Mike Wise Thinks Mark is a Funny Name

I don't really get Mike Wise's column in the Washington Post this morning. The article is about yesterday's loss by Georgetown against Duke, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  There were a lot of heckling Dukies, and an apparently wrong, and costly, technical foul against Georgetown.  While it doesn't seem like a particularly great column, and, frankly, it's just not that interesting to me, the puzzling part is when he refers to Duke kids caked in blue paint with names like Taylor and Mark.  Huh?  Is he saying that Mark is a particularly prepped out name?  Like Rogers Chapstick or James Bottomtooth IV?  What the hell?  I think most of the kids that I hung out with in elementary school were named Mark.  And I went to elementary school at Pine Springs in Falls Church, which is hardly Sidwell Friends.

I don't get it.  Maybe it's just an editing mistake.

Wizards Win, and Some Nationals Stuff
I was at the Wizards game last night, which was their best game of the season as they didn't have much of a problem with one of the best teams in the league, the Mavericks, beating them 106-97.

Thanks to the eBay-savvy of my friend Greg, we had excellent seats, in the end zone, behind the media section. We saw Ed Tapscott, Lindsay from Channel 4, and Post columnist Mike Wise. Wise got to his seat after the game started, and he didn't seem to be around much during the second half. At one point, I headed out to the concourse for yet another drink, and heard him on his cell phone:

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem to be working out for me here. I can't get anybody excited about changing the name of the Redskins. Nobody believes that I played basketball in college. That's so unfair, nobody questions Kelli Johnson! Tony's still mean to me. And then I get to the game tonight, and Lindsay's there with a date!"

I felt bad for the guy.

Baseball's winter meetings are happening, and the Nationals seem determined to not make any moves at all, and just pocket the money that they'll save by not having to pay Alph and Jose Guillen. I guess Stan Kasten really is a genius. This lack of activity resulted in a strange article by Dave Sheinen, where he tries to make a story about the possiblity (denied by Nationals' management), that the Nationals may be a "conduit" in a Manny Ramirez deal. Seven hundred words into the article, he gives us a hint of what he's talking about, suggesting that the Red Sox need a shortstop or a closer, and Guzman, Lopez or (gulp) Cordero might be players that interest them. Getting rid of Cordero, who is one of the best and most popular Nationals (behind Zimmerman and the departed Alph), would be a big mistake. But it wouldn't be surprising, at this point. I've read some rumors about Chad going to the Red Sox for Wily Mo Pena, which is a move that Jim Bowden should make if wants to go back to Cold Pizza soon.

Barry Svrluga writes in Nationals Notebook that the Nats are looking to move Ryan Church, who decided not to play winter ball in Mexico, which might have helped him improve his hitting of off-speed pitches. Church's agent, Jeff Borris, defends his client, saying that he had nothing to prove down there. Ha. Borris is also Barry Bonds' agent, and I wonder how long into their relationships it was before Bonds and Church (not exactly known for their intellects) realized that they hadn't hired Scott Boras.

Finally, Dan Steinberg mentions, in dcsportsbog.com, that he saw Mike O'Connor at the BB&T Classic over the weekend, and O'Connor said that he hasn't heard from new skipper Manny Acta. That's not a good sign. What else does Acta have to do at this point that he hasn't had time to talk to someone who may be one of his starting pitchers?