Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:31 am EDT
Reigning NHL MVP and Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin was in the crowd at yesterday's Browns-Redskins game in Landover, MD wearing a faux leather helmet for the duration. Whenever I see that hat online or in a catalog I was always wonder to myself, "Who buys that?" Now I know: multi-millionaire Russian hockey stars who speak broken English and date women they meet on the Internet. It's a burgeoning demographic.
The CBS crew made no mention of Ovie as they showed him in his novelty hat before a commercial, which ensured that exactly 2% of the audience was able to recognize the hockey star.
Dan Steinberg writes that Ovechkin and teammates Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom did some tailgating, signed some autographs and huying jerseys at the Redskins team store prior to the game (Ovie: #21 Sean Taylor; Backstrom: #89 Santana Moss; Green: #17 Jason Campbell), before heading in to watch the Redskins eke out a 14-11 victory.
Redskins players are frequent spectators at Wizards games. Hockey isn't as much of an A-list event for other athletes, but during the Caps playoff run last year Chris Cooley, Clinton Portis and Jason Campbell were spotted in attendance at the Verizon Center. Bandwagon jumpers.
Shutdown Corner is an NFL blog edited by Matthew J. Darnell. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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Go Skins, Caps.
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That said, without a hockey jersey and donning that ridiculous hat he probably cut his chances of being recognized WAY down. It is DC, after all. :)
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Wish I'd been there yesterday to see those guys!
Go Caps
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