Washington

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

The housing market's continuing struggles have upset the retirement plans of millions of Americans, keeping more of them in their current homes, waiting for diminished equity to reappear. Others plan to move, but they appear to be demanding something much different from what they wanted before the real estate boom turned to bust: smaller, less expensive retirement houses they can afford with their reduced means. At the start of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, economists weren't anticipating that the long-term trend toward retirement living would be derailed.

CHRIS POLK will tell you now that he had zero expectations heading into last month's NFL draft. "My expectation was just to get drafted," he said after a morning practice at the Eagles' 3-day rookie camp at NovaCare. That, of course, isn't quite true. It's one of those things players say after they've taken the kind of disappointing, look-out-below draft fall Polk took 2 weeks ago. The 5-11, 220-pound running back from the University of Washington, who is just one of seven players in Pac-12 history to rush for 4,000 yards, had hoped to be selected in the third — maybe even the second — round of the draft.

Unless a savior with a suitcase full of big bills and a sense of baseball history steps forward soon, one of baseball's oldest franchises may move. William L. Collins 3d, a Washington media executive, entered the bidding for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday, saying he could write a check for the 108-year-old franchise "tomorrow. " With one condition: Washington, not Pittsburgh, would be the Pirates' first name. Pirates president Mark Sauer said a move to Washington probably would be approved without dissent by major-league owners.

There has been one constant in Public League tennis for "about 40 years," according to Lincoln coach William Kuchler. Every year, Lincoln would lose to Washington. Sometimes, it would be 5-0, sometimes 3-2, but no matter what, the Railsplitters would find a way to not win. Until April 2. Lincoln 4, Washington 1. "It's the first time in our existence that we beat Washington," said Kuchler, who has been at Lincoln for 16 years. "It's a big win for the team. I didn't expect to win. It's really exciting for me. It's like a present.

The American experience at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78 is widely considered a turning point in the Revolutionary War. And many credit Gen. George Washington's persuasive argument to the Continental Congress that defeating the British depended on improved logistics for the Continental Army. Washington achieved this by managing a committee of delegates sent by the Congress to Valley Forge. In December 1777, Washington led a defeated Army of nearly 11,000 troops, of which only 8,200 were fit for duty, into winter encampment at Valley Forge.

Washington wasn't just clinching the Public A Division title with its 14-0 victory at Lincoln on Friday afternoon. The Eagles (4-0 league, 6-0 overall) tried to start a different kind of streak. "That's our scoreboard over there," said Washington coach Ron Cohen. "We don't want them scoring on our scoreboard. " Just a little motivational tool, if you will. After a new scoreboard was donated to Washington's Mickey Young Memorial Stadium before this season, the Washington administration donated the old board to Lincoln.

The 76ers will open their season Nov. 3 in Washington and host the NBA all-star game Feb. 14 at the First Union Center, according to the league schedule announced yesterday. The Sixers are scheduled to play their home opener Nov. 4 against New York. The schedule will change if the league and the National Basketball Players Association do not reach a collective-bargaining agreement in time for the start of the season. The defending champion Chicago Bulls are not scheduled to make their first of two appearances in Philadelphia until March 19. Most of the Sixers' home games will begin at 7 p.m. Most of their Sunday home games will start at 6. Seventeen Sixers games will be televised by Channel 57, and most others will air on Comcast SportsNet.

How do you make a 12-5 rout entertaining? Roxborough High's baseball team managed to yesterday in its Public League semifinal win over Central at Northeast High. Roxborough will meet Washington, an 11-4 winner over Northeast, in the title game Monday. The Indians put on a show that included a homer from a reserve shortstop who had just one other hit this year, a grand slam from their star pitcher and periodic performances of the wave from their fans. Then, in the waning moments of the game, their pitching battery did a modified striptease in the infield.

Washington was the boys' soccer team to beat in the Public League, many fans believed. Northeast, on the other hand, could not win the big match. Oh, really? Fans at yesterday's match at Northeast would have been hard-pressed to believe that. The Vikings defeated the Eagles, 2-0, in a Division A contest. With the win, Northeast (3-2 overall, 3-2 division) extended its winning streak to three matches. The Vikings also handed Washington (3-2-1, 3-1-1) its first division setback of the season.

It was a typical game that ended in typical fashion: with a dramatic overtime victory for Clearview over Washington Township in girls' lacrosse. But the result was anything but typical for the Pioneers. Clearview won the first sectional title in the history of the program with a 7-6, double-overtime victory over host Washington Township on Thursday in the championship game of the South Jersey Group 4 tournament. Freshman Gianna Bowe scored two goals, including the winner with 22 seconds remaining in the second overtime, and senior Kim Tumolo added two goals as Clearview (17-4)

AN ARBITRATOR upheld the NFL's salary cap reductions on the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins for this season and next. Stephen Burbank ruled Tuesday in favor of the league and dismissed the grievances by both teams. The Redskins lost $36 million over 2 years. The Cowboys lost $10 million for overloading contracts during the uncapped 2010 season despite league warnings about such maneuvering. The Cowboys and Redskins, who filed their grievances against the league and players' association, said in a joint statement they would "abide by the arbitrator's decision to dismiss.

TO THOSE familiar with his body of work, it should come as no surprise that Dean Grande fills the leadership role for George Washington High's baseball team. Even as a freshman, he was saying, in effect, "Yo, see those horns over there? I don't care if they belong to a bull. I'm gonna grab them. " The 5-8, 170-pound Grande is in his fourth season of starting at catcher. And that's exactly how long he has played the position. Not bad, right? "I always saw myself as a shortstop.

There are many things in life that are truly difficult — losing a job, raising a child, dealing with Comcast customer service — but disliking the upstart professional baseball team from the nation's capital is not among them. Even so, if the Nats are to become a true rival to the Phillies, we figured it would be helpful to provide a head start on some good clean hate, a handy reference guide of reasons to despise the unbearable lameness of the Nats — and their ardently indifferent fan base.

The Phillies fan in a Roy Halladay jersey turns his back to rightfield, where former Phillie Jayson Werth plays for the Washington Nationals. The fan resembles those you might see walking around Citizens Bank Park or Northern Liberties or Xfinity Live! on a game night, the type who became emblematic of Phillies euphoria amid the team's late-aught success, before the winning begat sky-high expectations — and equally high levels of anxiety about being in last place after the first six weeks of this season.

I doubt that the average American is pondering the political death of Dick Lugar. Heck, most might think "Dick Lugar" sounds like the name of the hero of a spy novel. But what happened to Lugar last week is a sign of the polarization that cripples Washington and is likely to impede rational governance no matter who wins the White House in November. The six-term Republican senator from Indiana was knocked off in a primary for a number of reasons. But what really fueled his landslide defeat at the hands of a tea-party insurgent was this fundamental fact: He occasionally had the temerity to work with Democrats.

WASHINGTON - Speaking softly, nervously, and in detail, Brian McNamee testified about the life-changing moment when, he said, he first injected Roger Clemens with steroids. The government's star witness in the Clemens perjury retrial took the stand Monday and told the jury that he injected one of baseball's most successful pitchers with steroids about eight to 10 times when they were with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998. "I knew what I was doing was illegal," McNamee said.

The driver and a front-seat passenger who survived a two-vehicle crash last month that killed their friend, Washington Township High School senior Nicole Kellenyi, are being charged with possession of an open, unsealed alcoholic beverage container and other motor vehicle offenses, township police said Tuesday. Toxicology tests reveal that neither Alexandria Giantonnio, 18, the driver of the 1998 Saturn carrying Kellenyi, nor the driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the collision at the intersection of Altair Drive and Pitman Downer Road on April 14, authorities said.

Some baseball guys don't like to think too much at the plate. They see the ball. They hit the ball. Washington Township's Vinnie Nocella takes a different approach. He likes being the team's designated hitter because it gives him time in the dugout to analyze his at-bats. "I love thinking about what just happened, thinking about what he threw me and thinking about what I'm going to do the next time I get up," Nocella said Saturday after leading Washington Township to a 7-3 victory over Eastern in the first round of the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic.

Some baseball guys don't like to think too much at the plate. They see the ball. They hit the ball. Washington Township's Vinnie Nocella takes a different approach. He likes being the team's designated hitter because it gives him time in the dugout to analyze his at-bats. "I love thinking about what just happened, thinking about what he threw me and thinking about what I'm going to do the next time I get up," Nocella said Saturday after leading Washington Township to a 7-3 victory over Eastern in the first round of the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic.