What happened the past week in the world of sports, with a Virginia focus? Here are my Top 10 sports-related stories - good and bad - of the past week (please tell me what I missed!):1. The Washington Capitals won the 4th pick overall in the NHL hockey draft, set for June 24. Overall, the Caps have two first-round picks and three in the second round.
2. The good news for the Caps just keeps coming, with their rookie Russian star, Alex Ovechkin, finishing at 106 points (52 goals, 54 assists), third highest ever for a rookie and 4 points ahead of his main rival for Rookie of the Year, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
3. The Washington Nationals' left fielder, Alfonso Soriano, hit three home runs on Friday, helping his team to a 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
4. The Rolex Sports Car Series, "North America's major-league tour for road racing," will be at the Virginia International Raceway, north of the North Carolina-Virginia border near Danville, this weekend.
5. Christian Olsen assumes his place as the University of Virginia's #1 quarterback today, with today's 3:30 p.m. spring intrasquad game at Scott Stadium. The game comes as a nice change, after "[a] March 3 break-in and fight at a fraternity house led to the arrest of cornerback Mike Brown and offensive linemen Eddie Pinigis and Zak Stair."
6. The undefeated and #1 ranked UVA men's lacrosse team (11-0) hosts Bellarmine (from Louisville, KY) today. Virginia is scheduled to play next Sunday in the ACC Tournament title game against the Maryland-North Carolina winner in Baltimore.
7. The 4th-ranked UVA women's lacrosse team lost to the #3 Georgetown Hoyas, 8-6, on Wednesday. On the bright side, the UVA women will also be at the ACC tournament in Baltimore next week.
8. In an amazing medical/sports-related story, Virginia Tech freshman Travis Brooks suffered a life-threatening complication from a third-degree concussion he suffered during an indoor soccer game. He was given only a 10% chance of surviving emergency surgery to relieve pressure on half his brain. "Now, a year later, Brooks is finishing up his first semester at Virginia Tech; the only noticeable side effects from his soccer accident are a slight deterioration in his vision and an understandable hesitation to resume contact sports." Yeah, I'd stay away from contact sports too, Travis! (I used to play in a competitive men's indoor floor hockey league, where I saw a few nasty injuries, but nothing like Travis').
9. The DC United major league soccer team is undefeated (2-0-1) heading into its game today against the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium.
10. They don't play in Virginia, but my favorite baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles, have won 7 of their last 9 games and are now 11-7, just 1/2 game behid the Boston Red Sox in the American League East. Unfortunately, Orioles' attendance is down sharply this year, almost 20% lower than last year, at around 26,000 per game. Where did everybody go? Pissed at Peter Angelos, perhaps, for being such a jerk about baseball in Washington? That's certainly what Washington Post sports writer Thomas Boswell thinks might be happnening.
Never before has the same city owned the hockey and basketball crowns in the same year.
Go MoTown