The Washington Post - USA (2022-01-19)

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SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

Let’s stop with the

“Super Wild Card

Weekend”

nonsense. No

amount of clever

NFL marketing

could make the

oversaturated

start to this

postseason more palatable. In the

second year of the expansion

from 12 to 14 playoff teams, more

competition did nothing but

accentuate a lack of competition.

This tournament may end up

being incredible, but its three-

day opening act could not have

been less gripping. Four of the six

games were clear blowouts early,

with halftime scores of 27-3, 17-0,

21-7 and 21-0. In the two close

games, you will remember the

inadvertent whistle during

Bengals-Raiders and the late-

game debacle during Cowboys-

49ers as much as the playmakers

who made a difference. And it

was hard to marvel at the

dominant performances of the

teams that advanced because

several of them suffered injuries

that could diminish their

championship hopes.

Other than that, it was a

glorious long weekend.

SEE BREWER ON D3

NFL leaders

chose quantity

over quality,

and fans lost

Jerry

Brewer

seized in other raids, as yet more

evidence of what they asserted

was the vet’s real stock-in-trade:

illegally doping racehorses in the

United States and overseas. Fish-

man left the airport in handcuffs.

Fishman had been accused of

horse-doping before, but he al-

ways had avoided punishment,

including by cooperating with in-

vestigators. He once helped the

feds build a case against his CEO

boss, who Fishman claimed had

urged him to create a pill that

would erase the memory of an-

other potential witness.

He tried this time, too, meeting

with agents after his arrest and

counseling them on how they

could, as he put it, “create a differ-

ent mousetrap” to help clean up

horse racing, a sport he agreed

was rife with cheating and animal

abuse. Fishman perhaps even saw

a business opportunity in his ar-

rest; he applied for a patent on a

medical tracking device and other

inventions he says can save the

sport.

But Fishman suggested that

SEE VET ON D7

BY GUS GARCIA-ROBERTS

On Oct. 27, 2019, Seth Fishman,
a veterinarian, was returning
from a w eeks-long junket in the
United Arab Emirates when he
was greeted at Miami Interna-
tional Airport by armed federal
agents.
The agents pulled Fishman
into a s ide room, where he ex-
plained his business in Dubai: As
the chief research officer for the
kingdom’s camels, he said, his
responsibilities included manag-
ing breeding and fending off the
spread of “zoonotic diseases” and
African sleeping sickness. And in-
deed, after agents across town
seized hundreds of vials from
Fishman’s storage unit, a lawyer
who said he represented Dubai’s
“Presidential Camel Department”
sprung to action, arguing in U.S.
court that the substances were
tonics urgently needed while the
beasts were in heat.
But the American authorities,
who had been eavesdropping on
Fishman’s calls since that Febru-
ary, saw the drugs, as well as those

As his doping case goes to trial, vet points to racing corruption

Federal action against trainers and horse doctors spurred congressional reforms, but F ishman says the case was an inside job.

MICHAEL REAVES FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Veterinarian Seth Fishman says he and other defendants are being sacrificed by horse racing’s elite.

BASEBALL

The Nats’ rebuild officially gets its building blocks, with

the team announcing new player development staff. D2

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Andy Murray, 34, ends a five-year victory drought in

Melbourne, winning a five-set thriller in the first round. D7

HIGH SCHOOLS

On a busy night of hoops, a positive test sends two top

WCAC girls’ teams off the court moments before tip. D5

RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST

Tom Wilson seals the deal with his goal past the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck as the Capitals improved to 1-7 in overtime games.

BY SAMANTHA PELL

For the eighth time this season, the

Capitals went to overtime Tuesday

night. For the first time, they exited with

a victory. And it required a bit of magic

from Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov

to lift Washington past Winnipeg, 4-3, at

Capital One Arena.

Just 26 seconds into the extra period,

the goal came after an end-to-end rush

from Kuznetsov, who dragged the puck

with him around the net of Winnipeg

goalie Connor Hellebuyck, a Jets de-

fender in tow, before feeding an oncom-

ing Wilson. The winger took two stabs

before the puck crossed the goal line to

end it.

Afte rward, Wilson joked that he

would have preferred the chance had

never found his stick.

“I was hoping [Kuznetsov] would just

do it all himself to be honest,” Wilson

said. “But just tried to give him a lot of

room, and he made a nice move, and I

knew he was going to try to look for me

and tried to go to the net.”

Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette was

keenly aware of his team’s poor record in

overtime this season. He welcomed the

end of that drought.

“It’s nice to get one,” Laviolette said.

“Certainly, it was a power move by Kuzy

to attack. It was nice to get one. It took a

while. We shouldn’t be at the record that

we’re at, but we are. I thought it was

good to get one in the column.”

Washington was down 2-0 in the first

three minutes, but Alex Ovechkin

sparked a comeback.

One minute, Ovechkin was livid on

SEE CAPITALS ON D4

It’s not how you start

CAPITALS 4,

JETS 3 (OT)

Caps dig an early hole, rally

for a lead, then prevail in OT

Capitals at Bruins

Tomorrow, 7 p.m., ESPN Plus, Hulu

Illinois at Maryland
Friday, 7 p .m., Fox Sports 1

BY SAM FORTIER

AND NICKI JHABVALA

Coach Ron Rivera’s third off-

season at the helm of the Wash-

ington Football Team will be all

about the search for a franchise

quarterback. Rivera talked about

pursuing one last year, too, and

the team did make a run at Mat-

thew Stafford before he was trad-

ed to the Los Angeles Rams. But

this year he seems willing to be

even more aggressive.

The other big difference this

year is that the front office is

already in place. Rivera’s hand-

picked unit, headlined by General

Manager Martin Mayhew and

Marty Hurney, the team’s execu-

tive vice president of football and

player personnel, has substantial

resources to fortify a roster that

was more talented this past sea-

son but didn’t produce up to ex-

pectations.

Here’s what to know as Wash-

ington prepares for a busy offsea-

son:

Salary cap situation

The NFL’s salary cap is expect-

ed to increase 14 percent this

offseason, to $208.2 million per

team. According to contracts

website OverTheCap.com, Wash-

ington is projected to have rough-

ly $44.6 million in cap space and

could find more with some vet-

eran cuts and contract restruc-

tures. In other words, Rivera has

plenty of room to remake the

roster.

It’s worth noting that while the

cap is the most frequently used

measure for offseason moves, it’s

not the primary one for teams.

The cap can easily be manipulat-

ed with the structure of contracts.

Ultimately, cash rules all.

SEE WASHINGTON ON D3

QB is not

only need

for WFT

in o≠season

Decisions on Scherff,

Collins will influence

other roster changes

BY EMILY GIAMBALVO

As soon as Maryland began
grappling with a coaching change
in December, it became apparent
that this men’s basketball cam-
paign wouldn’t be filled with
cheery moments for the Terrapins.
They have grown accustomed to
taking losses during the difficult
Big Ten slate, and the fan base’s
expectations probably have
changed. And yet they managed to
find a new low in an 83-64 loss at
Michigan’s Crisler Center.
The Terps managed a season-
low 19 points before the break,
slipping into a 20-point halftime
deficit Tuesday night. Maryland
tried to rally in the second half
behind veterans Eric Ayala and
Donta Scott, but the Terps (9-9, 1-6
Big Ten) had dug too deep a hole.
The closest they would get to the
Wolverines would be 13.
“There are no pity parties for the
Maryland basketball team when
we pull up in the gym,” interim
coach Danny Manning said. “Ev-
erybody’s going to try to pile on. We
understand that, and we’ve got to
come out and we’ve got to put
ourselves in a situation where
we’re not allowing that to happen.”
Maryland’s defense had no an-
swer for the Wolverines, who shot
58.3 percent from the field and
finished 8 for 20 from three-point
range. Four players scored in dou-
ble figures for Michigan.
Michigan (8-7, 2-3) began the
season as a top contender in the
Big Ten, but the team had strug-
gled; the Wolverines’ win Tuesday
came a full month since their pre-
vious victor y. The stretch included
losses to Central Florida, Rutgers
and Illinois — p lus a pair of post-
poned conference matchups this
month because of coronavirus.
Michigan wasn’t at full strength
when it returned to play against
Illinois, with standout center
Hunter Dickinson and guard
Brandon Johns Jr. in the protocols.
Dickinson returned for this
game, and the former DeMatha
All-Met had a standout perform-
ance against his home-state team.
Dickinson finished with 21 points
to go with six rebounds and a ca-
reer-high six assists. He had plenty
of support from his teammates:
highly touted freshman Caleb
Houstan offered 16 points in a
showing that included a 3-for-4
clip from deep, and Moussa Dia-
bate added 14 points.
Meanwhile, Ayala (22 points)
and Scott (19) were the only Terps
who generated much production.
SEE MARYLAND ON D4

Terps can’t

overcome

an abysmal

first half

MICHIGAN 83,

MARYLAND 64

NFL playoffs: Divisional round

Saturday

Bengals at Titans, 4:30, CBS

49ers at Packers, 8:15, Fox

Sunday

Rams at Buccaneers, 3, NBC

Bills at Chiefs, 6:30, CBS

Executive exits: Chief legal officer

leaves WFT for the Dodgers. D2