*  Fun to see the video of EB and Lurch interviewing Tiger Woods at Congressional Country Club, that you can view on DCSportsJunkies.com.  Those donks have been uber Tiger Woods fans for years, so that was a cool, once in a lifetime chance to interview a legend.  They couldn’t tell me if Tiger had bad breath, so he must have used some of the mouthwash in the Congressional bathroom before the interview.  Unless Lurch stole it to bring home, but that’s another story for another day.

*  I learned that if you interview a former international soccer superstar like Ian Rush, he should be on this side of the Atlantic Ocean for the call-in.  His phone crapped out 3 minutes into the interview, so he couldn’t properly hype the July 28th matchup between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur at M&T Bank Stadium.  Probably the first and last interview with a Welsh soccer legend on the Junkies.

*  Now I know what a hotspur is…a spur on a rooster’s foot for cockfighting.  Ok, how am I supposed to know that?  I’m sure I’ve ever attended a cockfight, or have ever watched Tottenham Hotspur play soccer.  I know more about the Ming Dynasty than I know about English Premier League Soccer, and intend on keeping it that way.

*   Why is there a traffic jam on the way to the summit of Mt. Everest?  Four people perished over the weekend trying to scale the world’s tallest mountain, and I can’t make any sense of it.  If I’m at 29,000+ feet, I’d better be in the fuselage of a Boeing 757…not freezing my balls off in my North Face jacket looking at the skeletons of other dummies who failed to reach the top of Mt. Everest.  And we haven’t even mentioned that there are yetis all over the place in the Himalayas.  No thanks.

*  We didn’t even mention the moron that attempted to kill himself by taking a plunge at Niagara Falls, no barrel, no life jacket…and survived.  He was only the fourth person to ever survive going over the falls without a protective device.  Hopefully he realizes how lucky he is to have a second chance at life, and doesn’t squander it.

*  Who knew you could be an overweight slob and bag 120+ chicks on Craigslist in an 18-month span?  Well done, Aaron Smith…you’re living the dream.

Holtby was beaten four times in Game 3; if he plays the same way tonight, great chance the Caps head to Beantown in a nearly insurmountable 3-1 hole. We need to see the Braden Holtby of Games 1 and 2, when he saved 72 of 74 shots faced, and was being called “the best story so far of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs” by puck guru Barry Melrose. If I were Holtby, I would be sure not to watch any of the highlights from the Pens-Flyers series…Marc-Andre Fleury and Ilya Bryzgalov couldn’t stop a soccer ball at this point, allowing a combined 45 goals through 4 games.

As long as the Caps defensemen keep blocking shots, and keep the traffic in front of Holtby to a minimum, the Caps have a great chance to get the win tonight. I love Coach Hunter’s decision to send the lumbering Jeff Schultz to the bench tonight in favor of John Erskine; Schultz has been on the ice for 4 of the 6 Boston goals scored this series, and deserves to sit for his lackluster play.

But a lot of the pressure falls on Holtby to help deliver the win tonight. Hopefully, he’s as mentally tough as our buddy Craig Laughlin has told us on the broadcasts on Comcast Sportsnet this past week. Compartmentalize the Game 3 loss, focus on the task at hand, and be the hero for the Washington Capitals tonight. Holtby the Hero has a pretty nice ring to it, don’t you think?

By the way, how did the Sabres even get themselves into playoffs contention?  At the NHL All-Star Break, they were languishing in the standings, ten points out of the last playoff spot, and now, they’re a threat to snatch the eight seed away from the Capitals.  I guess that’s what going 17-5-5 in their last 27 games will do for your playoffs chances.

Despite their 2-2-2 record in their last six games, it was encouraging to see the Caps rebound from their devastating Friday night OT loss to the Winnipeg Jets with a resounding shutout of Minnesota on Sunday.  The loss to the Jets, where the Caps surrendered a 3-goal lead at home, could have sent the Caps into a major tailspin…it seems like the ship was at least temporarily righted with the win over the Wild.

Now we need more heroics and belly-patting goal celebrations from Alex Ovechkin, who’s been on a major heater over the past seven games, with 9 goals in that span.  For all the naysayers that wanted to bury Ovi for his “subpar” performance this season, he’s tied for fourth in the NHL, with 36 goals.  If that’s considered a disappointment, so be it…I just hope Ovi “disappoints” me all the way to a Caps playoff berth.

Now, as it’s been pointed out by some of my show co-hosts and several listeners, maybe I’m struggling with the concept of what a panic button is all about. I would be the guy in the Titanic’s crow’s nest that sounds the alarm as the “unsinkable ship” is getting gashed by the iceberg; the Hindenburg would have to be fully engulfed in flames before the panic sets in for me.

Has the Capitals season gone as planned? Of course not…Ovi has been a massive underachiever, Nicklas Backstrom has been on hiatus since early January with concussion-like symptoms, and Mike Green has missed a huge chunk of the season due to injury. Oh, and Head Coach Bruce Boudreau was thrown overboard just 22 games into the season, only to be replaced by the underwhelming Dale Hunter.

But, despite all the turmoil, with their overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Verizon Center last night, the Caps still have a fighting chance of making the playoffs. As of today, the Caps are the Eastern Conference’s #8 seed, and trail the Southeast division-leading Florida Panthers by just two points. The problem is the remaining schedule, which is a minefield littered with road games against playoff contenders. Six of the remaining nine road games for the Caps are against teams that are mortal locks to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and there’s also a tough roadie against division rival Winnipeg thrown in for good measure.

It’s a tall task for a team that has struggled mightily on the road this season, as the Caps are seven games below .500 away from Verizon Center, but it’s not impossible. Alex Ovechkin needs to carry the team on his back and play like the $10 million a year superstar he was just a few seasons ago; his overtime winners against the Isles and Lightning are an encouraging sign that his production could be ready to ramp up. They can’t afford to fall asleep like they did in the 2nd period of the win over Tampa Bay; if they do that in Joe Louis Arena against the Red Wings, they’ll be down 3-0 in the blink of an eye.

So let’s hold off on the panic button for a few weeks…this one’s coming down to the wire, and you don’t want to bail on the good guys too early!

We know the Wizards aren’t playoff-bound, with their 6-22 overall record, with a paltry two road wins by mid-February.  But the Capitals were expected to make another playoff run this season, even with the early-season firing of Bruce Boudreau.  They weren’t expected to be six games under .500 away from Verizon Center, but that’s the reality staring them in the face right now.

The Caps have seven games left in February, and five of them away from home ice.  Three of those seven matchups are with Southeast Division foes.  Washington has to go 5-2, 4-3 in the worst case, to stay in the playoffs hunt.  If they finish February on a losing note, there will be lots of empty slots on the Verizon Center calendar in early April. Our Program Director, CK, will be salty that he can’t gouge people on Craigslist for Caps playoffs ducats.

It was nice to see the Wizards score a rare road win last weekend, against the Pistons at the Palace, but that has been a rarity in this Hindenburg-esque 2011-2012 season.

The Wiz are 2-10 as the visiting squad this year, and are going for their first back-to-back road wins tonight, in Portland, since 2008.  That’s not a typo…2008.  David Archuleta and The Jonas Brothers were cranking out hits that year…Heath Ledger and Paul Newman passed away in 2008; that’s how long it’s been since the Wiz strung together consecutive roadie victories.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still fully in the tank for the Wiz and the Caps…I just fully expect them to get drummed when they’re playing on the road.

2) Cut ties with Rex and Beck – I don’t care that “Rex is the only guy on the planet that knows the Shanahan’s uber-complicated offense.” He needs to take his turnover-prone skill set and tiny hands to another NFL team this off-season. If Shanny hates turnovers as much as most other NFL head coaches, he should tell his son Kyle to give him his pink slip immediately following the Redskins finale, this Sunday at Philadelphia. Ditto for John Beck, who failed in his three-game audition earlier this season; there’s a reason he’s a 30-year old journeyman with less than 10 starts in his NFL career…he’s mediocre on his best day, and he’s lucky to still be cashing NFL paychecks.

3) See ya later, LaRon – It doesn’t matter that he was the 6th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft…now is the time to cut ties with this first round flop. He can shop his brittle body and on-field histrionics to another NFL team that might just be dumb enough to sign him. Missing 15 games over the past two seasons with a multitude of injuries should be enough of a red flag to keep Bruce Allen and company from inking him to an insane contract. If you want to franchise him for one year, and see if he can stay healthy, go right ahead…but don’t be shocked when he’s missing games and showing off his physique in Redskins sideline apparel by Week 6 of 2012. Oh, and how ’bout a belated “Thanks alot, Vinny” for drafting Landry ahead of Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, and Darrelle Revis in the 2007 NFL Draft.

4) Pay London Fletcher – This guy is a freak of nature, leading the NFL in total tackles with 162, at the age of 36. He’ll be 37 by the time the 2012 season rolls around, but he’s shown no signs of slowing down. Pay him a good chunk of money up front on a 3-year deal, with the 3rd year being a club option. You milk 2 more seasons out of Fletcher as the heart and soul of the 3-4 defense, and he retires as a Washington Redskin. Both sides win.

5) Find a way to win at Fed Ex – That monstrosity of a stadium in Landover provides absolutely ZERO home-field advantage for the Washington Redskins, as evidenced by their 4-12 record there since Mike Shanahan’s arrival. Shanny has to find a way to win games at home, and quickly, or else his tenure here is doomed to fail.