In Glacialis Blog

Per a vexillum, weekly online chat per lector yesterday Lavatio Stipes columnist/ESPN personality/ imperator magnus interventus blowhard Michael Wilbon agri questions in mens of nonnullus Washington sports fans. Ut vos vires statua, novus of Sean Taylor surculus eram of paramount penitus quod sollicitudo. Tamen illic erant quaero quoque in Veneficus, contraho football, quod NFL magis universe.

Unus questioner, vero,deigned ut erigo sermo of NHL quod Caps’ firing of Glen Hanlon. Quinymo topically vindico in the calendar of chat, wouldnt’ vos narro? Take nota primoris of professionalism Wilbon pre se ferre in suus coepi reaction ut serius, sober, and newsworthy in suus timeliness percunctor ex hockey fan, tunc nota quoque Wilbons’ admission of excludo sui ex pulvis domus ut unus of plagiarius’ plurimus donum athletes, procopiose a annus: 

Maryland: Mike, EGO teneo illic’ non ultum hockey sermo in illa chat domus, tamen quis es vestri sententia in Caps changing cogo? In hodie’ universitas of lusum qua “ ludio ludius lucror quod cogo perdo” obviously is had futurus perfectus. . . but operor in-season coaching changes concito satis of a teams’ juices ut vere planto a distinctus? Gratiae.

washingtonpost.com: Hanlon Sicco ut Caps’ Cogo (stipes, Nov. 23)

Michael Wilbon: Operor vos vere curo NHL? Teams change cogo amo they change underwear. They change lemma iens in playoffs secundum nonnullus alius cogo got team in playoffs. Diabolus have perfectus is quodwon Sto Vas … vel utique gotten ut Denique. Es vos kidding? Does is succurro? Hockey ludio ludius videor ut pervenio ut a change in cogo amo haud alius team lusum athletes. Im’ non super ut theoricus in Caput switch quoniam EGO havent’ seen Caput in alio in super a annus … EGO simplex dont’ insisto NHL via EGO did ut a kid, teenager, tener adult vel tener sportswriter … illic pulvis’ satis hora in dies, dies obvius week vel weeks obvius annus insequor panton, vel pro guys amo mihi quisnam es pensus insequor lusum. NHL est quis EGO occumbo, ut Ive’ incrementabiliter gotten in soccer quod ( tardus) NASCAR … quod is videor, ex vultus procul custodis instar, Im’ non solus unus quisnam has occumbo sicco tardus.

Plures, comprehendo nostrum own pucksandbooks, erant ex urbs quod a suum computers per feriae ut magnus novus ledo. Iuvo reprehendo vos sursum in weeks’ vices, weve’ congero nonnullus links ut a numerus of articles. Erant’ reus habeo requiro nonnullus, sic sentio solvo dimitto nos a ineo per a link ut absentis article.

• A Visum ex Vilis Sessio: Hanlon Sicco, Boudreau In
• A Visum ex Vilis Sessio: Tersus Slate
• Bleacher Opinio: Caps’ Skid Sumptus Hanlon Suus Officium
• Canada.com: Caput Incendia Caput capitis Cogo Hanlon
• Caput Insider: Hanlon Incendia
• Dump quod Fugo: Ex Archives
• In Cella: Cogo Hanlon Incendia
• Hockey Novus: NHL Gig diu Coming pro Boudreau
• FanHouse: Glacies Ovis: Bruce Omnipotens
• Globe quod Mail: Populus Hanlon has run ex refero
• Lancaster Online: Gero’ cogo proveho ut Caput
• James Mirtle: Terminus pro Hanlon
• Pium- Novus: Boudreau Takes Super Caps
• Pium- Novus: Boudreau A Victor
• Incomparabilis Prognosticator: Change
• Lusum Novus: Caput incendia Hanlon, proveho AHL cogo
• Lusum Novus: Vicis runs sicco in Caps’ Hanlon
• Sol solis Herald: E- Mare Wolves cogo protelo Caput
• Tribune-Democrat: Iugum of e-Johnstown ludio ludius ascend coaching ladder
• Iugum Rector: Boudreau gets suus chance
• Walton, Wired & Unwired: An Patefacio Tabellae ut Caput Populus
• WashingtonCaps.com: Caput Restituo Hanlon
• WashingtonCaps.com: Postgame Notebook
• Lavatio Stipes: Hanlon Sicco ut Cogo
• Lavatio Stipes: Boudreau est Laurifer in Suus Debut
• Lavatio Vicis: Boudreau Nomen Caps Cogo
• Lavatio Vicis: Nixor Caput licentio Hanlon
• Lavatio Vicis: Backstrom’s Vir Buoy Caps
• Winnipeg Sol solis: NHL Imbuo

blogging ladies of puck huic urbs es condita suum vestigium. Duos mensis secundumJames Mirtles’ article in Hockey Novus, hodie’ Sarcalogos Scientia Monitor jumps in Lavatio Bloggers’ Bandwagon, quod vitualamen sursum nonnullus alacer insights in novus interventus revolution in fabula est unus nostri ventus novus interventus vox vocis, Insurgo Henshel of A Visum Ex Vilis Sessio. Monitor notitia:

“ut plures sportswriters, suus’ a scandal. Ut erus of Lavatio Caput, suus’ posterus.

Press- arca archa sessio ut had been servo pro newspapermen in seasons absentis per es res attributa ut bloggers. A opinio ex Lavatio Stipes vires reperio sui sitting inter liberalis ex In Glacialis Blog (www.onfrozenblog.com) quod Puckheads’ Sententia (http:/pheadsthoughts.blogspot.com/)./

Ut gelu in aer isnt’ iustus Quin Centers’ aer valetudo verto sursum in altus”

Insurgo, cognatus nobis, has juvenis in suus pars (ok, lots of is), quod ut juvenis affords suus an maximus vantage in CSM ratio:

“illic es nonnullus [newspaper opinio] quisnam contemplor is ut fans res donatus nimium licentia quod intruding in quis has sursum etiamnun been a valde proprie stipes” says Insurgo Henschel, quisnam launched suus blog, A Visum ex Vilis Sessio, primo of permaneo season. “is videor futurus aliquantulus of a generational res, vere. Iunior opinio es maybe magis voluntarius ut loco sursum per is quam populus quisnam have been in res pro 20 vel 30 annus”

Insurgo, amo nos, agnosco pestifer persona MSM have ludio ludius in suus demise in D.C. “ filia of a longtime Caput season-ticket habitum, Henschel says fans of team have been “tremendously underserved” per mainstream interventus”

“propter via blogs es producto produxi productum they can suggero instant notitia quod reactions ut papers moris’ vulgo insquequo sequens day,” Henschel says. “populus volo suum notitia velox quod, insquequo nuper, bloggers erant solus ones suggero ut muneris. EGO reputo suus’ valde dico ut Caps’ pello pepulli pulsum scriptor pro duos major domus papers in D.C. have nuper partum suus blogs ut can exsisto updated ut necessarius”

Nos operor, quoque, Insurgo!

Lego universus article hic.

An rudimentum ut suggero a voluntas of aer EGO congressus in quod super Quin Center orsa tardus Imbuo meridianus:

445: p.m.: Nos operor non have quisquam appositus hockey tempestas. Verum, pedes down 6th St. sub a aestuo sol solis, Im’ incommoditas in mereo bluejeans quod a res shirt. Tamen Im’ melior off quam six fans EGO obduco quisnam es outfitted in novus rutilus Reebok Caps’ sudo; they es collapsed quod obduco sicco obviam Quin Center moenia, sudo fluo off suum templum. Plaga Excolo recro lemma per amotio novus sudo quod restituo lemma per vetus CCMs. Fere instantly fans revoco.

Serio, EGO saw a mediocris numerus of fans in illa rib-huggers sicco in estus, quod nullus of lemma videor ut exsisto moving 9 sentio ocius quam mihi.

Caps have a numerus of tener, venustas baculus scurrying super 6th quod RESURRECTIO Vicus in Segways dispensatio sinus schedules.

505:: Ille Forma’ Caps’ quod Veneficus’ apparatus repono, quod nemo videor scio est nomen quis iam, facile has 60 vel 70 shoppers in is duos hora pro venatus. Suus’ vere per difficilis moveo inter in, suus’ sic congested. Illic est torqueo secundum torqueo of novus colo colui cultum quod logo caps, quod they es evanidus velox. versus procul duos subcriptio es convenienter six vel septem populus profundus. teams’ novus vultus has been fabrica in a vulgus array of formo huic shop, quod suus’ videlicet populus per fans in oris nox noctis domi.

Tergum foris en iter itineris ut press porta, EGO occupo super an prodigiosus os: a manus manus of super 25 vel 30 men quod women — plerumque men — congregated in 7th St. taedium fervens rutilus wigs, rutilusindutus, quod rutilus athletic shoes. Is est haud vulgaris oris nox noctis of hockey domi, EGO reputo.

520:: Predictably, suus’ novitas- nox noctis turba in press lounge. Comcast inter alius broadcast exitus est effectus a longinquus foris rink, tractus multus of interventus alio whod’ secus exsisto in lounge. EGO supervenio in lounge per a absentis lustro varius interventus pro suum veneratio slottings of Caps in Oriens is season. Hic’ quis EGO perficio:

Mike Vogel: 3rd (obviously, is has Caps victor Inferus)

Ron Weber: 10th (ouch!)

Eric McErlain: 7th

Corey Masisak: 7th

Dmitry Chesnokov: 6th

600:: In press arca archa Im’ sessio inter Eric McErlain quod Dmitry Chesnokov. Voluntas, meus hockey erudio ero provectus tonight, quod Peius’ quoque have statim vexillum of bonus amicitia. Ut vox of Eric est a Vox vocis of America opinio exemplar ex Czech Res publica. A iugo of opinio in nostrum row profero ut Caps have reservo a press arca archa opus tractus — totus season porro — pro mortuus Dave Fay. EGO profero ut VOA guy ut meus recordatio eram ut Mr. Leonsis statutum tempus ut excolo intus a dies vel duos Daves’ decessio nos. Incidentally, solum of page 1 of Caps’ 2007 Interventus Rector portatus a dedication ut Fay.

615:: Im’ in levamen area of press arca archa, quod est partially vas in, quod questio quietis illic quoniam Tim Lemke of Lavatio Vicis est interviewing mihi super blogging quod suus labefactum in Caps. Is emailed mihi a week vel sic abhinc quod edoctus mihi ut hed’ iam orator per Eric McErlain ( bonus informatio, ut) quod Jon Press.

spatium permaneo diutius quam EGO sententia is would simplex quoniam Tim quod EGO have a verus interesting quod securus verto, quod is asks bonus questions. Quoque, quoniam EGO diligo sermo super is thema. Lemke profero suus infigo ut quattuor nostrum loco multus of opus in OFB. EGO dont’ per teneo quam ut respondeo; objectively vos could positus ut nos devoveo a sanus numerus of hora sulum week ut site, tamen vel ut Im’ stilus procul 200: vel 300: in oriens, gnarus Peius’ exsisto dragging in muneris tunc dies per mane meridianus, EGO nunquam visum nisus ut opus.

Plenus promptum ( quasi): three vicis EGO scisco Lemke verto off suus recorder ut nos can chat off record. Volo ut suggero him ut plenus a voluntas ut possible of quis has venio nobis super preteritus annus, quod varius members of hockey defero have partis me, per aliquantum of libertas, quis they sentio civitas of res interventus in D.C. futurus. Mike Vogel quondam told mihi ut 80 sentio of quis audit in suus hockey eo necesse has ut terminus sursum in talea cella solum. “suus’ a bonus via servo amicitia” is told mihi. (persevero)

Apprised of Comcasts’ commitment ut Caps is week, EGO verto in Comcast SportsNet moment EGO supervenio domus ex opus Monday nox noctis, quod left is illic. Quis EGO vigilo super tunc quattuor hora attonitus mihi.

EGO saw novus Comcast Caps’ pello pepulli pulsum opinio Lisa Tumulosus bulla populus a season praevius alongside Joe Nidor. EGO saw iustus super totus of Alexander Ovechkins’ primoris- umquam NHL venatus (Id’ forgotten ut is eram a flubbed breakaway ex a hat furta ut nox noctis). Tunc EGO saw JoeB quod Craig populus alius bulla dimidium hora, “Caps Narro” proalius team praevius. Spondeo pro Comcasts’ “SportsNight” ut secuutus pollicitus vel magis Caps’ occulto.

Is eram “Monday Nox noctis Hockey in Washington,” nimirum.

Caput capitis Cogo Glen Hanlon eram interviewed in depth per Tumulosus. GMGM eram thoughtfully interviewed, tandem, quod is dummodo suus usitas thoughtful restituo. Key alio — Sarcalogos Expedio, Olie Kolzig, Tom Venenum, Nicklas Backstrom, Michael Nylander — totus took volvit pro Comcasts’ venit. Tarik El Vercundus’ segment per Joe quod Craig EGO sententia eram a highlight of universus nox noctis. (Tarik, verus effingo, dedi a siccus quod mediocris assessment amid vallum bene engulfing norma mane is autumn. Caps, is said, could perago usquam “ ex sedecim ut decimus” in Orientales placitum)

Broadcast Susurro super pro hockey in D.C. illa dies? Umm, etiam — tantum si vos contemplor totus- perussi, singulus- thema pietas per locus lusum television exitus ut urbs’ rutilus- caput capitis stepchild of pro teams “ susurro”- testimonium. Promptus suus’ iens ut exsisto amo is reliquum of week sulum vesper in Comcast.

Procul unus cuspis per prime vicis proceedings EGO saw Joe quod Craig mico in screen multiple-screen listings of Caps’ prospicio. EGO saw nomen Michal Neuvirth, Simeon Varlamov, Karl Alzner, Joe Finley, Mathieu Perreault, Suffragium Bouchard, Dave Steckel, quod Sarcalogos Bourque, totus broadcast in an exitus ut nunquam in suus vita held an muneris fantasy hockey lacus. Ne multus, is eram amo a effrego exhockeysfuture, quod duos DraftGeeks pensio sicco Comcast bulla quod condita amo Wayne quod Garth in locus cable obvius.

Wayne, er, JoeB: “inviso totus is talentum in pipeline, Dude!”

Garth, er, Craig ( caput capitis gallo): “Praeclarus!”

Is est quis importo unus Canuck can operor ut an exitus!

Magis serio, Tumulosus eram hired accerso suus NHL occulto usus ut Comcast. in- domus hockey talentum eram significant, si sub-appreciated quod grossly sub- utilitas, tamen had exitus umquam jactito a dedicated opinio in pello pepulli pulsum? Tunc Im’ iens ut refer ut occulto sententia amo Comcasts’ huic week havent’ res in a vacuum, quod ut theyre’ a prenuncius of melior occulto advenio, procer quod broadcast, institutio quod alternative. Ut an ambitus, suus’ fashionable, nimirum: Caps may non planto is ut postseason is annus, tamen they mos non exsisto plumbeus.

Tamen nimirum Im’ a subscriber ut ratio ut a interventus revolution huic team quod suus lusum est puteus sub illa dies, in illa secui.

Im’ quoque, procul weeks’ terminus, ut is tentatio run in Comcast terminatio, planning in decens a subscriber ut CapsTV.

Someone from the Washington Post is traveling to Voorhees, NJ, this afternoon to . . . cover . . . a . . . rookie . . . camp . . . scrimmage . . . there this afternoon.

Times are-a-changin indeed.

Almost all of Dan Steinberg’s dizzying prose talents are on display in this fantastic file. It reminds us of why we were so effusive in our praise of his work early last autumn and then expressed dismay when he abandoned our sport throughout the winter and spring. As you read the file, ask yourself this question: could its success have been achieved had its origins been in any ballpark or playing field other than the rink?

We think it’s a rhetorical question.

Anyway, it’s a gorgeous contribution at a puck-starved period in the calendar. May it be merely the Bog’s training camp in a season-long love affair with a subject eminently worthy of his talents. 

We know that something deemed culturally significant transpired in town last night, because more than 45,000 people showed up at RFK, among them Michael Wilbon. This morning, his paper boasts an above-and-below-the-fold color photo of the phenomenon. This we know for a fact: there was not an important soccer game played in town last night. So why the panting print pack and their “Dewey Beats Truman” reaction? Also this morning, I’m asking this question: why when Beckham bends it is the Post atwitter and when Sir Sidney arrives do bloggers outnumber print press in the Verizon press box?

I’m no soccer fan, but truly, what the area MSM did to that sport this week was positively demeaning. “Soccer needs 25 more Beckhams” here in America, I heard last night. No, like hockey, it more needs 25,000 replacement editors of sports pages and newsrooms.

I’ve written before that the comparison of soccer and hockey and their comparable media coverage here (basically, ignored) is apt, as both sports reside far outside the American sporting mainstream. Both enjoy considerably greater popularity in Europe (and in hockey’s case, obviously, Canada). So what made last night so novel?

The answer is simple: Beckham serves as a cultural marker billboard for our present Cult of Celebrity. Style (and looks) over substance. Better still, a bit of bad boy style, too. What made last night supreme burlesque for me was listening to Wilbon squeezed in among authentic soccer broadcasters and analysts in the booth and pontificating on what soccer needs to do, at long last, to “make it in America.” Wilbon knows that soccer can’t ever dislodge any of America’s Big Four (actually, like hockey, it’s certainly hopelessly behind NASCAR as well); he doesn’t care that it never will, but he and his editors are grateful in any August for a Paris Hilton-on-the-pitch-like-buzz to arrive for one night. Not surprisingly, with respect to last night’s atmosphere in RFK, Wilbon referenced Barry Bonds in his column this morning.

David Beckham is a terrific soccer player. Occasionally, he evens wins a game by scoring a goal. But he most assuredly is not the Tiger Woods or Roger Federer of his sport. Or even its Sidney Crosby. He is the aura that he is partly because he has terrific skill but moreso because he’s extremely good looking and he’s presently attached to his physical equal off the field. In fact, yesterday’s WaPost reminded Washingtonians of this underpinning effect of Beckham Buzz, feature analyzing the beauties who congregate around the cleated.

It’s likely that Beckham’s lasting contribution to western culture is his being the peripheral inspiration for a film that introduced us to Keira Knightley. (No small accomplishment, that.)

Hockey has a fair number of superstars — many of them under the age of 25 — who dominate their game more than Beckham does his. And yet when Crosby and the Pens play at Verizon Center, there’s only a modest uptick in MSM mentioning of the matchup, virtually all of it pegged on the now hackneyed storyline of “Sidney vs. AO.”

Hockey is plagued by a long-standing dilemma as it relates to contemporary sports marketing and media coverage: its stars most often are little different from its lunchpailers in comportment. Many of them are soft-spoken, humble, deferential, at pains to take individual credit in their team sports. They’re really nice fellas. To put it crassly: neither Sidney nor Alex are likely soon to hang puppies in nooses from trees, or be located near drive-by shootings at discotheques.

Hockey’s roots truly would need a dastardly DNA transfusion to catch the lasting hyperventilating of contemporary MSM, a free-fall of character into the sewer.

May it forever remain marvelously lodged in its current irrelevancy.

I’m not making this up: The Washington Post has dispatched quasi-blogger Dan Steinberg to Redskins’ training camp.

After all, who among us wouldn’t agree that that paper’s coverage of the Burgundy and Gold doesn’t cry out for a blogger’s amplifcation? If the matter weren’t so parochial, I swear it’d generate Tank McNamara treatment by Friday. Any wagers as to whether Dan will “blog” from Kettler Capitals in five weeks’ time? If he does, it will be against the will of his editors.

The beat burlesque goes on.

Jason LaCanfora had the great honor of delivering the eulogy for Dave Fay this past weekend. Jason got to know Dave quite well as they shared the Caps’ beat for rival newspapers for five years. It was a moving and insightful recounting of Dave’s life and work.

Jason and Dave’s wife Pat were kind enough to release the full text of the eulogy to the Capitals’ web site. One passage in particular stood out to me:

I remember visiting Dave and Pat at home and in the hospital in 2004, and being overwhelmed by his zest to work even then. I’d ask him repeatedly why he was in such a rush to get back to that freezing, decrepit rink in Odenton, and the answer was always the same.

He’d say, “[…] if I don’t go out and cover that practice, no one will.”

Dave always feared that his paper would ignore the Caps if he didn’t push so hard to cover every game home and road, even when sick, and, anything less, to him, wouldn’t be fair to the sport, the fans, the players, the team.

Truer words have never been spoken.

With the move from an isolated and ancient Piney Orchards rink to the convenient and modern Balston facility — as well as the growth of blogs dedicated to the Capitals — practices remaining uncovered may be a thing of the past.

Sadly, Dave’s other fear, that newspapers would ignore the Caps without his efforts, is still a concern shared by many. Newspaper circulation and ad revenue are down; as profits decrease, so does quality and coverage. Reporters are increasingly having to cover more ground as cuts are made, thus forcing even the hockey-friendly reporters to make hard choices about where to invest their limited time.

Truer words, indeed.

I read no new Harry Potter this past weekend and instead familiarized myself with details about likely indictments in baseball (Barry Bonds) and basketball (NBA referee Tom Donaghy). In Saturday’s Washington Post, Dave Sheinen had a fascinating account of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s startling indifference to Bonds’ inevitable home run record. The commissioner — the chief executive officer of the sport — is apparently uncertain if he’ll be in the ballpark this week or next when Bonds passes Hank Aaron’s home run record.

Necessarily, and instantly, I drew a parallel between Bonds’ record pursuit and Wayne Gretzky’s with Gordie Howe’s most goals scored one more than a decade ago. This summer, neither Selig nor Hank Aaron have much stomach to be seated near home plate when Bonds rounds the bases for the 756th time. I call it The Silent Indictment.

In March 1994, as Gretzky honed in on his 802nd goal, both Commissioner Bettman and Gordie himself followed #99 in the L.A. Kings’ games. Gretzky being Gretzky, he didn’t have them travel all that long, scoring the record goal precisely where he should have, in Edmonton. It was the among the mightiest of individual records that was about to fall, much as Aaron’s is in baseball, and Bettman and hockey royalty accorded it its full weight in commemoration.

It’s a staggering juxtaposition. The most significant testimonial to the record-breaking moment on the diamond this summer will likely be offered by the game’s TV play-by-play voice. And even there, you wonder what manner of reaction he’ll offer. Elation? Relief? Contempt?

There’s a queer and almost perverse juxtaposition, too, in place when comparing the physical makeup of the athletes who pursued these hallowed records in different sports. Wayne, who likely never lifted a weight in his life, let alone entertained thoughts of injecting horse hormones into his bloodstream, surpassed the brawny shouldered, iron-elbowed, and menacing demeanor and determination of hockey’s greatest power forward, Mr. Hockey. There could be no second-guessing about the legitimacy of Wayne’s virtuosity or his rightful claim to the record. Aaron was the Wayne of his era, diminutive in physical stature but a world-altering presence with his talent. Today he’s pursued by a fraud, a freak, a pariah, an emblem of our judgement-free sports culture.

The cage into which Gretzky scored his record-breaking goal today resides at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Perhaps Bud Selig will follow hockey’s practice and establish a commemorate display of Bonds’ record at Cooperstown one day: an encased syringe.

Thrilled to no end by never-ending left-hand turns at high speeds? Pining for the release of ‘The Dukes of Hazard II?’ The front page of today’s Talledega Times, er, Washington Post Sports section will tide you over. Omitted in its coverage are directions to our local racetrack.

Craving, like I am, nuggets of news related to women’s fast-pitch pro softball? Today’s WaPost has got you covered.

Check out these can’t-miss quotes from Washington’s new sports drama protagonists, the Washington Glory:

“We have a he/she mascot; it’s a man dressed as a female dog, and it winks,” summarized shortstop Amber Jackson, “I can’t stop laughing.”

“She needs some eyeliner and mascara . . . ”

“We thought it’d be cute . . . so she could flirt with the umpires.”

Can skyrocketing subscription rates be far behind?

Confession: prior to Monday, I’d never watched ‘Washington Post Live.’ I don’t have a friend or acquaintance who’d admit to the act. I never heard any “must-see” buzz surrounding it, or even any “see it while you’re ironing” buzz, and I’ve been busy this spring doing the work those associated with that program should have been regarding one of the region’s pro sports teams. But Monday brought us a significant photo-op/presser at Kettler Capitals, and I was curious to inventory the MSM coverage of it and dutifully report my findings to OFB readers. So I tuned in.

A knee-jerk reflection about ‘WaPost Live’s’ production values: three guys sitting around a non-descript studio bloviating for 90 minutes about sports. How avant garde . . . how cutting edge.

Sorry I missed its first three months. Anybody Tivo’d them?

The program is recorded and aired initially at some point in the afternoon, for 90 minutes, every day, and then subsequently re-aired seven or nine times on Comcast, and the cumulative tally of viewers then is alleged to exceed the tailgating population of Hershey Bears’ fans in the Giant Center Center parking lot on a May Sunday afternoon. Anyway, I watched the 8:30 p.m. re-airing Monday, and was shocked, shocked, to see the opening roundtable discussion focus the program’s opening 10 minutes on Michael Vick’s breeding of fighting dogs.

Vick, after all, is QB for the Atlanta Falcons.

For all I know, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is really upset with Michael Vick these days. But ‘WaPost Live’ is really, really upset with him. Ten minutes, uninterrupted, worth of upset.

Fighting dogs.

Just so I’m not misinterpreted: the daily television program on sports for the newspaper ‘of record’ in town opened Monday with a prolonged discussion of a running (and ever armed) QB’s penchant for breeding fighting dogs.

(The irony of former WaPost Caps’ beat guy Jason LaCanfora adding to the Comcast kennel chat wasn’t lost on me.)

Washington isn’t a sports town, you know, because of the transient quality of the region’s residents; certainly not because its MSM have warped news values.

A quarter of an an hour into the program host Russ Thaler paused for oxygen and in a cutaway to commercial alluded to a breaking roster development out at Kettler. At OFB we call that progress for puckheads.

I was able to survery the rush-hour sports segments for both WJLA and WRC. Tim Brandt’s coverage was predictably pedestrian. I can’t get worked up about the old linebacker’s middling musings about hockey. And it’s just WJLA, after all.

But Lindsay Czarniak’s 6:00 sportscast, my readers will be shocked to learn, garnered my admiration. She opened her sports report with the 24 hours-old highlights of Sunday’s Nats-O’s game, but then she used Sunday RFK to transition into Capsdom. Backstrom threw out Sunday’s first pitch there, and she was impressed by the Swede’s courage and control in the endeavor.

Her coverage of Monday at Kettler included interviews with Mr. Leonsis, the team’s general manager, Backstrom’s new coach, and the star goalie. And we saw snippets from all of them. I felt almost as if I were watching an evening sportscast in Winnipeg.

WRC grade: A

I also was able to catch Comcast Sportnight’s coverage of the Backstrom presser. It lasted all of about 40 seconds. Same outlet covering the frothing canines caper. Ten minutes on the four-leggers, 40 seconds on the two-legged SuperSwede.

Grade: F

WaPost this morning bumped hockey all the way up to E3, out of its usual perch below the obits. Tarik’s account is fine I suppose. No pic of the newest Cap, which struck me as odd, from an event designed mostly for photo ops. But smack in the middle of E1 Washingtonians are confronted by Steve Goff’s account (with accompanying color photo) of a Maryland pro soccer team no one in the history of the world has ever heard about.

Grade: D+

This statement, blogged yesterday by beat guy Tarik El-Bashir, made me curious:

“it’s another slow day on the Caps’ beat.”

Having spent a fair portion of this spring inside the team’s offices and thought processes, I can assure, there is no dearth of activity or ideas in CapsLand. The transaction wire tells but one tale.

It’s the offseason for some of hockey’s beat reporters, but for the sport’s fans, there is none. Nor for its bloggers. (Most of them, anyway.) And this dynamic may, partly, be undergirding the media realignment we are witnessing within hockey’s coverage.

Both newspapers yesterday chronicled the “news” of Nicklas Backstrom’s impending arrival in Washington, but both accounts, predictably, were pro forma, cut-and-paste jobs from a press release. Meanwhile, Washington hockey bloggerdom was aware of the Swede’s arrival last weekend (some, earlier) and had spent much of May speculating about the young pivot’s winger pairings. Anyway, with present and past as a guide, I’m not sure we can expect any better from the beats.

But the purpose of this post isn’t to play a game of who scooped who (who cares?); the much larger and deeply troubling issue is that at the height of the NHL playoffs the hockey MSM here don’t think there’s anything hockey worth writing about. We also have a certain farm club just up the road making more notable postseason noise.

One of our readers informed us yesterday that on his radio show Thursday morning no less than Tony Kornheiser complained of WaPost’s lack of NHL postseason coverage! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Some months ago an OFB colleague expressed to me his concern about our site’s content come summer. A darkness over the ice necessarily meant lights out on writing ideas, no? I had to laugh. The entire month of June is Christmas Eve for Draftgeeks. Anything worth monitoring come July 1? A week or so later, the reigning MVP of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League will arrive in Washington to take part in the Caps’ summer rookie camp. And he will be joined by that league’s leading scorer from this past season as well as numerous, newly signed collegians of promise. I’m actually thinking of enrolling in Berlitz classes for French.

We have interviews scheduled for the summer that are simply impossible to carry off in-season.

More basically, aren’t the most inspired love letters composed in the absence of the beloved? Soldiers to their girls back home, campus sweethearts separated by summer jobs and vexing geography. The summer, when we’re separated from our mistress the ice, is the birthchild of a renewed yearning. Ironically, the oven-oppressive heat and humidity that plagues our region throughout July and August insulates me in inspiring thoughts of better, colder hours more pleasantly passed. I actually walk to my Metro station, dripping, on those mornings and imagine myself training for the Iditarod.

What manner of lover’s note do we in Hockey D.C. receive from 15th St. and its ilk in summer?

A Dear John.