We chronicle a lot of very strange things in Washington D.C. sports in this space, and that was especially true in 2011. What many consider to be one of the worst years in Washington D.C. sports history was also one of its weirdest and bloggy'ist. To commemorate all the strange stuff that happened in 2011, we've decided to take on a very ambitious project. Here's hoping we did it well.
Below the jump, the 50 weirdest stories of 2011 in Washington D.C. sports.
50. James Franklin Recruits In A Helicopter: The former Terps' coach-in waiting gave fans a taste of what they missed when he left for Vanderbilt.
49. Bruce Boudreau celebrates with Bud Light: Call this the HBO 24/7 placeholder story
48. Jordan Crawford Says He's Better Than Michael Jordan: He should start by being better than Nick Young.
47. The Military Bowl's Weird Mascot: It looks like the Geico money pile with googly eyes.
46. The Horribly Misspelled Goodman/Drew Game Flyer: The August 20 event was a major success, but the planning wasn't. This sums that up.
45. Dan Snyder Grilled By A Fifth-Grader: This is how someone is allowed to interview him.
44. The Worst Anthem Ever: George Washington did what they could to get people pumped for games, but in the end, this video just reinforced all the negative stereotypes about the school.
43. Chris Douglas-Roberts Tweets Fighting Strategy During Hoyas' Brawl In China: Because even something as serious as this needs some humor.
42. Randy Edsall Gets Decked In Practice: This was by accident, but you can bet several players would like to have done it on purpose.
41. Mike Shanahan's Wife Has Bad Prognostication Skills: She never saw her husband so confident in his team. This was before another losing season.
40. Nick Sundberg Tased Himself As A Kid: What did you do as a kid?
39. Maryland Players And '#GSP': In the midst of a horrible season, Maryland football players began using the #GSP hashtag on Twitter, which stands for "Gossman State Penitentiary"
38. Nationals' Ballgirl Snubs Phillies Fan: GIF of the year right here.
37. Andray Blatche's Haircut: During one stretch where he was really struggling, Andray Blatche cut a maze into his hair and gave a cryptic interview saying the haircut represented his mindset at the time.
36. Man In Wedding Dress Goes Into Center Field At Braves-Nationals Game: Jayson Werth was amused.
35. Randy Edsall Gets His Own Ice Cream Flavor: And a pun time was had by all.
34. JaVale McGee's On-Court Plank: Presenting the "JaVale McGee Hat Trick": a dunk, a block and a plank.
33. Teddy Rides A Segway, Disqualified From President's Race: It looked like Teddy had finally won a President's Race after riding a segway through the finish line, but the judge ruled him ineligible and denied him his moment of glory.
32. Andray Baltche: In a typical Wizards blunder, they misspelled Andray Blatche's name on his jersey, spurring one of the best memes of the winter.
31. Mike Shanahan Refuses To Say 'Rebuilding': This year's most awkward press conference.
30. Ted Leonsis And An Oil Painting: A fan painted a picture of Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis as a centaur, just before the Capitals were swept out of the playoffs. Bad omen, it appears.
29. Roger Mason Is Ejected For Being Inactive: This just happened the other night.
28. Davin Meggett's Take On Moral Victories: The quote of the year, given after Maryland's loss to Clemson.
27. Jayson Werth Wants To Slay The Dragon: OK, I take it back. This was the quote of the year.
26. Bryce Harper has a puppy named 'Swag': Bryce Harper gets a puppy for Christmas and calls him a very Bryce Harper kind of name.
25. Chris Cooley's Prank On Carson Palmer: With Carson Palmer on the trade block, Chris Cooley conducted an elaborate series of prank calls to make Palmer think he had been traded to the Broncos.
24. Maryland Football's Unfortunate Pump-Up Video: In an attempt to do a fun social experiment, Maryland's website allowed fans to type in their own name to get a "personalized" football pump-up video. This was abused, as you could have expected.
23. Gilbert Arenas' Sharks Are Freed: This technically isn't a D.C. story anymore, but a wild rumor surfaced that Gilbert Arenas' fiancee, angry that Arenas left her, broke into Arenas' Great Falls home and destroyed his shark tanks, killing the sharks and causing tons of property damage.
22. Ralph Friedgen Burns His Maryland Diploma: He was kidding, but it wouldn't be totally out of the realm if he wasn't.
21. Andray Blatche And Lapdance Tuesday: A Miami strip club decided to put Andray Blatche's name on a flyer announcing a "Lapdance Tuesday" special, which only helped reinforce the stereotype that Blatche is more interested in partying than playing.
20. Nationals Compare Bryce Harper Scrutiny To Jackie Robinson: Probably want to make a better comparison there, you guys.
19. Alex Ovechkin Calls Bruce Boudreau A 'Fat F***': This story actually turned out to be pretty serious, but at the time, it was pretty amusing. The Capitals' star was benched late in a game where the Capitals needed a goal, and the cameras caught him using foul language.
18. JaVale McGee Invents An Alter Ego: Meet Pierre, JaVale's self-described bad side.
17. Ooga Shaka: With VCU making a deep run into March, someone made a predictably goofy rap song that was a play on coach Shaka Smart's name.
16. Alex Ovechkin Out Of Shape, According To Way He Slumped In Chair: An interview with the Capitals' team site in the summer had many convinced that Ovechkin was fat, even though he worked out copiously over the summer.
15. Dan Snyder Is A Prankster: In one of his few interviews of the year, the Redskins' owner talked about how people around Redskins Park think of him as someone who pulls a lot of practical jokes. The Twitter hashtag that developed from this story was both predictable and hilarious.
14. Matt Bradley Says Alexander Semin 'Doesn't Care': This comment, which came out of nowhere in a radio interview, led to a whole summer and fall of wondering whether Semin did, indeed, care.
13. Jayson Werth Takes President's Race Into His Own Hands: He failed on the field, so during the last week of the baseball season, he tried to change the culture off it. More here and here.
12. Andray Blatche's 'Play Off Starts Here' Shirt: Blatche's nice gesture to motivate teammates at his organized offseason workouts instead becomes a punchline for bad grammar.
11. Debbie Yow Says Gary Williams Sabotaged Her Coaching Search: Everyone knows former Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow doesn't get along with Gary Williams, but this came out of nowhere. Yow, now at North Carolina State, hijacked a press conference introducing Mark Gottfried as the school's new basketball coach to say that Williams "sabotaged" her quest to find someone better. Williams chuckled and allowed Yow to look bad. A couple months later, Williams retired.
10. John Beck Gets A Week's Supply Of Condoms: After being sacked a club-record 10 times against the Bills, John Beck got a week's worth of condoms to "protect himself" from a supplier.
9. The Nick And JaVale Show: Wizards youngsters Nick Young and JaVale McGee began recording videos of themselves during the lockout. Most notably, they ate raw cinnamon and rapped at Benihanas.
8. Bruce Boudreau Hates Madison Square Garden: In a radio interview, coach Bruce Boudreau had the audacity to say that the New York Rangers' stadium wasn't loud. After a Game 3 Rangers victory, the Rangers fans serenaded the coach with chants of 'We Can't Hear You'
7. Introducing Kegasus: In an attempt to drum up interest in an event that was losing it, members of the Preakness decided to build a special centaur mascot named "Kegasus" that advertised itself as the lord of the Preakness infield. Along the way, he gave picks for the race and drew a lot of backlash from purists who believe people go to the event to watch actual horse racing.
6. Chris Cooley Loved Seeing Tony Romo Fail: Chris Cooley found Tony Romo's inability to win games in the fourth quarter funny, and there was much overreaction to be had.
5. Dan Snyder Recruits Mike Shanahan After Drinking Crown Royal: The best revelation from a Washington Post story on how Shanhan came to D.C.
4. Bryce Harper's Kiss: After hitting a home run in a minor league game, Bryce Harper looked towards the pitcher and blew a kiss at him. The incident was caught on video and blown up throughout the sports world, mostly because Harper had a reputation for being a hot head. As it turns out, Harper was responding to trash talk earlier in the game, but context doesn't mean much in today's age.
3. Donovan McNabb Won't Wear A Wristband: As the Donovan McNabb situation spiraled out of control, a report originated from 106.7 The Fan that McNabb was asked to wear a wristband on his arm with the Redskins' plays, but refused to do so because it was bad for his image. McNabb and the team denied the move, but the fact that something like this even came out speaks to the drama that always goes on at Redskins Park.
2. Jan Vesely And 'The Kiss': Jan Vesely was drafted by the Washington Wizards, and immediately his girlfriend gave him a kiss on the lips. The motives for such a move were debated for months, and anyone watching immediately went to Google to find out more about this woman. To date, this remains Vesely's signature highlight as a member of the Wizards.
1. Jim Riggleman's Night Out On The Town: After announcing his resignation as the Nationals' manager, Jim Riggleman decided to celebrate by going to Paddy's Pub in Bethesda, getting smashed and hitting on some younger women.