All I asked of this Washington Capitals team was to get past the second round, to get past the Godforsaken Penguins. What I got, what we all got, is so much more.
We got Game 6 against the Lightning, the most consistent, relentless, great play from an entire lineup for an entire game that I have ever seen from the Caps.
We got Wilson’s assault and battery in Game 7 that rallied the team to advance to the finals.
We got to watch a rightfully cynical sports town begin to let themselves believe.
We got The Save.
We got to watch a team figure out that it’s not enough to just be the better team. Hell, we’ve been the better team plenty over the years. We got to watch them figure out what it takes to win a Championship.
We got to watch decades of DC sports demons exorcised at once as the last six tenths of a second of this epic journey finally vanished from the clock.
And then it got so, so much better, as we got to watch elite professional athletes burst with the uncontainable, exuberant joy they’ve dreamt about and played out in their heads since they first laced up skates as little kids.
We got to watch them share it with each other, with their families and, bless them, with all of us, too.
I have waited a while to say this, because I don’t say it lightly:
I’m sorry, Bullets, Wizards and Nats. Sorry, Doug Williams. Sorry, Tiger. Sorry Shaun White and the U.S. Women’s soccer team. Sorry ‘We Want Dallas.’ Sorry Curlin, American Pharoah. Sorry, Justify.
I’m truly sorry, Riggo.
But this is now my all-time favorite sports moment. A moment that took decades, then took two months, then sixty minutes, then twenty, then seven and 37 seconds – and it’s a moment that is still happening with no signs of slowing. If anything, it’s building. Today’s jubilant parade and rally is testament to what this means to this city.
Thank you, Washington Capitals. I could live to be a hundred and will never, ever forget this.