don't care" stare from her.

But the roles were reversed the other night when we watched the track and field Olympic trials. She was on the edge of the couch, getting more and more excited as we watched the decathlon events high jumping and pole vaulting. Then we watched the Men's 800 meter race that feature 3 runners from Oregon, the home boys since the trials are being held in Oregon.

When the race starts the three Oregon runners were near the back for most of the race, until the last turn. Out of nowhere all three put it into overdrive and all three beat the field and will be going to Beijing for the Olympics. You can see the video here on nbcolympics.com. My wife was so excited she was jumping around the living room and screaming about how great a race it was.

I caught myself rolling my eyes. It was a great race, but I was never a huge track and field fan. But thinking about it, I get to see the Caps play every year for near 8 months out of the year. She only gets to watch elite athletes realize their Olympic dreams every 4 years. So I let her jump and scream and grunt with the runners and jumpers. It was fun to see the fan side of her emerge as we watched all of the events. She even gave me a few pointers on how to high jump using our bed as the "pit."

I guess our house has already caught Olympic fever.

Stupid Pierre

I think I got called out for calling Pierre McGuire a Pens sympathizer. Not that I really hate Pierre (although he has not invited me over for afternoon tea as of yet), I just decided to rant about it on my blog because my wife didn't want to hear it. I am sure he is a nice guy (to his mother).

Pierre did give the Caps some credit during the game. He said some nice things and I think the fact that there was glass between him and the Washington Bench and none on the Pens side, he was a little more in the know about what Pittsburgh was doing. Just once I would like to see a player give Pierre a little tap during play during a shift change. I mean he is right there.

A lot of trade talk has been swirling around and the Wash Post confirmed that Dainius Zubrus was in danger of being traded. Although I would hate for that to happen, it wouldn't be the worst thing the Caps could have done (i.e. signing Jagr). The Caps could ship the forward as a rental to a Cup running team and resign him over the summer. Just like Peter Bondra.

One thing is for sure, the Caps may resign to the fact that the Playoffs is too far out of reach by the time the trade deadline rears it's ugly head (Feb. 27). That means all eyes look at the NHL Draft and Nicklas Backstrum's arrival in DC.

NBC's Debut Games, Better Than Expected

The NHL on NBC. Today marked the first day of NBC’s network broadcast of the NHL. And they did surprisingly well. The games they covered were actually good ones. All one goal games and two going to overtime, the Boston/Dallas game featured the shootout.

All in all, NBC got some good games to cover, but did that translate to good ratings in the States. Networks have always had a love hate relationship with the NHL. Remember Fox’s attempt to make hockey easier with the glowing puck. But their numbers didn’t improve.

NBC is a bit different only because they will be the network covering the Winter Olympics as well. Hockey ratings always seem to find a bump just before and after the Winter Olympics, at least in 2000 it did. And with NBC keeping those same viewers that may sit and watch when the Olympian hockey players return to their NHL teams.

I enjoyed the games on NBC, they didn’t try to do too much on their debut broadcasts. I could have done with out the Sidney Crosby campaign piece for Calder during the second intermission. The entry and exits of the broadcasts were clean, and very little interruption from the game.

I would hope that a US Network would stick with the NHL for the whole season. And why not take that chance with the new look of the league. The NFL will always overtake the television on Sundays, but Saturday broadcasts could smell like hockey for NBC. But due to lack of ratings, and consequently the lack of sales will keep hockey out of the lights in the fall.

As for NBC, keep up the good work, and I will tune in again next Saturday.

41 Down, 41 To Go

NBC came out with their schedule of NHL games. No surprise that the Capitals were left off national coverage of the games. Not that it would have been nationally broadcasted as the games are localized. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Detroit Red Wings appear 4 out of the 6 Sundays NBC broadcasts.

The Caps are officially branded the worst team in the league. The question now remains, where do we go from here, and who gets to come? Rumors have been flying of the trades of Olie Kolzig, Brendan Witt, and Jeff Friesen.

As the Capitals start their second half of their season tonight at Dallas, it will be interesting to see if George McPhee makes to move for a more veteran squad or if he will once again squander veteran players with future prospects and draft picks.

What the Capitals have to accomplish this second half is to work on their consistency. Which means, I would guess, is to either be consistently good or consistently bad. At least gain some consistency.

The Caps must give Alex Ovechkin some kind of goal support. Allow a threat to open ice for the talented rookie to do more damage. The team also must find more than one line to produce offense. I would even consider shaking up the CBS line as they have gotten to some kind of stalemate, neither producing goals nor creating many chances.

The team needs more experience. That is the bottom line. Whether it’s in their cards to find more stable, consistent players will be seen as the trade deadline looms and the teams jockey for better playoff teams.

If I were to play general manager of the Caps I would look at what I need to build a successful team around Kolzig and Ovechkin. I would need to find a playmaker to wing with Ovechkin. Then I would strengthen my defensive core and look for a suitable back up for Kolzig that can one day take starting duties after Olie takes his leave.

Right now McPhee has some leverage with trading some good players for draft picks and maybe future considerations to teams that want to win now. I would put Jeff Friesen and Andrew Cassels on the market for a playmaker. Then I would look for solid draft picks for Witt (because I don’t think I could get a better defenseman with a player to player trade).

Whatever does happen, the Caps will have a different look next year and even by the end of this year. It sucks to talk about trading players so soon for the Capitals, but at this point, with half the season gone, the Caps have only won 13 games. Not a lucky number for Hanlon’s squad.

Capitals at Dallas tonight 8:30 pm.