I don't typically stray too far from the nightlife reporting on here. But outside of my passion for the nocturnal life is my love of sports. So I couldn't help but comment on the recent firing of former USF football coach Jim Leavitt.
Having lived in Tampa for a few years, I'm well aware of the job Leavitt has done at USF. Folks have to remember the the University of South Florida didn't have a football program 14 years ago. Jim Leavitt was their first and only head coach. He built the program from ground up when they operated out of trailers held together with duck tape. Today they are members of the Big East conference, are a major player in South Florida recruiting and are routinely featured on national television playing other high-profile programs. To say USF football would not be where it is today without Jim Leavitt is an understatement. Leavitt is USF football!
So the controversy stems from a player who Leavitt "reportedly" grabbed by the throat and then slapped. And yet the player in question and his parents are denying those claims. Most of the close to 100 players at USF stand by their coach. USF however fired Leavitt because "internal and external" investigations found two eyewitness accounts that said otherwise.
Forgive me for thinking this, but we are talking about football right? I mean, this is the sport where you hit people, is it not? And it is a coaches duty to get their team fired up for games and/or when their players might be down on themselves along the sidelines...right? I mean, what type of football team is USF trying to produce?
One of the best quotes I saw in the comment section on ESPN said... "South Florida: fired their coach for grabbing and slapping a kid to get his attention. SLAPPING. The same thing a woman could do to you for an inappropriate pick up line in front of a police officer and not get charged."
Yeah, I'd like to recommend the next coach of USF keep a minimum of 2ft. distance from any player and bring lollipops to practice to keep the kids happy.
Those of you who know me fairly well and keep in touch know that two weeks ago I began running every morning. This has actually been a lot easier than I expected and now something I actually look forward to when my alarm goes off. The fact was, with work, dancing and lifting weights, it left very little time for me to concentrate on my cardio. So it seemed like a smart idea to actually go to bed an hour or two earlier and get my run in before work. So far so good! I'm averaging 3 miles each morning and get to run past some of our nations most familiar icons. And my work day is filled with so much more energy it's insane!
Well recently I came across an email about a running club at the new Lululemon store on P Street across from the Whole Foods near Logan Circle. I decided this week I would check it out and push myself to run a bit longer than I normally do. Now I don't typically pimp out retail stores on my blog. I'll go to clubs and restaurants and tell you what I like and dislike, but retail has been an animal I've typically left alone. But I've got to say, this running club and the staff at Lululemon who run it are awesome! We did our run from the store down around the mall and returned to stretch, do some ab work and enjoy free bananas. The thing that I really liked about all of this was it seemed like a genuine effort to reach out to the neighborhood. There was no sneaky side-arm tactic to get you to buy things. It was simply people who enjoy running getting others to run with them. I'll most certainly be back next week!
The NHL continues to press themselves into my life with the Washington Capitals facing the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. For hockey fans, this is a dream match-up because it puts the game's top two players, Caps forward Alex Ovechkin vs. Pens captain Sidney Crosby face to face. For sports fans in general, it's pure excitement at it's highest level. And for me, well...I can't get enough of it!
The series has not disappointed and it's not for the faint at heart. All but one game has been decided by 1 point. 3 games have gone into overtime. Crosby and Ovi have combined to score 13 goals and 10 assists. It has been drama in every single minute of play. And the best part of it all... the series is tied 3-3 and it comes home for game 7 in DC tomorrow night. Yeah...a sea of red will welcome back our boys for one more night of chaos on ice.
The photos you're seeing here are from game 5 last Saturday night when I got the chance to take Sup to her first hockey game. I mean, not only was it her first game...it was the darn playoffs. Talk about being thrown right into the mix. And she fit right in. She wore a Caps hat and emptied her lungs trying to will our team to victory. The Caps lost that game, but they play on once more. And hopefully they have a new fan in Sup.
As most of you already know, this week has been quite the emotional roller coaster. On Monday morning the Lindy Hop world lost our beloved Frankie Manning. He touched all of us dancers more than we could have imagined and so his loss hit pretty hard. So we spent the day mourning and then honored his legacy by dancing the night away. We continued remembering this amazing man last night with a memorial tribute at The Jam Cellar. Ann Mony and Steve "DC" Grimes put together a beautiful video, several dancers told personal stories about their time with Frankie and we all did the Shim Sham.
Between all the reflection and memorials, I had tickets to game 7 of the Capitals Stanley Cup playoff game against the Rangers. On one hand I felt like I needed to mourn longer. But on the other hand, Frankie lived his life with such joy and happiness and would want us to do the same. So last night prior to The Jam Cellar, I attended what I think goes down as the greatest sports event I've ever seen in person.
Last Wednesday night, the Caps lost to the Rangers, 2-1 in game 4. The loss put the Caps down 3 games to 1 in the opening round series. Teams coming back from a 3-1 deficit is about as rare as finding a democrat that lowers taxes. It just doesn't happen very often. So I think the entire DC region shrugged off the loss and figured it was yet another first round exit for this incredibly talented hockey team. I mean, how would the Caps come back from this?
Two games and five days later, the Caps find themselves battling the Rangers in game 7 with the series tied 3-3. The Caps were at home. DC was rockin' the red! Everything was in their favor. We had tickets to the game and you can bet we were going to scream as loud as humanly possible to help bring our franchise a playoff series win. But the Caps didn't show up for the start of the game. Oh, the players were on the ice. But the team was thoroughly dominated in the first two periods. The Rangers scored first and the Caps followed to tie the game, but clearly New York wanted it more.
Then the third period began. You could sense the Caps finding their game. You could see simple possessions were now on the Ranger end of the ice and not stuck behind the Caps net. The Caps had 2 shots on goal in the first period while NY had 8. The Caps had 13 in the 3rd period and held NY to just one. It had to happen. It was going to happen. Caps nation was about to explode as scoring chances mounted. Then with 4:59 left in the game, Russian superstar and NHL veteran Sergei Fedorov beat Ranger goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to give the Caps a 2-1 lead. I've never seen an arena erupt with such celebration and emotion. You just knew the team that scored would win. For the final 5 minutes of the game, the crowd stood chanting C. A. P. S. Caps, Caps, Caps!!! I've never seen anything like it.
The Caps won. DC moves on in the playoffs. And in honor of Frankie Manning, I danced, cheered, and laughed all night long. What a roller coaster ride!
Below are two more small and crappy images I shot with my phone. The one above and just below are from inside the arena and the third is the crowd spilling out into the streets of DC.
This posting is going away from my typical musings about nightlife, dancing and photography. But I came across an interesting story today about a Dallas girls basketball coach being fired after his team defeated another Dallas school 100-0.
The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Dallas, fired coach Micah Grimes after he sent an email disagreeing with school administrators that the win was an embarrassment. The school has a response to the game on their web site here.
So it got me wondering, what exactly is the problem here? According to the reports, there are no mercy rules in place within this particular athletic conference. Not to mention, how can one participate in sports to achieve a certain amount of success and then be told its embarrassing when that success is attained? I'd like to know what others think. We all joke about the college football games when teams like Paducah Bible College try to play Ohio State and lose 90-0. But those teams are usually paid a handsome amount of money to provide the typical powerhouses with glorified walk-throughs. But what about high school kids? My state has mercy rules in affect after scores get out of control. But isn't there some sort of conflicted message you're sending these kids when you tell them to win, win, win, then fire a coach when they do. We see guys like Tommy Tuberville fired at Auburn after going 34-16 in his previous 4 seasons. We see a turnover in coaching jobs that looks more like a shift change at your local McDonald's.
So what's the right thing to do here? Fire the coach because his girls played a masterful game? Or step up efforts to institute a mercy rule in the league to prevent something like this in the future. No one wants to lose 100-0. A bagel in any game sucks. But what's a coach to do if he can't keep his job even when he wins???
New Jersey Nets guard Devin Harris gets taken to school by a local British baller named Stuart Tanner. The video has become a YouTube sensation as this unknown trainer walks up to Harris, challenges him to a quick one-on-one and beats him.
I posted the video for three reasons...
1. Any time you see an amature athlete take on a pro and win is enjoyable. It's that little bit of inspiration for all of us to take on the best.
2. Devin Harris shows complete class and strong character, something we don't see enough of in pro athletes.
3. I'm going to see Devin Harris and the New Jersey Nets take on our Washington Wizards tonight for opening game of the 2008-09 season.
In a move that surprised locals and fellow Nats fans, the Washington, DC Bowl Committee is announcing the first ever Congressional Bowl (we'll call it that for now) will be played at RFK and not Nationals Park.
Let me get this straight... we get to see Navy. We get to see them play the 9th place team from the ACC. And we get to do this all from the friendly giant-sized toilet bowl known as RFK Stadium? Let me try to quell my enthusiasm for just long enough to ask... WHAT???!!!
With all due respect to the power that be, could you have not found a worse marketing nightmare in the history of bowl games? Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a bowl game right here in our backyard. I've seen first hand the money and energy it brings to places like San Francisco for the Emerald Bowl. Imagine college football fans dumping off metro at Navy Yard and littering our sports bars with their brightly colored sweatshirts and funny hats. Imagine the exposure our new ballpark would get on national television during a time when most have forgotten about the last-place Nationals and baseball in general.
But no, we get to invite the college brethren of Navy and the ACC to our fancy "old" stadium in a neighborhood that attracts more hotdog carts of death and empty parking spaces than actual sports fans.
Welcome to urban marinade...a blog that lets you stew in the cultural crock pot of Washington, DC. I'm here to rant and rave about anything and everything in my little urban world. Generally speaking, that includes nightlife, photography, dancing and DC urban development. So there!
I don't typically stray too far from the nightlife reporting on here. But outside of my passion for the nocturnal life is my love of sports. So I couldn't help but comment on the recent firing of former USF football coach Jim Leavitt.
