Stop us if you've heard this one before: The Washington Capitals are in a first-round dog-fight. Tied 2-2 with the Carolina Hurricanes, who haven't made the playoffs since 2009, and now down T.J. Oshie, it's officially all-hands-on-deck for the defending Stanley Cup champions. But on Thursday night, they might have taken the intensity too far with this terrifying pre-game cup check routine. Gentlemen, when they say “Because it's the Cup,” this is NOT what they mean:
https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1119010754131386369
Now Ovechkin is one tough cookie. Earlier this series, he KO'd a 19-year-old kid who idolizes him and when Carlson gives his cup a hearty whack here, he hardly bats an eye. But no matter how bulletproof Ovi may seem, we still wouldn't be risking our star forward's life and, uh, limb like this. Who knows, the guy may want to have kids some day. This just seems reckless.
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In the past few years, we've seen dazzled by countless impressive videos from Josh Kelley. But if there's even a question as to who is the best golf trick shot artist out there, then this one might make it, um, game, set, match.
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On Thursday, Kelley, AKA @holein1trickshots, posted a video of him taking his driver to the tennis court. And the results are incredible. In the following clip, he shows off an ace down the middle, a deft drop shot, a solid two-handed forehand, and even a smashed volley. Check it out:
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Advantage, Kelley.
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Kirk IrwinFollowing their first-round choke after their historic regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have understandably caught plenty of heat. Frankly, when you're sending out tweets like this after the loss, you deserve everything that comes your way. The way they have handled the 4-0 sweep at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets, from head coach Jon Cooper all the way down to the social media team, has been a debacle.
But as dark as these times may be for the franchise, the Lightning should not feel alone, as they are now part of a group that no professional sports team wants to find itself in, but a group nonetheless. Hey, it's better to share suffering with others than to suffer in solitude, a wise man once said (no one has ever said this).
The type of loss the Lightning went through is part of a bigger, wild pro sports trend pointed out by CBS Sports' Adam Schein on his daily “Time to Schein” show on Wednesday. The clip itself isn't really worth the full..

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Icon Sportswire(Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Between dressing up as a Royal Canadian Mountie, talking to Jerry Seinfield and David Letterman during games and politely tossing back bean balls at opposing pitchers, it's easy to forget that Joey Votto is one of the best hitters baseball has ever seen. This stat should serve as a reminder.
Votto, like the rest of the Cincinnati Reds, is in a slump to start the season, going 0-for-3 in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. But only a man of great standing can make the insignificant historic, which is what Votto did with a pop up to first base in the eighth inning. Because it was Votto's first pop-up to first in 6,829 plate appearances over his 13-year career.
https://twitter.com/AndrewSimonMLB/status/1118659831274135554
That would be a hit-to-first-base-pop-up ratio of 1,742-to-1.
For context, no other active player with at least 50 popups has avoided hitting one to first, and the next..