Sports affect everyone.  Here in my office it’s the most talked about topic rivaling work related subjects.  I also travel a fair amount for business and it’s always easy to connect with clients by mentioning sports to start the meeting.  If my office is like yours, there are plenty of people from different geographical regions following various teams.  Sports are a healthy passion.  It’s healthy to have passions elsewhere instead of just work.  Physically playing various sports are good for your health and keep you active.  Following certain teams bring about camaraderie amongst a group of people.  Did you watch New Orleans celebrate after the Saints won the Super Bowl?

For someone in the D.C. metro area who doesn’t really follow sports hopefully this article brings about some talking points.  I can almost guarantee bringing up sports will make any situation less awkward – long elevator rides, calming down an angry taxi cab driver, or even talking to a co-worker who doesn’t want to talk about work (better than talking about the weather).  But let’s not get carried away here, talking about basketball in that job interview will not get you that dream job.  Picking up tennis won’t get you a date with a hot Eastern European chick.  Don’t answer a job interview question about economics by explaining the economics of scalping event tickets.  But for those that need a simple primer, here’s a brief overview of D.C. area sports – and it sure isn’t good.

First, when was the last time a Washington D.C. area sports team won a legitimate championship? People generally talk about the Yankees, Red Sox, Red Wings, Steelers, Patriots, Lakers and Celtics because they’ve won championships.  But, when can you actually remember a sports team in this area actually winning a championship?

(With all due respect to the D.C. United fans, soccer in this country is a joke.  Once MLS becomes reputable and D.C. wins, then I’ll acknowledge that we have a legitimate champion.  Also, bringing David Beckham to play in the States does not legitimize the league nor does it prove that MLS is even good.  How much of the decision to move to LA do you think was David’s or Victoria’s?  Why do you think he keeps going back to Europe to keep “in condition” for international play?  If MLS was good would he even need to do that?  Don’t tell me it’s because the MLS season is short – the season is short for a reason).

Every Sunday during football season when I watch the Failskins… err… the Redskins, I hear commentators such as Troy Aikman or Chris Collingsworth reminisce about how good the Redskins were in the 80’s and early 90’s, but not a single memory of those teams comes to my mind.  Name the running back that scored two touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI? (Gerald Riggs) What was our regular season record that year when we won the Super Bowl? (14-2)  It was after the 1991 season, January 26, 1992, when the Washington Redskins were the last D.C. area sports team to have won their respective sport’s championship.  I was eight years old.  Do you know what you were doing?  Nope? Neither do I.

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