Baseball in DC

To paraphrase Eminem, "my blog's back, back again...."

Yes after over three months my blog is finally back.  Ambivalence and laziness were the main culprits behind the outdated content on this site but hopefully I can motivate myself to post somewhat regularly from now on.  I mean I am paying money to keep this blog up so I might as well take advantage of it.  A lot has been going on the past three months and I'll start back posting sometime soon.  But today I wanted to post about a topic that has been talked about recently among the people that I am friends with.....Baseball in DC.   I recommend you check out Joe's post on the Baltimoronica Blog (see link) if you want to read a lengthy and well thought out post but unfortunately I don't have time for something like that so you'll just have to read my quickly thought up drivel for now.

On Thursday night I was one of the lucky 50,000 plus people to attend the inaugural game of the Washington Nationals.   I flew up from Miami that morning and met up with Jad to metro to the game.   I've been to a lot of baseball games in my life, but the only one that compared to this game was my first ever game at Yankee Stadium.  There was such electricity and excitement in the air and you knew right away that you were apart of something special.  The pomp and circumstance was nice, with the President throwing out the first pitch, the four plane flyover,  and the introduction of some of the all-time Washington Senator greats such as Frank Howard.  The American Flag stretching out across the whole outfield and the entire crowd joining in with the singing of God Bless America brought a tear to your eye and really made you proud to be an American.  However all of these emotions overshadowed the most basic feature of that night, that baseball is finally back in DC after 30-plus year hiatus. 

If you listen to paranoid and bitter Orioles fans you would expect the franchise to sputter along and eventually fail.  That is wishful thinking and will most certainly not happen.  The DC metro area has wanted a team for a long time and will do everything in its power to help the team succeed.  People often fail to realize just how popular baseball is in the DC/Northern VA area.  Growing up there I played baseball basically all year round.  I don't think that I know a person from that area that has never played the game at some level.  Around where I live in Alexandria you can't drive more than a few miles without seeing a baseball field and on Saturday afternoons everyone of them is full with kids playing ball.  Baseball in this area has a rich tradition and is vastly more deserving of a baseball team than a Baltimore area that draws a large number of fans from DC and VA, and is more obsessed with lacrosse than Joe is with porn and booze.  Oriole fans claim that it's unfair to their team and will hurt it's profits.   They want to be the only team in the area and make mocking references to the now exigence Montreal Expos.  Well a brief history lesson will show the blatant hypocrisy that is embodied in their arguments.  The Washington Senators began their existence in 1901, 52 years prior to the arrival of the Orioles.  And by Baltimore Orioles I mean the 1952 St. Louis Browns.  So basically all these Oriole fans are complaining about something that their franchise did back in the 1950's.  The Orioles moved in on DC's baseball market in 1953 when baseball agreed to move a failing franchise to Baltimore.  And now the Nationals are moving in on the Orioles.  What comes around goes around.  Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the Orioles and I want both teams to be successful, just like the Ravens and Redskins.  If those teams can coexist there is no reason why the Nationals and Orioles cant.  I have my Nationals season tickets but I'll still go to Baltimore to catch at least five or six games this summer (more than I went to last summer).  What people don't understand is that this is good for baseball fans in the DC/Baltimore area.  Fans that could only watch the Cubs and Cardinals on TV can now go to Nationals games to watch NL teams that they otherwise would not be able to see.  Orioles fans need to get over themselves and take the opportunity to expose themselves to NL baseball.  Baseball is back in DC for good and the sooner everyone comes to terms with this the sooner we can all simply go back to enjoying the season and trashing Barry Bonds.

Comments

[Joe]

Well said and very factual post--I think both teams will do well, I really do.