Congrats ut NBC4s’ Lindsay Czarniak quisnam partis December occulto of Washingtonian magazine per WJLAs’ Alison Starling pro an article in gauisus hora.
A slideshow of photo conforto can exsisto visum inNBC4s’ textus site.
Procer Is Stipes
Puteus, hi illic! It’s bonus futurus tergum.
Ut EGO nisus meus blog permaneo mensis, EGO had haud intention of recidivus ut blogging ullus vicis nunc. Repens vita changes mihi quod meus maritus, Chanuck– comprehendo a DC Lusum Pullus obvius– no mihi animadverto ut EGO couldn’t suscipio meus own blog in a ordinarius basis vacuus vitualamen species. Plus, EGO necessarius effrego. Tunc OFB venit dico, quod EGO couldn’t reluctor; guys es awesome quod EGO didnt’ volo ut obduco sursum a chance ut collaborate per lemma.
EGO teneo ut there’s haud via EGO could umquam take EmptyMaybe’s locus, non ut quisquam specto ut, sententia that’s non meus calx. Quinymo, Spero ut suggero punctum of visum ut eram antea absentis ex OFB ( servo pro MrsGustafsson’s praeclarus stipes superHockey in Heels). Pro lector quisnam don’t teneo mihi, Im’ non typus praecessi totus puckbunny quod pallens super ludio ludius. Vicissim, quispiam has ut occurro boys’ personaLindsay Czarniak diligo pro nonnullus of female lector of site. (is gets aliquantulus ex imperium interdum, sententia EGO teneo they would discrepo)
boys told mihi ut they would pick sursum suum immunda induviae, loco laboro sessio down, quod universe servo blog in bonus ordo. Si EGO could tantum adepto meus own maritus efficio that…but iustus amo in matrimonium, EGO teneo is doesn’t opus ut via. EGO don’t specto quisquam hic muto. Is ero res ut usitas, per forsitan pauci callide nuances. Haud sollicitus!
Iam, tergum ut vestri ordine scheduled hockey blog…
Procer Is Stipes
Hockey luminare Gary Melior quod 2007-08 Jack Insuadibilis Award victor Glen Hanlon loom amplus illa dies. Gnarus mandatum ut EGO operor, suus’ virtually certain abyssus’ insist in senseless redundantia, neque nec cancer reliquum of NHL season quod instead mandatum ut Caps universa ceteri 79 venatus in suum schedule. Insanity est praeclarus termino ut repetitio of idem eadem idem factum dum specto a diversus eventus. Utique in absentis of competitive drama is hockey season Caps can showcase suum infigo novus threads in pulvis trans jugis.
Quam sum EGO volo laboro sursum ullus odium of Caps’ contradictio ut they cant’ vel ustulo?
Hic’ unus procuratio EGO operor specto ex league muneris, forsitan ut mane ut hodie: Caps ero postulo ut geroillic versions of Reeboks’ similitudo ratio, ones no of Northern Ireland ovis laneus, pro they es unable laboro sursum a sudo in suum current vestio. Singulariter calx. EGO sum an admirer of teams’ primoris television ad of novus season, unus featuring a sultry brunette res tattooed per novus logo. Tamen Id’ modify ads’ slogan ut: “Perimeter kicksaves per yawning netminders, in Verus Colo colui cultum”
Hanlon, pauci would have coniecto a mensis abhinc, est hodie in brevis album proLusum Illustrateds’ Sportsman of Annus Award — utique si suus’ largior pro exemplary acts of bonus sportsmanship. Gnarus is had usque weakspots ex repens annus repletus in suus roster coming in is season, hes’ electus sedeo Alexander Semin in duos of seasons’ oris three venatus, affording vultus of competitiveness in venatus. EGO teneo Semins’ ankle est vomica, tamen EGO quoque teneo ut hed’ exsisto lascivio erant nos in April instead of October. Sive seu illic eram ullus nuto ut ut eventus.
Inter duos- tertius of Caps’ caput capitis versus est in synch, vox lascivio isnt’, quod a bulla est absentis ex versus, ita recedentia nemo in Oriens can contendo. Narro of pannosa, porro EGO no promissio ut meus hockey chums ut ut Senior Sto est hoisted hic per meus guys Id’ proprius etch vicis in meus prohibeo castra aestiva. Herewith, Im’ recipero censeo ex tellus’ parlors, per tremulus puga pyga.
Statua infesto ut must exsisto subsido in in teams’ imperator procurator quod explorator, gnarus ut nunc, per rectum of a obnoxius NHL Tabula of Satraps decretum, they ero termino ut drafting hockey ludio ludius tantum ex Maryland quod Virgo. Vos dont’ vere reputo league est iens ut tribuo Ross Mahoney et al a fragor procul alius Mathieu Perreault — (hes’ inconcessus ludo quot venatus ut alius porro in QMJHL, ut servo ustulo natio nationis competitive) — operor vos?
Lindsay Czarniak certus didnt’ pick vox hockey season praecessi ut atrum (Burgundy) pars, did is?
Nos have a Volvo Dico of Silicis- in- Suum- Caput capitis conduco. Primoris sursum, ESPNs’ John Buccigross, quisnampegged Caps pro 14th in Orientales Placitum is season. Ut eramper Alexander Semin in versus is prognosticated sic. Alius permaneo- locus- in-- Inferus forecast venit exLusum Illustrateds’ Sarah Kwak. “suum offseason permoveo deficio alloquor defensabiliter shortcomings ut led ut suum trado 3.35 calx a venatus” is sententia. Caps have defensabiliter “shortcomings” tantum si barometer eram tenura totus 82 inimicus scoreless pro universus season. Lets’ animadverto si nos can adepto Eric Staal quod Erik Cole quod Ryan Niveus impetro offa occurro supremus 5 midway per a venatus obviam Caps pro nos wring nostrum manuum super “ defensabiliter shortcomings.”
Hic’ quis Kwak should have written: “fossor in D.C. is estas: Kris Beech. Superstes pendo? Quinque socors, minimum.”
Is dynasty-audition per Caps est semino in mihi sane tamen nonetheless exuberant sententia. Reprehendo sicco verto EGO had tonight per upilio opilio of utriusque devia quod tumor pectus pectoris in radio sulum vesper,Delilah, in FM WASH:
Delilah: “in diligo versus, pucksandbooks . . . ut’ a ornamentum nomen. Sic vos volo dedico Paul McCartneys’ ‘ leviculus Diligo Carmen’ Dico mihi Pucks, cuius’ pallium vestri pectus pectoris is Monday nox noctis?”
mihi “inicio Koharski.”
Procer Is Stipes
Suus WRC colleagues permaneo vesper erant satus per segment, res ut is did in tardus May, per Redskins mereo weeks a satus of palaestra castra, tamen OFB Regina of Locus Lusum Interventus Lindsay Czarniak subsisto intrepidus quod trado ut suus puck dico, pietas 56 minutes of permaneo vesper’ 60-minute 500: WRC newscast ut a profano of locus contraho hockey ludio ludius James “Bubba” Sixsmith. (OK, segment wasnt’ per ut porro, tamen is videor sic ut nostrum puck- astrum eyes quod ears in Lavatio is ver) Wed’ embed segment vobis si nos could. Tamen reprehendo sicco WRC video link.
Sixsmith, a paternus of Alexandria, Va., nuper graduated ex Sanctus Crux crucis Contraho quod caput hockey team illic preteritus duos seasons. Is eram quoque a Hobey Baker denique is preteritus season.
Dave Fay may non exsisto solus locus hockey pello pepulli pulsum opinio fatalis pro Aula of Laus enshrinement ut a hockey interventus sto.
Procer Is Stipes
profiteor prior ut Monday, Id’ nunquam vigilo ‘ lavatio Stipes Ago’ EGO dont’ have a amicus vel acquaintance whod’ admit ut factum. EGO nunquam auditus ullus “must- animadverto” susurro amplexus is, vel vel ullus “ animadverto is dum vestri’ ferrum” susurro, quod Ive’ been districtus is ver effectus opus illud socius per ut progressio should have been contemplor unus of tellus’ pro lusum teams. Tamen Monday brought nos a significant photo-op/presser procul Kettler Caput, quod EGO eram curiosus ut inventor MSM occulto of is quod pie opinio meus findings ut OFB lector. Sic EGO tuned in.
A genu-jerk pondero super ‘WaPost Ago’’ uber pendo: three guys sitting inter a non- genus bulla bloviating pro 90 minutes super lusum. Quamavant ortus . . . quamtalea ora.
Rumex EGO requiro suus primoris three mensis. Quislibet Tivod’ lemma?
progressio est recorded quod aired coepi procul nonnullus cuspis in meridianus, pro 90 minutes, cotidie, tunc subsequently re-aired septem vel novem vicis in Comcast, quod cumulative procerus of visum tunc est refer excedo tailgating populatio of Ipsa Gero’ fans in Giant Center Center ortus sors in a May Sunday meridianus. Usquam, EGO vigilo 830: p.m. re-airing Monday, quod eram offensus, offensus, video vidi visum oris roundtable sermo focus progressio’ oris10 minutes in Michael Vicks’ semino of bellator dogs.
Vick, secundum totus, est QB pro Atlanta Flax.
Pro totus EGO teneo, Populus pro Ethical Treatment of Bestia estvere turbo per Michael Vick illa dies. Tamen ‘WaPost Ago’ estvere, vere turbo per him. Ten minutes, perpetuus, dignitas of turbo.
Bellator dogs.
Non secus Im’ non misinterpreted: cotidie television progressio in lusum pro newspaper ‘of record’ in urbs patefacio Monday per a longinquus sermo of curriculum ( quod umquam hostilis) QBs’ penchant pro semino bellator dogs.
( ferrum of quondam WaPost Caps’ pello pepulli pulsum guy Jason LaCanfora consummatio ut Comcast kennel chat wasnt’ lost in me.)
Lavatio isnt’ a lusum urbs, vos teneo, propter praelaborspecies of tellus’ incola; certainly non quoniam suus MSM have warped novus pendo.
A vicus of an an hora in progressio populus Russ Thaler paused pro oxygen quod in a cutaway ut commercial prolecto ut fragmen roster development sicco procul Kettler. Procul OFB nos dico ut progressio pro puckheads.
EGO eram validus ut contemplatio vado- hora lusum segments pro utriusque WJLA quod WRC. Tim Torqueo’ occulto eram predictably pedestrian. EGO cant’ adepto opus sursum super vetus linebackers’ medius musings super hockey. Quod suus’ iustus WJLA, secundum totus.
Tamen Lindsay Czarniaks’ 600: sportscast, meus lector erooffensus disco, garnered meus admiration. Is patefacio suus lusum opinio per 24 hora- vetus highlights of Sundays’ Nats-Os’ venatus, tamen tunc is adsuesco assuesco Sunday RFK ut transitus in Capsdom. Backstrom threw sicco Sundays’ primoris pitch illic, quod is eram infigo per Swedes’ virtus quod imperium in nisus.
Suus occulto of Monday procul Kettler comprehendo interviews per Mr. Leonsis, teams’ imperator procurator, Backstroms’ novus cogo, quod astrum calx. Quod nos saw snippets ex totus of lemma. EGO felt fere tanquam EGO erant vigilo an vesper sportscast in Winnipeg.
WRC grade: A
EGO quoque eram validus ut reprehendo Comcast Sportnights’ occulto of Backstrom presser. Is permaneo totus of super 40 secundus. Same exitus vestis frothing canines amiculum. Ten minutes in quattuor-leggers, 40 secundus in duos-legged SuperSwede.
Grade: Resurrectio
WaPost is oriens bumped hockey usque E3, ex suus usitas forte subter supter obits. Tariks’ ratio est teres EGO volo. Haud pic of newest Solio, quod pulsatus mihi ut odd, ex an vicis intentio plerumque pro photo ops. Tamen battuo in medius E1 Washingtonians es confronted per Steve Goffs’ ratio ( per accompanying colo colui cultum photo) of a Maryland pro soccer team nemo in history of orbis terrarum has umquam auditus super.
Grade: D+
Mirus novus: Medium-Atlantic Lusum Network (MASN) ero airing prothoplastus of three NCAA hockey lascivio venatus is weekend orsa procul 830: is vesper, per Midwest Tellus’ secundus venatus inter BU quod Michigan Civitas. Cras MASN mos occulto Oriens Tellus Denique procul 600: p.m. secuutus statim per Midwest Tellus Denique procul 830:.
Totus three venatus mos aer ago.
Tanquam ut wasnt’ bonus satis novus pro locus hockey fans, USA Hodie is oriens estopinio ut nuper mortuus tamen non vere mortuus WRC lusum anchor George Michael quod suus “SportsMachine” progressio mos aer pro denique vicis is Sunday vesper. Qua mos nos vado pro nostrum NASCAR quod rodeo pes??? USA Hodie agnosco Michaels’ fetish pro lusum fringe in suus plumbum:
“pro NASCAR quod bovis- inrideo quoniam frigus, Michael gave lemma populus patefacio vel in suus earliest ostendo”
Michael, nos es told, ero instituo vestis NASCAR natio nationis pro Directus is estas.
Procer Is Stipes
Per an alternate opus schedule hodie, EGO eram validus ut famulor meus primoris Caps meditor utpote palaestra castra quod primoris saluto ut Kettler Caput Iceplex utpote ribbon talea press placitum. Cepi pauci notitia quod mos tendo lemma in typical OFB Genu-Jerk penicullus.
stench illae seasons’ infero vicus est eerily reminiscent ut ‘03-’04, ut Halpern-Battaglia-Jean Luc Amplitudo-Pierre Caps no gamedays oriens quod vesper of ennui. duos sets of conclusions es iunctus in aesthetics: they pulvis’ valde pulchellus. Meus blogger colleague Cassus Maybe dico is “ lascivio sicco ligamen” tamen suus’ vere quispiam peior: effectus sic per evinco inevitable. Is oriens, ut per illud three ver tergum, unus cannot reperio ultum mendum per rosters’ nixus; is est iam nox noctis compositus obviam excellens talentum. Tamen is Hasnonium’ defungo in suus cogo.
Quindecim venatus subsisto, vindico 15 instances of sub statua. Is oriens is est difficilis imagining Caps placitum vel leviter validus permaneo seasons’ 70 cuspis. Flyers pulvis’ per ut Philthy ut they erant procul terminus of ‘06; is isnt’ inconceivable ut Caps facile species pro viscus draft lottery . . . quod draft ahead of Philly.
Per simplex, is dour denouement can nunquam venio iterum.
Ahead looms, ex meus vantage, plurrimi maximus offseason in utique 20 annus huic norma. Progressus, Imperator Procurator George McPhee must subsequens ut haud ratio of pestifer quod “ res sententia” selloffs umquam iterum reddo Lavatio Caput non-competitive in a nox noctis basis. Species depth must exsisto exaggeratus, tentatio of maximus pactum must exsisto adequately staggered, Intentio Bs quod Cs must postulo species quod chemistry. Ut loco is bluntly: quis has been asked of Caps’ fans per procuratio pro preteritus quattuor calendar annus has pulsus quis est speciosus quod rationabiliter lusum- humanus ut addo.
Si procuratio doesnt’ puto mihi, forsitan is mos audio suus astrum ludio ludius. Huic oriens’ emendo, Alexander Ovechkin told Toronto Sol solis “nos have ut subcribo bonus ludio ludius quod Spero nos operor. . . Volo ludo in a bonus team.”
Yesterday Ted told Lavatio Stipes ut custodis ut offseason alio investments certain “financial damnum” ero incurred. fanbase backlash in versus eram volatilis quod strident, quod is oriens EGO pars per lemma. Iam est singulariternon vicis futurus sermo pupa quod cents. Nostri est a fanbase fatigo per teams’ forgotten parvulus statua, battered per annus of locus interventus obnoxius quod indifferens.
Iam est vicis ut sermo proprie of a singulus thema: architecture of victor . . . buttress columns quibus, nos should exsisto told, ero commotus in locus is estas.
mores per Lavatio media are weird. Ted is in the unenviable position of needing to mainstream his message of “Better days are coming” but ever confronted by an MSM dismissive of his endeavor. Last week a ludicrously self-absorbed George Michael (was/is there any other kind?) purchased a half-page space in WaPost congratulating himself on his career. He’d never do it, but when Ted’s rebuild is complete, I’d love to see his full-page ad there illustrate him in his customarily nattily attired style, holding a copy of the daily fraud that yearly hemorrhages tens of thousands of readers, bearing the concise accomanying text “F You . . . Thanks for nothing.” Hmm, maybe a blogger’s coalition can carry that off.
From Ted’s chat with Tarik published yesterday to GMGM’s open letter to fans on the team web site last week, it’s clear that management senses the arrival of a critical juncture in its existence. Both communications, however, struck me as fulfilling approximately two-thirds of the needed mission. Management, it seems to me, has to be bold, even creative, in its communications as another harsh reality settles in on springtime hockey in D.C. The fanbase so desperately wants to hear it. It needs to hear management say something on the order of “Our Alexanders are traveling to the Worlds next month, for the last time.”
George Michael, after many, many years, has left NBC-4 — his final broadcast as sports anchor on NBC-4 was Thursday’s 11 PM news (the last episode of his syndicated The Sports Machine airs March 25).
He is a polarizing figure in the sports world. Some will miss him; he was undeniably a sports broadcasting pioneer in the early 1980s, mixing gimmicks and entertainment into his sports coverage. ESPN clearly took cues from Michael in its early days as the station developed its identity. Steve Levy, currently a SportsCenter anchor, even admits stealing footage from Michael when Levy worked at SUNY Oswego.
Others feel he overstayed his welcome and should have retired long, long ago — his increasingly self-congratulatory and cantankerous attitude wore on many people’s nerves, as did his glad-handing, back-slapping interviews with Redskins coaches and the like. OFB is firmly in the latter camp.
However, let us take a brief but fond look back at the good ol’ days. In 1984, George Michael’s Sports Final (Sports Machine precursor) covered the NHL Playoffs. This clip has everything: classic Capitals footage, cheesy props, a playoff sweep of the Flyers, and Olivia Newton-John.
Here, The Great One reminisces — again, though, he’s looking back fondly on the early 80s . . .
Sadly, as Michael became a sports broadcasting “personality,” he increasingly treated the NHL as red-headed stepchildren. Too often his hockey coverage — on both NBC and his own show — was a mention of the score and perhaps a brief highlight clip. Coverage of high school sports, boxing, and rodeo got more air time than hockey.
Rumors that the equestrian-loving broadcaster decided to retire so he could mourn Barbaro full time appear to be unfounded.
In truth, it seems that his decision to leave his post was born of loyalty to his staff, the victims of layoffs at the station. Michael told the Washington Post, “If I have to lay somebody off . . . I have to take the first bullet. It’s that simple.” In this regard, we salute him (a lesson many CEOs could take to heart). Not that Michael is hurting for money, of course — if one can afford a half-page ad in the Washington Post saluting one’s own career, one is not a pauper — but it was the right thing to do.
Regardless of his financial situation: as fans of hockey and of quality sports broadcasting, we will not miss him.
OFB hopes that Lindsay Czarniak, Michael’s Sports Machine co-host and NBC-4 anchor/reporter, embraces hockey more than her predecessor did. Regardless, she is certainly a bit easier on the eyes:
Lest readers accuse OFB of being age discriminators, Michael was never exactly of model-quality. In fact, some would say he has a face for radio; he may also be a Vulcan:
Those who remember Michael fondly from his early career may look on his departure as the end of an era. But to those who have watched the past decade of his increasingly poor broadcasting, that era ended a long time ago.
But it’s not over… as Michael told WJFK-FM’s Don and Mike on Thursday, “If you’ve got the money, I’ve got the time.” Those inspiring words accompanied his announcement that he will begin covering NASCAR for Fox Sports.
So his career follows a Strom Thurmond-like trajectory — it just doesn’t end. But NASCAR can have him, and hockey fans are well rid of him. George Michael isn’t really retiring; we’re just glad that Skeletor will no longer be the face of DC sports.
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This week we saw JP designate his would-be Valentine (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
This would be mine:
Fresh proof that there are slices of Heaven on Earth: if you’re an Ontario resident and hockey fan, you have access to LeafsTV, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year broadcast outlet covering the local NHL team and its sport. No Argonauts. No Blue Jays. No Raptors. All Leafs, All the Time. Imagine. Don’t take my word for it; check out the station’s weekly broadcast schedule, which is rife with morning skates, pre-game fare, player profiles from the past, the AHL affiliate Marlies, and just about anything you can imagine having to do with pro hockey in a hockey-mad metropolis.
In Washington, we have five such outlets devoted to the Redskins, but on a mid-week morning in the middle of a winter-less winter, I think it might be fun to imagine a Washington world with its sports media hierarchy turned upside down, say five years from now, with media savvy owner Leonsis the ascendant entertainment leader in town (the Redskins still having failed to qualify for the postseason, with billion-dollar payrolls). To showcase better his Hart Trophy winnings Russians (all three of them), and his sublime Swede, and generally to improve Washington’s laughingstock MSM coverage of hockey, Mr. Leonsis partners with Comcast and purchases a startup cable channel to take Capitals’ coverage into his own hands.
As his first order of business he wisely appoints a Caps’ blogger the new outlet’s Director of Programming.
What might this channel be called? And what might a day’s worth of programming on it include? Let’s make these questions the subject of ongoing OFB reader input. Share with us your suggested name for the new outlet, and assume we’re looking for a moniker somewhat distinctive from “LeafsTV,” with flair and 21st-century multi-media pizzaz. And with your comments share as well suggestions for specific programming to help fill 24 hours. Be creative, imaginative, and presume that the owner and the station’s general manager have appropriated a generous budget to include the development and production of original programming. Let’s see if we can come up with a day’s worth of Caps’ and hockey programming on the new channel that repeats only a thrice-daily, 30-minute, SportsCenter-like roundup show, airing early morning, early evening, and lastly at 11:00, that’s all things pucks.
I’ll save my suggested channel name for later, but here are some programming ideas I have:
The Hockey Reporters [a roundtable of impassioned hockey erudition, featuring Mike Vogel, JoeB and Craig, your cordial host, and the region’s Queen of Sports]”
Gr8TV: All AO, in motion, on and off the ice
ClassicCaps [the most memorable games, with Ron Weber audio provided from WTOP archives]
Morning skate and post-game pressers with Coach Hanlon, in full
Chit-Chat from Chocolatetown [A weekly Bears’ progress report with John Walton]
The outdoor skate at Chevy Chase Country Club
The games themselves
The CapsReport [the weekly studio program is broadcast on TV as well]
And last but by far not least, for after-hours insomniacs, Youngblood.
Monday’s Morning cup-a-joe talked about Lindsay Czarniak’s interview with Gretzky and his comments on Ovechkin.
Here’s the video:
Not yet 100 hours into the Redskin offseason, the region’s television sports personalities could reasonably be expected back at Ashburn yesterday, camera crews in tow, chronicling the football equipment staff’s changing of player cleats — March mini-camp is less than three months away, after all. But one figure of courageous defiance, emboldened perhaps by a flurry of recent endorsements for her candidacy to ascend to the Big Seat (vacated late in 2006 by NascarNed), blazed a broadcast trail at 11:26 last night: the centerpiece of Lindsay Czarniak’s WRC sportscast was her Washington hotel room interview with #99, the day after his charges’ New Years’ Day dismantling of the Caps.
The Great One and The Great Looking One.
The two-and-a-half-minute segment afforded little to command a stopping of the CBC presses, but it was fresh, enterprising, and well executed. The Great Looking One delivered a break-from-the-media-horde angle with the segment: not content to glean merely from Gretzky’s Verizon Center musings on “The Goal” one year later on Tuesday, she sought an in-depth assessment of the general standing of Alexander Ovechkin from one of the most gifted and most respected figures in the game’s history. (Incidentally, not a word about NASCAR in the sportscast.) She then took her interview footage and shared it with AO, who was rendered ashen and dumbfounded by the Great One’s testimony. Ovechkin’s muted humility fostered a poignancy to the overall piece.
Speaking of head-turning blondes, Caps’ 06 draftee Oskar Osala is making the 2007 World Junior Championships his hot hockey prospect coming out party. In my preview of the WJC last week, I suggested that his Caps’ draft classmate, Russian netminder Semen Varlamov, could emerge as a breakthrough performer. He sorta has, in the sense that he’s made scouts forget Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy with his brilliance [4 GP, 4-0, 240 minutes, 92 shots faced, 89 saves, .967 save pct., 0.75 goals-against] (Russia faces host Sweden in one WJC semi-final today while the U.S. faces off against Canada.) But the Osala story is stunning.
A fourth-round pick by the Caps last summer, Osala — a towering presence at 6 ‘4, 225 — seemed mired in mediocrity this fall for the Mississagua Ice Dogs of the OHL. He put up just 9 goals and 7 assists in 26 games there, but he was skating a +6 — a big improvement over last season’s 19 rating as an OHL freshman. Still, he entered the 2007 WJC well below everybody’s radar. No more. Finland was eliminated by the U.S. yesterday in quarterfinal play, 6-3, but for no fault from Osala. His two goals in the game were the subject of lavish hockeysfuture message board hosannas, and throughout the tournament his game-dictating play has been singled out, even among more high-profile Finnish prospects. He exits the tournament fourth in scoring, with 3 goals and 5 assists in 5 games. It’s just one tournament, but it’s one of the best in all of hockey, and the Ice Dogs can be assured of seeing an ultra-confident Osala bolster their second half. And Caps’ fans can add another name to watch for the future.
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Seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer for The Examiner Jim Williams must have read our blog on 13 October, 2006 where pucksandbooks wrote
“… there is already in place a fantastic replacement within the WRC family, whom if it were left to me would acquire as well the title of Regional Queen of Sports.”
because he wrote an article in yesterday’s Examiner about upcoming changes and wishes for the local Washington media.
New Year’s wishes for local sports media
» NBC 4 should make a bold move. When King George Michael steps aside in March, the station should name Lindsay Czarniak as his replacement. Making her the first-ever woman sports director in the Washington market is the smart thing to do.
The week commenced catastrophically: on an ad hoc assignment to cover the Caps, WaPost’s Amy Shipley, seemingly in over her head, filed an ignorant and nonsensical game account from Miami Monday night. However, the week improved appreciably thereafter, culminating with Christmas-morning-wrapped-goodies-under-the-tree kind of news relating to a geriatric hockey hating television news anchor at WRC announcing his retirement!
While Team OFB will acknowledge the news in predictable and appropriate fashion, on this sunny Friday keep in your thoughts the melancholy this moment enveloping the region’s rodeo fans. (Continued)
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Elliot Segal, of DC-101’s “Elliot in the Morning” roughhouse of rush hour mischief, is far and away the region’s most sensible and spirited media personality when it comes to things puck. He’s Canadian, for starters (from what province I do not know). He’s also a Caps’ season ticket holder. (I don’t know how he keeps the evening hours he does and arrives in studio solidly before 6:00 the next morning so amped up.)
He gleefully talks puck on air 12 months a year.
Regulars on his program include Caps’ owner Ted Leonsis and goaltender Olaf Kolzig.
Mr. Smith went to Washington to reform politics. Lodged in greater Washington, D.C., a barren outpost of hockey media silence thanks to the malicious disinterest of The Washington Post (henceforth referred to as The Compost), among others, I am venturing into cyberspace to broaden my hometown’s coverage of the planet’s greatest game, and especially of my mistress since my seventh birthday, the Washington Capitals. Thus the birth of On Frozen Blog. Welcome.
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