Bruce Boudreau

Since it's been the hot topic of the week, I'll chime in.

The Washington Capitals fired head coach Bruce Boudreau on Monday and replaced him with fan favorite Dale Hunter.  Dale played for the Capitals from 1987-1999 and was the face of the franchise for several of those years.  Most Caps fans remember his OT goal in game 7 to beat the Flyers in the 1988 Stanley Cup Playoffs.  But he was a leader on and off the ice and will now be the bench boss.

Boudreau came in when the ship was taking on water in 2007.  The Caps were last in the NHL and seemed to be destined for failure.  Boudreau came in and brought the team together to earn a Stanley Cup berth only to be knocked out of the playoffs by the Philadelphia Flyers in a heartbreaking loss.  Boudreau went on to win the Jack Adams award as coach of the year.  Everyone thought this was OUR time.

The firing of Boudreau was surprising to a few, but it was time.  The Caps have not looked good in recent weeks.  It's easy to blame the players.  Ovechkin doesn't look the same.  The D looks horrible.  Backstrom doesn't win enough faceoffs.  The Caps don't have a legit 2nd line center.  Those are some of the rantings and ravings I've heard over the last few weeks.

I've been watching hockey on a regular basis since 1986.  I don't call myself an expert by any means.  If I was, I wouldn't be writing this blog post on blogger.  I do know when something isn't right, however.

Last season the Caps made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs and easily rolled over the New York Rangers.  The Caps went on to face the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Tampa played a system that was extremely effective against the Caps' style of play.  Boudreau failed to adjust the style of play or even attempt to adapt to Tampa's style of play.  The results spoke for themselves - the Lightning swept the Capitals and made it to within one win to reach the Stanley Cup finals.

This season the Caps started off 7-0-0.  Everyone had high expectations.  Since then the Caps have had a dismal 5-8-1 record, with the 8th loss coming last night in Dale Hunter's coaching debut.  The team has looked out played, out coached, and out hustled.  Those are things that need to be addressed, and I don't think Boudreau was being listened to anymore.  Last season the Caps had many "optional" practices, where a lot of the star players would fail to attend.  When things aren't working and the team isn't playing well, the coach needs to step it up and motivate his players.  It didn't happen.  The Power Play went from being 1st in the league to 21st.  The Penalty Kill is in the bottom 3rd.  The team isn't scoring goals.  The defense isn't stopping the opposition from scoring goals.  Something had to be done.  It's easier to get rid of a coach than a team of 20 players.

Boudreau isn't a bad coach.  But even good teams fire their head coaches.  It's a business.  If your team isn't performing, it's easy to blame the coach.  Boudreau was the 5th longest tenured coach in the NHL.  And he's been on the job only 4 years.  Yikes.

Look at the Baltimore Orioles.  They've gone through 5 managers in the last 10 seasons.  The Dallas Cowboys have gone through several coaching changes in the last 10 seasons.  The Washington Redskins have as well.  All of those teams had enough talent to produce winning seasons.  Yet none of those teams have won the championship in their respective leagues in over 10 seasons.  Even with all the talent that those teams (Ok, the Orioles are a bad example) had they couldn't win.

But let's also look at teams that fired their coach that was doing well - Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired Tony Dungy in 2001.  In 2002 they won the Super Bowl.  In 2000 the Arizona Diamondbacks fired manager Buck Showalter.  In 2001 they won the World Series.  The Pittsburgh Penguins fired Michel Therien in 2009.  They won the Stanley Cup in 2009.  In 2000 the New Jersey Devils fired coach Robbie Ftorek mid-season.  They went on to win the Stanley Cup.

It goes to show that sometimes the coach has to take the fall.  Sometimes however it reaps rewards.

I have no ill will towards Bruce Boudreau.  Heck, he even told me to have a blessed marriage on my wedding day.  But unfortunately professional sports is a business.  Players and coaches that we come to love come and go.  It was a sad day for me when the Baltimore Ravens released long time tight end Todd Heap.  But it goes back to the business comment.

Boudreau will probably get another coaching job in the NHL.  I wish him all the best and hope he has a great coaching career.  But for now the Washington Capitals needed a change.  They got it in Dale Hunter.  We are waiting to see if Hunter can right the ship and get the Caps back on track.

Tony wins, and I don't get to enjoy it

Tony Stewart did everything he needed to do and won the Ford 400 yesterday.  In doing so, he won the Sprint Cup championship by virtue of the tie breaker (more wins than Carl Edwards).  I was definitely happy to see him win and excited, but the excitement was short lived.

Yesterday I started feeling nauseated around 4:00.  I had my daughter sleeping on me, so I tried my best to just sit there and tough it out.  However around 5:00 I started vomiting and continued every hour or so for the next 2-3 hours.  I had a hard time sleeping and was in the bathroom half the night.  I stayed home from work today as I couldn't keep any food down at all.  I'm able to keep beverages down, so at least there's something in my system. 

I'm thinking I got either food poisoning or the stomach flu.  Either way I have felt miserable all day.  I don't wish this on anybody.

Tony, I will celebrate your Championship!  It may just take me a few extra days to do so!

Florida

Spent last week in Tampa, Florida for work.  We had some down time and were able to attend a Lightning game and visit Kennedy Space Center.  I even got a chance to go into the VAB at Kennedy to see space shuttle Endeavour being decommissioned.  It was kinda sad.

We didn't get everything done we wanted for work though.  A few issues arose and we didn't get everything done.  I was somewhat disappointed.  But we'll get it done when we can.  It was just a minor setback.

Kyle Busch - NASCAR got it right and wrong

Kyle Busch was involved in an accident last night with Ron Hornaday during the Camping World truck series race at Texas.  After the accident, Busch took it upon himself to retaliate and intentionally wreck Hornaday.  NASCAR responded by "parking" Busch for the night.  Basically they told him he was not welcome to return to the race.  His truck was probably too damaged to go back on the track anyway, but NASCAR wanted to make sure he didn't.

Today NASCAR handed down their decision:  Busch would be "parked" or essentially suspended for the weekend.  He could not participate in today's Nationwide series race, and cannot participate in the Sprint Cup race tomorrow.  From what I read he cannot appeal the decision.

I agree with NASCAR's decision to park him.  It was a blatant disrespect for the sport and for his competitors.  Busch has issued a statement apologizing for his actions. 

What I don't agree is NASCAR's inconsistency.  Similar actions have occurred on the track recently.  Jamie McMurray attempted to make a similar move last week and was unsuccessful.  Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski last season.  Tony Stewart has repeatedly wrecked competitors intentionally.  None of those drivers were suspended or "parked".  All these incidents have been similar and nothing has happened to them other than being placed on "probation".

NASCAR needs to be more consistent with their discipline.   If they're going to "park" a driver for aggressive driving, do it consistently.  This is only the 2nd time in the last 10 years that a driver has been suspended from competition for an incident during another race.  There have been several incidents where drivers should've been suspended and were not.

NASCAR, while I respect your decision on this one, you've dropped the ball previously.  Fix it before it's too late.

Martinsville

Sunday I took my annual trip down to Martinsville for the race.  I brought my friend Charlie who has slowly been getting the bug to go to more races.  He's definitely enjoyed the few we've been to so far and was looking forward to this one.

We drove down to visit some of my friends Saturday.  Charlie fit right in with them.  It's amazing how friends from different aspects of your life can bond.  It's awesome.

We drove up Sunday morning to the track.  I surprised Charlie with pre-race infield passes.  We were only allowed on the front stretch, but since he'd never done it we got to enjoy our time down there.  We saw several drivers and even signed the start/finish line.  I can tell Charlie enjoyed the experience!

Then of course we had to get some of the Martinsville famous hot dogs - I love those things.  They're small but cheap.  You can eat several and not feel too bad about it.

The race itself was wild.  I think Dale Jr hit everything but the pace car.  Brian Vickers looked like a silver ball inside a pinball machine.  Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth watched their championship hopes meet the SAFER barrier.  Carl Edwards got lucky.  Jimmie Johnson had the race in the bag and a late race caution screwed him.  Tony Stewart looked possessed.  Denny Hamlin tried his best but kept getting shuffled into the wrong line on restarts. 

It was a great race, and a great weekend.  Tony Stewart looks like he's on fire again - can Smoke carry the momentum into this week?

Goal #2

Played hockey last night even though I haven't been feeling good over the last few days.  We looked flat and tired.  By the middle of the 2nd period we were already down 3-0.  I did my best to get us back in the game by scoring a rebound goal to make it 3-1.  As with my first goal, it was a rebound that I sneaked under the goalie.  Garbage goal, but I'll take it.  It didn't help as we ended up losing 4-2.

Even though I felt terrible and didn't have a great game, it was good to get goal #2.  My confidence is slowly increasing.  I think had I felt better I would've been able to give more of an effort.

Our next game is Sunday.  Can't wait for it!