Caps win Stanley Cup?

Get outta here. That can't be right. We've all long known that if a professional team is from Washington (DC), they have to choke in the playoffs. It's in the sports by-laws somewhere.

The Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball, despite being loaded with talent, have made the post-season swoon an art form over the years.

The Wizards of the NBA have been over-hyped and under-performing since as far back as anybody can remember.

The Redskins of the NFL seem to devote more time defending their name than winning on the gridiron.

When it comes to DC, there seems to be no limit on choking. Good grief, Congress and the Prez make millions of citizens gag every day.

The Washington Generals long served as cannon-fodder to the Harlem Globetrotters.

And now we're supposed to, gulp, gasp, swallow the notion that the Washington Capitals are NHL champions? Something must be horribly wrong.

Yet it appears it's true. Old time sniper Alex Ovechkin will finally have his name etched on Lord Stanley's bauble. Da, comrade. Ya done good. Will he take the Cup back to his native Russia sometime during the off-season? Maybe. It might just be that one Vladimir Putin will get a chance to drink some vodka from it. Or fill it full of borscht. Or soak his feet in it. Oh my, put those images on the internet and watch the Donald go ballistic on twitter. But it could happen. To the winners go the spoils, however unsavory they might become.

Thing is, one group is really -- REALLY breathing a huge sigh of relief.

That would be the bookies that, before the season started, listed the Vegas Golden Knights as up to a 500:1 long shot at winning the cup. Anybody that plopped down a measly Hamilton at those odds was looking at a 5 grand pay-off had the VGK pulled it off. No way were they supposed to get anywhere near the Finals. But they did. It's been estimated that, had Vegas actually won, the bookies would have taken anywhere from a $20-50 million dollar hit. A bank breaker? No, but more than a few "wise guys" would have had some serious 'splainin to do.

You have to hand it to Vegas for getting as far as they did. A first year expansion team, made up of players not deemed good enough by their former clubs to "protect", multiple (crap shoot) draft choices, and a few free agents that apparently couldn't catch on elsewhere.

They came together and made a magical season out of it. Hats off to the runners-up for accomplishing far more than most thought they would.

But for now, all hail the Washington Capitals. Champions of the hockey world, at least in the western hemisphere.

DC finally got something right.

Amazing.

Next thing ya know, Tony Kornheiser, the gas-bag from ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, and a DC-er, will actually let his co-host Mike Wilbon get through an entire sentence without rudely interrupting him to spout even more inane drivel.

Nah.

Even miracles have their limits.

The Caps will have to do for now.....