I think the show is going great. You guys keep up the good work. My favorite Ambassador is Omar (Red-O) he strikes me as a guy who pulls no punches. He says what he feels and I like that. Also Kenyon is a great host. Last week I recently played soccer and swam laps at my local indoor pool. Summertime is coming, and that means outdoor pool time. Also it means Barbecue & Babes. How about some baseball & hiking? Has anyone ever played softball? How about badminton? These are all summer activities or sports too. I also love to go to water parks, since we don’t have any beaches here in Minnesota. Have any of the Ambassador’s ever surfed? I bet Omar has! Surfing is fun too, but I always fall off the board. I have been to a few beaches around the country. Anyway guys, hey keep up the good work. Summer is here now.

-Paul

I have a tremendous love for sports. It was in me very early. Instilled into my core, I played baseball, football, volleyball, soccer & even swimming. I needed an outlet for my emotions & I needed a way to feel free. I used sports. My sister played sports too. We all did. I stumbled upon this page by word of mouth, I am going to use it to put my thoughts about the show you guys do and the way you do it. I think it’s great, I like all the Ambassador’s and I think you guys do a great job. I want to coach soon, as I have been using my love for sports as a way to give back to the youth and show a family type of bond that you get with sports. I have noticed Diplomat Blackmon’s writing about his team’s and I wanted to chime in with a post or two as well. I hope this makes it on the page, as I would like to see my writing put to good use. Thank you so much.

Am I the only one pumped up around here?

I always get “siced” (DC urban term for excited) up for the matchups between the local teams. Whether it’s the Washington football franchise vs. the Ravens or the Orioles versus my Nats, I always get up for the local matchups.

Full disclosure: In regards to football, while I am still 53% for the Washington football franchise, I am a full fledged member of Raven Nation. Reading of my past blogs as well as personal testimony from my boyz will support my claim. Like most relationships, it’s complicated. Still, I can’t wait for the Ravens/Washington Super Bowl.

As for the Nats versus the Birds, that’s a whole different ballgame (see what I did there?). With the exception of the Ravens, I am all in with my local teams. While I won’t wear the elaborate costumes of some fans, I’m just as much a fan when it comes to passion.

The two teams have their annual four game matchup this week. Since the beginning of this matchup in 2006, the Birds have won 31 of 53 games. They have won seven out of the last ten matchups. While we have the strong starting group with pitchers that include Steven Strasburg and last year’s Cy Young winner Max Scherzer, the Orioles have the leagues top late inning guys in All-Stars Brad Brach and Zach Britton. Britton is currently undergoing a MRI with forearm discomfort. Might not be available for the series.

Cry me a river.

Maybe I’m hyped like this so I can have bragging rights over my boyz. Even though it’s been a while, I’m still loving having a team to call my own that have no political issues to deal with such as the team name. In either case, I’m looking for a sweep.

A guy can dream can’t he?

-BreezyG

OK Caps, I get it.

The plan against the Penguins is to lose the first two games of your semi-final matchup, lull them into a sense of false security and then strike back and take the series in six or seven games. Very slick Washington.

It has to be the plan, right? While taking a tough loss in game one, they suckered Pittsburgh even more by playing hard in the first period in game two. They even went as far as having their goalie, Braden Holtby play so bad that he was taken out for the third period. I mean, he led the league with nine shutouts and was the league’s best goaltender last year.

Well Caps, the setup is perfect. I don’t think Pittsburgh has a clue. It’s time for phase two.

BreezyG

I have had a love affair with hockey ever since high school. I was playing floor hockey when I hip checked a guy (of course I was a defenseman) into the seats. It was something that I saw when I watched games on TV. After I did it, I was waiting for the whistle, knowing that I had committed a penalty.

There was no whistle. It was a legal play. I’ve been in love ever since. It doesn’t hurt that it’s the one sport that the officials allow you to fight during the game to settle any differences that you may have.

My feelings for the sport were only amplified when my home team, The Capitals were founded in 1974. A team to call my own. While the Bullets and the Washington franchise were my main squeezes, the Caps were the girl that I always liked when I was growing up.

As things turn out, we go against the Penguins in second round of this year’s playoffs. To give you an ideal of the intensity level, we like the Penguins just as much as the Ravens like the Steelers. That has only been enhanced by the recent history between the teams in the playoffs. The last four times the teams these teams have met, not only have the Penguins beat the Caps, they went on to win the Stanley Cup.

The latest chapter between the two teams started Thursday night. If Cap fans can’t stand the Penguins in general, they really can’t stand their superstar Sidney Crosby. He staked the Pens to a 2-0 lead scoring his career 52nd and 53rd playoff goals in 53 seconds. Although our superstar Alex Ovechkin scored his 45th playoff tally of his own, it wasn’t enough as Pittsburgh took game one 3-2.

This is usually the time where I would complain about how the Caps get seem to get beat by these guys in the playoffs and start to let down. But after watching game one, I see a different Caps team. This team played hard the entire game and had no quit in them. Take away the two goals that Crosby scored and the Caps might be up 1-0.

But man, those Penguins are good. After all, they are the defending champs. But this year’s Caps do not want you to cry them a river. That’s because there is no crying in hockey.

– BreezyG

One of my newer websites that I’ve checking out is from the League Ambassadors (www.leagueam.com). The guys are what I call the “new jacks” of the sports paradigm. They educate, debate and juggle the various sports topics of the day. You can holla at them through any of today’s social mediums. On one of their recent shows, they brought up a topic that was intriguing: Mike or Kareem?

This can be a decent debate. Their careers actually did intertwine for five years (84-89). By the time Jordan got to the league, Jabbar had won his six league titles. Jordan took over (sort of) to start his own six year title run.

In the case of these two, timing was truly everything. When Jabbar entered the league, he basically did the same thing that he did both in high school and college: have a impact. He became a top three star (in scoring and rebounding) and after future Hall – of – Famer Oscar Robinson came over, he won the first of his championships. He easily could have been the face of a still fledging league that was still trying to get it’s sea legs.

With Jordan, it was a case of spontaneous combustion. He entered the league at a time when the league was creating it’s identity (led by the Godfather of the league –David Stern). With the help of his swag (which wasn’t really a popular word at the time but you get it) and his boy at the time Charles Barkley, they took the league to an entirely different level in terms of popularity and well, commercialism.

I can see why some would make a case for Jordan. He helped bring the bright lights to the league as well as make it the popular game that it still is. Now, while I won’t make the connection that Jabbar was the Mike before Mike (in part because he didn’t want to be), you can not deny his career achievements as well as his consistency. He was still averaging 23 points a game at age 38. While you have organizations like ESPN having him the greatest player in league history (ahead of Jordan), for me I still like Mike.

I still remember a dream I had when I was getting ready to play my dream pickup game with the greatest players in NBA history and I had first pick. It wasn’t any doubt who my first pick was.

“Give me Magic”.

There is something to be said for a Woman who has an appreciation for Sports… Although it is rare, she is valued in a regard that some would say is bigger than any other item a man is looking for in his dream girl.

My sports love affair came at the tender age of 2. My dad and his buddies would get together on Sundays with Beers, Burgers and the Boob Tube as some would refer as the TV.  During this time, I was in the midst of Potty Training and nothing is worse for a Football Fan than to miss a big play for a bathroom break, especially for your 2 year old daughter. So through innovation and the Dad Handbook,  he placed my potty seat in front of the television and from there I was hooked.

With a Onesie on, Juice Cup in hand, Pig tails up top and lungs that screamed through Gardena, I became a Football Fan.

From that tender age until now, The countdown to a Football Sunday is always on my mind. Even today with less than a month from Draft Day, I live, breathe and worship the game.

The game of Football has the natural power to bring forth comradery that in today’s times is needed more than anything… And although like Ambassador Ken I have no team, my love for the game is tried and true.

I am the Football Diva.