Warpath - Tide turning for DC Sports?

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Tide turning for DC Sports?

With the Wizards cashing in on their 10.3% chance of landing the #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft (John Wall baby!!), it got me thinking. After a disastrous season for the Wiz, suddenly there is a glimmer of hope. With a player of John Wall's caliber out there (Derrick Rose V2.0), the hope for the Wiz to climb back to a playoff team suddenly looms large. Why not play Gilbert off the ball and let Wall run your team? Mind you, this year's NBA ROY was a one-and-done PG from Memphis who wasn't quite the prospect that Wall is.

The Nationals went from one of the worst teams in league history last year to a suddenly very solid squad. They are fighting through a tough 60 game stretch to open the season (hovering around .500, sitting only 3 games out of 1st in the NL East), and have a much easier 60 game stretch to end the season. They have a legitimate chance to contend for the playoffs and have yet to call up Strasburg, who thus far in the minors looks every bit like the once in a decade pitching prospect he was billed to be. Oh yeah, they're gonna draft [URL="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/392019-let-the-bryce-harper-hype-machine-begin"]Bryce Harper[/URL] too. Some have called him the best prospect since Babe Ruth. At least the best since A-Rod anyway.

The Caps... well, they broke our hearts this postseason, but they were the winningest team in hockey this year and by far the highest scoring, and they now have arguably two of the five best players in hockey (Backs/Ovi) locked up until 2020. Sprinkle in a defender or two and they'll contend for years.

The Redskins have been abysmal for the past decade, due in large part to Dan Snyder's mismanagement of all things on-the-field related. This season he FINALLY backed off and handed the keys to a proven GM in Bruce Allen, and a two-time Super Bowl winner in HC Mike Shanahan. The change in culture at Redskins' Park has been palpable, and suddenly Donovan McNabb is the starting QB. They may win now, they may win in a few years, but a franchise free from Vinny Cerrato that now sees the much maligned owner sitting in the audience instead of standing at the podium at pressers is a breath of fresh air to faithful fans.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm smelling a whole lot of positive from the big 4 DC teams, and as a native Washingtonian, I love it.

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

I wouldn't argue with this take even if I disagreed with it, which I certainly do not. Nice post.

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

Definitely, been thinking how it's looking up for all of the teams.. just gotta get the O's along for the ride. Pretty excited that Backstrom got locked up and Harper seems to be the real deal.

Is this going to be the best decade for D.C. Sports?

It seems like the 10's are set to be a hell of a time for D.C. sports. The Redskins are now finally back on track with Shanahan/Allen, the Capitals are a Stanley Cup Champ just waiting to happen, Wizards win the lottery and get a franchise PG in John Wall, and the Nationals apparently have the best young pitcher in the league (to bad I'm an O's fan).

So with that said do you think this will go down as the best decade in D.C. sports history?

Re: Is this going to be the best decade for D.C. Sports?

this is the best looking set of teams i can remeber since the eighties. the caps could be one of the most dissapointing teams in the history of the nhl if the don't make it to atleast the eastern finals next year. and the skins future looks bright although it always does this time of year, it's nice to see changes of a different nature though. the nats are coming around they could take a while. and the wizards could be good i don't really follow the nba that much but john wall looks legit, but they really just need to change their name back to the bullets, or something else so they can atleast have a better uniform

Re: Is this going to be the best decade for D.C. Sports?

Could easily be. The Skins appear to be returning to winning ways, finally. The Nats have a very bright future and are presently playing well. The Caps will win a few Cups. The Bullets...who knows but it can't get worse.

Considering the other decades were mainly ONLY Redskins with the winning, if more than one team is good, it will easily be the best. Yes, the Bullets wew good in the 70s and Caps had some good seasons in the 80s, it is looking like at least 3 of the 4 DC teams could be contenders in this next decade.

When the Senators were good, the Skins were bad!

Re: Is this going to be the best decade for D.C. Sports?

I'm going to merge this thread with GMScud's Tide Turning for DC Sports thread. They're pretty similar

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

No love for the ladies?

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.C._Divas]D.C. Divas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url]

Washington Mystics are 2-0 (Whoooo!!!!!!) and just drafted a beast defensive player in Jacinta Monroe (I don't really follow the WNBA all that intently, but whatever props to the Mystics)

I'm very excited about the potential of the Big 4 teams in DC...at this moment though, it's only potential

Re: Is this going to be the best decade for D.C. Sports?

[quote=SmootSmack;702228]I'm going to merge this thread with GMScud's Tide Turning for DC Sports thread. They're pretty similar[/quote]

Sorry, wish I noticed that earlier. Plus Scud's title is much better than the one I came up with.

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

[quote=SmootSmack;702239]No love for the ladies?

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.C._Divas]D.C. Divas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url]

Washington Mystics are 2-0 (Whoooo!!!!!!) and just drafted a beast defensive player in Jacinta Monroe (I don't really follow the WNBA all that intently, but whatever props to the Mystics)

I'm very excited about the potential of the Big 4 teams in DC...at this moment though, it's only potential[/quote]

Hahaha... I'll play along. I've actually been to Mystics games (in LA). I think Alana Beard is a fine player, but I had a feeling the team would play better without her (more of a passing squad). The addition of Katie Smith is huge and I expect big things from Monique Currie and Marisa Coleman. Geez, you may as well call this team the ACC alum squad.

Not only 2-0, but 2-0 on the road!

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

Nice to see the Nats do decent for a change. Wiz are hopeless in my opinion, in terms of actually contending for a title or even a conference title. Caps are 2 years away from the Cup, and who knows with the Skins, but they are headed in the right direction. DC can definitely be where it is at sportswise fairly quick.

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

I wouldn't say it's the best decade for DC sports but the potential is definitely there. Wiz got the #1 pick finally putting some genuine excitement back into this team that definitely needed it. Wall will be a nice addition at point and we can put Gil at the 2 and have a nice backcourt duo even though I don't think Gil plays the 2 as good as he used to be at point. But the potential is there and Wall will make us a better team.

Caps are definitely looking up, at least for the next several years with Ovi/Backstrom locked up, a nice young group of players around them (with several more prospects still growing up), and with better defensive play will definitely get further in the playoffs and contend for Lord Stanley like they were supposed to this year. So the future is indeed looking bright for them.

And this season the Nats are looking much better and we haven't even called up Stras yet who is tearing up the minors right now. We have a nice young core, our closer of the future in Storen just came up this week and is just starting to get acclimated to the pros, Bryce Harper is looking like a lock to be our #1 in the upcoming draft, Stras should be coming up fairly quick, and we finally aren't settling for less in terms of who to fill out the roster with (It felt like in previous seasons that we were just settling for less with guys just to fill out the roster instead of creating some genuine competition for roster spots like we are now.) So the Nats future is definitely trending upwards as well and we aren't looking half bad to start the season this year.

Which leaves the Skins. And honestly even though I love the Skins more than all the other DC sports teams I like to watch, I feel like they have the least brightest future out of all three of those teams. I'm not saying they don't have a bright future, just not as bright as the Nats, Caps, and 'Zards. Well maybe as bright as the Zards but that's a wash for me. Having Bruce and Shanny in here has given me a lot more faith for the future than Vinny ever did but I'm still on the "I will wait to see how it pans out on the field" train versus the "Bruce and Shanny mean we will be a playoff team for years to come with their superb guidance" train. I'm not too enthusiastic about the switch to the 3-4, and I do think we will experience transition pains this season as we can't just take a defense that was highly suited for a 4-3 and make it into a top notch 3-4 defense overnight with a couple minor position switches for some players. But there is optimism for the future with this team, I just hope too many people don't get upset if they don't see playoff caliber improvement from this team in this upcoming season.

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

I hear what you're saying man. I'm also wait and see with the Skins. I mean it's not like Shanahan hit the playoffs even once in his last 3 years.. and despite injuries they probably should've won that 1 extra game that would've gotten them there in 2008. But maybe a fresh start will be good for both sides, players and coach.

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

[quote=tryfuhl;702521]I hear what you're saying man. I'm also wait and see with the Skins. I mean it's not like Shanahan hit the playoffs even once in his last 3 years.. and despite injuries they probably should've won that 1 extra game that would've gotten them there in 2008. But maybe a fresh start will be good for both sides, players and coach.[/quote]

In due time we will see a much better team than we did last year. But I think we're at least a couple seasons away from actual contention in the NFL. It is definitely a good thing Shanny and Bruce are weeding out all the me first players in the locker room, Haynesworth excluded for now, and I'm sure we will be much more competitive this year than last and I don't doubt we will see a win improvement. So at least we are on the right track.

Re: Tide turning for DC Sports?

[quote=SmootSmack;702239]No love for the ladies?

[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.C._Divas"]D.C. Divas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/URL]

Washington Mystics are 2-0 (Whoooo!!!!!!) and just drafted a beast defensive player in Jacinta Monroe (I don't really follow the WNBA all that intently, but whatever props to the Mystics)
[/quote]

C'mon, this is the "Other Sports" forum. Stay on topic! :D