What has been going on lately with Washington sports teams? All of the Washington sports teams are experiencing difficulties; the Nationals, Redskins, Capitals (yes, the Caps), D.C. United and the Wizards are all fighting pre-, post- and regular season issues.

In late August, the worst possible thing happened to the Nationals and the whole Washington D.C. area: the Nationals announced that pitching phenom and the first overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, Stephen Strasburg, would need to undergo Tommy John surgery, requiring 12 to 18 months of recovery.

Back in June, the D.C. area became ecstatic when they witnessed his major league debut. But now with his elbow surgery, he will probably not even take the field for the Nationals again until the 2012 season.

Now to the Redskins, a team that has failed to meet its expectations ever since Dan Snyder bought the team in 1999. The second richest team in the NFL goes out and buys players like Albert Haynesworth who will never get the job done. All this does is make the fans and coaches furious.

Last spring, Haynesworth refused to attend voluntary and mandatory workouts because he was upset with the coaches changing the defensive alignment, so he called for a trade. Then he decided to show up to training camp and failed a fitness test multiple times. Then, he got upset with new head coach Mike Shanahan for making him play with the third team in the preseason. Haynesworth: shut up and deal with it.

Next, there are the Capitals. How does a team who wins 54 games in the regular season and earns the top seed in the Eastern Conference lose in the first round of the playoffs? All teh Caps needed to do was win four out of seven games, and they couldn’t even do that against the last team to qualify for the playoffs. The Capitals need to do something about that, but at least they win, usually.

On to Washington’s soccer team, D.C. United, which had been the best franchise in MLS history for its 15 years of existence with four MLS Cup Championships. However, United has not won the MLS Cup since 2004, and this season they are on track for their worst record in franchise history.

Finally, the Wizards. Let’s not even get started about the whole Gilbert Arenas gun incident, but they did draft John Wall with the first overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. However, the last two number one overall draft picks, Blake Griffin and Greg Oden, both suffered knee injuries in the preseason and missed their entire rookie seasons. Watch out, John Wall.