ABCDE SPORTS friday, december 17, 2010 PROFOOTBALL
Outdoor game still on NFL sticking to plan to have Bears and Vikings play at U. of Minn. D5
COLLEGEFOOTBALL
Franklin expected to leave U-Md. coordinator could take head coaching job at Vanderbilt. D2
FIRSTTHINGSFIRST
Online Q&A, 9:30 a.m. Chat with Dan Steinberg at
live.washingtonpost.com
BASEBALL
Nats trade Willingham Deal brings reliever, outfield prospect from Oakland. D3
When HBO showed up, the Capitals thought they knew what they were getting into . . . but did they?
Wizards cannot complete comeback
Down by 23 in first half, Washington ties score in
fourth but falls to Nets, 97-89 BY MICHAEL LEE
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST Whenthe Capitals agreed to a television show leading up to the Winter Classic, they never guessed they would be mired in a seven-game losing streak. A BIT TOO CLOSE UP
BY DAN STEINBERG AND KATIE CARRERA
For a franchise that once lobbied for more coverage from local media outlets, the news that HBO would document a month of the Washington Capitals’ sea- son was a national coup, a chance to expose a likable dressingroom,goofy star player and high-scoring style to an audi- ence of millions. “I don’t think we have anything to
risk,” team owner Ted Leonsis said after the announcement in September. “What’s theworst that happens?They see a player cursing? They see a player drinking a beer after the game?We really don’t have anything to hide.” Three months later, the team’s ugliest blemishes have been bared, and some fans are wishing for a cover-up. This week’s premiere of the four-episode “24/7,” a series documenting the weeks leading up to a major sporting event, coincided with Washington’s seventh straight loss, its worst streak in more than three years.Wednesday’s hour-long show — split between the Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins before they face off outdoors in the WinterClassiconNew Year’s Day — showed morose players, tense interactions and an apoplectic Coach Bruce Boudreau, who used the F-word and its various derivations 31 times in the episode, including 15 times in one locker-room speech. And while Leonsis still maintains that
he has no regrets about inviting the eight-person television crew into his or- ganization, this wasn’t the image of the Capitals anyone imagined HBO captur- ing.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS capitals continued onD6 AnHBOcrew, here interviewing Capitals forwardMattHendricks, is following the team for a four-part series, “24/7.” Finding fault with HBO, not Boudreau I
f you’re standing next to me in the snow today, just duck, because what I’mabout to say is going to
rankle the red more than it will rock them: Leave Gabby alone. That’s right. Let Coach Bruce “Bleepin’ ” Boudreau be. This seven-game abyss the
Washington Capitals have fallen into is hardly his fault. No. There is a much bigger,
MIKE WISE
wealthier target responsible for the current malaise in Ballston: HBO. Yep. Ross Greenburg,Mr. Big
Cheese at HBO Sports, and his big-city
cable operation show up with their high-fallutin’ cameras and their Higher Power-voiced narrator. So, in drumming up interest for the
Winter Classic on New Year’s Day at Heinz Field between the bitter Eastern Conference rivals, they film the obvious angle and the combatants play along: Three-time, Angelic Stanley Cup
Champions from Steel City, all of whom presumably sit on Santa’s lap and ask for world peace (while trying
to court his blonde helpers) vs. . . . an Endorsement-Driven, Flamboyant Russian.Missing a tooth.Missing the net.Missing everything. Oh, and his full-figured, St. Nick
coach, whose first intermission speeches feature more F-bombs than a Mel Gibson voicemail. This “24/7” Caps-Pens propaganda
is so one-sided, Fox News and MSNBC even would have turned it down. Back
wise continued onD6 redskins continued onD5
Parental discretion advised A sampling of Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau’s comments from the first episode of HBO’s “24/7”:
“We’re lookin’ [bleeping] defeated.We’re looking [bleeping] defeated right
now.Showsome [bleeping] courage and [bleeping] play the game properly.You’ll score three [bleeping] goals if you do. I’m[bleeping] sick and tired of losing.”
“So [bleep’s] not going right. It’s not [bleeping]working the last 10days. [Bleeping] get your heads out of your [bleep] and [bleeping]make itwork by outworking the opposition.”
newark — They were undermanned, out of sync, unfocused, and foundering, again. In desperate need of awin, on the road or otherwise, theWashingtonWiz- ards put forth a comedic display of bad passes, bad fouls and bad shots in the first half of their game against the equally woeful New Jersey Nets at Prudential Center. JaVale McGee recovered a rebound,
but CartierMartin fell into him, forcing McGee to take extra steps backward to avoid a nastier collision and get called for traveling. Trevor Booker later set a screen for Gilbert Arenas but never turned his head as he made a cut to the basket. Despite seeing the back of Booker’s No. 35 jersey, Arenas still attempted the pass, which bounced off Booker’s head, leading to a fast-break jumper for the Nets’ Devin Harris. “I think I hit two players in the head
with the ball today,” Arenas said. But even after a wretched perfor-
wizards continued onD4
Redskins on outside looking in
Lack of indoor training site inhibits team’s practices when foul weather hits
BY AMY SHIPLEY AND RICKMAESE Despite the free-spending ways of
Washington Redskins ownerDaniel Sny- der, Redskins players frequently find themselves out inthe cold.Or the rain.Or the snow. Or, as was the case Thursday, scram-
bling for their cars. The Redskins are the only cold-weath-
erNFLteamthat lacks anindoorpractice facility or bubble-covered field for use when the weather turns nasty. The occa- sional inconvenience has been an obvi- ous irritant to the coaching staff; when snow fell Thursday, players were forced to drive themselves to an off-site fitness center because the teamcouldn’t charter buses in time. And it may be a sore spot giventheteam’s recenthistoryof late-sea- son struggles. Fourteen of the NFL’s 32 franchises
ownandoperateindoorpracticefacilities with regulation fields inside. Seven oth- ers have practice bubbles, two occasion- ally train in their domed stadiums and four have rental agreementswith nearby facilities.Only four other franchises have no readily available indoor training op- tions, but all are located in California or Florida.
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