Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal was one of many local sports stars who attended the Capitals’ Game One win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Beal, who has become close friends with Evgeny Kuznetsov, celebrated after the game in the best way.
He did The Bird.
Ace photo by @WashCapsRock
On Saturday, I went to my first Washington Capitals game of the season because of the bet I lost to the Brouwer Rangers (I find it easier to cover games from home). While watching Troy Brouwer point and laugh at me in spandex was something I’ll never forget, the highlight of my day actually didn’t involve humans at all.
During the first period, as I sat in my perch (sorry, couldn’t help myself) in section 402, I noticed something through the visor of my motorcycle helmet: two fat birds frantically flying around Verizon Center looking for somewhere to land. You don’t get to see this kind of stuff on TV.
The birds swooped to and fro. Every few minutes they’d fly towards people in the crowd, making Caps fans scramble and hit the deck. While I focused on their escapades during the third period, I caught myself chanting bird! bird! bird! I also confused one of the birds for the puck after Alex Ovechkin chipped the biscuit into the air towards Jay Beagle. It almost helped me forget about the terrible game I was supposed to be watching. Almost.
Anyways, for whatever reason, the whole situation cracked me up (that’s an egg joke). Now I am filled with questions: How did these birds get into Verizon Center in the first place? Why are they still here now? (The first Verizon Center bird was spotted in December. It was skinny then.) Is Slapshot involved?
And what kind of birds are these?
Lucky for us, my future cousin-in-law Ian Gardner is the biggest bird nerd in the history of bird nerds. He’s currently at Penn State studying for his M.S. in Forest Resources, he has his B.S. in Wildlife Conservation from Juniata College, and he’s been involved in the Pennsylvania birdwatching community for the past 5 years. I sent him some photos of the birds and asked him for the low-down.
You could be excused for forgetting that Tyler Seguin has come to DC — with a grand total of zero goals, zero points, and zero penalty minutes, Boston’s regular-season leading scorer has made himself all but invisible.
At least, to human eyes. As it turns out, our local seagulls — obviously Caps fans — think quite differently. They’ve been even more vigilant in watching for the Bruins junior heartthrob than the Capitals defense, and this afternoon they made sure to welcome him to the city with a very special hello.
By 10 years ago
