Thank god, the Redskins season is over. No more games to watch. No more NFL studio shows talking about the team. No more wondering if this week's broadcasters are going to use the team's official nickname or boycott against it by not saying "Redskins". No more bad, depressing weekends.
Sundays and even Mondays can be fun again. There are great pro and college sports teams in action right now. The Capitals shut out the Penguins, their arch rival, in Pittsburgh on Saturday. They are playing their best hockey in nearly four years, 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. Overall, they are 18-11-6 entering Monday for 42 points and a tie for third place in their division. Capitals are one unified team with good offense and defense. They don't depend on only Alexander Ovechkin. Nicklas Backstrom is a great "Robin" to Ovechkin's "Batman". Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen have improved the defense so much this year. Orpik's physical hitting intimidates opponents while Niskanen's smooth skating and passing allows the Caps to not spend time on defense. In addition, new head coach Barry Trotz has diagrammed a playing system which concentrates equally on offense and defense.
In the NBA, The Wizards are second in their division only due to playing fewer games than Atlanta have 21 wins already in 29 games. John Wall is an emerging superstar and quickly becoming one of the NBA's best players. Wall makes a highlight-reel pass or shot or both every night. Bradley Beal is a great shooter. He can make shots from anywhere and dribble past lazy defenders. Nene, Marcin Gortat, and Kris Humphires rebound opponent's missed shots with great frequency. The trio can score on offense close to the basket and far away.
In college basketball, there are a lot of good stories. The University of Virginia is third ranked in the entire country with a perfect 11-0 record. In-state rival Virginia Tech is an impressive 8-4 in a rebuilding season. Georgetown University is 8-3 including two spectacular overtime wins over Florida and Indiana, respectively in neutral-site, non-home games. The University of Maryland has a 12-1 win/loss total with their only loss against undefeated Virginia. Maryland has won three games outside the state of Maryland, two in Kansas City over Arizona State and Iowa State through winning the CBE Classic and one in Oklahoma at Oklahoma State. Finally, George Washington University defeated Wichita State in winning the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii. Wichita State was ranked 11th with a 10-1 record entering the game. George Washington is 9-3 after winning the three round tournament.
For those of you scoring at home, all of the basketball and hockey teams have winning records with at least 12 games played. The Redskins have done that once since the beginning of the 1999 season. The best 12 game mark was a break even 6-6 mark in 2012 after they started 3-6.
In short, these teams are good, the Redskins are bad. Also, it's not going to change. Spend your time, money, competitive rooting interests on basketball and hockey. Don't pay attention to coaching changes, free agent signings, or draft picks selected by the Redskins. It's a waste of time, enjoy yourself with good, hard-working teams.
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