It seems that D.C. can’t get enough good sports news these days. Weird.

Yesterday the Washington Nationals took Bryce Harper in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft with the first overall pick … I hear that guy’s supposed to be pretty awesome. Also, SB Nation had their official launch party for SB Nation DC, where I’ll be contributing as a weekly columnist on sports and the media. Big kudos to senior editor Mike Prada for the SB Nation DC launch by the way.

Speaking of … my first piece is up. Of course it’s about Stephen Strasburg, which brings us to Strasmas. I’ll be one of the lucky few going to Strasburg’s debut this evening. And I didn’t have to stand in line or pay scalper’s prices for tickets … just got hooked up by some cool bros who will undoubtedly be receiving some beverages of appreciation from me.

And that brings us to latest bit of good D.C. sports news … today the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of the Wizards to Ted Leonsis. Sure, it was a mere formality, but Washington will take all the positive formalities it can get. So a big congrats goes to Mr. Leonsis for becoming officially official and congrats to Wizards fans as well.

Speaking of Leonsis, over a month ago on his blog, Ted’s Take, he wrote that it was time to remove the Washington Mystics “Attendance Champions” banners from the rafters of the Verizon Center.

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{this picture was procured on the internet}

Wale … Washington, D.C.’s first rapper with nationwide worldwide appeal. Some people were a little ‘comme ci, comme ca’ on his debut studio album, Attention Deficit, but I thought it was pretty damn good. Count me a fan of Wale’s music.

The other thing you gotta appreciate about Wale is that he passionately represents the District of Columbia … well, almost.

You’ll often find him talking about the Redskins or using Ovechkin in one of his raps or wearing a Nationals ‘Curly W’ hat. He even sat in the “celebrity” seats at a handful of Wizards games last season. But that’s where Wale’s fandom of the Wizards kinda comes to a halt, at a courtesy attendance via free court-side seats … until now.

But first … Read more »

File 1998 / Racine Journal Times

Back on January 16th, the Wizards beat the visiting Sacramento Kings and propelled their record to 13-26. The next day, a Sunday, the team would get a much needed day off before their match-up against the Portland Trailblazers on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday.

Caron Butler in particular said he would enjoy having Sunday off because that meant he would be able to watch his “childhood hero,” Brett Favre, play one of his “good friends,” Tony Romo, in the NFL Playoffs.

Butler had trouble choosing who he would root for … although, his “shot out” to Romo (video below) seemed to indicate, in my opinion, that he was pulling for old man Favre. In any case, the Vikings won …  surely Caron would have been happy regardless, and Redskins fans were definitely happy.

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Last night, Washington National and San Francisco native, Nyjer Morgan, attended the Wizards game to put on for his Golden State Warriors.

Known in gentlemanly circles as “Tony Plush,” the center fielder showed up at the Verizon Center dressed in a warrior outfit and sat adjacent to a similarly dressed bro, who some have speculated to be the exact physical appearance opposite of Mr. Plush. Both rooted for the enemy.

The presence of Morgan was first noted on the Nationals blog, The Nationals Enquirer, which has a screen-grab of Plush throwing up a numero uno. Site photographer Adam Douglas was also able to get a couple shots of the baseball player. Read more »

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty seemingly spent his Thanksgiving holiday in South Beach as he’s seen here attending a Washington Wizards game in Miami on Friday, November 27, 2009.

And what would Black Friday be without some free advertising for the local DMV economy by Mayor Fenty, a walking billboard for Baltimore-based Under Armour and Fleet Feet, the Columbia Heights Adams Morgan running store owned by his parents.

I certainly hope Mayor Blackberry enjoyed his time down South, although I do understand it was unseasonably cool. I also hope the Mayor was passionately rooting for his hometown Wizards. Although the fact that he appears to be wearing Miami Heat red doesn’t help his cause.

Sure this is a Wizards blog, but as a DC sports fan, I can’t go without poking fun at the pathetic state of my Redskins.

Now that his play-calling duties have been taken away, I bet Jim Zorn feels just as bad as baby Falcon Heene. It’s probably only a matter of time until Zorny throws up on TV from all the nervousness caused by his pappy, Tiny Dan Snyder.

I bet if he could, Zorn would hop on a balloon and fly far into the sky, away from all his troubles.

{Jim Zorn, Balloon Boy}

And now, Wizards links …

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The blogging has been dormant because of a trip to Vegas … where tales obviously go mostly as the famous Sin City saying(s) does, local DMV futures bets being among the exceptions.

First up, the Wizards to prevail in the NBA Finals at 40-1. As a fan/follower of the team, I’m obligated to … ‘why not’, right?

To which Brett Pollakoff of NBA FanHouse responded/tweeted: Read more »

Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog has a quick Q&A with Diamond District-bred San Francisco Giants shortstop Manny Burriss. It’s a must read if you put on for the DMV. Here are a couple of the better excerpts (h/t @macg_og):

I should know the answer to this, but did you grow up rooting for all D.C. teams?

All of them. All of them. The only one I didn’t really do was the Bullets when I was growing up, because that’s when everybody loved the Bulls. But yeah, I loved all of them. And once they turned into the Wizards and moved back into the city, that was my team. I love D.C. When the Nationals came here, that was my team, for real, until I got drafted.

Is it weird though, to be representing another city and still root for D.C. sports teams?

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I’m tired of Tony Kornheiser’s “haha, look at me and my self-depreciating ‘comedy’ when I really have an over-inflated ego the size of Shaq’s dumps” shtick … it’s been stale for a while now.

People tell me that long ago, he used to pen some great stuff …. and I even remember reading some of said stuff. But Kornheiser is becoming the epitome of a bitter old codger who I aspire not to be when I get older.

Tony Kornheiser is nothing but a hater.

Of course, I write this with the caveat that as a ‘blogger’, I have “hated” on some people/things, i.e, LeBron James, but I do so comfortably knowing that I’m no where near the jerk/dick Kornheiser is, especially in terms of his unabashed and unreasonable hatred of “new media” … such as blogging.

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Baseball season is just over a month away. And while the expectations of the Washington Nationals run the gambit (well, up until the scenario involves making the playoffs), I personally can’t wait to head out to the ball park for doses of friends, beer & relaxing.

Nats opening day will surely get attention as Obama is scheduled to throw out the first pitch against the World Champion D-Bags from Philly……their baseball team that won the most recent World Series will be playing as well.

What does this have to do with the Wizards on this purported “Wizards” blog? Not much…..other than I came across the below picture of Reggie Bush wearing a Nationals hat…..and I hold the right to post about DC sports in general.

Not exactly sure how I feel about this. Bush’s playing habits convey a slightly douchey persona. Oh well, if the curly dub is getting repped in public, then I’m cool with it.

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