Yesterday, I crossed an item off my bucket list (if one exists, which I won't confirm or deny that one exists). I had turducken. For those of you who didn't grow up in the 90s/00s watching Pat Summerall and John Madden do football broadcasts on Thanksgiving, a turducken is when you stuff a chicken inside a duck and then you stuff all of that and stuff it into a turkey.
My friend Ashley (who I solely know off of twitter) invited me up to Baltimore for Thanksgiving dinner, this is the second year of her tradition of inviting people in the area for turducken. We're not sure who is crazier, her for inviting an internet stranger to her house or me for going to Baltimore to a houseful of internet strangers who could've been gang or KKK members.
Traveling from Germantown to Baltimore without a car wasn't that hard. I spent less than $7 to use mass transit. There's a bus that goes from my local metro station to BWI airport for $5, and then from there I took the light rail the rest of the way. I kind of wonder, how much theft happens on there. I mean, there really isn't a surefire way to make sure you paid. I've heard that they have random fare checkers (I've ridden twice and I've never been asked to show proof). I guess when rides are less than $2, there really isn't a point of stealing rides. Coming back was more expensive, Amtrak isn't cheap, but all in all, I made the trip and back and I only had to sacrifice $35, 35% of my laptop screen and some of my dignity when I tripped infront of a lightrail-ful of people getting off, but I digress...
The turducken was awesome. I wish I took notes when I was eating this. It was just full of awesome that's hard to describe off of memory. I didn't really notice the difference in the meats but it was very filling. It tasted a lot like turkey and chicken, I didn't really notice the duck meat. There was other fixins, stuffing, biscuits, mashed potatoes, which I had and those were delicious. There were some green beans too, I honestly cant remember if I ate them. I was too in love with the turducken to pay attention to healthy vegetables. I finished off three massive plates of turducken and fixins yesterday.
It was a great day. One of the highlights was when Sush (one of the guests) and I were somehow talking about the KKK and how they would be after her as well. And I asked her if she was black and she laughed and said she was Jewish. (I wasn't thinking, I had been drinking all day and half of my blood was busy digesting turducken.) For the record, Sush does not look black or mixed at all.
Another highlight was when the Redskins beat the Cowboys. It was weird, Ashley is a Cowboys fan, and I'm a Redskins fan but each of us thought the opposing team would win. It was like the movie Face-off. I have a list of Top 10 Sporting Events I Have Attended . I do not have one for games I have watched on TV (too many to consider, I've watched over 1,000) but this would probably make it.
It was nice getting something crossed off my bucket list (if one exists) The next thing I hope to cross off is attend a Super Bowl or attend a victorious playoff game for a DC Sports team. I've been to 3 Capitals playoff games and 1 Nationals playoff game, all of them have been losses
I finally decieded to do stand-up. I kind of wanted to try my hand at stand-up for a while, but never had the balls to do it, until recently.
I'm sure one of the factors is the fact that I made a little bit of a stir in the comedy world as Tolu Robertson . And part of it was seeing a couple of friends go to some open mike nights and doing okay. I figured I've listened to enough comedy albums (true story, I would listen to comedians' records before going to sleep or when doing homework my junior year of college), and I have enough funny stories that I can come up with 5 minutes of decent stand-up comedy.
I pretty much came up with most of my set on a lazy Sunday waiting for the Redskins v Rams game to come on. A lot of it was self referential, I figure if I'm going to go onstage and be nervous and talk, it should be about a subject I am an expert in (myself). Plus its impossible to steal material (intentional or unintential) when most of the jokes you're making are about yourself and are based on real life experiences. At an open mike once, I saw a guy pretty much do Mitch Hedberg's act but with his own material. Technically it's not stealing but when you go out and take someone's delivery and manerisms on stage, you're not being yourself and I'd rather go out on stage and bomb/suceed with my own material.
Here's video of my standup. It was performed at the Blue Banana in DC on September 25th. I'm very self critical of myself, I still haven't watched it and I probably won't watch the video for a while. Before going on stage, I felt really nervous but once on stage, I really didn't feel anything. Maybe it was cause I knew my material, maybe it was the alcohol or maybe the cheatsheet I had on the side of the stage helped me. I felt like I did a good job, considering I'm an amatuer and had no idea what I was doing. I got some groans from the Jerry Sandusky joke I did, but that inspired me to write more Jerry Sandusky material... But I am kind of mad that I forgot to include a really funny herpes joke in my set. It was fun, I can't wait to do this again
I'm going to try and attempt to go through game by game and predict the Redskins' record. First time I've ever tried to do this. Most seasons I convince myself that they will win 10+ games with no real reason, though last season I predicted 5 or less wins at the start and I was right.
Week 1 @ New Orleans W
I'd normally pick the Saints but considering Bountygate, I am going with the Skins for this game. Their coach and interim coach (as well as other players) are suspended for this game. I want to see the interim interim coach suspended or get thrown out to see if Skynet becomes self aware and starts coaching in this game.
Week 2 @ St. Louis W
With a third offensive coordinator in three years, Sam Bradford is slowly following the same gameplan Jason Campbell followed to mediocrity. Another road win for the Redskins.
Week 3 vs Cincinnati L
I see RGIII's first game in DC (Well Maryland technically) as a loss. With a true offseason under their belt Andy Dalton and AJ Green will find a way to expose the Redskins biggest defensive weakness, the secondary.
Week 4 @ Tampa Bay W
RGIII bounces back from his first professional loss to win big in Tampa in a nationalized televised game. I'm not buying Tampa as legitimate. I hate Josh Freeman cause he was a bad backup QB in fantasy football and I distrust college coaches making the jump to the NFL (see Spurrier, Steve; Petrino, Bobby and Saban, Nick)
Week 5 vs Atlanta L
RGIII will get his numbers but it will not be enough with Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez and Julio Jones catching passes for the other team
Week 6 vs Minnesota W
Redskins get "revenge" for the Christmas Eve game last year where Joe Webb and Toby Gearhart took over the injured Christian Ponder and Adrian Peterson. Supposedly Adrian Peterson will be healthy enough to play all 4 quarters, but the front 7 should be able to neutralize him.
Week 7 @ New York Giants W
Redskins win for the 3rd time in 3 tries vs the Giants.
Week 8 @ Pittsburgh L
Dick LeBeau and his zone blitz defense will be in midseason form and they will eat RGIII alive in this game.
Week 9 vs Carolina L
2 highly rated black quarterbacks going against each other in this game. I will give the edge to Newton in this one. Hopefully we see this matchup many times in the playoffs in future years.
Week 11 vs Philadelphia W
I am planning on going to this game (birthday weekend) and the Redskins are 8-4 when I attend their games. If for some reason I cant go, I'm sure a nagging injury from Vick will limit his effectiveness and the Redskins will capitalize off that.
Week 12 @ Dallas L
Redskins are 0-6 on Thanksgiving Day games vs the Cowboys and with a rookie quarterback playing on short rest, I do not see him being the stopper. May later in his career he will get a Thanksgiving Day win but not today.
Week 13 vs Giants L
RGIII will play well but Eli will go on a run at the end of the game to rally his team to victory.
Week 14 vs Ravens L
RGIII will hit the rookie wall and not play well against a perenially good Ravens defense.
Week 15 @ Browns W
Rookie vs Rookie QB, probably in a cold weather game. Both teams have storied pasts but have stunk as recent. Redskins win in an ugly, run dominated because Morris + Helu + Royster > Richardson and his balky knee.
Week 16 @ Eagles L
No real reasoning, just feel like the Eagles will win in this game.
Week 17 vs Cowboys W
Home game featuring 2 mediocre teams, I'll pick the home team for this one.
This season is going to be a lot like a previous Shanahan seasons, a hot start but then a regression back to reality in the 2nd half of the season. But there is stuff to look forward to. 8-8 would be the Redskins best record since Zorn's first year in DC. Plus every single Week 1 offensive starter is under 30 and only 2 Week 1 defensive starters are over 30. Maybe next year the Redskins can make a run at the playoffs.
I hope Shanahan gets a Year 4. You don't pay a guy 7 million dollars a year and give him partial GM power for 19-29(which includes my 8-8 prediction) over 3 years, but the Redskins had one of the oldest rosters in Year 1 of the Shanahan takeover and now have one of the youngest. The team is in better shape than the one he inherited.
Isn't it ironic, that Chick-Fil-A, an organization that donates to anti gay rights organizations like Focus on the Family and others, has a twitter account run by the Germantown, MD franchise with the handle @cFAGtown ?
Wednesday, July 3, was the first Ignite Your Natitude Tweetup, but not the first Nationals tweetup. In the spirit of twitter, all
paragraphs will be 140 characters or less...
I got there around 3:15, gates didn't open until 4, game didn't start until 6:30. People wanted the meet n greet with the players, that
was available to the first 10 people to check in. I almost got it, I was 13th in line. I probably would've gotten it if my belt had been
tied tighter (i was essentially mooning people for a couple of seconds while running to the check in table) or if the ticket I had was
scanning properly (first time using mobile tickets so it took me a couple of swipes). My friend Tracy was able to win the meet n greet
, and I felt compelled to give him the ball I got from Livan Hernandez to have that signed. Tracy eventually got that ball signed by
Stephen Strasburg, and I kind of feel like that symbolizes a turning point of the franchise, a passing of the torch of staff aces.
Had a great time. I guess any time that the Nationals win is a good time. This was espicailly exciting because this is the first
time I've seen a Jordan Zimmermann win live(yes, I actually keep track of these things along with other stats). It's not that he doesn't
pitch well, when I go to the ballpark ( 3.65 ERA over 7 starts) but the offense never comes through for him, or he's not pitching when
the game is decieded. Its always fun nerding out with other Nats tweeters (the Center Field Gate Alliance, singing along to walkup music,
sacreligious Jesus Flores puns) even if you aren't familiar with them. I lucked out, my seat was near other tweeters I knew. One of the
things that I kind of hate about tweetups is that I tend to gravitate to people I've known previously. I need to do a better job of
introducing myself to new people and striking up conversations.
Two things really pissed me off. The special ticket offer came with 6 bucks credit for concessions. I've ordered tickets with
food credits on them before, no problem, but I was a little concerned since it was on my phone, so I asked one of the employees
working the Ignite Your Natitude Tweetup sign-in table and he tod me that it would be fine. Thinking I have 6 bucks credit, I go to
Jammin Island and order the combo with chicken and ribs and rice n beans and potato salad, only to be told that they couldn't scan the
code off my phone. (it hurt me deep to leave all that food stranded) Thinking that the stand doesn't know what they were doing, I go
to another concessions area, but I'm told the same thing. I go back to the sign in table, and another employee tells me that I need to go to
guest services, and they were able to resolve the issue. Would've been a lot easier just to tell me to go to guest services initially.
Before the food credit fiasco, I had a decent appetite, and wanted to go for the 8 pound Strasburger. I've taken doen a 6 pound milkshake
with a 1.5 lb sandwhich before, so 8 pounds of bread/meat/veggies should be no problem. I politely asked the person at the Red Loft if they
were serving the Strasburger today, she said no. TURNS OUT THEY WERE BECAUSE MY FRIEND STEPHANIE ORDERED ONE AND ATE IT WITH FRIENDS! That
is a customer service fail! This is your signature item, EVERY single employee at the Red Loft should be able to give a correct answer if
asked if its being served. If they do not know, ASK! It is a $50 burger, it is worth your time to ask. With the secrecy of when it is
available, and the failure of tonight, I'm starting to think there is a worldwide conspiracy for me not to eat this burger. Thankfully
Stephanie saved me a slice, very succulent, and I can't to eat 8 pounds of that.
(Note that invalidates most of this rant. Turns out they weren't selling the Strasburger, but Travel Channel was at the park and filmed a special on the burger and my friend Andrea asked if she could have it afterwards and they said yes. Still, it would've been nice to have it available when a special about it is being filmed)
I wish they had charging stations for us tweeters. My droid uses its battery pretty fast and I was already on orange in the 3rd inning.
Luckily, there was a rain delay and I used that opportunity to find an outlet and charge up.
All in all, it was a great night at the ballpark, the metro ride home, that's a different story, but I'm looking forward to future baseball
tweetups, both informal and organized by the team.
Hadn't blogged in a while. Part of it was lacking a computer and part of it was not having any good thoughts but here goes my thoughts on the Nationals hitting coach, Rick Eckstein and if he should stay or go.
The Nationals offense has not been good at all this year, and the past week, it has gone even colder. I'm not sure how much of that is Rick's fault though. The Nationals have scored 265 runs, have an On Base % of .304 and a Slugging % of .387, all below the MLB average. Some of that is the rash of injuries. Opening day starters Wilson Ramos, Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth have spent time on the disabled list and Michael Morse, who would've been a starter for opening day if it wasn't for an injury, has only played 22 games.
Good stuff has happened under Eckstein too. 19 Year old Bryce Harper rarely looks his age when facing Major League pitching. Ryan Zimmerman won a Silver Slugger and had a 30 game hitting streak. Adam Dunn slugged 76 homers and Josh Willingham hit 40 homers and batted .263 in their 2 years here. Michael Morse hit .303 with 31 homers last year. Before his injury, Jayson Werth was playing like the Jayson Werth of old, and not the stressed out model the Nationals didn't know what to do with last year. The pitchers actually look like decent hitters.
I wanted to try and remove injuries from the situation and judge Rick Eckstein by a jury of his peers. Eckstein's first full season as the National's hitting coach was in 2009. Six other hitting coaches have been with their team as long as Eckstein (Kevin Long, Yankees;Dave Magadan, Red Sox; Brook Jacoby, Reds; Kevin Seitzer, Royals; Lloyd McClendon, Tigers; Joe Vavra, Twins). Three others have been hitting coaches since 2009 but with multiple teams (Greg Walker, White Sox and Braves; Derek Shelton, Braves and Rays; Don Baylor, Rockies and Diamondbacks). Amongst all of those coaches, Eckstein ranks last in Batting Average, On Base %, Slugging %, OPS and runs.
I did the research with an open mind. Even though the Nationals offense had been slumping, I was pro Eckstein because of all the injuries that have happened. Now that I took a step back and looked at the data, he should be let go at the end of the season. I know some of this data is "misleading" because when you can buy the best players, coaching makes a negligible difference (you know who I'm talking about). But when the Royals are hitting better than you, that's a problem. Twenty-three teams have changed their hitting coach during Rick Eckstein's tenure. The Nationals gave him a fair chance, here's to a new hitting coach in 2013.
Still recovering from watching Henry Rodriguez blow another game I know he only has 2 blown saves but those lines are wildly magnificient.1.1 Innings pitched 5 hits, 4 runs, 3 strikeouts and 5 wild pitches. I can work with you if you lack control or if you're prone to giving up homers but not if you're a wild pitch artist.
Only problem is who will replace Hrod as closer. Most fans would probably want Tyler Clippard or Craig Stammen. Two words for you. ABSOLUTELY NOT!
It's not that I don't value their contribution, but I believe they serve more value in their roles as relief firemen then they would as a closer. More is at stake during a tie game with no outs and no one on or the top of the 7th with no outs and bases loaded. I would rather use them to keep the game close than save them for the 9thinning lead the nats may never get. Besides,imagine Hrod in that last situation. Hot enough for you?
Ryan Perry is the next guy that comes to my mind.his last outing had him giving up 6 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Next name.
Tom Gorzelanny. People I know do not like him, but I haven't developed a hatred for him. As a former starter I believe he can do well in the Nats bullpen. But I will pass on him as a closer until his statistics reflect what my uninformed mind thinks he can do.
This leaves 2 names that I would happily endorse as closer. Ryan Mattheus and Sean Burnett. Mattheus' career ERA is only 2.74 (small sample size, I know ). But the last time he was a regular closer was in 2008.Burnett started last year as the co closer until he became ineffective, but he was able to fix himself and is off to a great start so far this year. And his career ERA is only 3.71.Surely, my blood pressure will be lower with Mattheus or Burnett as closer then Henry Rodriguez.
Last Saturday was an excellent sporting day for the DC fans. The Nationals won, the Capitals won, DC United won. Too bad the Wizards weren't able to continue the winning tradition throughout the day, but they are at the point where it's more beneficial to lose than win so I'm ok with that. Other than baseball doubleheaders, this is the first time I've attended. It wasn't attended for the love of the sports, more for the love of bobbleheads.
I have 42 bobbleheads and a garden gnome. Not gonna lie, it's a bit of an addiction. First bobblehead game I attended was Jose Guillen bobblehead night, and honestly that night was not chosen because it was a bobblehead night. My friends Sarah and Kate were in town and wanted to catch a game. I dragged my friend Chris to come with us and we happened to get bobbleheads. We went to Hooters afterwards, but I digress... At first I just wanted to collect the Nationals collection, but it has spread to me collecting all the DC pro sports teams. Usually my method is to buy multiple tickets so I can go through the turnstiles and collect extra bobbleheads and then trade those on Craigslist, but last fall I went a little crazy with Bill Me Later option on Ebay and grew my collection that way.
Anyways, so my friend Mike, who is also into bobbleheads, found out about John Wall Bobblehead Night back in January. The Wizards did not do a good job of hyping it up until March. Originally it was not on the promotions page and Mike found it on a random link of the site. Also, this was about the time where DC Sports Bog was doing a story on how cheap Wizards tickets were to acquire on the secondary market. I went on StubHub and bought 4 tickets for 30 bucks, retail price 40 back in early February. I actually did periodically check to see if I could've gotten a better deal, and yes I could've bought 10 tickets for 50 if I had waited.
For the Nationals, I just ordered the tickets directly from the team. I ordered a 5 game flex plan and the games I chose were Opening Day, the three bobblehead games, and I have a voucher for a game, which I will probably use for Harperkkah. I'm not sure when I realized that both games were on the same day, but I'm sure I was excited. I just wished that the Nationals game was at 1:05 instead of 4:05 just so I would have more time to get to the Verizon Center for the 7:00 game.
The game started at 4:05. They started selling 5 dollar Day of Game tickets at 1:30. I got there before 12:30. I am not sure what is more sad, that I got there more than 3 and a half hours for a baseball game or that I was not the first person in line, there were about 10 people ahead of me. I engaged in polite conversation with my line mates about Nationals games and how we hate tourists and I was easily able to acquire a 5 dollar ticket to go with my real ticket so I could get 2 Stephen Strasburg Bobbleheads.
I'm paranoid, so I always include a change of clothing so that I am not recognized when I go to double dip for a bobble. I started doing this when after Frank Howard Bobblehead Night. It was raining, so there weren't as many people going through the gates so it was easy to recognize people. I had 4 tickets, and they stopped me at 3 but I got my friend to walk by so I could get the 4th.
With 3 hours to kill before the game, I hung out with Matt, Jen, Dave, TJ and Lara at one of the restaurants, the Red Porch. I was very disappointed that they were not serving The Strasburger. I understand you cannot have 8 pounds of burger ready on a whim so you have to limit the days when it's available. BGR, the Burger Joint, has a policy of calling 24 hours in advance if you want to go for its 15.4 lb burger, and you have to leave your credit card number with them. But it was a nice day out, and bobblehead nights pretty much guarantee that you will have a huge crowd that will be arriving early, and its Strasburg Bobblehead Night. IF YOU HAVE A SPECIALTY ITEM BASED ON A PLAYER, IT SHOULD BE A FEDERAL CRIME IF IT ISN'T OFFERED ON THAT PLAYER'S (INSERT PROMOTIONAL ITEM HERE) GIVEAWAY NIGHT!
We tried to get Jordan Zimmermann to sign Matt's ball, but he was not by the dugout. We were able to wave at Drew Storen and Mike Rizzo though. Normally, baseball is my focus at baseball games but with the Capitals in the playoffs, they were the priority. Mike, Matt and I were able to get a great position at the Red Loft. We had a nice view of the field and when we turned around to look at the tv to pay attention to the game, we had a nice railing to lean on. So nice that some woman asked me if she could take my place since she was shorter and part of my attention was diverted to the tvs behind. I immediately told her no.
I have no regrets. I doubt it, but I kind of hope she's reading this. Lets be honest, if you're going to ask a random guy to give up his spot, it helps if you're hot and among female friends. She was average at best and among 2 dudes. Also, you're wearing a Red Sox cap. Maybe if you were actually a fan of the Nationals, I would've been more gracious and let you have my spot. But for a Boston fan, especially when the Caps are playing Boston, NO! Another thing, The Red Porch is not a ticketed area, its first come first serve. If you don't like the view you have, you have seats you purchased and are more than welcome to sit there.
I hate leaving games early but sometimes it's a necessary evil. I left early last week. It was a calculated risk. It was the bottom of the 6th inning, Nationals were up 3-1 and the Capitals were tied after regulation. We figured we could get the bobblehead and be able to chill and watch both games at the Green Turtle.
We met up with my friend Megan at Verizon Center and got our bobbleheads. Mike and I had 2 tickets each cause we're addicts. Matt forgot his ticket at home so he had to buy another ticket at the game. We settled in at Green Turtle with the Nationals reaching its conclusion and the Capitals game in OT. (On a side note, it should be a federal crime to operate a sports bar and not have high definition tvs. random side note, I'm not calling out any bars...) Nats won easily, and within seconds of Edwin Jackson and Kristina Akra getting doused with Gatorade , Backstrom scored the game winning goal in the 2nd OT.
The game wasn't that interesting. Cleveland got out to an 8-2 lead and never really looked back. The Wizards kept it close so it wasn't totally bad, but I still have hope for next year. Nothing exciting really happened, Wizards crowds aren't really full of life except during the Chick Fil A fowl shots promotions and the team has been horrible this year. But I think they are in a good position for the future, lots of youth and the only really bad contract on the team is Rashard Lewis but that expires next year.
I was able to get four bobbleheads total, 2 Strasburgs and 2 John Walls. I traded the extra Strasburg for an Alex Ovechkin bobblehead from the 2008 season, so that means I have 3 different Ovi bobbleheads and the Wall bobblehead is being traded for a Deshawn Stevenson bobblehead.
This was the day Patrice O'Neal made fun of me on the CD known as Mr.P.
Started out as just a normal day. It was my third day at a new job which involved sorting financial statements. After that, my friend Rob and I had tickets to see Patrice O'neal at 8PM at the DC Improv. After work, I parked by my old work so I wouldn't have to pay for parking at metro, and to see if my work check had been delivered (it wasn't). I was trying to kill as much time before the 8 PM show.
I go to comedy shows like most people go to concerts. I've only been to 1 music concert (Cypress Hill, thanks for asking) but 20 comedy shows. I'm not even sure how I got started listening to comedy. I think it was at the University of Maryland cause I would frequently download standups/cds of comedians and listen to them as I did my homework or went to sleep.
Patrice is one of my favorite comedians that I've seen live. I could listen to him riff about anything all day. I forgot how I first heard about him, either from The Sports Junkies or Opie and Anthony. This was my third time seeing him live, both previous sets were awesome.
I got there pretty early and as a result, my seat was front and center. The 2 random people who Rob sold the extra tickets to came in about 30 minutes later, and Rob was the last person to show up at the table.
I wish I remembered the openers that night, but I don't. I wish there was a way to get my hands on the raw taping that night. Patrice had a great set, but I wasn't feeling it the first couple of jokes because I was stressed about some other stuff but towards the middle of his set was the good stuff, then he called me out.
He was just trying to be friendly, he did great crowd work, and he asks me what my name was and I said "Tolu." I could just see it on his face, and I knew I was done for. I had no idea this was being taped so I just went along for the ride. You can download and listen to it here. I thought it was funny, so I just laughed along. I'm used to being picked on at comedy shows because I'm usually the token black guy. Somehow I've never been made fun of because of my weight.
Normally after comedy shows with Rob, we go to the local strip club and watch the ladies but I was a bit on the broke side so we didn't. He had a cigarette and was drunkenly, unsuccessfully hitting on the store manager of the CVS. Then he we went home, but on the way home we had some Wendy's. Looking back, if I had known that there was a Nationals and a Capitals game that day, I probably would not have gone, but oh well.
I sent out this tweet thinking it would be an inconsequential moment in my life. November 29th, I got a tweet from my friend Tom that my name was listed as a track on Patrice's new CD. I knew it had to have been me cause there is no way Patrice O'neal found 2 people named Tolu and made fun of them both. I was honored. When the CD came out, I made sure I had an iTunes copy and a physical copy.
I know, last October, when Patrice O'neal had a stroke, he was scheduled to be at the DC Improv the last weekend of April. I hoped for the best, but I knew the chances of a full recovery were slim when they took him off the lineup on the website. I understand its a business, but it would have been nice to see the Improv leave that slot blank or to have a Mr.P listening party on that date.
I miss you, Patrice. There will never be another one like you.
I guess this would be considered a sequel to my Opening Day: A Retrospect post. Went to Opening Day on Thursday. Glad the Nationals won but I have yet to see a Nats starting pitcher get the win on Opening Day. And yes, I'm trying to see how many times I can say Opening Day in a sentence before you tire of it.
I woke up the same time I do as I'm going to work, but for some reason it was easier. I actually got down to the area around 9, so I headed to my friend Kim's house for a party. Beer, bagels, champagne. I hung around there for an hour then I headed down early so I could make sure I got one of the opening day hats. I learned my lesson from 2009 when I didn't get the hat. Very crowded, which can be good and bad. I like the energy of a crowd, but with a huge crowd comes the lack of cell coverage and lack of baseball intelligence.
I'm one of those people who do not like people walking up and down the isles or making people get up during game play. I believe you should either wait until the middle or end of the inning to get back to your seat or if you must be watching the game, quickly find a seat that is out of the way and then wait there until the middle/end of inning.
Also, I despise the wave. If I were supreme leader of the world, there would be no wave. It implies that you are bored and are not here for a baseball game. That being said, I can understand a wave starting during an extremely long pitching change or a blowout game. But trying to start the wave during the bottom of the 10th is indefensible. You should have your ability to buy tickets revoked.
My friend Tracy and I found some random guy taking on the Strasburger at the Red Porch. He was a little more than halfway done when we found him.
According to the Director of Restaurant Operations, he was the first to attempt the burger. She came down, took pictures, gave him her card and I wasn't sure but it felt like she was going to comp his burger. The guy going for the challenge seemed cool. We talked about Man vs Food, old school Nationals and other stuff. I was so smitten with him, I even asked for his twitter (he didn't have one). Surprisingly, he wasn't that big, I would expect a big old fat guy going for the challenge. And for only 59 bucks, this seems like a great deal. I know the 15.4 pound burger at BGR: The Burger Joint is about 80 bucks and this is only 8 pounds.
Guy was doing an excellent job, he used the pizza method. He cut the burger into 8 slices and ate it like that. On his last slice, Tracy and I were escorted out because we were in the aisles. We could either sit and order food or leave, that bummed me out.(I understand this is a restaurant and you can't have people that aren't customers standing around obstructing the waiters but this was not a full restaurant, we could've sat at an empty table and watched or sat at his table, which had 3 empty seats and watched without being in the way or affecting the bottom line of the restaurant)
Afterwards, we ended up meeting up with some friends at the Scoreboard Walk and ended up hanging out until the pregame ceremonies where we quickly dispersed to our seats. Unfortunately I had to sit by myself, I only bought 1 ticket in 404, where my row was surprisingly empty. This was a great game, but it sucked that Gio was not able to get the win. He deserved it. Best Opening Day performance I've seen since Roy Halladay. For the record, I do not blame Brad Lidge. The 2 hits he gave up, the balls weren't hit too hardly. One of those walks was intentional, and I'm convinced the other was one of those unintentional/intentional walks. If Ryan Zimmerman plays closer to the line, those balls are most likely outs. I was told he was playing away from the line in order to protect from the bunt, and the Nats ended up winning so I'm not going to assign blame to anyone, its just one of those things that happened.
Great game, I know its early but its nice being in first place. Would be nice if we went wire to wire, probably won't happen if Utley and/or Howard come back to the Phillies at full strength but for now I will sit back and enjoy the season, and maybe a Strasburger or 2.
I know,this isn't an issue of 1st Amendment rights because he is not facing government punishment and a private organization has the ability to hire/fire whomever they please, but I do not like this situation.
Let's get a couple of things straight. Ozzie Guillen is stupid for complementing Castro as an American citizen, let alone the manager of a team in a city with a lot of Cubans. He should be reprimanded internally. I don't particularly agree with a suspension, but I can understand wanting to punish him for showing bad judgment, but there are people wanting to fire him. I don't understand how an interview with a Venezuelan-American baseball manager can drift on the subject of Castro's rule, but I'm sure he could've easily said no comment or changed the subject or requested that his statement was off the record.
First off, Ozzie has a history of saying stupid stuff. Most of us are laughing about it. My first instinct was to laugh and make a joke about how the Washington Nationals need to make a statement denouncing Robert Mugabe. Comedians Neal Brennan and Tosh.0 made jokes. Don't take Ozzie Guillen's quotes too seriously.
Next, he is just a baseball manager. WHO CARES WHAT HIS THOUGHTS ARE ABOUT FOREIGN POLITICAL LEADERS! They have little bearing on your life. I could understand the concern if he was President Guillen, Ambassador Guillen or Secretary of State Guillen. But he isn't. Marion Barry, a DC councilman has a history of saying/doing dumb stuff and so did Ted Kennedy, God rest his soul, but we still let them keep their jobs, and their thoughts and actions matter more than a baseball manager.
Thirdly, no matter how controversial your comments are, you should not be punished for stating an opinion that contains no racial slurs, doesn't condone violence against certain minorities or brings up unpleasant stereotypes. I don't completely agree with someone being reprimanded for calling a group of women nappy headed hos, or Whitney Houston a crack ho, or a comedian joking that he would kill his son for being gay, but I can understand doing something. But Castro is the bad person on this, not Ozzie.
Lastly, this trend is disturbing, borderline thought policing. Imagine if a manager of a minor league team in the bible belt was interviewed by a major magazine and he expressed pro gay or pro choice thoughts. The local population and other Americans might find those thoughts offensive and protest to try to get him fired. Isn't the Ozzie situation similar to that hypothetical situation I listed? Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa publicly supported controversial talk show host Glenn Beck and people never called for LaRussa to be fired. It's a shame how far we've come in 2 years.
I'm sorry to all the Cubans that were negatively effected by Castro but calling on a boycott to get Guillen fired for this Castro issue, which he apologized for, is not going to heal your suffering. Lets just drop the issue and move on with your life.
This was a trend about a month ago and I had a lot of fun tweeting and coming up with mine, so I figured I'd make mine into a blog post, and expound on my reasons why these are mine.
1. If you have to ask for a follow then you're doing it wrong
I follow over 1900 people, I'm not exactly picky over who makes it into my timeline. I'll usually look to see we have common interests, or if we have met in real life before I follow back. If someone tweets me "hey, can you follow me," I make it a point to not follow because I feel like they are being rude. If you want someone to follow you, you should follow them first and interact with them and hopefully they will see that you're an interesting tweeter and they will follow back.
I've made exceptions, like one guy the first thing he tweeted me was that he's new on twitter and a Redskins fan. I had no problem following him back even though he asked, but he did give me a good reason to follow.
2. I have no problem with you tweeting about who unfollowed you, but calling them out by name is pretty pointless.
When unfollowr and other software came out, it was pretty cool. It was great coming up with a way to find out who unfollowed you, and it was actually cool to call out that twitter account that followed you just to get a follow back and then unfollowed.
But once everyone else who wanted that software got it, that novelty wore off. Besides you, nobody else really cares what accounts unfollow you. I use it and I sometimes tweet passive aggressive stuff about the people who unfollow me, but I'll never list them by name. I once had a guy follow me, then unfollow me a day after. That probably warranted me calling him out by name, but I didn't. What is the purpose, it makes you look like a boring douche. Besides, If I unfollow you for a certain reason and I see you calling me out by name, you have just reaffirmed my decision.
I got called out for unfollowing one time. It was by a guy who I followed, and he followed me back but we never tweeted each other over the period of 6 months. One day, I looked at his tweets, they really weren't interesting so I unfollowed. I figure I'm doing both of us a favor.The day after I see that he called me out on it, so I just asked him what's the point, you look like a douche and I got blocked. He still never answered my question. I don't know if he expected me to refollow him after he called me out, but oh well.
3. Use the DM Option Sparingly
To me, a direct message is like a voicemail. I hate checking both and I usually only check them just to get the annoying icon off my phone. I understand some things have to be DMed, and I'm not going to hate on people for that but auto DMs serve no no purpose. I've never gone to a site or Facebook page because of a DM.
4. Try to use proper spelling and grammar
I know its just twitter, but at least try. Its just twitter, but this is a social network where you are judged on how you write. At least make a token attempt to spell/use grammar. I'm not going to be too hard on you for typing "u" instead of "you" or messing up (there/their/they're or you're/your) and I understand trying to fit something in 140 characters, something is gonna give. But no joke, I once got this tweet. "now ff'ing yu. Kindly ff bak swits" Ummm.... You broke rule number 1 and you spelled 2 words correctly in your tweet. Go away. Its kind of funny cause she blocked me too. Whats the point of blocking someone who doesnt want to follow you
5. Reserve block button only for harassing tweeters
I try not to use the block button, I only use it when I suspect someone of being a spam account. I've only blocked somebody once because of content. It was one of those twitter accounts that randomly tweet their mixtapes out at random people and they got mad when I said I wouldn't listen. I regret not coming back with something insulting and clever. Nowadays you can call me a cunt and a jap I won't block you (yes this actually happened)
Redsox reporter, and former Orioles reporter (I'm not going to mention her by name because she will probably sue me for defamation of character or she will tweet, whine and complain about me, but there is enough clues to figure out who it is) recently blocked me. I never had a problem with her,even though it seemed as if half of Baltimore did. Last week, her parody account got shut down so I tweeted "The (Parody account) is gone? I never got a chance to say goodbye." She doesn't follow me so the only way she could have seen what I tweeted is if she was actively searching tweets to the parody account. And I didn't tweet anything insulting or rude. She tweeted me "Wow you turned into a dbag huh?" And then she blocked me. I tweeted a non rude fact about a public figure and I get blocked? Makes me think she's crazy
6. Foursquare is an awesome tool, but we don't need to know about your metro stop or other mundane check-ins
I use foursquare, and I love it but save the send to twitter option in foursquare for interesting check-ins. Like to bars, restaurants, theater events or sporting events. No one really cares about what metro stop you're at or the fact that you're shopping for groceries.
7. Do not ask me to listen to your podcast or mixtape if I don't know you
Haven't gotten a request in a while, but when I did, it was pretty annoying having random people tweet their mixtape/podcast at me. If I don't know you, I don't care about your mixtape/podcast (unless its sports related)
8. If you don't like my tweets, unfollow
This one is a biggie, and even I have trouble adhering to it. Certain twitter accounts were created with a niche market (even mine). I won't be mad if you decide to unfollow me because of something I said, but if you're going to be one of those people who mention their disdain when I tweet certain words or tweet about certain subjects, you're better off dealing with it or just unfollowing. I will not be offended. It's my twitter account, I created it to express myself, not to entertain you.
9. Do not steal tweets
Self explanatory. Be creative, and come up with your own tweets. If you can't just hit the RT button.
10. Remember this is a social website. Be merry and talk with fellow tweeters & make real life friends
Twitter is the only social media site where you actually go out of your way to meet strangers. Facebook was pretty much created to reunite with old friends and Myspace was created to see who could have the coolest wallpaper or background song. I never went out of my way to meet someone I know from those sites, well maybe one person, but I digress.. My point, it's kind of fun going to tweet-ups and meeting people you know solely from twitter.
This is my 5th year in a row attending opening day for the Washington Nationals. I got my Opening Day fetish from my friend Chris, we attended Opening Day for the Capitals in 2007, 2008 and 2009, the good old days before demand rose and prices rose as a result. I've attended opening days for other sports, but it doesn't feel the same as baseball
2008
Hands down my favorite Opening Day. My 10 favorite games has this game in the top 5 of games I attended. Since this was a Stadium Opener, "fans" bought tickets in advance and were reselling them with an enormous markup, so me and Jesse got to the park real early to make sure we got our 5 dollar tickets. Randomly while waiting in line, I met up with my old friend Jay and his friend. We let them cut, cause it was questionable whether there were enough 5 dollar tickets for their place in line. We tried to get another ticket for our friend Raquel, but weren't able to cause the ticket office was strict about ticket sales and required all available parties to be present, some random person in line circumvented this rule by claiming his wife was parking the car.
I remember read online that a condition of the ticket was that you had to enter immediately, to prevent scalping. No one was enforcing it, so we went to the Ugly Mug to drink and watch NCAA tournament games. If they were, I would have faked having diabetes and needing to go back to College Park to get my insulin pump. When done,still 2 hours before gametime, we went back to the park, Jay and his friend went inside, Jesse and I waited for Raquel. She came anyway, even thought we couldn't get her a ticket. We tried to scalp but had no luck, but somehow Raquel bought a ticket from a random person she struck up a conversation with on the metro at face value. All of us sat together in the 5 dollar section all the way up on the 3rd base side and were ecstatic with the Zimmerman walk-off.
Going into the season, I had the Nats as a .500 team. We overachieved last year with 73 wins, and I expected a healthy John Patterson and Christian Guzman and a young Lastings Milledge in CF to make a run at 500. No! I was very wrong. 59 wins and 102 losses.
2009
This was a loss against the Phillies, and I don't remember it being that bad. Might have been because I started drinking at 10 in the morning. I was able to buy reasonably priced tickets from the box office a week before the game. I got 4 tickets to the game, but the fourth backed out at the day before the game. Ended up putting the ticket on Craigslist and the first person who got back to me was a Phillies fan, so I sold it to him. In this day and age, knowing that I have a lot of twitter followers that follow the Nationals, I would have made some sort of an announcement on there, but I digress... Steve, the Phillies fan, was a lawyer, and not an ass.. Anyways, me and [name redacted] got to RFDs as soon as it opened, we mainly stuck to beer but there was a Jäger shot at the end, and we had a solid 2 hours of pregaming. We got there before first pitch but we weren't able to get the free giveaway. I didn't feel too drunk but [name redacted] must have cause he started chanting "10,000 losses" at Phillies fans and told a man and his young son that the "Phillies lead the league in taking the most dick up their ass."
The game wasn't too bad , sucked that the Nationals lost but they were in the midst of a 7 game losing streak. Surprisingly Daniel (Wild Pitch) Cabrera pitched decently but the team was undone by what was a reoccurring theme from 2008-2009 seasons, errors and bad bullpen performances.I thought since Brad Lidge went 48-48 in save opportunities the year before, he was bound to blow one in exciting fashion soon and with the heart of the order coming up, today would be the day.I was not right.
The Phillies fans around us weren't too bad, but I do remember telling a pair to kill themselves. Ryan Zimmerman hit a 2 run homer to cut the lead to 1. Of course I was happy, I clapped, I yelled my support, didn't do anything obnoxious but they said something snarky. I don't appreciate opposing fans telling me what I can and can't do in my home park during a close game so I told them to kill themselves. If you're out there and are somehow reading this, I don't apologize and I hope you will take my suggestion and kill yourselves.
I don't remember what my prediction was for the Nats that year. I remember most of Manny Acta's assistant coaches were let go, so I knew he was pretty much a dead man walking. I think I just wanted not to be the worst in the league again. Didn't get what I wanted, 59 wins, 103 losses.
2010
This was bad. So many Phillies fans. This was like the Washington Phillies were playing the Philadelphia Nationals. The infamous Bus Trip Game . Individual tickets sold out in 7 minutes, because Philly fans got the jump on us and organized bus trips to see their team play on opening day and group tickets were available before individuals. I was very close to going down real early to make sure I had a 5 dollar ticket, but my friend Sherri had an extra and sold it to me at cost. We were blown out 11-1. It was nice getting an RBI double from reining Silver Slugger and Gold Glover Ryan Zimmerman in the 1st, and staring some Phillies fans down, but it quickly went downhill from there.
The few bright spots of the game was me getting an Abraham Lincoln bobble-head from one of my twitter followers and me eating 5 feet of hot dog. One of the new few items at the park were NL East themed foot-long hot dogs. Philly was with peppers and onions, Atlanta was with cole slaw, Miami was a cod dog, New York was with mustard and sauerkraut and D.C. was with chili and onions. My plan was to try all of those hot dogs, and this would lead the Nats to victory that day. Did not work but I still had fun. I hate fish, so I had 2 D.C. dogs. My favorite was the Philly dog. The NY dog finished 2nd and the D.C. dog finished a very close 3rd.
2011
I used the presale to make sure I got my tickets early. I went with my friend Matt. Once again, I started the drinking way early. Had an innocuously looking coke bottle on the metro with a very strong Rum and coke in it. Had a nice time drinking and hanging out with Nats fans from twitter before the game. The weather was horrible. I'm convinced that home openers against the Phillies are always sunny for some reason...
Game was exciting but another loss . I love watching Livan "Not so Fast My Friend" Hernandez pitch. I don't care if he probably is older than documents say he is, but who doesn't love a guy who uses a 61 MPH pitch effectively. There weren't many exciting moments in game. No new food items that I tried or any ornery fans that I wished death upon. After the game, did some more drinking at Rocket Bar and used my free happy hour at Sign of the Whale. I felt weird going into a Philly bar with a Nationals shirt on, but drinks were free for me. Afterwards my friend and I went to some random bar to meet some girl, I was wasted by then.
I had the Nationals pegged as a 70 something win team. There was a potential of a Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg sighting at the end of the season, the team looked like they were on the path to improvement and it looked like the brain trust was willing to spend big money to get free agents. We actually did better and finished with 80 wins and 81 losses.
2012
I ordered a mini plan. I pay for 4 tickets and got a voucher for a 5th game. I'm planning to use that on the day Bryce Harper makes it to the big leagues. Tickets arrived a couple days ago. I'm hoping to see another opening day win. As for win prediction, I'm going with 85 games. We will be in contention for the wild card. I will try real hard to not tell opposing fans to kill themselves. Don't know what will be in my belly for this game. There is an 8 pound Strasburger that I want to try, but I might save that for Stephen Strasburg Bobblehead Night.
This was supposed to be a post about whether it would be wise to trade up to get RG3, but since that already happened, and I still want to use some of the material I had and make this a post about the Redskins off-season moves.
1. The RG3 Trade
This is a bad trade until it becomes a good trade.
During the season, I was staunchly against trading up for Luck or any of the top QB prospects, but after the Superbowl, I reluctantly became a "By Any Means Necessary" guy to get our QB.
The "econ major" part of me is against trading up. It thinks that the draft is kind of backwards. Bad teams should never trade up to get a player because they are bad because they have multiple holes; they should trade down in order to acquire more players and build depth. Good teams should always be trying to trade up because they can make the claim that they are 1 player away from winning a championship. Also, you should diversify in order to decrease risk, you should trade down and acquire many low round picks, that way if a player doesn't work out due to injury or lack of talent, it's not a big deal.Tom Brady was a 6th round pick, Kurt Warner went undrafted, look for one of those, not a first round stud. We should get a mediocre QB, surround him with good talent, and he will perform just as good as a stud QB. Donovan McNabb was a so-called franchise QB, that ended well...
The "football fan" part of me knows that QB is the most important position on the field. If you have a team has a franchise QB, they are never letting them see free agency. The last 20 Superbowl winning teams, 18 of them either have QBs in the Hall of Fame (3-Aikman, 2-Elway, S. Young) or debatable Hall of Fame (3-Brady, 2-Eli Manning, 2-Rothlisberger, Peyton Manning, Brees, Favre, Rodgers, Warner). You can get good value at other positions later in the draft or through free agency, but if a team falls in love with a QB, they will never see free agency, unless there's something physically wrong with them. Mark Sanchez who was drafted to be a franchise QB, just got an extension, even though its arguable that he has lived up to the hype.
In the end, the "econ major" and the "football fan" in me looks at the Eli Manning draft day trade between the Giants and the Chargers. In getting Rivers, Merriman and Kaeding, you could say talent-wise the Chargers won the trade. In getting Eli, who has won 2 Superbowls and MVPs for the Giants, you could say they won the trade. I'm in this to win Superbowls, not assemble really talented teams that sit at home in February. For all we know, Les Snead, the GM of the Rams, is really bad at evaluating talent. Maybe he blows the 4 high draft picks he acquired from the Redskins, and we look really smart drafting RG3. In the end, nobody's going to care what we gave up if Robert Griffin III wins a Superbowl or 2 but if he's a bust, the future is fucked.
2. What Wide Receiver we should go after?
Fans have been talking about either going after Marques Colston, Vincent Jackson or Mario Manningham, the top 3 UFA Wide Receivers on the market. I choose option D, none of the above. I know, the Redskins have a ton of cap room and we need to surround the new QB with talent, but we have 4 wide receivers on our roster that are younger than 25, 5 if you count Brandon Banks. I want to see if they can play first before we fill that position with an expensive free agent, especially with the FA blunders the Redskins have had. What's the point of drafting players if we won't give them the opportunity to start?
3. Redskins have a ton of cap room, now what?
Hmmmmm. Seems like we've solved the QB spot with RG3, we have 2 young RBs, 4 young WRs, Davis and (maybe Cooley) at TE. I like our front 7 (Bowen, Cofield, Jenkins or Carriker up front and Kerrigan, Riley, hopefully a Fletcher and Orakpo). So I would go with improvements on the offensive line, defensive backfield and maybe a kicker to challenge Graham Gano in the preseason.
Trent Williams is good when not smoking weed, Montgomery just got resigned and Chester didn't have the benefit of a full off-season, so I'd target RT and LG, Jammal Brown battled injuries this season and Kory Lichtensteiger is recovering from a torn ACL and a free agent. LG Ben Grubbs played in a zone scheme in Baltimore and is only 28 so I like him. Not sure who I like at RT though, maybe we address that through the draft.
With LaRon Landry likely gone, I like DeJon Gomes and want to see what he can do with more playing time. He put up 30 tackles and 2 interceptions in 5 starts but I could understand bringing in a veteran to compete for playing time at SS. OJ Atogwe dealt with injuries last year, so I'm willing to give him a mulligan. DeAngelo Hall has made big plays but sometimes acts like a jackass, not sure if I want to cut him or sign Brandon Carr to be my top corner and move Josh Wilson to nickel.
So I got blocked on twitter by some dude named Davecat. If you do not know about him, you need to immediately stop what you're doing and watch Guys and Dolls. The documentary, not the Broadway show. If you have 50 minutes to spare, please, watch this.
Now, I'm not going to knock a guy for being horny and solving his hornyness with inanimate objects. And if someone bought me one, I'd probably use it, and LOVE it. But I would never admit to having one, let alone agree to being in a documentary about it, nor would I develop the attachment level these guys have.
But at 6 grand, I'd rather hire a professional instead of fucking a big piece of plastic.And that's not even including shipping or maintenance. If I had an extra 6 grand lying around and my goal was to find "companionship", I would rather try my chances with Backpage and hope one of the girls was hot enough to keep seeing again. I would rather sign up for all of the dating sites that require payment. I could probably find a matchmaker for 5800. That's also enough $ to go to 200 speed dating events. If I can't find a companion after 200 rounds of speed dating, I don't deserve it. But I digress....
So Davecat has a twitter account for himself AND a twitter account for his sexdoll. I don't know what drove me to follow them but I did. Week later, I have no idea what set me off, probably boredom but I tweeted at the sexdoll and called him/her/it/idontknow a pervert. Doll tweeted back "Yes, yes. And you're a twat. Cheers!" and like that, I was blocked by both accounts.
I'm all for being nice to people no matter what their dysfunction is, but the day I'm nice to a person whose claim to fame is him fucking dolls is the day I do not want to see.
I'm going to attempt to create a list of the top 10 sporting events I attended live. Being that, I do not keep a notepad and record the highlights of every game I go and I've probably attended 200+ college or pro events, you could probably take a time machine and find 10 events I went to that were better than the ones I listed. This is based on a combination of national relevancy, game drama and personal factors.
You probably think I'm a nutcase putting a game in which my team lost on my top 10 list, but here me out. Both teams stunk so there was no national relevancy but I got to sit in the Diamond Club for only 10 bucks and it was an exciting game. My friend Megan and I were randomly selected by the Clint, the leader of the Nats Pack, and moved from section 420 to section 124 and I got 15 bucks in free food. First time I ever won anything from any sporting events. Game went into the 12th inning, and that's where it got weird. Danys Baez, a relief pitcher who had spent most of his career in the AL, got a hit and scored the game winning run.
This one makes it on the list more because of the importance of the game than the actual game-play. Yea, both units of the team performed well, but I was too nervous to actually enjoy it. Winner of this game was going to the playoffs, plus with the Sean Taylor tragedy, I was tense and I'm sure the rain didn't help, I'm glad I went to the game but I would've rather sat at home or at a bar in relative warmth so I wouldn't be as tense. My friends T, Elliot, Jesse and I tailgated for the game with chicken and biscuits from Bojangles and cheap beer
It ended up being HoF Joe Gibbs' last regular season game and win, the end of a 5 game winning streak that resulted in a playoff berth. The game was never close, scored a touchdown early on in the first quarter but I never really started to unwind and enjoy the game until the 4th quarter, when Santana Moss' touchdown put the Redskins up 27-3.
Honestly, I really don't remember the specifics of this game, I just remember it as a day I got to watch baseball with Sarah and Laura, two of my really good college friends. It was the home finale, nice weather, so of course we were there, because we went to a lot of Maryland baseball games together.
Maryland baseball wasn't that good that year (or ever) but what gets this game on the list is me winning a prize pack for knowing the answer for some trivia and I got to sing "Take me out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. The announcer was a guy in my Sports Psychology class, we never talked but I knew who he was, and I was able to get him to let me sing for the 7th inning stretch. I was nervous singing it, but that's one of those songs where you don;t have to be a good singer to sing well. Part of my wonders if there is YouTube evidence of this happening but then the rational part of me knows I can't sing and wants no evidence of me doing so to ever exist.
As far as I know, the only player from that game that made it to the major leagues was Maryland's starting pitcher, Brett Cecil, and he pitches for the Toronto Blue Jays. P Seth Overbey and CF Truan Mehl made it to AA ball with the Bluejays and Rangers Organizations, respectively. Pitcher Ryan Moorer played A ball for the Mariners and C Chad Durakis played A ball for the Orioles. 3B Matt Maropis was drafted by the Pirates but never played for them. RF Bryan Jaronsknski played in an independent league.
For Longwood, P Brian McCullough played some independent ball and 1B Charlie Yarbrough played A ball in the Phillies system
I will be the first to admit that I don't know the ins and out of hockey or how to create a great hockey team, but I admire its fast pace and am willing to learn. Got the tickets at a blood drive for the Capitals, and theoretically I didn't even have to donate the blood as they gave me the tickets before I was asked a question about my donor eligibility. Even though this was a crappy season for my team, any time you get to sit 8 rows up from the ice for free and watch a rookie Alex Ovechkin get 2 goals and an assist and watch a win, it as a great game. I'm not hockey savvy but in my professional opinion, Ovi could have had a hat trick but I didn't see him on the ice the last 5 minutes of the game.
This game was so good, they made a commercial about it.
I don't know who this guy is, but I deeply admire his mustache, but I digress...
Unfortunately, I arrived to the game late, so I was not able to see Nick Johnson's 1st inning home run. Coming down to the 9th inning, with a slumping/injured Kearns, utility player Willy Harris and Wil "No home runs" Nieves, I was resigned to extra innings,but my friend Sarah said something about how it would be great if the game ended with a walk off homer (her first game at Nats park, she's a huge Yankees fan from NY). When Kearns hit a single, and Harris striking out, I thought the only way we could get a walk-off would be next inning with the middle of the lineup coming, but somehow Wil Nieves hit a 2 run home run to win the game. It was my second game at Nats Park and the second walk off home run I had seen there. He has 5 career home runs, I've seen 2 of them live.
Student section rushed the court at 2 basketball games I attended. The first time was when we beat Boston College. They were ranked 6th, we were ranked 17th, so the merits of rushing the court is highly debatable, but I still did it cause it was fun. Its one thing if BC was a division rival we'd never beaten or if this win got us off the bubble, but this was their first ACC game ever and the game was in December.
Second time was well worth it. When the Terps are unranked and they take down UNC, the 5th ranked team in the nation, you've earned that court rushing. Don't remember exacts, but I'm pretty sure I waited at least 2 hours just to get into Comcast Center, so I could wait 2 more hours until game time, but I was able to get great student section seats. And this was when smart phones were still expensive, so a 4 hour wait time meant talking to your fellow human being instead of zoning out on Pandora/Twitter/Facebook, but I digress... Anyways, Jai Lucas, son of Maryland legend John Lucas, and McDonald's All American, sat near our section. I know he was in the middle of transferring, so I guess he was checking us out. Maryland kept it close throughout the game, but made their move at the end of the game, so we rushed the court, I lost a good hat in the process. Oddly enough, both court rushings, the person next to me didn't rush the court with me.
On the Terps, Greivis Vasquez was drafted by the Grizzlies in the 1st round, James Gist was drafted by the Spurs in the 2nd round. DJ Strawberry was drafted in the 2nd round by the Suns.
On the Tarheels, Reyshawn Terry was drafted in the 2nd round by the Magic. Tyler Hansborough was drafted by the Pacers in the first round. Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson both were drafted by the Timberwolves in the first round. Brandan Wright was drafted by the Bobcats in the first round. Danny Green was drafted by the Spurs in the 2nd round. Wes Miller is actually now a head coach (interim) at UNC Greensboro
I'm not sure how 2 games from the 100 loss 2008 Nats made it on to my top 10 list, but it did and at least we got Strasburg in exchange for suffering through this season. "Fans" snatched up tickets for the home opener this year because it was the opening of the stadium, but luckily the Nats held back 400 tickets that were sold on game day and they only cost 5 bucks. I say "fans" in quotes because you're not a true fan if you buy a 10 dollar ticket from the Nats only to put it on stubhub for 80. My friend Jesse and I got there around 1 PM, 7 hours before gametime and the line was already 100 people deep. The Nationals didn't start selling tickets until 3. We played cards until then. We randomly met Wolf Blitzer before the game.
I missed a lot of the pregame ceremonies cause I was waiting in line to grab some Ben's Chili Bowl (took an hour), but I was able to get back to my seat in time for George W Bush's first pitch and the booing from my ensued. Close game all the way through, ended in the bottom of the 9th by a walk off by Mr. Walk-off, Ryan Zimmerman. First walk-off home run I ever saw in person. This probably started my obsession with going to Nats home openers cause I have gone every year since.
This was the most recent game I have been to. Most exciting hockey game ever attended. It's kind of flukey how both Caps v Islanders game I've been to made it on the list. I've only attended 1 other game that ended past regulation, and that ended in a shootout. I don't think this game was a sellout, lots of empty seats, and I actually got signal at the Verizon Center. Nabokov was hot, had 20 SOG in the first 2 periods, no goals. Somehow, in the last 4 minutes of the game, Troy Brower scored twice. People behind me and my friend Matt were Caps fans and called Ovi "The laziest player in the NHL." I'm not a hockey buff but I'm pretty sure the laziest player in the league could get 2 Hart trophies. It was as if Ovi heard that, cause he got the game winning goal in OT. I'm hoping when we look back on the season, this will be seen as a turnaround moment for the team.
Any true Nats fan knows this as the day of Strasmas. One of the few sporting events that I've attended that lived up to its hype. Later that year, I went to the debut of Cuban defector Yunesky Maya, the game was a huge dud and Maya hasn't really done well in DC, but did pitch well out of the bullpen towards last season, so who knows. Aside from Phillies games and a handful of O's v Nats games, Strasburg pitching was the only time I saw Nats Park packed. Not much for drama but who needs drama when your star prospect strikes out 14, almost gets a hit, and each of your 3 best power hitters hit a home run.
WHO NEEDS GAME DRAMA WHEN YOU WHOOP UP ON YOUR RIVAL AND GET TO TAKE HOME SANDWICHES!
This one has a bit of an asterisk on it. I attended the game but I watched most of it on a network tv if at all cause I was working in the ticket office, but I was inside Fed Ex Field when the game began so it counts for me. Two division rivals, both with playoff aspersions facing off, I was excited being there and not even watching the game live. It's very possible I was in the same room as Donald Rumsfeld. I did see a member of the Secret Service in the ticket office, and one of my coworkers did say she talked to him. Met Chris Samuels' brother too. The circumstances of us meeting wasn't ideal(ticket snafu, not my fault) but still very cool. Looks a lot like him. Plus I got to take home a tray of Subway sandwiches home.
Finally decided to start a blog. I figured everyone else was doing it so why not me. What I'll write about, who knows. Some days it will be sports, some days it will non sports, it should be mildly entertaining.
Name is Tolu. I like women, sports and comedy.Lived in Maryland most of my life. Claim to fame is that I was made fun of on Patrice O'neal's last CD, Mr.P . I'll not going to give you the full details of my life on the blog, but I do a good job about relevant information about myself On Twitter. I have no idea what I am doing, so I welcome any positive or negative comments and improvements.
