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Thom Loverro

Thom Loverro

tloverro@washingtontimes.com

Thom Loverro has been a professional journalist since 1977, working for a number of newspapers, including eight years as a news editor and reporter for The Baltimore Sun, where he covered government, politics, and crime. He moved into sports writing when he joined The Washington Times in 1992. He moved to The Washington Examiner as a sports columnist in 2009 and returned to The Washington Times in 2013, where he is currently the lead sports columnist.

Columns by Thom Loverro

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer warms up during batting practice for baseball's World Series Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Houston. The Houston Astros face the Washington Nationals in Game 1 on Tuesday. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Nationals see D.C.’s first World Series opener in 86 years

When the Nationals come back to host Games 3 and 4, and possibly Game 5, it will be something unprecedented that fans here will witness. No, the Capitals' Stanley Cup doesn't measure up. No, the Bullets 1978 NBA championship isn't comparable.

October 21, 2019
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan speaks at a news conference after an NFL football game against the Washington Redskins, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Kyle Shanahan gets revenge on Redskins

A 9-0 shutout Sunday of Washington at the annual Alumni Homecoming game may not have been the way that San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan envisioned. But a win is a win.

October 20, 2019
Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez kisses the NLCS trophy after Game 4 of the baseball National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019, in Washington. The Nationals won 7-4 to win the series 4-0. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) **FILE**

Dave Martinez’s message, style have not changed since day he took Nationals manager job

Martinez -- with zero managing experience -- went beyond all his predecessors' boasts and excitement and formulas for success and put himself out there with his testimony that nothing less than a World Series title would do. And now, here he is, farther than anyone who came before him, on the brink of talking his goals into existence.

October 17, 2019
Washington Nationals players celebrate after Game 4 of the baseball National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019, in Washington. The Nationals won 7-4 to win the series 4-0. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Nationals give the fans history, joy, a World Series

"We're not here solving the world's problems. We're here playing a baseball game. Some of you guys have done it since you were 3, 4 years old. So just go out there and have fun." That was Dave Martinez, telling his players to enjoy the moment. Players heard him, and so, for that matter, did Nationals fans.

October 15, 2019
Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith, bottom, slides under Houston Texans cornerback Johnathan Joseph (24) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) **FILE**

Alex Smith had multiple leg surgeries

The last count we got on surgeries for Redskins quarterback Alex Smith was six -- an alarming amount of operations on the broken leg he suffered on Nov. 18, 2018, against the Houston Texans. But what if I told you that wasn't even close to the count?

October 15, 2019
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg throws during the fifth inning of Game 3 of the baseball National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Oct. 14, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Stephen Strasburg’s tenacity, brilliance now define legacy

Monday night before a packed and raucous sold-out Nationals Park crowd of 43,675 energized by their team's first NL Championship Series home game, Stephen Strasburg focused on what he could control -- and he controlled the St. Louis Cardinals for seven innings of one-run baseball.

October 14, 2019
Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle, left, and catcher Yan Gomes leap in celebration after the team's 7-3 win in Game 5 of a baseball National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Nationals exorcise their demons in the City of Angels

This 2019 team has a personality the others did not -- one built for adversity. Those previous four Nationals postseason teams coasted to division titles. This team, as Martinez has said so often, has essentially played a wild card game every day since that 19-31 start.

October 10, 2019
Washington Redskins president and general manager Bruce Allen, left, stands with owner Daniel Snyder during practice at the team's NFL football training facility, Sunday, July 27, 2014 in Roanoke, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) **FILE**

Redskins’ brass may be dangerous to team’s health

In 2019, it may be time for the media to require this warning with all references to the Washington Redskins: "Warning -- the Washington Redskins are not a real NFL franchise. It doesn't matter who plays quarterback. It doesn't matter who coaches. Nothing matters as long as Dan Snyder owns the team."

October 7, 2019
Washington Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin, lowers his head as manager Dave Martinez, right, walks over during a pitching change in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game 3 of a baseball National League Division Series on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019, in Washington. Patting Corbin on the back Anthony Rendon (6). Corbin was charged with six of the Dodgers' seven runs in the inning. The Dodgers won 10-4. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Patrick Corbin relief stint goes off the rails

Sunday night's Game 3 loss pours a little cold water on the idea that the Nationals can paper over the holes in their bullpen by slipping in starters like Strasburg, Scherzer and Corbin as relief pitchers.

October 6, 2019
Los Angeles Dodgers' Gavin Lux hits a solo home run in the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals during Game 1 of baseball's National League Divisional Series on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOVERRO: Game 1 dominated by Dodgers

Patrick Corbin said he signed with Washington because he wanted the ball on the mound in a playoff game. On Thursday, though, it looked, early, as though he would have rather been just about anywhere else.

October 4, 2019
Houston Texans tight end Darren Fells (87) makes a touchdown reception in the second half during the American Football game between the Houston Texans and the Los Angeles Chargers at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, USA, 22 September 2019.

NFL teams fight for place in saturated L.A. market

The Los Angeles Dodgers' real competition isn't the NFL. It's the Los Angeles Lakers. No one else matters, really, which makes the city atypical of most sports markets, where NFL franchises reign.

October 3, 2019
Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Stan Kasten, left, talks with manager Dave Roberts prior to the team's baseball game against the Colorado Rockies on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Stan Kasten has golden touch for Dodgers

Since Stan Kasten joined with Mark Walter to purchase the Dodgers in 2012, the franchise has won seven straight National League West division titles and the last two NL pennants. This year they finished 106-54.

October 2, 2019
Washington Nationals' Juan Soto gets a kiss from his father, Juan Jose Soto, right, after defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in a National League wild-card baseball game at Nationals Park, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Juan Soto gets biggest dance in Nationals’ wild card party

Soto wants to dance -- and dance he did Tuesday night, leading the Nationals to a dramatic comeback 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers to win the National League Wild Card Game and sending his team into the NL Division Series, where they will face the Los Angeles Dodgers.

October 2, 2019
Washington Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins speaks to reporters after an NFL football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Giants defeated the Redskins 24-3. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Dwayne Haskins cannot cure Redskins’ sickness

Coaches, quarterbacks and players come and go -- and none of them can fix a poisonous culture in which a rookie is inexplicably empowered before he ever steps foot at Redskins Park.

October 1, 2019