Bleacher Report - Articles by Marla Goldberg

Can the Caps Surive Without Hurricane Ovechkin?

Marla Goldberg — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:24:31 -0500

Hurricane Ida, the first Atlantic hurricane to target the United States this year, plodded Sunday toward the Gulf Coast with 100 mph winds, bringing the threat of flooding and storm surges.

But what Washington sports fan gives about a hurricane that will only kill people in Louisiana? The real hurricane that threatens all Caps fan in Washington is Ovechkin's upper-body injury that has caused the Caps to be without their best player for an undetermined amount of time.

In last week's overtime loss to Columbus, Alexander the Great strained some part of his upper-body. The exact part was not released by the club for fear that other teams might capitalize off of Alex's injury once he steps back on the ice.

On the surface, his injury doesn't look too detrimental for the Caps; but look again. Say Oveckin misses two weeks? That doesn't seem bad right? Well that's six whole games. Six games that can end up deciding if the Caps win the southeast division title. Six games can translate to 12 points or at least 6.

While Ovie has been injured the Caps are 2-2, a fair record. They have also received offensive support from some unlikely sources such as Sloan, Morrison, Pothier.

The Caps need the extra help since the league's top-scorer and two-time MVP has been seated on the sidelines. As Ovechkin munches away on popcorn upstairs seated next to Ted, the positive outcome has been the mindset of all the players.

The Caps are starting to play as if they have an Achilles heal and need to work twice as hard to win each game. (Maybe Bruce's suicides are working!) And Theodore has been a lot stronger ever since returning to the ice from his own injury.

It still remains to be seen if the Caps can survive the long season without their Russian friend, but for now the Caps need to play as hard as if Ovie isn't coming back to the ice for a while longer.

The Woes Of Officating in Baseball

Marla Goldberg — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:51:56 -0400

Officiating is one the most important jobs in sports, but it is also the least rewarding.

The officials never win or lose and someone is always upset with them. Despite negative feelings a fan has toward an official because of one bad call or a lifetime of bad calls, one must admire their concentration, knowledge, and commitment to being a fair official in sports.

Every day, millions of people wait for the official's call—upsetting half of those people—that's a lot of pressure. The way officials handle themselves during a tough call is quite impressive.

How many of us could really handle Lou Piniella kicking dirt at us, swearing and spitting in our face, and then, to top it off, give us a terrifying glare while he messes up home plate?

I don't know about you, but just seeing him come out of the dugout would make me run from Chicago faster than Zambrano can throw a fastball over home plate.

Officiating is in a new era of the annoying "instant replay." The camera is making the calls now.

But the one sport that stays true to the good ol' human eye is baseball, which just one reason why I think it's the hardest sport to officiate.

In baseball, it's difficult to officiate because the ball is flying so fast that there's barely enough time to judge the call. When an official has to decide whether to call someone out they have to be watching multiple things happening at a base.

First, the ball in the fielder's glove; then, if the player's foot is on the base; and, most importantly, if the runner touched the base before the ball was caught—that is to say if the fielder tagged the runner first or the runner tagged up on time—whew!

See what I mean?

The easiest sport to officiate would be have basketball since the main reason for the refs is to judge player fouls, which is not as hard when the court is a small surface area and there are fewer players than in another team sport.

That being said, basketball has the best officials mostly because they have the easiest job.

In football, there is instant replay every quarter because of the bad officiating.

Even after the refs have seen the replay, I still see them making the wrong calls. Something about football, whether it's the angle that the refs have or the long distance that the refs have from the fast plays, make for a bunch of stupid calls. The refs in football also don't get to see as many games so they get a lot less practice then officials in other sports.

In baseball, every single pitch and play rely on what the officials say. Officials play the greatest role in determining the outcome of a game.

Baseball officials have the most pressure because one bad call between a foul ball and home run can change the entire game. No other sport has as many upset managers and ejected mangers getting kicked out for arguing a call as baseball.

In fact, baseball's really the only sport where the coach gets in the umpires face to argue a call.

Quality in officiating has improved due to instant replay, which takes a lot of pressure off refs in an important situation. The best long-term solution for improving the accuracy of officials is for them to observe more games so they develop a better eye for the game, which will only come with more practice.

Officiating is and will always be the center of controversies in sports.

Every fan is emotional and gets angry at the guys in striped shirts.

Despite how much you hated the horrible call—during Game Seven of the Stanley Cup playoffs against Eric Fehr for tripping the Flyers defenseman that made them lose (not to be specific or anything)—you still gotta love them.

Washington Nationals Preview: Reason for Hope in D.C.

Marla Goldberg — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:57:54 -0400

Baseball fans will no longer have to cling to Spring Training stats, check out how the local college baseball team is doing, or settle for the 7-11 hot dogs that just aren't the same as the ballpark ones...because Opening Day is in eight days!

Now that America's pastime is back everyone won't have to ponder if their team's offseason changes have paid off. They can simply turn on their TVs to ESPN next Sunday.

Led by Manager Manny Acta, the novel Nationals have had an uphill struggle during the offseason with injuries and questionable trades.

But now that Spring Training is coming to a close and the roster has been trimmed to 32 players, it's pretty clear what the team will be like Opening Day.

Possibly the team's Achilles heal, the starting rotation is most likely going to be Shawn Hill, Odalis Perez, Tim Redding, Jason Bergmann, and Matt Chico.

Although Hill appears to be the Nats' number one starter, he will not pitch on Opening Day because of arm problems and will instead pitch last.

Surprisingly, the team released its former ace, right-hander John Patterson, on Thursday due to lack of performance.

The team would rather give younger pitchers like John Lannan and Chico a chance.

The bullpen, definitely one the Nats' strengths, will most likely be Jon Rauch, Luis Ayala, Jesus Colome, Saul Rivera, Joel Hanrahan, Ray King, and Chad Cordero as the closer.

There has been so much speculation on the starting rotation that these guys been overlooked but the bullpen will be an important part once the starting pitchers give up too many runs and Manny has to take them out early.

The outfield is more than solid with powerhouse Wily Mo Pena in left, Lastings Milledge in center, and killer-arm Austin Kearns in right.

With new support and confidence, Milledge is making Jim Bowden look good by hitting well and stealing bases.

All have shown their strength at the plate during spring training. I think these guys will be the most reliable and most consistent players during the season.

Elijah Dukes, who either strikes out or hits a long homer, will be the fourth outfielder.

The infield was the big question mark coming into spring, but for me it's leaving a big exclamation point.

Ryan Zimmerman is, of course, the starting third baseman for the next three centuries and Cristian Guzman, coming back from two years of injuries, will be the shortstop.

There was a war at second base between Felipe Lopez and Ronnie Belliard, but Lopez has lost the job by barely hitting and making five careless errors.

His attitude towards the situation isn't helping himself either—I thought we got rid of Ryan Church!

The Battle of the Bulge took place at first base (literally) between heavyset men Dmitri Young and Nick Johnson.

Their performances correlated with their weight and Johnson won the starting job.

Expect to see Johnson a steady defender and hit clean up with a high BA.

Paul Lo Duca will be the starting catcher with Johnny Estrada and Will Nieves to back him up.

Lo Duca hasn't really gotten to prove himself because he's been hurt for weeks but Acta trusts him from all those years together on the Mets.

The young team has changed for the better and players like Zimmerman, Milledge, Belliard, Johnson, and Guzman are bound to have great years. With each player coming into the new stadium with something to prove, the Nationals will be a fun team to watch.

Thanks to Jim Bowden's offseason work the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together pretty nicely.

In the evenly matched NL East, expect the Nationals to get third place and have a .500 year.

Washington Hockey: The Caps Still Have a Chance

Marla Goldberg — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:21:33 -0400

As the NHL regular season is coming to a close the playoffs are about to begin. But who will make the sweet 16 playoff spots to fight for a chance to win the Stanley Cup? That remains to be seen.

Looking at the SouthEast division, the Carolina Hurricanes lead the Capitols by five points, leading division because of their recent hot streak. The Canes have won five of their last six games including a 5-1 win against Ottawa today.

The bad news is that Carolina is going to be a tough team to beat in the competitive SE division.

The good news is that the Capitols are only one point behind the Sabres and two points behind the Flyers, who are the eighth place team right now. And to make the playoffs the Caps only have to be eighth place team in the East. In one night the Caps could take over the Flyer's eighth place spot. The Caps have a comfortable nine games left on the season to do so.

Luckily for the Caps the Flyers have recently lost their confidence losing to the Pengiuns 7-1 today. In fact the Flyers haven't gotten the full two points in two weeks! The Sabres have had a mediocre month going 3-3-2 and losing badly to the Caps on March 5th. Those teams cold feet in March are sure to bring them a nice rainy April.

On the other hand the the Caps are holding their ground in the March Winds. Their confidence is soaring having just won three games in a row against division rivals the Thrashers and Bruins. No Hurricanes here!

While the other teams stifle Ovechkins like a rifle bringing his total goals to 57 and total points to 99. The defense is stepping up their game and Ovie is getting help scoring from Alexander Semin, Brooks Laich, and Sergei Federov. Kolzig and Huet are making coach Bruce Boudreau make tough choices on who to put in between the posts because each goalie is making great saves every game.

With the way team is playing now, I am confident that the Caps will sail through April. Open your umbrellas Philly and Buffalo cause the Caps are about to rain in on your parade.

Washington Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman-the Diamond in the Rough

Marla Goldberg — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:50:44 -0500

On the surface the Washington Nationals may seem like the team with all the problems.

Their two best starters haven't been healthy in a year. Their first baseman hasn't played since 2006 because of a broken femur. Their new catcher was named in the Mitchell Report. One outfielder recorded a highly controversial rap song and the other outfielder is convicted of a number of criminal charges.

Plus, the Nationals are struggling to open their new stadium on time.

Woo! They sound like a mess right?

Wrong.

Among the little inconveniences like a torn shoulder and a few misdemeanors they hold one of the league's most talented, underrated, and uncontroversial third baseman.

The kid's name is Ryan Wallace Zimmerman.

Zimmerman (Zim for short) grew up in Virginia Beach, VA and is only 23 years old. Zim, who was the Nationals first draft pick ever in 2005, made it to the majors only months after he was drafted fourth overall.

During his Rookie season he set the record for rookie RBI with 120.

In 2007 he became the first National to play in all 162 games and never let the crowd down with his amazing theatrics at third to rob player after player of a great hit.

Besides his obvious talent at third, he also has a knack for hitting game-winning hits and home runs on holidays.

Zimmerman had a fourth inning solo shot off Josh Towers on Father's Day, June 17, and snapped a 2-2 tie in an eventual 4-2 win at Toronto.

On July 4, 2006, Zim also hit a homerun in the ninth inning after the Nats were down to win the most notorious Nationals game against the hated New York Yankees.

Not wanting to end his streak there, in 2007, after a three-hour rain delay, Zim crushed a grand slam to win a game in extra innings at 1:42 a.m. on Mother's Day against the Florida Marlins.

Speaking of mothers, Zimmerman created the ziMS Foundations supporting the research of Multiple Sclerosis. His mother was diagnosed with the disease in 1995.

Ryan isn't only an asset on the field; he's the glue that holds this disheveled team together.

He's the face of the franchise, and I think he will soon be the face of MLB. So if you happen to be flipping the channels on a lonely Friday night and see the Nats on TV, or you're visiting the Nation's Capital, look out for this kid because I know he'll be a superstar.