Did MLB Make A Mistake By Putting A Team In DC?

Do you know anything about DC? Seriously?

The politicians aren't from here. Neither are most of their staffs. They come here with their favorite teams and they have no reason for that to change.

And besides, Congress/the White House/other political appointments make a small percentage of the people who work in DC. Most are government workers in non-political areas (worker drones at SBA, IRS, Transportation, etc.). Others are lobbyists (see above if they have Hill experience), others work for defense contractors. And many, many companies have offices here because of the proximity to DC - Airbus, for example.

The people that care about the Nats/Redskins are the people that are from here, not the transplants. And there are a LOT of transplants.

 

Man, you mean the Nats stadium is brand-spanking new, has a decade and a half worth of development/technology head start on Camden Yards... and its already crappier than Camden? This blows. Trying to find some silver linings in this Nats cloud.

 

Personally, I really enjoyed the new house of the Nats. Good food, not too expensive, good sightlines, a little different looking than the other parks.

Camden is always the benchmark for all these parks because it was first, but especially for DC because it's right next door. Tough comparison.

 

A great post because he (or she) is right.

 

I think it was meant with the idea that how higly Camden Yards is still regarded. I was at Nationals Park for the first time last week and my first thought was Citizens Bank + government buildings = Nationals Park.

 

One of the stories made a great point: Who is the hero of this team? Even the God-awful, 107-loss '88 Orioles had Cal Ripken. What do the Nats have? Ryan Zimmerman? (shudder) Elijah Dukes? When I went to a game in June (and ran into Moddy and the Queen), I watched a minor-league lineup take the field. Aaron Boone (!) was hitting clean-up. Three players were batting below .200. And the video board kept replaying shots of Dukes' recent stretch that helped him get his average above .200.

If you're marketing Dukes, you're in trouble as an organization. Fuck second chances. This guy threatened to kill his fucking baby momma! And you expect people to get behind that? Come on.

Name me the Nats' No. 1 pitcher ... John Lannan? Really? John Lannan?

This team may be in an old-school sort of Tampa Bay situation, where you have to sign a brittle Greg Vaughn or a Jose Canseco just to draw some interest while the players in the minors develop. From a baseball standpoint, I agree that this team will be OK down the line. Good players at Harrisburg and Potomac. But for now, you've got to give people reason to plunk down $20 for a ticket and another $30 for food/beers/Metro. Someone to root for. There is no one there right now that fits that profile.

PS -- 93 Devil, if you could convince someone in FredVegas to built a route 3 bypass from west of town to north of 95, I'd be forever in your debt.

 

The sustained attendance history of the old Senators during the lean years supports my viewpoint.

You might think that the increasing population base should help the gate -- but a stretch of ugly losing years will take the starch out of any but the most-devoted. This is old news. Think this management is going to be willing to put up big bucks to sustain top-plateau
on-field performance, if/when they have the opportunity?

Insanity is the endless implementation of demonstrably flawed procedures -- while somehow expecting vastly-different results.

Would you (or anyone) want to invest real money in the operation of this franchise? I wouldn't.

 

Hustle and Moddy are dead on right.
MLB crippled this franchise before it moved and it's going to take time for it to get straightened out.
The thing is, PR wise, they're a corpse.
They need to do something to show the fanbase they want to win sooner than later.
This team is 3 years away from being a true contender.
As for the ballpark, I've sat in the pressbox twice and walked around the concourses a little bit and it looks fine to me.
Ballparks earn character when great moments happen in them, for the Nats, it's going to be a while.

 

Cosmo, too many farms and old school politics for that to happen.

New roads are for Damn Yankees.

That's why I reside in the Richmond area.

 

Unfortunately, I was there as well.

I really liked the new Nats park, parked for free at RFK Stadium and took the shuttle bus and thought that worked well. Of the newer parks I've been to, I like the Pirates' park the best. The Phillies' park and the Nats' park both are nice places to watch games.