Take one name off the list of Olympic athletes with ties to the D.C. area. The Associated Press via ESPN.com is reporting that 20-year-old boxer Gary Russell Jr., who was born right here in D.C. and lives in Capitol Heights, Md., collapsed in Beijing while trying to make weight, and will no longer be competing in the Olympic games. Russell, who was not hospitalized, collapsed while running. He had been trying to drop from 125......

Credit City Desk for the best news of the morning -- the lawsuit between the District's two main kickball leagues has finally come to an end. Quick recap: In 2006, the World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) sued upstart DC Kickball, claiming that founder and former WAKA officer Carter Rabasa had stolen the association's proprietary rules and then defamed WAKA by calling it "the Microsoft of kickball." Offended and pouting, WAKA demanded $356,000 in damages. Had......

A string of Superliga losses followed by one of D.C. United's worst showings of the year against Houston left the second half of the season somewhat in doubt. Which D.C. United would show up for MLS' crucial home stretch? The confused squad that started the season 2-7 and lacked any form of cohesion, or the offensive dynamos that ran roughshod over their MLS opponent en route to a 5-0-1 record preceding the All Star break?......

Nationals fans are living in a brave new world this morning after the team completed its first second sweep of the season on Sunday, a home stand against the Cincinnati Reds. Most of the credit is going to new youngsters Emilio Bonifacio and Alberto Gonzalez, who have injected some much-needed energy into the Nats roster. But over at RotoNation, one blogger noticed a fan sporting an Obama-themed Nats jersey on Friday night. Coincidence? If Barack......

The Nationals are 2-10 since the All Star break, currently in a nine game losing streak, and have been swept in three straight series. Their two wins came in a three game series in Atlanta. Atlanta's response to losing a series to the Nationals was to trade Mark Teixiera and give up on their season, which is a reasonable reaction to losing a series to the Nationals. The Nats are currently 38-70. The question for......

With the Nationals firmly entrenched at the bottom of the Major Leagues and the Redskins getting ready to start the season with a new head coach, another new offensive system, and a smattering of injuries, it is tough to get excited about Washington area sports right now. Given that the Redskins are 70-79 since Dan Snyder purchased the team in 1999, and the Nationals are 150-204 since the Lerners took the helm, it is easy......

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing are less than two weeks away, and we're definitely starting to feel some Olympic fever. We know we're just supposed to blindly support anyone representing Team USA No Matter What, but are there any local athletes to whom we can throw a little extra love? (Baltimore doesn't count). A quick perusal of of the USOC athlete roster says, why yes! Keep in mind, a lot of Team USA still......

Now that the All Star break is over, the race for the first pick in the draft is just getting started, and it looks to be exciting. The San Diego Padres currently possess a half game lead over the Nationals, but Seattle is also close behind. In fact, all that separates the Padres from the Mariners is a game, with the Nationals sandwiched in the middle. The Nationals staunch refusal to score runs gives them......

As the Capitals make international headlines by signing free agents, local hockey players and fans are just as interested in the future of D.C. native Stephen Werner. The first locally born player ever drafted to the NHL, Werner played with the Washington Little Capitals until he made the unlikely move to playing at UMass. Now, as he rises up through the minor league ranks, Werner's struggle to play a game from the Canadian tundra at......

The Washington Kastles fell to Delaware's only professional sports team, the Smash, last night at Kastles Stadium at CityCenter DC in a final score of 20-16. Kastles players repeatedly failed to execute on a number of crucial game points which left the match close up until the final set, when Sacha Jones ultimately crumbled during an intense women's singles match-up with strong 18-year-old Smash player Madison Brengle. The match started out well in favor of......

A power outage at RFK on July 12 left half the stadium in the dark in the middle of a D.C. United game. Tonight's United game has been postponed due to another outage. At least this time it didn't occur halfway through the match. Due to a power outage surrounding RFK Stadium (yes, that's right, another one), tonight's D.C. United match against the Houston Dynamo has been postponed until tomorrow evening. According to the......

The Washington Kastles rallied from an early deficit Tuesday night to defeat the visiting New York Sportimes and tennis legend John McEnroe in front of a capacity crowd at Kastles Stadium at CityCenter DC. The women's doubles team of Mashona Washington and Sacha Jones won their match 5 games to 1 to set up a super-tiebreaker to decide the match, which they won 7-5. The Sportimes took an early 10 games to 2 lead after......

Facing a must win situation against an opponent in preseason form, D.C. United suffered a disappointing 3-2 loss to F.C. Atlante last night. United put forth a solid effort, but was exposed by Atlante F.C.'s efficient counter attack. Atlante's victory relegated United's SuperLiga 2008 hopes to a mere prayer. The SuperLiga pits four MLS teams against four Mexican clubs. The teams are selected based on their performances in domestic league and tournament play during the......

The Washington Capitals announced last week that they've signed Sergei Fedorov to a $4 million contract for the coming season. Citizens State Bank, a Michigan financial institution, announced today that they are suing Fedorov for $2 million in unpaid loans. Fedorov, who won the Hart trophy as the NHL's MVP in 1994, has made a lot of money in his time. He once earned $12 million dollars for writing his name. He's widely considered to......

Everywhere from here to Vancouver, hockey fans are jumping up and down and screaming over the Caps' new Spirit Squad. The Caps posted a want ad on Saturday and by Sunday team owner Ted Leonsis had publicly responded to fan outcry. Leonsis reassured fans that the Spirit Squad will be tastefully clad and perform in a manner that won't offend anyone. Meanwhile, in addition to this public assurance, A View From The Cheap Seats......

Down 2-1 with Jaime Moreno, the MLS all time scoring leader, coming to the line to take a penalty kick in the 78th minute of their SuperLiga match versus CD Guadalajara, D.C. United had to feel good about their chances of eking out a draw or maybe even a win. Moreno had buried his last 20 PK attempts, a streak lasting over four years, and is about as close to automatic as you can get......

Last week, we told you that the city's new World Team Tennis franchise, the Washington Kastles, asked you to come up with a name for one of their mascots. We are sorry, but perhaps not surprised, to disappoint DCist commenters with the news that Ballsy the Ball, Butterball, Deuce, Goofball, Meaty, Shuttle Cock, and my personal favorite, Dingle, were not chosen. According to the team's Web site, the winning suggestion was Topspin. If you submitted......

When Tony "The Tiger" Thompson enters the ring in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday, he will be fighting for his family and his future, but he won't be fighting because of any love of the sport. From the Post:I really don't like to train for boxing. I'm just good at it. It's what I do to make a living. If I had my choices of making a living, I'm not one of those people who would......

I was worried that the low number of comments on my Nationals posts spoke to their quality. Fortunately, the problem is that no one cares about the team or chooses to watch them on television. The Nationals are last in the league in television viewership with an average of 9,000 households per game. The next lowest team, Kansas City, has an average television audience of 28,000 households. It is really a staggering statistic. It is......

Regrettably, the Washington Kastles, the city's new World TeamTennis franchise, did not solicit our help in choosing their team name. Apparently wanting to make things right, the team is asking the public to suggest a name for one of their slightly creepy mascots, a dopey-eyed, cap-sporting tennis ball (the other one, a guy in a knight costume, is presumably, uh, Mr. Kastle? Sir Kastle?). The lucky person whose name is chosen will receive two free......

The Capitals have agreed to terms on a one year contract with former MVP Sergei Fedorov. Fedorov has won three Stanley Cups while playing center, wing and defense. He has also been voted the NHL's best defensive forward. He reportedly had many contract offers from teams throughout the NHL and Russia's new KHL, but he took a 33 percent paycut from last season to stay with the Caps for $4 million. This could have something......

Those Nationals went a respectable 3-3 over the last week. They took a three game set against the Orioles, a series highlighted by a thrilling 12th inning walk off homerun. Since the team has come to Washington, the Nationals are 10-8 against Baltimore. Also, the fact that Teddy earned his first race win against the Oriole Bird cannot be ignored. This year has been the first year during which it felt like a real rivalry......

Jose Theodore signed a two year, $9 million contract to play for the Capitals yesterday. Theodore brings a lot of great accomplishments and a lot of question marks to the Capitals. Last year in Colorado, he took turns losing the starting goalie job with younger disappointment Peter Budaj. Still, Theodore is the answer on paper to many of the Capitals' questions. NHL free agency started yesterday--the time when veteran players who have finished their......

Mike Green came to terms with the Capitals today on a four-year, $21 million dollar contract to play ice hockey. In my first post on DCist, all the way back in October of 2006, I described a hard-fought match between the Caps and the Avalanche that reached its climax when "Green, the Caps star minor-league defenseman, who is expected to show signs of someday belonging in the NHL by the end of this season,......

Rising temperatures and high humidity created oppressive conditions during yesterday's match between D.C. United and the L.A. Galaxy. The Galaxy ended up taking the worst of it, with United's attack providing the most unbearable heat. Day games are normally held in the mid-to-late afternoon in order to avoid playing directly under the sun. To maximize exposure, the game was scheduled before the afternoon's European Championship and broadcast nationally on ABC. The game promised two assets......

Yesterday, Nationals manager Manny Acta called a team meeting to remind his players that they are not "independent league players." The point was that, despite being younger and not as talented as some other clubs, they are expected to be able to complete routine plays like hitting the cutoff man and fielding the baseball. It is clear that Manny will live with a team that is last in the National League in every offensive category,......

They may measure two inches shy of a collective 19 feet tall, but the first three Caps picks from this weekend's NHL draft stand on the shoulders of giants. With two picks in the first round and their first of two in the second, the Caps brought in players with strong connections to franchise history, tying the team's future to its past. The Caps traded up to the 21st overall spot to pick Anton Gustafsson,......

He's a lover and a fighter: Kassim Ouma reflects on his violent past in Kassim the Dream It sounds like — if you’ll pardon the expression — something out of a movie: Junior Middleweight Champion fighter Kassim “The Dream” Ouma escapes the darkest of pasts to find his way from Africa to America, arrives penniless and unable to speak English, and within a year he’s a professional fighter with a surrogate family, money in......

The Nationals went 3-4 in the last week. The three wins came against the Seattle Mariners, the only team with a worse record than the Nats. Jose Vidro is their designated hitter, and they no longer have their manager. This is actually a good way to measure managers this year. If your team gets swept by the Nationals, then you deserve to be fired. The Nats still have the worst record in the NL, and......

D.C. United continued their strong play of late on Saturday night at a rainy RFK Stadium, showing a newfound attacking acumen while dispatching the NY Red Bull 4-1. Luciano Emilio, showing the form of 2007-era Ben Olson, led United's scoring attack with his first MLS hat trick (perhaps he was motivated by the Morelia scouts that were reportedly in attendance?), while Clyde Simms netted a nice long distance strike in the first half. The Red......