Washington Capitals and Game 7 – The Pride of D.C. Sports Depends On It
Forget the Washington Capitals’ addiction to NHL Playoff Game 7′s over the past few years. This one is bigger than moving onto the conference finals, bigger than Ovechkin v. Crosby, and bigger than the D.C.-Pittsburgh rivalry.
This is for the entire pride of D.C. sports fandom.
In one night, everything you ever wanted out of a local team will be on the line. The ability to advance to the playoffs? That responsible and fan-friendly ownership you wanted? Where the Redskins fell short, the Caps raised us up.
The development of star players, who integrate themselves beautifully into the local culture and make themselves a daily part of our sports psyche and consumption? Where Gilbert Arenas got hurt, and Chris Cooley is Rated R, Alex Ovechkin and Simeon Varlamov stayed on the ice and gave you a family-friendly performance of a lifetime.
And where you’ve yearned for a winner that will attract national, no, international attention, where the Orioles and Nationals failed, the Caps have thrived.
They’ve been down, up, up higher, back down, and now its on in Game 7 here in Chocolate City. This is bigger than Cowboys-Redskins, because the winner of this series could very well win the Stanley Cup. Bigger than the Souja Boi Wizards play-off game, because Rocking the Red will never go out of style.
Well, maybe the Souja Boi will never die either, thanks to Superskin, but you get the idea.
This is everything you wanted out of your local sports. You don’t have to approach with caution, you don’t have to wonder if this is real, you don’t even have to worry about Brian Mitchell looking at this team and wondering if they have it in them.
You only need to know that everything we have for D.C. sports is riding on this game, and likely, there’s no team better equipped for that kind of pressure.
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[...] D.C. will wait to exorcise its demons of post-season mediocrity. The Capitals entered Game 7 carrying a hard-earned burden of local exuberance; the failures of the Redskins, Wizards and Nationals all seemed to flutter away when sticks hit [...]