Travis Thomas: DMV A Love-Hate Story
We are going through tough times locally in Sports right now. When I say locally, I'm speaking of DC, Maryland and Virginia, affectionately known as the DMV. Like me, many of you out there filled out a bracket for March Madness. And like me, many of those brackets were toast after the first weekend of the tourney. But if you really look deeper, all of our local teams got smoked instantly.
The Terps had high hopes but West Virginia had other plans. Virginia was a #2 seed for crying out loud and they ran into a juggernaut known as Tom Izzo in March. VCU and Georgetown were both led by great Head Coaches, and neither could manufacture lasting tournament runs.
So in the blink of an eye the DMV's representation was gone. Now I've had callers weigh in about each team individually, they want my opinion on how their team can get better and make a run next season. But I've noticed when trying to blend all of these teams together, nobody cares as much. Why is that? I cover sports in both D.C. and Baltimore and I've noticed in all my years, there is a huge divide between the D-M-and the V. If you look around the current sports landscape as we sit here today, there are other local teams doing well that we need to come together and cheer for as one.
• Lady Terps Basketball - Seriously, a 26 game winning streak and nobody is showing these girls love? I feel like Russell Crowe should do the introductions pregame and recite his lines from Gladiator. "Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?" Any team that can be this dominant and beat Duke is alright with me!
• Washington Capitals - In all fairness the Caps haven't exactly had a bed of roses season. But let's face the facts, currently they sit comfortably in the 7th spot for a playoff berth, Alexander Ovechkin leads the league in scoring and Nicklas Backstrom is the league leader in assists. I like that Head Coach Barry Trotz has instilled a level of toughness that has been lacking with this team for ages. They will be a tough out in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
• Washington Wizards - Not a lot of positive talk here for the Wiz-Kids. Earlier in the season the looked like a legitimate Eastern Conference contender. At the All Star Break, I felt like John Wall was a legit MVP Candidate. The glass slipper has been snatched off the foot of this team and they have since been in a free for all. However the Wizards will make the Post Season and there is always the possibly of getting healthy and catching fire at the right time.
So why not band together? Was there a DMV civil war that I wasn't aware of at some point? Believe me, I understand the Nationals vs Orioles dynamic; I get the Ravens vs Redskins narrative. Nobody understands that more than me because I cover both. However, those teams are not playing right now (regular seasons) so why beef?
Let's come together DMV and show some love to each other and our respective teams. I am so grateful and thankful to have the opportunity to cover the entire sports world of the DMV, and the time is now to all come together and form like Voltron. Let's create one big happy sports family, at least for a few more months, then baseball and f ootball will divide us once again.
Listen to Travis' opening segment and rant on DMV love/hate here:
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