Nats Watch (7/31/07)

I guess I abandonded this almost immediately. Oh well.

Anyway, I went to a Nats game with my dad on Tuesday. It was the first time I went to a Nats game since the end of 2005. The game was the first of three vs. the Cincinnati Reds and started at 7:05.

We got to RFK Stadium about a half hour early. Dad got the tickets and we ended up sitting in the upper left side of the stadium. We sat in the front row in front of the divide between the upper second and the upper lower section. We thought this was great because it gave us a good view of the field, although I was later annoyed by the hundreds of people that walked in front of us. Also, I wanted to slouch, but the bars in front of our seat wouldn't allow it. I had to sit at an angle or let one of my legs dangle underneath. We also had to hear every guy who was selling beer, hot dogs, or cracker jacks.

I should have taken the opportunity to walk around the stadium. I had never gone to RFK even though my parents promised to bring me sometime. Although I'm not sure what I would have done. RFK feels like a parking garage.

(One thing that bugs me about RFK? There's a wall of Washington greats in the outfield. For the Redskins, it includes Theismann and Doug Williams, but not Mark Rypien. I can understand Theismann, but how long did Doug last after the superbowl win? I don't understand how he gets the nod but Rypien doesn't. )

Before the game the big screen was talking about some PGA thing. I wasn't really paying attention but that was the theme of the ball game. The person who threw the opening pitch was from the PGA. The anthem singer might have been too, but I didn't pay attention to who it was. During the anthem, I was glad to see that nobody shouted "Os!!" during the national anthem. I find it really rude when people shout during the anthem, especially people from Baltimore. I remember being really angry when I heard "Os!!!" at a Caps game. (Does it make me a hypocrite if I think it's rude for people to shout out their team name during the anthem yet I thought it was cool that fireworks went off towards the end?)

The game started and was scoreless through four innings. At one poin, Screech, the Nationals fat eagle mascot somehow snuck up on me. I guess I have a giant blind spot on the left side of my vision. He started poining at me and even made a "shooting a basketball" gesture. I just sorta froze. I thought about shaking his hand but just waited for him to go by. He lost interest in me but a dozen kids suddenly wanted pictures of themselves with him. This blocked the game for a few minutes. I finally decided to take a picture of him but my phone was off so I was only able to get a picture of his back before he was too far for my phone.

Behind me a large group of people filled out the second row. I was a little annoyed that I got women behind me, because women tend to be annoying when it comes to sports. There, I said it. At one poin I was thinking to myself that women should be banned from sports games. There's something annoying about women shouting "Whoo!" at sports game, but behind me I got the chatty kind of women. These women were only barely interested in the game and I was annoyed by their distracting conversation, but luckily the crowd started to drown them out. Still, why would anybody go to a ball game and talk about stuff like their weight or the vice president? Relax! Enjoy the game! Jeez. Later, my dad and I switched seats and I started to hear the mens' conversation. I was annoyed to hear their conversation too until they started talking about interesting things like the opening day of this season.

The Washington Nationals have a gimmick where they have the presidents from Mount Rushmore racing. It started as some computer animated thing, but by midway of last season they actually had people wearing costumes with big heads racing. Tuesday was the first time I was able to see it in person, and I was really looking forward to it. I was at first disappoined because the racing started on the big screen and I thought I was being cheated. The presidents were running around D.C. and Teddy stopped to get a hot dog. That's probably why he never wins. Never keeps his eye on the prize. Since the theme of the day was PGA, Teddy and Lincoln burst through the side of the stadium and quickly started playing golf. Washington and Jefferson watched for a minute, until they got bored and ran for the finish line. Washington won. Teddy got confused and started running the wrong way. And that's why Teddy is the real star of the Nats! (Lincoln, by the way, apparently had spikey anime hair. The 1860s were a different time!)

My dad got some peanuts before the game started, and had attracted ants by the time he was only halfway through the bag. Before long I told him to get a hot dog for me when he asked me what I wanted. The hot dog was good but I wish I could have gotten more to eat that night. I could have eaten a pizza or chicken strips with fries (the latter is something we've gotten a few times before.)

I guess I should mention the game. At the fifth inning both teams started scoring. Our pitcher had a rough inning and gave up to runs, and he could have given up more the way it was going. I was disappoined and worried that my dad and I were going to go 1-3 for our trips to the Nats. The bottom of the fifth turned that around when the Nats scored four runs. Three of those runs came from Zimmerman, one of the few Nats that I recognize by name, most likely because he's been with us since the start. That would have been the play of the game, if not for the second baseman (short stop?) making a great defensive play during the sixth. Ronnie Belliard grabbed a ball that the pitcher managed to kick as the ball went by. Belliard had to go to his right, away from the second base to get the ball. Rather then turn all the way around before throwing the ball, he simply flipped the ball behind him to whoever it was that was covering second base at that poin. Beautiful play, and the replays made it look like he was having fun. I wish I could have watched SportsCenter that night just to see if they showed it, which they damn well should have.

The Nats gave up another run later on, but then put up two more runs to secure the win. After my initial grumpiness I really got into the game, and at the end all I was thinking was that the only thing the game was missing was a home run from the home team. That didn't happen, but the Nats still won 6-3. It was a fun night, and I hope we go to another Nats game this year.