In the past 36 hours, three champions have been crowned in hockey, basketball and horse racing. These are their stories, in order of appearance.
Capitals Hit the Stanley Cup Jackpot
The Washington Capitals, established in 1974, won their first NHL Stanley Cup Thursday night in Las Vegas in five games over the Golden Knights. They were established only last year.
The Capitals erased years of disappointing DC fans and hockey pundits when their expectations exceeded their grasp, having great regular-season records before flaming out in the early playoff rounds. The fans would have been forgiven this season if they didn't quite warm up to what was going on with the Caps' playoff run. They defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins (their long-time nemesis) and Tampa Bay Lightning on their way to representing the Eastern Conference in the Cup finals.
Alex Ovechkin, generally rated one of the best players never to have won the Cup, finally got his chance to drink from it in his 14th season. He also won the Conn Smythe trophy for being the most valuable player in the playoffs.
The Vegas Golden Knights have just become the new standard for how to put together a winner in its first season, drafting a better crop of players than are usually allowed for expansion teams. (Seattle and Quebec City, candidates for the next NHL franchise, should be so fortunate.) After disposing of the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference playoffs, Vegas became the first expansion team in 50 years (St. Louis Blues in 1968) to make the finals.
But the Stanley Cup now resides in the nation's capitol, not the entertainment and gambling capitol. Maybe we need a new version of the old line about the baseball Senators: "First in war. First in peace. First in the National Hockey League."
Three Times Golden
The Golden State Warriors won their third NBA title in four years Friday night in Cleveland, sweeping away the Cavaliers in four games. This was the first Finals sweep since 2007, and the Cavs were on the receiving end of that one too (to the San Antonio Spurs).
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and the rest of the Warriors played their roles successfully, with Durant taking home the playoff MVP trophy. This wasn't the powerhouse squad of past season, but they had just enough to get past the Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans and Houston Rockets to win the Western Conference.
The Cavs didn't have such a stellar year either, due to injuries and internal drama. But LeBron James almost single-handedly pushed his team past the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics for another try at a championship in his home town.
Like we said, neither the Warriors nor the Cavaliers dominated the NBA during the season. But everyone thought those two teams for the championship for the fourth consecutive year, and there they were. Whether they meet again for the fifth time depends on James' decision to either stay in Cleveland, or go somewhere else.
One thing we do know: The Warriors will not be saluted at the White House by President Donald Trump. He doesn't seem to want them there, and neither do the players. But the Capitals are willing to fill the void. Most of its players weren't born in the United States.
Justified at the Track
Until 2015, the horse racing world had been waiting since 1978 for a three-year old horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in the same year. Then came American Pharoah. Now, for the second time this century, we have another Triple Crown winner. His name is Justify.
Having won his first two TC races on muddy tracks, one wondered how Justify would do on the dry track at Belmont. He did rather well, staving off the challenge of the other horses by half a length over the long distance to claim victory.
Justify is now the 13th horse to win the Triple Crown. The wait for number 14 begins now.
