Posts tagged Sports

“1-0”

16 months ago, we got to attend a victory parade in Washington, DC for the first time in a long while.

Yesterday, on November 2, 2019, it happened again. This time we got to gather along Constitution Ave to fete the victorious Washington Nationals, Major League Baseball’s 2019 World Series Champions.

Of course the racing presidents made an appearance. Here’s George on a Capital Bikeshare bike.

The DC Police Department led things off.

With a 162 game regular season schedule that unwinds over 6 months, a city’s baseball fans are given the opportunity to witness a new story every year. It begins in February when pitchers and catcher report to spring training, and comes to its conclusion sometime in October. Most years, the story ends in disappointment, tragedy, or some combination of both. For the Washington Nationals in 2019, it ended yesterday in a triumphant parade.

Juan Soto, Victor Robles, and Fernando Rodney

Much like the Washington Capitals in 2018, the story of this Nationals team was one of struggle, of “fight”, of a silly song for toddlers, and of doing the impossible. The team famously started 19-31 in their first 50 games, and were summarily written off (rightly) by nearly anyone that was paying attention.

Anthony Rendon basking in the glow of a championship.

Sean Doolittle swings his light saber to the delight of the crowd.

Then a funny thing happened: they went “1-0”. Again. And again. And again.

They went 1-0 often enough that they found themselves in the playoffs again. Then they kept doing it, until they went “one and oh” on the last day of the season; winning game 7 of the World Series in Houston.

Brian Dozier in one of the few moments during the parade when he had a shirt on.

This story had a lot of heroes: Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Howie Kendrick, Max Scherzer, Juan Soto, and Ryan Zimmerman, just to name a few. It also had more than its share of exciting chapters, punctuated by important strikeouts, clutch hits, and invaluable defensive plays. Mostly though, the story was about fighting hard, refusing to give up, and trying to win each day before worrying about the next.

Ryan Zimmerman holding onto the Commissioner’s Trophy while sharing a laugh with Davey Martinez

The story of this championship team had plenty of ups and downs, plenty of dark moments, and more than its share of near misses, but when each day had that goal of “1-0”, there was no individual setback was too big. No obstacle that could not be overcome. Each chapter did not end with a victory, but it did end with the opportunity for another chance, and ultimately the last chapter ended with a trophy and this parade.

It’s a story that I’ll remember fondly for many years to come.

Mike Rizzo, victory cigar in-hand, waves to the crowd while the trophy is held aloft behind him.

StoriesMark TegethoffNovember 3, 2019Sports

"Freeze time all winter."

Thomas Boswell has been a columnist for the Washington Post for almost as long as I've been alive. There was no column I wanted to read more this morning than his:

In baseball, they always say, “Wait ‘til next year.”

This time, don’t say it. Freeze time — for now. Freeze time until Saturday’s parade. Freeze time all winter.

The Washington Nationals are World Series Champions.

I can't wait for the parade.

LinksMark TegethoffOctober 31, 2019Sports

Photographing 'That' Match

In modern sports, the great photography is often taken for granted. This story from Clive Brunskill details the challenges of shooting the 2008 Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“It got to the point that it got so dark, I had to put my fastest lense on for match point...And I just remember thinking, I can’t even see him. All I could see was the white of his outfit and I was thinking ‘Where is he going to go?’” he said.

In the span of 10 years, our equipment has changed so much. The fact that he got that picture with that experience is simply incredible.

LinksMark TegethoffJuly 18, 2018Sports, Inspiration

Much Anticipated Debuts

DC United was one of 10 clubs to kickoff the inaugural MLS season in 1996, when they opened their season at RFK Stadium. The league's early early featured a series of dominant performances by United, as they won the MLS Cup three of the league's first four seasons, taking home the Supporters' Shield (for best regular season record) in two of those seasons.

Over the ensuing 22 years, DC's success stalled as many new clubs were added to the league (there are now 23), new soccer-specific stadiums provided new revenue streams, an influx of European and South American talent raised the level of competition, and DC tussled again and again with the city government in hopes of getting a home of their own.

They finally have one: Audi Field. Its debut on July 14, 2018 against the Vancouver Whitecaps, just so happened to coincide with the debut of England and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney, DC's new number nine, and its most expensive player expenditure to date.

DC United descends to the locker rooms after warm-ups for final preparations.

DC United's new number nine: Wayne Rooney.

The event played out as the team might've hoped: offering fantastic sight lines, a steep grandstand keeping fans close to the action, a packed house, and a victory by the United.

Mere minutes into his debut, Rooney was presented with a juicy free kick opportunity (he drilled it into the wall).

Rooney made his eagerly awaited debut in the 57th minute and made an immediate impact. Shortly after running onto the pitch, he launched a juicy free kick from 25 yards into the wall, linking up with his teammates during a tiki-taka-esque sequence leading to DC's second goal, almost scoring a goal of his own on a looping header, and eventually contributing an assist for DC's third and final goal.

The game eventually ended with a 3-1 victory for United, sending the standing room-only crowd of 20,504 home happy, and ensuring a successful debut for the two newest pieces of shiny for DC United.

Postgame fireworks to punctuate the victory.

VignettesMark TegethoffJuly 16, 2018Audi FieldSports, DC

All Ours

When a team in your city wins a championship, your city gets a parade. I can't be sure, but I'm pretty confident that it's in the Constitution somewhere, at least on the state level. Unfortunately, in our nation's capital, we don't get those types of parades too often. I've spent 35 years living near this great city, and trust me, we haven’t done it often at all. The last time the entirety of DC was able to celebrate like this was 26 years ago (Sorry DC United, I'm a season ticket holder, and I hope that you someday could generate this kind of glee, but you're not quite there, yet).

To the delight of throngs of Capitals fans, Alex Ovechkin hoists the Stanley Cup. — To the delight of throngs of Capitals fans, Alex Ovechkin hoists the Stanley Cup.

Sure, Inaugurations happen every four years, and at times one social cause or another political gathering gets the city's skyline on CNN, but this is different. This was ours. It wasn't about a group of carpetbaggers coming in to celebrate a national election, a massive protest of the ruling party of the time, or about the swamp or the lobbyists or the interns or the representatives of other cities and states on the Hill.

Two long-time season ticket holders, known to most as The Horn Guy and Loud Goat, began the festivities, and led the parade.

A Caps' fan in his Nicklas Bäckström jersey looks to take in the view from up by the Washington Monument.

This one was about us.

It's been a rough 26 years since the last big parade. I could talk about a trip to the now-shuttered Carpool in Arlington to watch them fall to the Penguins. I could talk about watching in-person, Ovi's first trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs end in an overtime Game 7 defeat to the Philadelphia Flyers. I could talk about any number of deflating losses, where they hit crossbars, missed empty nets and let the puck crawl through their legs to the back of the net. I could also expand the scope of deflation, and remember Robert Griffin III, crumpled in a heap. I could reminiscence about throwing things in frustration at Justin's Cafe as a Game 5 against the Cardinals slipped through the Nats’ fingers, or when Clayton Kershaw came in late to best Max Scherzer with me looking on in horror from the stands. I could talk about a lot of moments. Frankly, I could even talk about this year, when I gave up on watching OT hockey games entirely. The result has always just seemed so damn inevitable. Always.

And then suddenly, it wasn't quite so inevitable.

A few of the Washington Capitals (Brett Connolly, Jay Beagle, Andre Burakovski, and more) pose for a photo atop their parade bus. — A few of the Washington Capitals (Brett Connolly, Jay Beagle, Andre Burakovski, and more) pose for a photo atop their parade bus.

When they came back from two games to none against Columbus, it felt a little bit different. When Evgeny Kuznetsov lit the lamp, flapped his wings, and sent home the Penguins, we were overjoyed that the piano was lifted. When the collective team effort suffocated the vaunted Tampa Bay offense into Game 6 and 7 goose eggs, we wondered. When Braden Holtby made "The Save" in Game 2, we started believing. When Jakub Vrana, Alex Ovechkin, Devante Smith-Pelly, and Lars Eller netted goals in game seven, we were all champions.

Fans celebrate with posters of the Washington Post Sports section's recent front pages.

It most definitely does not "be f*ing suck!" as the team's bearded Russian grizzly bear of a captain so succinctly put it.

"We are Stanley Cup Champions!"

Local alcohol laws didn't stop parade participants from distributing beer to the crowd.

After the majority of the parade had passed by, attendees eagerly awaited The Cup.

It was jubilation. It was local. It was diverse. It was everything that those of us that live here know Washington, DC to be. It was for those of us that grew up here. It was for the players and coaches, who all thought that they missed their chance last year, and year before that, and year before that, and weren't sure if they'd ever get there. It was for the season ticket holders that have watched for 43 seasons of disappointment. It was those of us that root for the Nationals on hot summer afternoons, the Redskins on crisp autumn Sundays, the Wizards through frigid winters, but most of all, those of us that don a sweater, "Rock the Red", and fill Capital One Arena, season after season. We all took part in the festivities. I don't think a single person that wore their sweater on a warm, but not-too-hot June day regretted that decision, and I think we'll all remember the scene of overdue and well earned triumph for the rest of our lives.

Congratulation, Washington, DC — your Capitals now hoist the Stanley Cup.

We got our parade, for everyone this time.

StoriesMark TegethoffJune 13, 2018Sports

“It was like we were a bunch of little kids again”

The Washington Capitals are your 2018 Stanley Cup Champions.

This, from Barry Svrluga and Isabelle Khurshudyan is a great look back at the season that almost wasn't, before it became the one that was THE one. The whole piece is worth a read, but this, from the conclusion really does a great job encapsulating it all:

Before the final faceoff in Holtby’s end, Ovechkin stood behind Backstrom on the bench, hugging him. When the horn sounded, the Swede leaped over the boards, the Russian looked to the sky, and a human pile decades in the making grew at one end of the ice.

“It was like we were a bunch of little kids again,” Niskanen said. What an innocent thought for such a hard-earned moment. Just a little more than 12 months earlier, the Capitals had dissected not just goals that hadn’t been reached but whether they could be reached at all.

On Thursday night in Las Vegas, when Ovechkin lifted the Stanley Cup and handed it to Backstrom, the pain felt like a necessary part of the journey.

This season's group of Washington Capitals wasn't their most talented of the Ovechkin/Backstrom era, but ultimately it turned into the best one.

Congratulations Alex and Nick and Evgeny and Braden and John and Jay and Brooks and all the rest; you earned it.

In DC, we haven't stopped celebrating, and we will continue to tomorrow at the parade.

LinksMark TegethoffJune 11, 2018Inspiration, Sports