Quote of the Day: The Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalia Lama of Tibet made an appearance on Capitol Hill this week, of all places, to offer the opening prayer for Congress. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) was among those who had photographs taken with the most recognized Buddhist in the world.

The Dalai Lama also came to Washington, DC, as CPAC 2014, a gathering of arch conservatives like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) were essentially giving rough drafts of would-be TED Talks focusing on how wimpy President Barack Obama has allegedly been with regards to Russian head of state Vladamir Putin regarding the hostile takeover of the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea coast of Ukraine.

Of course, many Republicans, such as Rudy Giuliani have professed admiration for Putin, which lead center-left political columnist E.J. Dionne of "The Washington Post" to suggest on NPR that Republicans are suffering from Putin Envy.

His Holiness was also in Washington, DC, when the Washington Capitals were playing vital home games. The Caps were able to put away the Phoenix Coyotes last night 3-2; we imagine very few people in Tibet or Bhutan watch pro hockey games.

Here is our quote from the Dalia Lama:

"The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred."

http://www.dalailama.com/

http://boulderzen.org/ (Boulder Zen Society in Boulder, Colo.)

http://www.politico.com/

http://thehill.com/

http://www.rollcall.com/

Alex Ovechkin on the Washington Capitals' Loss

Many of us who even casually follow the National Hockey League thought this might actually be the year when the Washington Capitals, a team that typically wins during the regular season but fails to advance far in the playoffs, might actually hoist the Stanley Cup.

But, the team lost in the opening round to the eight-seeded Montreal Canadiens, a franchise that has won more cups than other team in the league.

The Capitals' star player and Russian Olympian Alex Ovechkin, who may still very well be named the league's MVP as the team had the NHL's best regular season record said he was simply devastated that the team lost to Montreal 4-3 in a best of seven series. The Caps also had a 3-1 advantage before the Canadiens won three straight to win the series.

Ovechkin told nhl.com that this would be a proverbial period of adjustment for him:

"When you lose, you try to forget about it, but when lose in a game like this, it's pretty hard to say something."

The Washignton Capitals Win 14th Game in a Row!

Yesterday, the sports world was justifiably focused on the Super Bowl game in which the New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.

But, in the nation's capital, under some 30 inches of snow, just a short while after former Bill Clinton administration spokesperson Dee Dee Myers spoke in a roundtable discussion on "Meet the Press," the Washington Capitals won their 14th game in a row with a come-from-behind victory over the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins by a 5-4 margin in an overtime game at the Verizon Center in downtown DC.

The Capitals were helped by their star player Alex Ovechkin who scored a hat trick for the Caps. Ovechkin will be playing for Team Russia during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, which start on Friday.

Mike Knuble added the game-winning goal in overtime to complete the comeback.

The Caps now head on a three-game road trip starting with a game on Wednesday night against the Montreal Canadiens, which will be televised on the CSN-DC cable network in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia.

The team's next home game is against the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 4 (my 40th birthday). The last time that the Lightning were in town, it took them two hours to get to their team hotel in downtown DC from Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., (a trip that would normally take a half hour) due to the first winter blast that struck the nation's capital.

In a CSN poll, 69 percent of Caps' fans indicated that the team will sweep their three game road trip which concludes in St. Louis. But, that is kind of like asking Newt Gingrich what he thinks of President Barack Obama's performance in the White House so far. I think the most challenging game for the team will be the second road game against the Ottawa Senators.

SIDENOTE: My alma mater, Radford University, won its home game with High Point University at the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va., yesterday by a 77-63 margin. The game was originally scheduled for Sat., but it was postponed due to snow. The final score of the game was not reported by ESPN on its scroll last night, so I had to look it up at radford.edu
We presume this was because the game was rescheduled. For the Highlanders, Blake Smith of Charlotte, NC, lead the team with 15 points, followed by star center Art Parakhowski's (of Belarus) 12 points. Joey Lynch-Flor from Fairfax, Va., scored 10 points as did my favorite Highlander Gorkem Sonmez from Turkey (my late father's country).
Two other Turkish NCAA men's basketball players Deniz Kilicli of West Virginia University, and Dogus Balbay from the University of Texas will play on ESPN tonight. The WVU Moutaineers face the Villanova Wildcats and Texas faces.......aaah, we forgot the other team....whoops! The double-header starts at 7:00 pm, eatern time.
But, I know the Radford Highlanders will next face Charleston Southern from Charleston, SC, in Radford on Thursday night. The game tips at 7:30 p.m.

My Top Ten Favorite NHL Teams

There were only two games in the National Hockey League today. Here are the results:

Chicago 4 Tampa Bay 0
Colorado 3 Calgary 2

I have just started watching the sport again. I was not even interested when the 'local team' (Raleigh is about 90 miles from where I live) the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2006 over the Edmonton Oilers.

When I was a teenager, I loved the Edmonton Oilers because of their star players Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. Perhaps because there have been few stars who have excited me as much as those guys, I eventually lost interest in the sport. But, I am interested again especially since the sport seems to be an unpredictable one.

This coming week, the cable channel Versus will air two games: Buffalo vs. Montreal on Monday night, and Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh (the Penguins are the defending champs) on Tues. night.

The Carolina Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers on Saturday night in Raleigh. If I lived closer to the state capital, perhaps I would be there!

Here are my ten favorite teams. I expect some of these players pictured here are no longer with these respective teams:

1. New York Rangers (pictured here)
2. Colorado Avalanche
3. Washington Capitals (pictured here)
4. Carolina Hurricanes (pictured here)
5. San Jose Sharks
6. Chicago Blackhawks
7. Florida Panthers
8. Vancouver Canucks
9. New Jersey Devils
10. Montreal Canadiens