Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
May 2, 2003, Washington Post

Catching Up

I was out of town last week. One thing I miss when I am on the road is the Washington Post sports section. But my family always saves the papers for me. So one of my favorite parts of coming home is poring over the ones I missed when I was away. A lot happened while I was gone. Let's catch up.

• Hockey. It's April, so the Washington Capitals must be playing . . . golf! The Caps got bounced from the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. Seems as though the Caps always find some sadder than sad way to lose. This year, they lost the final game, 2-1, in triple overtime.

The Caps are not the only team that has found first-round heartache. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks whipped the powerful Detroit Red Wings in four straight games, and the Minnesota Wild shocked the mighty Colorado Avalanche in seven games. With so many upsets, there's no way to predict who will win the Stanley Cup. One thing's for sure though, it won't be the Caps.

• Baseball. I think it may be time to break up the . . . Kansas City Royals. Sure, the free-spending New York Yankees are winning big, but the surprise of the spring season is the upstart Royals. The Royals lost 100 games last season and cut back on the money they are spending on salaries. So what happened? They are leading the American League Central Division.

How are they doing it? The Royals have some good young talent and an enthusiastic new manager in Tony Pena. And, I'll admit it, they have had an easy early schedule. The Royals have a 10-1 record against the hapless Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians. Still, the Royals will be fun to follow this season.

• Soccer. Last weekend, there was a big women's soccer doubleheader at RFK Stadium. The U.S. national team played Canada in the first game, then the Washington Freedom played the Atlanta Beat in an important match between two undefeated teams in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA).

I noticed that the Freedom's Mia Hamm and some other WUSA stars played in both games. If the folks at WUSA are trying to convince fans that the women's soccer league is "big league," how can they let stars such as Hamm play in meaningless 6-1 slaughters such as the game against Canada? Especially before a big WUSA match.

I know getting ready for the Women's World Cup is important, but can you imagine Allen Iverson or Barry Bonds playing in an exhibition game instead of a regular season game for their teams? No way.

• Lacrosse. Hooray for the Georgetown Prep Little Hoyas! After 18 straight losses to the Landon School boys' lacrosse powerhouse, the Prepsters finally won one, 8-5. Over the years, the Little Hoyas had lost every way you could lose. Blowouts. Nail-biters. Bad calls. You name it.

But the breaks finally went their way in a hard-fought game before 2,500 fans.

Hey, who knows, if the Washington Capitals hang in there like the Little Hoyas, maybe they will end their next season with a big win instead of another heart-breaking defeat.