On Saturday the Caps traveled to Winnipeg to take on the division rival Jets. The caps were coming off a 4-1 loss to the flyers, in which the flyers held the lead for 59 minutes and 38 seconds. The Jets had won 5 of their last 6 games and were trying to get into the top 8 in the conference, the spot needed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs which start close to the beginning of May. The Jets came out firing and outshot the Caps 15-5 in the first period. Braden Holtby, the Capitals goaltender, held firm to stop all 15. In the second period the Caps reved up the offense and started to strengthen up devensively, as they outshot the Jets 13-4, including a goal on a beautiful deflection by gritty center Matt Hendricks. In the third the Caps seized control as Troy Borwer and Mike Ribeiro each scored in goals separated by 52 seconds to give the Caps a 3-0 lead. Holtby would preserve the shutout as Washington took it 3-0. The Caps have now won 6 of their last 9 games, and host Boston on Tuesday   

 Yesterday something happened for the first time since Jan. 22, 2011, Alexander Ovechkin registered a hat trick. It was a much needed boost for the Washington Capitals, who have struggled out of the gate and currently sit tied for last in the eastern conference. The Caps started off the season by losing 9 out of the first 11 games but then started to heat up with a 3 game winning streak. They then lost at the Rangers and then at home against the Devils and it looked as if their hopes of rebuilding the season were lost. Until yesterday, when their captain took the wheel and propelled the caps to a win. Their new found resilience will soon be tested however, as 3 of their next 5 games will come against southeastern division rivals. 

Here it is Living in Wheaton! (Cause going to Silver Spring is out of the way)

Just shot it with my iphone around downtown Wheaton. Check it out it's really a dandy!

     The Double Overtime Thriller

Matt Prater, dressed in a bright orange jersey, has a look around, raises his hand, and then runs up to kick the football as far as he possibly can to the sound of thousands of screaming fans. Matt Prater is the kicker of the Denver Broncos and the divisional matchup against the Baltimore Ravens has begun. Every single screaming fan is confident, for they haven't witnessed their beloved Broncos lose in almost three months! In the Ravens camp, many are hoping they can ride the wave that started with a convincing victory in the wild card round against the Indianapolis Colts.
     This game's main story line consisted of the two wily veterans, Payton Manning and Ray Lewis. Manning has been in the league for over ten years, has a super bowl ring, and is in the MVP conversation this year. Ray Lewis' playing time has also exceeded a decade and he also has a super bowl ring.
     Throughout the first three quarters the teams exchanged touchdowns, scoring them with interceptions, punt returns, kickoff returns, and 30 plus yard completions. Coming into the fourth quarter the game was tied at 28. After a series of punts, the Broncos finally took the lead with 8 minutes left on a Demarius Thomas touchdown reception from Payton Manning. After the Denver defense forced a Raven's punt the offense ran time off the clock and gave the Raven's the ball back with less than two minutes left. However a blown coverage allowed the Raven's to tie it up and force overtime:


And after 15 minutes of scoreless play the game entered double overtime where the Ravens finally put it away. With a field goal. The game was undoubtedly one of the best contests that I've ever seen.

Last Sunday the 2012-2013 NFL regular season concluded paving the way for twelve teams to take part in the playoffs to eventually crown a Super Bowl champion. The picture in the American Conference is a follows:

1. xDenver
2. xNew England
3.Houston
4.Baltimore
5. Indiannapolis
6. Cincinnati

x=First round bye

The matchups are Cincinnati vs. Houston and Indiannapolis vs. Baltimore. The ladder carries extra weight this week because of Chuck Pagano's fight against lukemia and Ray Lewis' shocking announcement that this season would be his "last ride." Cincinnati vs. Houston features a home team coming off a disappointing final week that cost them home field advantage which they could have locked up with a win against Indiannapolis.

In the National Football Conference the playoff picture shaped itself on the final day with the Vikings and Redskins clinching spots on the final day of the season. Here's the picture:

1. xAtlanta
2.x San Francisco
3. Green Bay
4. Washington
5. Seattle
6. Minnesota

x= First round bye

The matchups for this week are a week seventeen rematch of Green Bay vs. Minnesota and a matchup of two upstart teams Seattle vs. Washington.

While we're all on the topic of documentaries I started watching Ken Burns' The Civil War documentary which is essentially 11 hours of describing the Civil War and all of the crazy cool things that happened during its progression. While I've only seen 3 of 11 parts so far, i can already tell that it's gonna be a really interesting movie. Burns has peaceful piano music playing in the background which really intensifies when the audio turns to explosions to simulate cannon fire from battle. The most amazing part has been the photographs amassed by Burns that are seen in the film. So many pictures and so much evidence exists of a war that most of us think of as too ancient for memory. The civil war is also different from all other wars fought in American history because it is the war with ourselves. It is much easier to go into combat with a enemy than a friend. New accepted studies are putting the Civil War American death toll at 750,000 the highest of any war. The war also ended up representing more than just the stars and stripes versus the stars and bars, it was a war about freeing the slaves, it was a war about the phrase "all men are created equal" it was about the motto of this country e pluribus unum, or from many, one.            

The Arizona Cardinals are falling fast. After a superb end to last season the cardinals looked formidable coming into this 2012 season. Fortunately for cardinal fans at the start of the year they didn't disappoint going a perfect 4-0. Sadly enough, the Cardinals haven't won a game since then, and currently sit at 4-9 tied for last in the NFC and are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. The reason the Cardinals luck has gone dry? offense. In the first four games of the year the cardinals averaged 22.75 points per game, but since then have averaged a mere 10.55 points per game, not nearly enough to win consistently in the league today.