My Worlds of Sports - Nats win and the Wizards get "officially" screwed

Since I live in DC (and I get Comcast, which is still not playing MASN... yet another reason I hate Comcast) and since the Nats have only played 4 home games (2 of which were afternoon games) I have only been able to see 2 Nats games all season.

The first was a horribly dissapointing 5-3 loss to the Marlins a week ago friday (They started the first inning by scoring 3 runs and fell asleep for the rest of the game) and last night's exciting rain delayed 3-7 win against John Smoltz and the Braves (In which my favorite player, John Patterson who coincidentally wears #22, pitched excellently only to get a no decision on a couple of unlucky plays.)

So maybe I don't have a great perspective, but I'm still looking forward to the rest of the season. I don't see why at least 70 wins isn't possible. Sure they haven't started out all that well, but don't forget this: First, unlike last year they've been pretty unlucky in the close games. Second, only 3 of their first 16 games have been at home. (Sure, they lost those 3 games, and bad, but they played a hot Mets team.) Second, they're hitting, they're just not scoring runs... so that's fixable. So maybe I'm just overly optimistic because of last night, but thats not bad.

Now on to something I'm not optimistic about. As I type this the Wizards are losing to the Cavaliers, 59-41. The entire game has reminded my of why I really don't like watching the NBA (but of course I still do it)... The officiating SUCKS! It's terrible! I spend the entire time yelling at a glass box in my living room, and that is just pitiful. The worst thing is that star players (like LeBron James, in this game) get WAY too many calls. He gets a blocking foul anytime he runs in to someone.( Sure the Wizards aren't rebounding or playing defense all that well, but Cleveland isn't playing 18 points better.)

Sure, officiating can be bad in other sports (see this years Super Bowl, for instance) but since one star player can affect a game so much in the NBA, officials can really win or lose a game for a team. And I'm getting the feeling the Wizards might be a victim of the NBA's need to have LeBron James do well in his first playoff appearance.