A Clean Sweep

Yes....we know it's early in the season....but the Atlanta Braves sent a message to MLB and the Washington Nationals.

A three game sweep...in the "Nats" backyard.

While we're giddy and happy...we must pause and remember...there's 150 more games to be played.

From the Washington Post:

Braves wrap up a tidy sweep of Nats

Nats' shortstop Ian Desmond strikes out against the Braves Sunday.

Adam Kilgore APR 14

Gio Gonzalez endures the worst start of his Washington tenure and the Nationals absorb a sweep-sealing demolition.

• Box score: Braves 9, Nationals 0
• Reid: Nats face some heat after sweep
• Discuss the Nats | MLB scoreboard
• Ramos placed on 15-day DL
• Espinosa X-rays come back negative
• Yankees’ Kuroda blanks Orioles, 3-0

The Curse of the Bullets/Wizards

"Karma"....is a funny thing.   Don't mess with it.  The NBA Gods, and 5onFive were not too thrilled when in 1997,  the Washington Bullets became the Washington Wizards.   

After caving in to political correctness...this team has become a laughing stock in  the "Association".

In their 15 seasons as the Wizards,  they have had only 4 winning ones.  The record since becoming Wizards?  466 wins.  716 losses.  They have gotten out of the 1st round of the play-offs only once of the four appearances.  

These Wizards were dealt the Gilbert Arenas era.  Remember that?  And who can ignor his "Airness" Michael Jordan  making us almost forget the great player he was ...by being such a lousy General Manager.

And now this fiasco to start this season.

Can you say 0-11?

 

(Nick Wass / Associated Press)

Another agonizing loss for Wizards

Michael Lee NOV 24

Despite a valiant effort from Nene, who bypasses his playing-time limit to score 19 points, the Wizards fall to 0-11 with a double-overtime loss at Verizon Center.

• Box score: Bobcats 108, Wizards 106 ( 2 OT)
• NBA power rankings | Scoreboard | Standings

R.I.P. Nick Charles

Before ESPN's ......Sports Center.......

There was a maverick.....Nick Charles.

There was CNN's.........Sports Tonight.

Sports Tonight......was way better than  any ....ESPN's Sports Centers...

For it was just sports.....without all the .....self promoting ESPN  bullshit.

Mr. Charles.....we will miss you...Our prayers are with your family.

From the Washington Post:

Nick Charles dies; first CNN sports anchor

Saturday, June 25, 8:15 PM

Nick Charles, a onetime Washington sportscaster who became CNN’s first sports anchor in 1980, died June 18 of bladder cancer at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 64.
Mr. Charles began broadcasting at CNN on the news network’s first day, June 1, 1980.

(CNN) - Nick Charles anchored “Sports Tonight” 17 years, then had his own show, “Page One with Nick Charles,” before leaving CNN in 2001.

“In those early days, when I came back to work each Monday,” Mr. Charles told The Washington Post in 1986, “I wasn’t sure if the station would still be there or if it would be a dry cleaning store.”

For years, he was teamed with Fred Hickman on “Sports Tonight,” a nightly roundup that challenged and often topped ESPN in the ratings.

“Our biggest problem in the beginning was finding credibility,” Mr. Charles told The Post in 2000. “I’d call people and say ‘this is Nick Charles from CNN’ and they’d hang up on me. They thought we were a lending institution or were trying to sell them something.”

Mr. Charles anchored “Sports Tonight” 17 years, then had his own show, “Page One with Nick Charles,” before leaving CNN in 2001.

Mr. Charles anchored Winter Olympic coverage for the TNT network in 1992 and 1994 and was co-host of the network’s Goodwill Games in the 1980s and 1990s. He covered most of the leading sports events around the world, including Super Bowls, the Kentucky Derby and the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

He was probably best known, however, for his analysis and commentary of boxing. He interviewed former heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson and, after leaving CNN, was a boxing commentator on the Showtime network until 2009.

Nicholas Charles Nickeas was born June 30, 1946, in Chicago and was a graduate of Columbia College Chicago. He was a taxi driver before beginning his broadcast career in 1970 in Springfield, Ill.

In the early 1970s, he worked at Baltimore’s WJZ-TV before becoming a sports anchor for WRC-TV (Channel 4) in Washington, where he shared anchor duties with Glenn Brenner.
“What too few people realize is that [Mr. Charles] works as hard as any local sportscaster in the country,” The Post’s Ken Denlinger wrote in 1979. “Brenner and Charles gave the area its best mix of entertainment and information in recent memory.”

After WRC fired him in 1979, Mr. Charles moved to Atlanta, where CNN was being launched.
“We did our shows on a shoestring,” he told The Post in 2000. “But we always got it done, and we had a great sense of adventure doing it. “

Mr. Charles, who was half-Sicilian and half-Greek, became almost as famous for his good looks as for his polished broadcast delivery. People magazine once named him one of the most handsome men in America.

Mr. Charles had three children from his first two marriages, which ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 13 years, Cory Azumbrado Charles, a onetime international producer for CNN; and a 5-year-old daughter from his third marriage.

A Full Blown......."Dumpster Fire"

Can things......get any uglier for the Washington Redskins?

First....coach Mike Shanahan suspends the best defensive player,  Albert Haynesworth ....without pay for the final 4 games.

Now....in a head scratching move,  Shanahan has benched QB Donovan McNabb....in favor of the disaster known as Rex Grossman.

We need to remind Mr. Shanahan......Without the arm of one John Elway....He never would have had a ....."sniffling" of   super bowl.

We need to remind Mr. Shanahan.......He was fired at Oakland.......He was fired at Denver.

We need to remind Mr. Shanahan......You ain't .......all that!

From today's Washington Post:

Redskins bench McNabb

Quarterback may not return next season

REDSKINS INSIDER | Hinting that the Donovan McNabb era in D.C. may be coming to an end, Coach Mike Shanahan says Rex Grossman will start at quarterback against Dallas.

• Twitter reaction | Theismann
• Agent: 'It's beyond disrespectful'
• Bog: Wilbon's take | Fox view

Tough call, but right one

SALLY JENKINS | The fact is that Donovan McNabb has been more classy than good, and the Redskins need to find out if he's the problem.

• Early Lead: Arizona eyes McNabb?
• Lack of indoor facility an issue
• Grievance filed over Haynesworth

Dunce cap for Shanahan

THOMAS BOSWELL | The Redskins' problem is that the guy who makes the big personnel decisions just happens to also be the head coach.

Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan said Friday he is benching six-time Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb, above, for the remainder of the season and that McNabb may not return for a second season. (John McDonnell/The Post)

Revolving Doors in the NBA

Six........and counting......

Such is the state of life in the NBA as a head basketball coach.

From the Washington Post:

Reggie Theus was fired as coach of the Kings yesterday after a 6-18 start to his second season with the club.

Assistant coach Kenny Natt took over the Kings at their shoot-around before last night's game against Minnesota, spokesman Troy Hanson said. Natt is Sacramento's fourth coach in less than three years.

Assistant coach Chuck Person was fired along with Theus, who went 44-62 in with Sacramento.

The Kings, who have had star G Kevin Martin sidelined by injuries for all but nine games, have lost 10 of 11. They've fallen into last place in the Pacific Division, with only a win over the Lakers in the last 3 1/2 weeks. Sacramento's 24-point home loss to the Knicks on Saturday night -- the ninth in 10 games at Arco Arena -- was Theus's final game.

He is the sixth coach fired in the NBA this season, following P.J. Carlesimo (Oklahoma City), Eddie Jordan (Washington), Sam Mitchell (Toronto), Randy Wittman (Minnesota) and Maurice Cheeks (Philadelphia).

Talk about lack of job stability...........the NBA takes it to a new level.