Columns by Thom Loverro
They exceeded expectations basketball-wise and heart-wise by handling the experienced Chicago Bulls in five games, and it's reasonable to see this team beating Indiana and likely facing the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals. Beyond this season, though ...
Published
May 4, 2014
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"The city is getting behind this team," said the 66-year-old former Bullets star. "There is an enthusiasm and excitement there now. And the players can feel the excitement that something big is going to happen."
Published
May 1, 2014
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We've heard subtlely and not so subtlely that Mike Shanahan held talent hostage. Now that he's gone, it seems everyone at Redskins Park is feeling like Andy Dufresne walking on a Mexican beach.
Published
April 30, 2014
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Up 2-1 in the series, after losing Game 3 at home, Game 4 was of course a big game. You don't want to go back to Chicago with the series even at 2-2 – especially, when, for anyone watching this series, it's obvious the Bulls can't match the Wizards talent.
Published
April 27, 2014
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There may be no truer cliché in sports than defense winning championships. Playoff teams that can't play defense fall by the wayside quickly. This Wizards squad is led by a player with a brain, heart and conscience.
Published
April 24, 2014
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The Detroit Pistons teams that filled the void following the Magic and Bird era, and did so with elbows, fists, and bad basketball. There is nothing to celebrate about those championship teams. They should be buried, not praised. Look around, children of that time, for something better — something that was beautiful.
Published
April 22, 2014
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Mike Trout and his Los Angeles Angels teammates come to Washington for a three-game series at Nationals Park, the first time that Trout and Harper will be on the field as Major League Baseball competitors.
Published
April 20, 2014
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The Washington Wizards Most Valuable Player is 83 years old, stands 98 feet tall, weighs, 700 tons, is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone and sits on top of a 2,300-foot mountain.
Published
April 17, 2014
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George McPhee has failed to capitalize on the success of one of the best goal scorers of his time, a three-time NHL Most Valuable Player. That's what all this comes down to. He hasn't figured out how to win with Alex Ovechkin.
Published
April 15, 2014
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I figured I owed Sonny a moment in the sun. He settled in Vegas in his final years, but never found peace. Then again, this town is the last place to find that kind of peace. Bo Belinsky, though, did.
Published
April 13, 2014
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The strange, curious, painful and wonderful life of Scott Christopher has taken the path from a Falls Church park to the pages of Sports Illustrated to the dugout with Cal Ripken to a private moment with Michael Jackson that produced what is considered the greatest photograph ever of the pop icon.
Published
April 10, 2014
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John Calipari can coach. Sometimes all the bombast and hair gel gets in the way of noticing that. But his Kentucky team's run to the NCAA title game this year – even though it lost to Connecticut -- woke people up to Calapari the coach.
Published
April 8, 2014
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Gary Williams sweated his way to fame, and those who watched him get the most out of his teams, from American University to the University of Maryland, admired and enjoyed every bead of sweat, because you knew it was devoted to winning.
Published
April 6, 2014
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This weekend at Nationals Park, starting Friday at the home opener when Washington faces the Atlanta Braves, is Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran. It's this coming season's Washington Redskins opener vs. the Philadelphia Eagles (bet on it).
Published
April 3, 2014
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The reality is that most NFL franchises could field a special teams unit full of players with red flags. If teams stayed away from players with bad associations and outrageous lifestyles, the NFL would be 7 on 7 football.
Published
April 1, 2014
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We know Matt Williams can make the trains run on time. And we know he can come up with a daily quote to keep his players focused. We don't know if Williams can manage a team to a World Series championship.
Published
March 30, 2014
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Bryce Harper knows who his peers are. He knows how he will be measured, perhaps for the rest of his major league career.
Published
March 27, 2014
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Remarkably, kids are still showing up in boxing gyms in Maryland, Washington and Virginia looking to be the next Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao. Or maybe even Bobby Magruder, a four-time Washington Golden Gloves champion who fought Sugar Ray Leonard three times as an amateur.
Published
March 27, 2014
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The NFL threw a Hail Mary pass Monday when its charitable foundation donated a whopping $45 million to USA Football to expand the organization's Heads Up Football program that attempts to each a safer way to play the violent game.
Published
March 25, 2014
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It may not carry the same weight it used to — at least in the United States, given the pathetic state of heavyweight boxing — but in Europe, and obviously in Ukraine, the power and influence of heavyweight champion goes beyond the ring.
Published
March 23, 2014
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