Jagr in Washington

(7/18/02)

In a blockbuster deal announced July 11th, the Washington Capitals acquired Pittsburgh Penguin winger Jaromir Jagr, who has led the National Hockey League in scoring for the past four seasons. The Capitals gave up three minor leaguers and cash in exchange for journeyman Frantisek Kucera and Jagr. The acquisition stunned the hockey world, made Washington an instant Stanley Cup contender, and left Capitals fans utterly at a loss as to how they would manage to root for Jagr now that he is not only no longer a Penguin, but has become a Capital.

Those of you who are Washington Capitals fans are already nodding in recognition. Those of you who are not may need an explanation. Let us put it as simply as possible: The Pittsburgh Penguins have not been a really good team for a long time. They won their last Stanley Cup in 1992. They have since degenerated into a team with lots of offense, no defense and chronically weak goaltending. The only thing they have been really good at is beating the Washington Capitals in the playoffs, usually in some humiliating and/or heartbreaking fashion. And Jaromir (YAR-oh-mir) Jagr (JERK-wad) has been better than any other Penguin at beating the Capitals in the playoffs. Let's review some statistics from July 12th's Washington Post:

Career playoff games for Jaromir Jagr: 140.

Career playoff games against the Capitals: 42. It's safe to say that that's way more playoff games than he's played against anyone else.

Career points scored in playoff games against the Capitals: 52. For those of you who know nothing about hockey, anything more than one point per game is a hell of a lot. The result has been that Caps fans of all races, creeds, ages and political orientations have historically joined forces to yell themselves hoarse every time the Penguins come to MCI Arena, telling Jagr and his partner in crime, Mario Lemieux, that they can go commit obscene acts on themselves and each other.

Now we are asked not only to cease shouting at Jagr, but to begin shouting for him. When he scores a goal, it will be good. When he suffers a gruesome injury - I guess now I mean, if he suffers a gruesome injury - it will be bad. Sure, Jagr will provide the scoring threat that the defense-minded, hard-working Capitals need to eliminate teams like, um, Pittsburgh from the playoffs. And he's said all the right things about no longer liking Pittsburgh at all. But when a player has offended us for so long, how are we now supposed to cheer his offense?

We will have to learn to root for Jagr. (What an ugly sentence.) And how are we to get ourselves in the proper frame of mind to do this? It won't be enough to see him with the eagle swooping down his chest, because his uniform will still say "Jagr" on the back. He will have to prove that he is a Capital. And how will he do this?

Well, if history is any guide, next season's playoffs will set Jagr against his former Penguin mates. And as soon as overtime comes, in a game tied (let's say) at three goals apiece, and Jagr grabs the puck away from Lemieux and stuffs it past whatever stiff they have in goal - then Jagr will be a Capital. Till then, we'll cheer his goals, we'll cheer his assists, but we won't really cheer him. Jagr will have to drive a stake through the hearts of the Penguins to make us forget all the times he drove stakes through the hearts of the Capitals. Old animosities die hard, especially for diehard fans.

I have not been a Washington Capitals fan for terribly long, and I was chastened after I wrote this article to discover that my friends who are longtime Caps fans unreservedly welcomed Jagr. There was no lingering animosity now that he would be wearing the right uniform and pointed at the right goal. I was left to wonder if there was a certain pragmatism in true Capitals fandom of which I had been previously unaware.

The Sport-Watching Life Home

Spam-O-Matic Home