There have been many attempts at creating a digital currency during the 90s tech boom, with systems like Flooz, Beenz and DigiCash emerging on the market but inevitably failing. There were many different reasons for their failures, such as fraud, financial problems and even frictions between companies’ employees and their bosses.

Notably, all of those systems utilized a Trusted Third Party approach, meaning that the companies behind them verified and facilitated the transactions. Due to the failures of these companies, the creation of a digital cash system was seen as a lost cause for a long while.

Then, in early 2009, an anonymous programmer or a group of programmers under an alias Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin. Satoshi described it as a ‘peer-to-peer electronic cash system.’ It is completely decentralized, meaning there are no servers involved and no central controlling authority. The concept closely resembles peer-to-peer networks for file sharing.

One of the most important problems that any payment network has to solve is double-spending. It is a fraudulent technique of spending the same amount twice. The traditional solution was a trusted third party – a central server – that kept records of the balances and transactions. However, this method always entailed an authority basically in control of your funds and with all your personal details on hand.

In a decentralized network like Bitcoin, every single participant needs to do this job. This is done via the Blockchain – a public ledger of all transaction that ever happened within the network, available to everyone. Therefore, everyone in the network can see every account’s balance.

Every transaction is a file that consists of the sender’s and recipient’s public keys (wallet addresses) and the amount of coins transferred. The transaction also needs to be signed off by the sender with their private key. All of this is just basic cryptography. Eventually, the transaction is broadcasted in the network, but it needs to be confirmed first.

Within a cryptocurrency network, only miners can confirm transactions by solving a cryptographic puzzle. They take transactions, mark them as legitimate and spread them across the network. Afterwards, every node of the network adds it to its database. Once the transaction is confirmed it becomes unforgeable and irreversible and a miner receives a reward, plus the transaction fees.

Essentially, any cryptocurrency network is based on the absolute consensus of all the participants regarding the legitimacy of balances and transactions. If nodes of the network disagree on a single balance, the system would basically break. However, there are a lot of rules pre-built and programmed into the network that prevents this from happening.

Cryptocurrencies are so called because the consensus-keeping process is ensured with strong cryptography. This, along with aforementioned factors, makes third parties and blind trust as a concept completely redundant.

The Washington Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lightning square off Wednesday night in a one-game showdown to decide who gets a chance to play in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Lightning last won the ultimate prize in hockey in 2004. The Capitals? Never in forty four years.

As you might expect, there are some……..jitters tonight for Caps fans.

WHICH IS WHY I’M HAPPY TO PROVIDE YOU A BOOZY DIVERSION TO DULL YOUR NERVES DURING THE ACTION!

This is your Game 7 Drinking Game.

If…

The Caps get called for icing because your favorite player dumped it in before the red line…..

Drink one (1) Smirnoff Ice until you’re out of breath, then immediately chug another because only winners get line changes.

Rock the Red Death.

If…

Pierre McGuire or Mike Milbury mention the Pittsburgh Penguins…..

Take one sip, then two sips, but not three in a row.

This is an actual toe. I think about this a lot.

If…

Alex Ovechkin scores a power play goal from his Office…..

Finish the rest of your drink in one chug, then kiss whoever you have a crush on, because we’re all accomplishing our one-timer goals tonight.

Flex on ’em.

If…

Tom Wilson takes a major penalty…..

Drink for five (5) seconds plus ten (10) seconds, then take a shower.

Gee, you’ve been in the shower an awfully long time. Why is the door locked?

If…

Evgeny Kuznetsov scores a goal…..

If your beer has a coozy, drink it. If it doesn’t, steal one from someone whose does. Then Bird Celly around the room, because it’s fun.

Kuzy with the bird celly #StanleyCup #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/hbTnWZr7go

— Craig Pritchard (@CraigJPritch) May 6, 2018

If… 

T.J. Oshie makes a big hit or scores…..

Drink any American beer over 7.7% ABV, or any American spirit aged more than 7 years. (Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 is also acceptable.)

It hits hard from the U-S of A, baby.

If…

Any member of the NBC Sports broadcast crew refers to Doc Emrick as “Mike”…..

Drink the wrong person’s drink, then yell, “Oh myyy!”

“Waffleboards it!”

If…

Any rookie on either team records a point…..

The youngest person in the room has to drink while everyone else yells funny nicknames at them.

“Let’s go, Twinkles, chug!”

And if…

The Washington Capitals win and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals…..

Do and drink whatever you damn well please.

Stay hydrated. Go Caps!

OK. We’re all filled with schpilkes about the upcoming death march series with the Penguins. Rightly so. And now, to add to the agita, we find ourselves without Joe B. and Locker doing the call, supported by Alan May and Smokin’ Al rinkside.

NBC (Nothing But Crosby) takes over the TV broadcasts for the second round and beyond, and you know what that means, the capable but beige Doc Emrick, and Pierre McGuire (the surprise hit at RMNBX and as we learned at Iron Horse, a huge You Can Play Booster. We got a hug!). Despite their position atop the NHL broadcast food chain, the NBC “talent” pales in comparison to CSN’s dream team. And that doesn’t even take into account Roenick, Jones and the other clown. Though Liam is kinda dreamy….

We need every comfort we can get. And it’s no strain to say the our now-benched Caps call-line, the very best NHL PxP and color team in the solar system, will be sorely missed. But we have a solution. We have a fix for your fidgets. His name is John Walton, and you know him by his voice. And here is how you do it.

From the Bears to the Caps

“I’ve been calling Caps games for six seasons – a day before the earthquake. I’ll call my 500th game next season.” The 44-year-old John Walton is the definition of an optimist. Well…an optimist, who’s been around the Caps.

“I don’t think anyone who  has heard my broadcasts would say I’m fair and balanced, but it’s so important to be fair and balanced,” says the Caps radio voice. Fair and balanced…or perhaps we’ll just say, honest.  Walton grew up in Minnesota, listening to Bob Kirks and Al Shaver. “We moved to Ohio, at that time it was hard to follow a team from afar except for Ken Wilson on KMOX – I think I was probably modeled myself after Kenny,” says the booth veteran.

Some may see Walton playing second fiddle to the Joe B/Locker line, but consider just how more difficult the job of calling a hockey game for a radio audience is. “You try to capture a whole lot and digest it for someone who can’t see it,” he says. “You want to be able to give enough flavor to where the puck isn’t than is.

“On TV you can joke around a little more, because you have the picture. Radio is so different, so we try to bring the rink into the listener’s mind.”

Before being tapped to helm the Caps, Walton was the voice of the Hershey Bears – giving him unique insight into the players coming up through the ranks. “Doc was someone who was always encouraging to me,” Walton says, again giving credence that Emrick is a pretty good guy. From him and others, Walton says he honed his craft.

“Biggest difference between hockey and other sports to call is the pace. Baseball is a rocking chair; hockey is being like at the top of a rocket,” says Walton. “You don’t have as much time to add color because there’s too much going on. There’s so much more story telling in baseball.”

Anyone who’s listened to John’s call knows the joy and thrill of hearing – not seeing – a Caps goal. It’s an art that comes with practice. Radio might be even better than TV.

“I think a lot of the same influences as we talked about, but Ken Wilson with the St. Louis Blues probably had a big influence on me, as did Mike Emrick and Marty Brenneman with the Cincinnati Reds. Ken would always build up a big save in a way that I thought captured the listener, Marty was always so smooth in his delivery, and Doc captures the spirit of hockey in my mind as well as anyone ever has.”

How We’ll Survive

So here’s the thing. Our CSN crew is sidelined for the rest of the playoffs. But you don’t have to just resort to the audio NBC offers. We’d never survive if we had to.

Here’s how to sync the Walton live cast with the TV signal, courtesy John Walton: “The best way to hear us – we’re about 30 to 45 seconds behind the TV signal. For syncing purposes, the Caps Radio 24/7 stream has a little bar at the bottom, with a pause button. The easiest way is the Caps Radio app [available from the App Store of Google Play here]. It’s better than FM and that’s about 30 seconds behind.”

If you listen over the air on 1500AM, you can always fidget with the pause button on your DVR. No matter how you tune in to John’s call, it will make for a much better game experience. Good morning, good afternoon and good night Pittsburgh, four times please!

“Few have the greatness to bend history itself. But each of us can work to change a small portion of events. And in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends out a tiny ripple of hope. And crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples can build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

— Robert F. Kennedy

Hockey – at least the NHL – turns 100 years old this year. That’s longer than women in the U.S. had the vote. That’s significantly longer than African-Americans were provided at least the shield of equal education and access to the ballot. 100 years is a long time.

1917 isn’t remotely like 2017, yet the devils of the past continue. We still, too often, make judgments about each other based on utterly silly things: our hair, our skin tone, our bodies.

We’re especially attuned to those silly judgments. We’ve listened to Willy O’Ree talk about the struggles of being the first black NHL player. We’ve watched the Wounded Warriors take the ice and prove, once more, how sport can raise the spirit. We’ve learned from Fatima Al Ali that Muslim women can have sick stick skills. And we’ll witness something special Friday night, during warm-ups, Caps players’ sticks will be wrapped with Pride Tape, and Braden Holtby will sport his You Can Play mask.

Friday night at Verizon isn’t about any one group. Young, old and in-between, straight or otherwise, male or female, special needs or just needy – what we again will learn Friday is that, yes, hockey is for everyone.

As Braden Holtby, the Caps’ You Can Play ambassador, told us Thursday, “We include everyone, It’s great that the NHL is doing, You Can Play is based on equality. You want to make sure equality is the basis, and I think it’s been a huge part of that.”

We’re reminded of our friend, and Hockey’s Hemingway, Jason Rogers’ take on the sport. Hockey, he said, is not in any way about me or I. It is about team. As one player related, in many ways it’s a game of misfits – on both sides of the glass, and all are welcome.

Perhaps. But it’s also a game that develops the person inside. You learn to work with others, you learn you’re not the only one, you learn to play to each other’s strengths – in short, you learn so many good things that sport can teach. As the old saying goes: “Sports doesn’t build character, it reveals it.”

So on Friday night, as you crowd into the arena, ready for another Caps victory, take a moment to look around. At all the people sharing this experience with you.

And remember: they are all beautiful in their own right.

The Holtbys leads Caps fans of all stripes at DC 2016 Pride Parade

A question we get a lot here is “What’s it like to be a gay hockey fan?”

We’re never quite sure what people expect the answer to be. Are they curious if it’s hard, if we feel ostracized or just not quite the same as everyone else, if we just don’t fit in? We rarely have a snappy answer at the ready.

From now on, however, I think I’ll just refer them to the 2016 DC Pride Parade. I’ll tell them how everyone – absolutely everyone – associated with the Washington Capitals were on hand, smiling and joking and looking so damn happy to be there. I’ll tell them how the thousands – tens of thousands easily – in the crowds were screaming the heads off, yelling and clapping and high-fiving those of us in the parade. How Braden and Brandi Holtby were tirelessly working the sideline, shaking hands, stopping for selfies, and hugging countless Caps fans. In 95 degree heat, no less.

I’ll tell them how everyone there – Wes, the Rockers, management types, You Can Play reps, and especially poor Slapshot in what must have been a suffocating costume, marched in a surprisingly tiring parade and never complained once. Far from it: they were there for Caps fans and non-fans alike, throwing beads and slapping hands with Washingtonians anywhere on the spectrum of sexuality.

And I’ll tell them how overwhelming it all was, to be stuck somewhere in the middle, walking with a rainbow-taped hockey stick with a Caps flag attached that the wind would pick up and fly proudly, sending the attendees into peals of “C-A-P-S, CAPS! CAPS! CAPS!”, just the same as any game at Verizon. Don’t take our word for it; just check out the pictures below.

Or, when asked “What’s it like to be a gay hockey fan?”, I can say “Exactly what it’s like to be a hockey fan.”

Another happy attendee

The Rockers, and the Voice of the Capitals, Wes Johnson, armed with his super soaker

Slapshot deserves a medal for sticking it out with such good cheer

Brandi and Braden – so laid back and fun. We love you two!

Working the crowd…

We never seen so many happy people on the streets of DC

Rainbow: Rocked. Thank you, Caps

Brandon hopes to attend the University of Maryland to major in journalism and statistics (good luck!) A Caps fan since birth, he’ll be out of country for the next few games as he tours Polish concentration camps, and visiting the final resting place of members of his family. So…a young man who understands the corrosive effects of hate and discrimination. 

This video is awful. The way these Caps fans made me feel can only be described as ashamed and embarrassed. This is not what I want people to think of when they think of Caps fans.

I am a straight male millennial. Yes. I am part of “the most privileged generation”. I recognize that. I recognize my “white male privilege”. However, I am also the future. This video is not the future. This is the past. To me, it is the same hate we saw in the 1940’s to the Jews, and in the 1960’s to the African-American community.

I see this hate all the time at school. I hear this kind of language all the time. Every single time I hear it, I tell that person to knock it off. It does not matter if I know them, or if they know me. It also does not matter if the person they said it too is gay or not. It is still offensive.

One of my really good friends is gay. (To me there is also a difference between a “gay friend” and a “friend who is gay”.) He hates the “f” word. Whether it is said to him or not. It is still hateful every time. Even if someone says it as a “joke”. It is not funny. I don`t care if people see me as a party-pooper or as someone who is “trying to make everything PC. I see myself as someone who stands up for those who are too afraid to do it for themselves.

I really hope that as a country, we can start to move forward. This is moving backwards. I am not going to make excuses for these fans. I am also not saying you should punch people in the face for saying this. I am asking you to keep in mind that just because the word might mean something different to you, that does not mean it`s not offensive to the person you are saying it to.

For the argument of “trash talking” I always say, “Trash the team, not the person”. You have no idea what that person has been through in their life, and you have no idea what affects saying these things on that person, investigate this site – SecurityInfo to learn more on how to protect your home.

A while back, our Buffalo Sabres writer – Paul Kaseman – told us he had some thoughts to share about the NHL’s annual All-Star game. He does have some thoughts – some strong ones. This was written several weeks ago, before the NHL’s declaration that John Scott will be attending the NHL All-Star game as a participant. Due to an error on our part we’re only getting it up now. -Eds

In lieu of what the NHL vis-à-vis Gary Bettman have nefariously acted as in according to John Scott’s fan vote selection of captain in their all-star game my interpretation of that which constitutes the definition of an all-star has come to be questioned. The reason for scrutinizing the definition is based on a rise of repugnant feelings toward the National Hockey Leagues on their treatment of the parties, John Scott is not the only party persecuted, involved.

Let us embark initially on these blogging thoughts of a madman where the controversy begins in its infancy, the NHL All-Star game in conjunction with fan-voting. The All-Star game is a contest of those adjudicated to be the best player in the league. In an effort to bolster viewership and participation for the game itself the NHL gave the fans some say into the contestants.  I imagine the rationale for this being (simply):  increased fan participation equates to increased fan involvement, i.e. money for the league from  a myriad of sources including but not limited to prospective TV deals & revenue from all-star related activities of but not solely the sale of merchandise & promotional events.  My previous involvement in such activity has been to cast a single vote to players I would appreciate watching in the aforementioned competition.

I know not the multitudes of players in the league but I know players I like to watch, even those not belonging to the Blue and Gold of my Buffalo Sabres.  Yes, last year I was one of 1,574,896 (pg 90 in  the link) votes for Zemgus Girgensons & one of probably two hundred thousand votes that weren’t from the country of Latvia.  Girgensons is not an ‘all-star’ caliber player perspective of the league yet in my estimation he is.  He came to symbolize hard-work, dedication, grit, & most importantly for me (perhaps Latvia as well) determination to not just emerge in the land of the best but to have success there as well.  These qualities are worthy of emulation in my life.  Through Zemgus I have an admiration for.  In a term for the NHL he is an all-star in my life.  He was one of the players I voted for last year.  Through his participation, the principle reason, I viewed not just the all-star game itself but the draft, etc, etc.  In every year of which I voted & a principle character has enlivened the format I have watched the NHL All-Star game.

This year the NHL resumed their tradition of a fan vote.  Again my votes were cast in their new format.  Jagr, despite his humor on twitter, was one of my selections, Girgensons another, the East I knew well enough.  The West not as much but decently enough to know league scribed all-stars, if for nothing else the balloting page had a list of recommended players to choose from.  Yet John Scott was one of the names I heard about acquiring serious nomination.  I thought of Mr. Scott as a representative.  Having some familiarity to both the player and his person from his warm days in Buffalo, a notoriously cold city & during his tenure a cold couple seasons (12/13, 13/14) through no fault of his own (#tank).  Reminiscent of what he was, he certainly became a source of gaity, merriment, and laughter.  Actions much needed from the viewpoint of this blogging madman.  His fights, hits gave us a reason for the occasional cheer too.  Thus when it came time to cast a vote he was a person I could call an all-star in my estimation.  Through not his point production on the ice but through his charming personality & dedication of a good soldier, a team player – doing that which is asked of you without question by your coach.  Perhaps the later is akin to us all.

With the league phasing out his role, the role of enforcer, an all-star tip of the cap is a thanks not just to John Scott but a memorial tribute with great appreciation to the unsung heroes (all-stars) of enforcers past.  John Scott symbolizes our statue of bronze outside each arena of enforcers and journey-men; that of good soldiers who will soon be obsolete.

What then is an all-star but those that exemplify the qualities & dreams of the viewing public or even the private person.  The NHL appears to stricken the meaning to those with the best statistical points/records in comparison with the current season & in relation from their respective team. -Each team shall have at minimum one representative.- We, the people, generally agree with such a definition.  It represents qualities of success, perseverance/drive, dedication, team-work.  As a coach these are all top qualities I strive to instill in my players year after year.  As a worker, these are qualities I strive for at work.  As a person these are all qualities I remind myself to be daily.  An all-star can be defined not as narrowly.  It may also be remarkable, excellent, prominent, noted, even notable; a hero – someone to look up to in admiration for the “content of their character, not the color of their skin” – M.L.K. or in this case not for their marginalized role in the NHL.

My father is an all-star of mine as is my mother, my grandmother as well, as people personal to me for raising me the right way with ‘content of character’; for teaching me to respect others, be fair in life, adhere to the golden rule, instilling in me a most solid and noble moral compass to which I lead my life.  They themselves in loose ways fit the NHL standard of an all-star but they are not a the top of their class in a broader world like the NHL selected list recommends despite their successes/stats/records in life.  After all you, the reader, would have no idea who they are if given their names.  They are not Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Bill Gates; the Alex Ovechkin, Erik Karlsson, Jonathan Quick type people.  They are the John Scott’s of hockey to me, the dedicated soldier to help me be better in my life – the same as an enforcer protects star players.

They are the marginalized players but the important players that receive little fanfare.  Herein lies the maturity of the controversy with the spoiled action of the National Hockey League vis-à-vis Gary Bettman in the removal (according to Bob McKenzie’s twitter account) of John Scott from their all-star game in Nashville.  They are saying my all-star, your voted in all-star/hero can not be your mother, father, or any personage that is personal to you without it being a distinctly notable entity in the grand scheme of the world like that of a Bill Gates or Alex Ovechkin.  Well Mr. Bettman, the NHL, and others hidden behind the obfuscation of a corporate entity, I do admire Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, et al, but one representative of each team is to be selected to the all-star game.  Since, by your generosity, have allowed me to vote in a representative of my team I have selected my father/my grandmother/perhaps myself if I be so fortunate to exemplify qualities others admire me for, in the NHL personage of John Scott.  In doing so I also give great thanks to him and the NHL journey-men of past & present he represents along with the NHL enforcers of old he is a modern symbol of.

I also recognize your, perhaps successful attempt at that of removing him and his representations from your All-Star hockey game.  I say ‘perhaps successful attempt’ in hope by your mercy you allow him to play and being the final representation of our personal all-stars and the last vestige of the ‘enforcer’ role you yourself are phasing out of the game.

John Scott is a marginal player.  He symbolizes much for your many varied and marginalized fans.  This blog itself is indicative of a representation of your marginalized fans (though this article is of my belief alone and may not represent the beliefs of the site it is posted on).  As a Buffalo Sabres fan I know what marginalization feels like.  In hockey terms:  We play Canada’s game in America, we are too Canadian for America, too American for Canada.  Is Buffalo American or Canadian for the hockey world?  Who knows… We haven’t won anything since…  Every Sabres game I attend their isn’t a star jersey that sticks out (not even Eichel yet).  We celebrate our third and fourth line players and admire their grit and ferocity as much as our first and second line players.  The bevy of jerseys with too numerous a name etched on the back during each home game proves our love for the team as a whole, first to fourth line along with benched & traded/retired players.  We love all our players and they love us (just one of many examples).

On a more personal note, is that I also am marginalized at large by being a homosexual which this website and its many authors can attest to.  Yet we are all hockey and even NHL fans.  Women, minorities, etc. can also attest to being marginalized at large, fans that enjoy fighting and enforcers have also felt marginalized by actions of the NHL to curtail a certain aspect of the game they love.  Each marginalized in their own way yet each still appreciate and enjoy that game which you oversee.  Despite the work of this site, You Can Play, Andrew Ference, Brian Burke, LA Kings’ kiss cam & team, et company at large we are still marginalized.  Please, I implore thee, allow us skates to play, a stick to tape up, and pads to protect us.  Give us an ice rink in Nashville for our teams’ representative in the NHL personage of John Scott.  Not just for me but for us – your marginalized fans in society – but also your segment of fans who love and appreciate the role of ‘enforcer’.

Please allow John Scott to play so that I, we, will watch the all-star game in Nashville this year.

.

“He’s definitely gone over,” producer Ryan Billie tells the crew over headset. “We’re over by :30.”

TV control rooms do not like surprises. They are dark places, populated by glowing lights and tense voices yelling out questions, requests, orders or expletives…or some combination thereof. It all lends an air of modest confusion and panic – two things that are not good in live TV.

But this one, Control Room A at CSN Mid-Atlantic headquarters in a downtown Bethesda office building, is relatively calm. Relatively. Throughout the last half hour, line-ups were juggled, graphics adjusted, plans changed and changed again. And now, Alan May has gone long at the telestrator and something needs to be done.

“What are we dropping?” asks the director. “I don’t know yet,” says Billie. He has about :20 seconds to make up his mind before the commercial ends and it’s back to live studio. Everyone’s waiting, but something will work out. It has to.

All in all, just another evening at CSN Capitals Pregame Live.

The Team Behind the Talent

Statistics don’t lie. It’s a flat fact that the 2015-16 Washington Capitals are perhaps the single best, most tenacious, most broadly talented team in franchise history. It’s also equally accurate that Washington hockey fans have probably the single most talented, capable and committed broadcast team to be found anywhere in the NHL…although statistics here are harder to find.

Earlier we profiled CSN’s field crew – the team that brings you the actual game, at home or away. Of equal importance is the group that brings viewers the pre- and post-game coverage, as well as filling the intermissions with crucial insights about what’s going right or wrong out on the ice.

Of course, Al Koken and Alan May are the faces we know best, but just like the field crew, there’s an entire team that clicks together game nights that make watching the Capitals on CSN only slightly less as great as going to Verizon in person. That team recently invited us to sit in and watch what goes into just one program – in this case, the pregame before the Caps match against the Bruins at TD Gardens on January 5th.

The evening actually starts in the afternoon for Ryan Billie. He’s the lead producer for tonight’s coverage, and by 2pm he’s already at work doing research, sorting through all the possible topics and video elements, and building the program’s rundown. Speaking as broadcast journalists (former and current), it’s very much like the work that goes into producing a nightly newscast: some elements you know, some you anticipate but get jettisoned, and some things just pop up clear out of nowhere.

The trick, says Billie, is being prepared for all of it.

“I’m from around here; I’m a Caps fan, so for me this is a thrill,” says Billie. “I have 23 minutes of content time. I put a show together, and it tells me I’ve only got a minute left, and six more minutes of stuff I want to do. But clearly, each evening the most important thing is the game coming up: we try to do as much about tonight’s game, but knowing that there are other stories lines that don’t always cross.”

Injuries, he says, are a good example. “Orpik’s out for this game, but he’s been out for a month. His absence isn’t ‘news’ – they’ve been playing without him for 20 games now – but it’s still a story. So if there’s a way to weave that in, it’s difficult but it’s worth it.”

“Holtby’s another great example,” says the former ESPN college football producer. “How many ways are there to say ‘Holtby’s great’? You try to; I mean, Braden Holtby is the best goaltender in the NHL. But even we get tired of it; even we’ve said it a hundred times. So we have to find a way to keep things new.”

Each person on the pregame program has a job. Keeping things new, “and real” as Billie says, is Courtney Laughlin’s. Among other duties, she tracks social media sites across the day – hearing what people are saying, engaging with what fans want to know, and then injecting that into the night’s program.

“Social media is really a kind of story-telling,” she tells us as she preps in the control room. “We’re actually creating a package with a theme. Usually the night before the show, Ryan and I will talk and he’ll ask: ‘Courtney what are the common themes going on, what are the stories people are talking about?’ So we try to craft something that echoes that theme, and ask questions that generate conversation.”

This evening Laughlin continues that engagement right up into the broadcast, looking for ways to tell an improptu story, in effect, with no safety net. No small feat, given how unpredictable and snarky social media can get.

If Laughlin is there to share what fans want to say, then Alan May is the guy fans want to hear what he wants to say.

The Little Nuances of the Game

May arrives a little later than Koken, who has been pouring over the program’s elements to find the very best way to present it all to the audience. Both Koken and May are perfectionists: Koken, every inch the broadcaster, choosing his words with utmost care, and May reviewing piles of digital footage, looking for the one little thing on the ice that tells the greater story.

“When I first started I always had three words that wanted to come out, so I was always fighting to say just one and end up stuttering,” says May. “I always try to make sure not to be condescending to our viewers, but try to educate if we can. I remember one of our producers always saying ‘Oh, don’t you think that’s a little over the top?’ And I said if I show them, then they can say ‘Alan May showed me that’ and now they’re going to be looking for things that aren’t so obvious. Why they’re having failures and success; the little nuances of the game.”

Showing and not just telling – what colleague Craig Laughlin has called “The Why” – is what May excels at, and his tool of choice is the telestrator. Just as there’s nothing accidental about what comes out of Al Koken’s mouth during a broadcast, May’s telestrations are intricately choreographed.

“There’s a couple programs on TV they just talk but they’re not saying anything,” says May, declining to identify which ones specifically. “Is it because they just don’t know the game, or not willing to work hard enough? You can go on TV and do nothing, or you can go on and show people. If you show them, they start to become a better fan.”

Producer Ryan Billie says that from the moment it was introduced, May poured over the mechanics of the telestrator – learning what its limits were. “Smokin’ Al” says he’s equally impressed.

“He’s really embraced doing it,” says Koken, looking up from his stacks of notes for tonight’s broadcast. “Not just showing how a player gets from point A to point B, but the techniques, tools and abilities on that telestraitor to show someone where a play originated and how it developed. He’s unbelievable at that.”

“I’ve been extremely impressed with not only how quickly he grasped it but how eagerly he wants to do it,” says Koken of his colleague. “He makes it look outstanding; it pops off the screen. Like you said, if you watch, you get that full breakdown of what’s going on. I think it’s the best stuff we do on air.”

Al Koken may be selling himself a bit short. His role in all this is, in turns, both obvious and hard to pin down. Koken is clearly the voice of the program: the metronome, the man with the facts, the anchor that keeps the ship from drifting off course. If something has happened in Washington sports in the last 40 years, and maybe longer, Koken may well have been there.

But to watch Koken work is to see an old-school broadcaster in action – in the very best sense of the term. We’ve seen it in those we learned from decades ago, when being on TV was less about the anchor and more about the story. It seems for Koken, the less he says, the more he communicates. Words are important, and shouldn’t be use to just fill dead air. Al Koken is the guy who draws the outlines of a story, then lets others step in to fill it out.

Between them, and the other key members of the team such as the editors, director and graphics persons, they make a team that’s the rival of any other we’ve seen. It’s hard work, expectations are high, and we imagine the complaints many.

But there they are, every game day. Always trying to do better, to teach more…and to figure out what to do when you’re :30 seconds over.

The Welcoming Committee is already in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. This Thursday, for Caps v. Stars, they’re organizing a night out to the game. The cost is $50 (info on added discount and iherb coupon code below) and that comes with a free t-shirt. From Molly at their HQ:

While we are well known for our Guerilla Queer Bar (GQB) night in which we takeover typically straight bars and clubs with hundreds of our members, we have expanded our offerings as we discussed to include sporting, cultural, nightlife, and travel experiences. In DC this summer we attempted our first concert takeover in which we brought 44 of our members to the Verizon Center for the Ariana Grande concert on July 25th. We also hosted a U-street bar crawl  in August selling about 140 tickets and a very successful Pride GQB pre-party.

The basics (details are here):

• Thursday, November 19th at 7pm. Seats are in section 407 rows L-Q.
• Tickets are $50 + a free t-shirt (a 20% discount)
• Use discount code: puckbuddys for $5 off!!
• Purchase tickets here.
• Pregaming at City Tap House (901 9th Street) starts at 6pm.
• This is their first stab at the NHL but they’ve successfully hosted base ball and hoops games in several other cities.

For more information on The Welcoming Committee, how they got started, and where they’re headed, check out this Forbes article. They have 4,000 DC members and nearly 40,000 nationwide. CYA Thursday!!!

Love goes both ways.

(Ed. note: Joining us today is Molly Hahn, a personal friend and friend of PuckBuddys, L.L.C. (Cayman Islands). Molly moved to D.C. from New Jersey and is a lifelong hockey fan, around rinks her whole life, whether mites or the New Jersey Devils. Since moving to D.C., the Washington Capitals have made her feel some type of way, and she shares with us her thoughts on how her loyalty was won.)

I am about to put into writing the 5 words that will cause my beloved boyfriend of 5 years to cringe as if he saw my mother naked.

I am a Caps fan.

I am not a Washington Capitals fan by birth or even by convenience. I grew up in a state where “Nova” meant the Catholic college just across the border, and traffic only existed if  a plane landed in the middle of a highway. I am not a Capitals fan because I found hockey when I moved here, I became friends with the Short Notice Movers Inc. workers that unloaded my stuff, they were die hard fans and it was contagious. In fact, I grew up wearing my brother’s hand-me-down hockey jerseys, and going to school with eyes drooping and voice sore from staying up too late screaming at referees for calling slew foots out of spite. (Has a slew foot been called in the last 10 years?)

I am not a Capitals fan because my “home” team is the bottom of the barrel. In fact, we have 3 Stanley Cups, 5 division titles, and a former goalie some hail as the World’s Greatest. Go Devils.

No, I was not looking to be another team’s fan. I have stuck with my  teams through thick and thin, wearing jerseys to events and feeling like I was attending funerals. “I am so sorry for your loss,” friends would say politely, not making eye contact. I have hit rock bottom with my team and come to see the light again. We’ve had some great times.

But my team and I are taking a trial separation, because I am a Washington Capitals fan.

Nasty weather won’t stop (clockwise from top left): Backstom, Wilson, Beagle, Holtby and Ovechkin from taking pictures with this self-described “fangirl.”

I am a Washington Capitals fan because each player shows their true love for their fans by signing autographs in flip-flops during Hurricane Joaquin. I am a Washington Capitals fan because each year the team pursues the elusive goal of Lord Stanley’s Cup with the new found vigor of a teenage boy looking to score.

I am Washington Capitals fan because their fan base, while at times screaming outlandishly for penalty calls that do not even exist, love their team, and each other. They embrace each other and opposing fans not with the spite and malice of teenage girls looking at an outsider, but of that of a loving teacher who really does like your blog post for its honesty and personality.

So, here is to my first season as a Washington Capitals fan! My team and I will always love each other, and though I choose not to say it aloud, I know you never forget your first. But, this season I will ROCK THE RED!