The Washington Post - 27.03.2020

C10 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAy, MARCH 27 , 2020

BY SAMANTHA PELL

Washington Capitals captain
Alex Ovechkin sat in his Virginia
home Thursday afternoon, cam-
era facing toward him as he
joined a video call with the Co-
lumbus Blue Jackets’ Nick Folig-
no, the New York Islanders’ An-
ders Lee and the New Jersey
Devils’ P. K. Subban.
If the NHL season hadn’t been
suspended March 12 because of
the novel coronavirus, Ovechkin
would have been getting ready to
play the New York Rangers at
Capital One Arena, with faceoff
set for 7 p.m.
Instead, Ovechkin, who was in
the midst of a historic season,
was on a video call for NHL
media with his fellow Metropoli-
tan Division counterparts, an-
swering questions about his life
since the NHL season was put on
pause.
The NHL instructed players

and team staff this week to ex- tend their period of self-quaran- tine, which was set to end Friday, to April 6. The NHL also postponed its scouting combine, en- try draft and awards show — e ach scheduled for June. “Me and my family are in Washington, staying home, keeping busy, lots of stuff to do in the house,” Ovechkin said on the video call. “You know, play with the little one. We are expecting another one in a couple months, so try to do some workout as well, but first week was kind of good thing, relaxing. We chilling, and now it is kind of getting boring right now.” With 48 goals through 69 games, Ovechkin was just two away from hitting the 50-goal mark for the ninth time in his 15-year career. Ovechkin was tied with the Boston Bruins’ David Pastrnak for the most in the NHL. With 706 goals, he is three shy of

passing Mike Gartner (708) for seventh on the NHL career list. “Right now our mind is on just trying to be safe,” Ovechkin said about the milestones. “It’s a scary situation. It’s a scary moment for people all around, not only us. You think about those little things, but as soon as you start thinking worldwide and what’s going on in the world, it’s scary. So my mind right now, it’s not about 50 goals or catching the Great One or somebody else.” Much of the season focused on Ovechkin hitting the 700-goal mark, which he achieved Feb. 22 against the Devils. Now the con- versation has turned to chasing Wayne Gretzky’s record (894), but with the lockout season (2004-05), another work stop- page (2012-13) and this pause, is that still possible? “I hope Ovi does get there,” Subban said. “I just hope he doesn’t score against us.... I’m

sick and tired of seeing it. But it’s good for the game. So I wish you the best of luck.” Ovechkin said he’s willing to forgo another 50-goal season for the playoffs to start immediately when the NHL returns. The Pitts- burgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, speaking on another video call, agreed. The Capitals sit in first place in the Metropolitan Divi- sion with 90 points and 13 games left. “We don’t want to play those extra games, but for different guys who fight for a playoff spot, some guys want those extra games,” Ovechkin said. “Of course, the more games we play, it’s going to be better for the fans, and it’s going to be better for the teams fighting for the playoffs, but I’d rather start the playoffs right away. Sorry, guys.” Ovechkin admitted it has been hard to balance training with the uncertainty of when the season

will return. However, his person- al trainer from Russia is with him in Washington, so he continues, even if “sometimes I don’t w ant to do it.” Ovechkin, who has a small gym in his house, continues to work out there, in addition to riding his bike, running, playing soccer and taking slap shots with his son, Sergei. With the season in a holding pattern, the captain’s focus is on keeping himself, his family and others across the hockey community safe. “The most important thing is take care of yourself, take care of your family, friends,” Ovechkin said. “Help each other just to be safe because right now is hard time. We all miss you.... Tr y to help if somebody needs the help. Because right now we are together and we have to fight through it together.” [email protected]

Ovechkin prefers going straight to playo≠s when NHL resumes

ern Virginia and moved to Burl- ington five years ago. “[Opening Day is] just the start of good things, especially in Vermont, where it feels like we’re maybe finally turning a corner from winter.” Lastowka said he’s still looking for something to fill the void of baseball season. He can only watch his Nationals World Series DVD so many times. “It’s good to have those good memories to hold on to because if the cheating Astros had won, we’d be even more bitter that there weren’t any games being played,” he said. Back in the District, Paloma Benach, a sophomore pitcher on the Wilson High junior varsity baseball team, took a break from watching MLB Network’s mara- thon of classic games to play catch with her younger brother outside. Under normal circum- stances, the daughter of Ava and Mona Benach, two of the found- ers of DC Girls Baseball, might have attended Opening Day with her family or at least been follow- ing the game from school. Now she’s just trying to stay busy and in shape with no games to watch, online classes until at least late April and her sophomore season in doubt. She can hardly imagine the feeling when baseball does return. “It’s going to be insane,” Ben- ach said. “It’s going to be just pure joy and happiness.... Knowing Nats fans, I think the energy will be unmatched and just happy that we’re back.” “We’re all in this together,” Lastowka said. “It’s going to be like a World Series victory, j ust for that first time we get to go to a game again. We can keep our eye on that prize.” Finch, whose front yard was mentioned on several of his neighbors’ Facebook pages by Thursday afternoon, said the bunting and spray-painted base lines will remain, at l east until it’s time to mow the lawn again. “We’ll leave it up for a bit,” he said. “Maybe it’ll stay up until the real Opening Day.” [email protected]

lation of an “RBI Baseball” game on Twitch. The 38-year-old scoured Wikipedia before the simulation for fun facts about the players that he sprinkled throughout the half-hour game between the 1987 American League and National League all- stars. Lastowka, who sported a Na- tionals jersey and cap and drank from a Nationals beer stein, paused the simulation for a virtu- al seventh-inning stretch, pulling up Bill Murray’s legendary per- formance of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley Field. “I look forward to Opening Day, and I’m always bummed with the off day after it,” said Lastowka, who grew up in North-

to attending the World Series banner-raising ceremony at next week’s home opener. Instead, the Dunavants spent part of Thurs- day watching MLB: The Show’s video game simulation of Open- ing Day, with Matt in his 2019 Anthony Rendon All-Star Game jersey and Nicky wearing a Max Scherzer jersey. “It’s clearly not the same,” Matt said. (For the record, Eric Thames drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI groundout in the 11th inning and Sean Doolittle earned the save in Washington’s 3-2 simulat- ed win.) In Burlington, Vt., Nationals fan Conor Lastowka provided play-by-play of a computer simu-

they came across a digital sign on the facade of the ballpark near the home plate gate. “We miss you, too,” it read, beneath a curly “W,” along with a photo from last year’s pristine Opening Day in D.C. “Today it definitely hit me hard,” Matt Dunavant said. “I’ve been working the past two weeks with Nats Park right outside my window, and there are still work- ers there doing stuff. It’s kind of sad every day looking at t he park.” With precious few vacation days, Nicky, a teacher, originally had planned to work Thursday. Matt took the day off to watch the game at home or at Walter’s Sports Bar around the corner. They were both looking forward

BY SCOTT ALLEN

Brian Finch’s regular Opening
Day routine involves blasting
John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” to
wake up his three daughters, but
with the baseball season post-
poned indefinitely because of the
novel coronavirus pandemic, the
Washington Nationals and San
Diego Padres fan decided to do
something a little different this
year.
On Thursday morning, hours
before the Nationals were origi-
nally scheduled to open their
season as defending World Series
champions in New York, Finch
and his daughters — ages 13, 10
and 6 — hung red, white and blue
bunting from the porch of their
home in the Chevy Chase neigh-
borhood of Northwest Washing-
ton and spray-painted bases and
foul lines in the yard. “Opening
Day in R (heart)s” read the home-
made sign above the steps lead-
ing to their front door.
“I always think of the work that
goes into preparing for Opening
Day, getting the stadiums looking
perfect before the first pitch,”
Finch, a San Diego native who has
lived in D.C. for about a decade,
said in a phone interview. “We
kind of went through that routine
this morning. I just thought it
would be a little something to
make people smile as they walk
and drive by and to keep the kids
busy. They’re going stir crazy.”
Across the region, Nationals
fans found their own ways to
commemorate or cope with what
was supposed to have been a
joyous day.
For Matt and Nicky Dunavant,
the promise of baseball’s e ventual
return and the harsh reminder
that the 2020 season remains in
limbo is visible just outside their
apartment window, which pro-
vides a clear view into Nationals
Park.
The ballpark is where the die-
hard fans and season ticket hold-
ers went on their first date, got
engaged and were married July 8,
2018.
On Thursday morning, the
couple were walking their dog
along South Capitol Street when

Nats fans make the most of a quiet O pening Day

BRIAN FINCH Brian Finch and his three daughters decorated their porch and front yard to celebrate Opening Day.

BY WILL HOBSON

As desperate pleas from lobby-
ists for restaurants, hotels, air-
lines and other major industries
that employ tens of millions of
Americans inundated congressio-
nal offices last weekend, a request
for a $200 million chunk of the
coronavirus relief package came
from a sports organization that
has proudly operated for decades
without federal support: the U.S.
Olympic and Paralympic Com-
mittee.
“I know you guys are swamped.

... I am just circling back,” wrote
Desiree Filippone, a USOPC man-
ager who oversees lobbying ef-
forts, in an email sent to several
Senate staffers Saturday and later
provided to The Washington Post.
According to USOPC esti-
mates, Filippone wrote, more
than $50 million was needed to
help America’s top aspiring
Olympic athletes deal with in-
come lost because of coronavirus-
related postponements and can-
cellations. The other $150 million
the USOPC wanted, Filippone ex-
plained, would go to more than
50 national governing bodies —
commonly referred to as NGBs —
the nonprofits that oversee each
Olympic sport in the United
States.
“Financial relief is needed to
sustain American athletes,” Filip-
pone wrote. “Thank you for your
consideration.”

The Senate ultimately ignored the request, leaving the USOPC out of the $2.2 trillion package awaiting House approval Thurs- day. Filippone, when reached by phone this week, declined to com- ment. In a statement, USOPC chief executive Sarah Hirshland defended the $200 million request and said none of the money would have gone to support oper- ations or payroll for the USOPC, formerly known as the USOC, whose revenue stream should be mostly stable provided the postponed Summer Games in To kyo eventually happen in 2021 and aren’t canceled outright. “The USOPC did not and is not asking for any funding for our organization. The request for fu nds to be paid directly to athletes and National Governing Bodies was made in light of the unprecedented impact of the covid-19 virus on our domestic sport community,” Hirshland wrote. In the offices of the senators who received Filippone’s email, the request was never taken seri- ously, according to two congressional staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. By the USOPC’s own estimates, it was seeking financial help for 2,550 athletes, as well as sport NGBs with about 4,500 full-time employees, a population of roughly 6,000 far outpaced by the

other industries vying for stimulus funding. America’s restaurants, alone, employ more than 15.6 million, according to indus- try estimates. Critics of the USOPC and the broader bureaucracy that oversee Olympic sports, meanwhile, viewed the request skeptically, noting long-running criticism in the athlete community that top Olympic executives enjoy healthy salaries while many Olympic athletes struggle to make a full-time living from their sports. “This is not about athletes. This is about the blue-blazer, white-shoe-wearing country club types at the USOC and these NGBs,” said John Manly, lead at- torney for more than 200 victims of Larry Nassar, the former Te am USA gymnastics physician and convicted serial pedophile. Among Manly’s c lients are former Olympic stars Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, w ho have both sued the USOPC and USA Gym- nastics for their abuse. “If Congress wants to help athletes, they should deal directly with the athletes, not go through these bozos at the USOC,” Manly said. “It boggles the mind that they would have the audacity to even ask.” Nancy Hogshead-Makar and Eli Bremer, two former Olympic athletes pushing for legislation to force stronger congressional oversight of Olympic sports orga-

nizations in light of the Nassar scandal, took issue with the dis- crepancy between the sums the USOPC sought for athletes and for the NGBs, the bureaucracy that manages those athletes. In her email to Senate staffers, Filippone wrote the USOPC wanted about $50 million for Ameri- ca’s top 2,550 athletes in Olympic and Paralympic sports, just shy of $20,000 per athlete. The $150 million sought for NGBs, meanwhile, broke down to roughly $33,000 per NGB employee. “My concern is that the coronavirus is being used.... They’re asking for money that we know, once again, is going to go into the pockets of the executives, and not to the actual athletes,” said Hogs- head-Makar, a three-time gold medal Olympic swimmer and chief executive of Champion Women, a nonprofit that advo- cates for girls and women in sports. “It was jaw-dropping when we heard the number,” said Bremer, an Olympic modern pentathlete and entrepreneur. “I think there’s just so much cash getting thrown around D.C., and Desiree, she knows the game.... They shouldn’t be running to the trough, though, unless they have a verified need for it.” In her email, Filippone did not detail the calculations that in- formed the $200 million request. USOPC CEO Hirshland, in her

statement explaining the figures, wrote: “On short notice we surveyed NGBs and then made addi- tional assumptions about the cur- rent and future impact of the pandemic on athlete financial support.” In phone interviews, officials with NGBs involved with the survey process defended the figures as accurate. While the Olympics are not canceled, just postponed to 2021, these officials said, Olym- pic sport NGBs depend on non- Olympic events held year-round for income. “The losses are real, and there aren’t a lot of other places [in NGB budgets] to trim back,” said Max Cobb, chief executive of the U.S. Biathlon Association, who helped oversee the survey effort last week. Cobb acknowledged, however, that the $150 million figure was something of a rough estimate; several NGBs didn’t re- ply to USOPC requests to fill out a survey disclosing estimated financial losses. Of the 55 NGBs surveyed, Cobb said, 41 replied, detailing an estimated $121.8 million in lost revenue because of cancellations from March through June. “We did back-of-the-envelope estimates for what might be losses for the group that we hadn’t heard from, and that took us close to $150 million,” Cobb said. He declined to release per-sport data because the NGBs were not told

in advance the information could become public. Cobb did provide anonymized data — the total amounts reported lost by each NGB, without disclosing which sport reported which figure. More than $100 million in losses were reported by nine NGBs, while the remaining 32 organizations that replied estimated more modest losses. For U.S. Biathlon, Cobb said, the losses would be about $44,000 for an organization with a roughly $2.6 million annual budget. As the coronavirus be- came a global concern this month, U.S. Biathlon had to back out of two events in Europe and cancel its national and North American championships, which were scheduled for this week in West Yellowstone, Mont. USA Swimming, USA Track and Field and USA Gymnastics declined to disclose figures they reported to the USOPC as lost revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic. USA Wrestling chief executive Rich Bender said his organization reported about $1.5 million in estimated losses, with $500,000 because of the indefinitely postponed Olympic trials. “It totally will force us to rei- magine how we operate and run our business,” Bender said. “Our sport has been brought to a screeching halt.” [email protected]

Senate ignores USOPC’s request for $200 million in coronavirus stimulus bill

AUTO RACING

Indianapolis 50 0 postponed to August

The Indianapolis 500 was postponed Thursday until August because of the novel coronavirus pandemic and won’t r un on Memorial Day weekend for the first time since 1945. The race instead will be held Aug. 23, three months l ater than its May 24 s cheduled d ate. The Indianapolis 500 began i n 1911 but did not run in 1917, 1 918 and from 1941 to 1945 b ecause o f World Wars I and II.

BASEBALL Major League Baseball and i ts union reportedly reached agreement on a deal t o cover the various, complex economic issues brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, which threatens to drastically s horten or even wipe out the 2020 s eason. The deal, the completion o f which w as first reported by ESPN, provides for an advance on lost salaries for major league players, a streamlined amateur draft and, p erhaps most significantly, a guarantee that players w ould be credited for a full year of service t ime — t he accrual of which makes players eligible for s alary arbitration and free agency — i n 2020 e ven if there is no season. — Dave Sheinin

COLLEGES The NCAA w ill distribute $225 million t o its Division I members in June. That t otal is $375 million less than had been budgeted this year because the coronavirus outbreak forced the cancellation of the men’s b asketball tournament.

PRO BASKETBALL To p NBA executives are having their b ase salaries reduced by 20 percent f or the foreseeable future, a person with knowledge of the details said. The reductions affect the roughly 100 highest- earning executives.

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones was arrested on suspicion of DWI and other o ffenses after officers heard gunshots and found h im in a parked car with a handgun and a half-empty bottle of liquor, Albuquerque police said.

SOCCER Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta said he has fully recovered from the coronavirus, two weeks after testing p ositive for covid-19.

OBITUARIES Fred “Curly” Neal , the dribbling w izard who entertained millions w ith the Harlem Globetrotters for parts of three decades, died at 7 7. Neal played for the Globetrotters from 1963 to 1985, appearing in more than 6,000 games in 97 countries. He was one of five Globetrotters to have his jersey retired. Former Braves owner Bill Bartholomay, w ho moved the franchise from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966 to become baseball’s f irst team in the S outh, died Wednesday at 9 1 — From news services and staff reports

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The Washington Post - 27.03.2020

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