5.03.2005
DC Sports Revival?
It's been depressing to be a DC Sports fan during the past 15 years. (For the sake of this post, I am considering the Orioles to be part of the DC Sports landscape. This of course, is now very questionable with the advent of the Nationals and several of my friends have given me heat for this. However, I've been an O's fan my whole life, and while I will follow the Nats, it's tough to switch a childhood alligance.) The O's last made the playoffs under Davy Johnson, the Skins have made one playoff appearance since the first Joe Gibbs era, and the Bullets/Wizards have made the playoffs once since I have been a DC sports fan. The Caps have been the only consistent playoff team during this period, making the Stanley Cup in 1998 (I attended Game 3 that year and there were four Red Wings fans for every Caps fan), but they have floundered of late. I also follow the local college basketball teams (Georgetown, Maryland, and GW) one or two of which usually makes the NCAA tournament.
So besides DC United, which has picked up a handful of MLS Cup titles, the only DC sports franchise to take home a title since I became a serious fan was the Juan Dixon and Steve Blake-led Terps in 2002. Just my luck, I happened to be in Chile during their Final Four win, so I was forced to bask in that celebration via the Internet. Now I find myself back in South America and none other than Juan Dixon is leading the Wizards charge against the Bulls in the first round of the NBA playoffs. I guess I am a good luck charm when I am south of the border. Michael Wilbon writes today about the impact that Dixon had in last night's game:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/02/AR2005050201745_pf.html
Note that Wilbon is a huge Bulls fan. I applaud and agree with his comments about the softness of Kwame Brown. Kwame is your typical DC Sports bust (see: Heath Shuler, Michael Westbrook, Albert Belle, Glenn Davis, Desmond Howard, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jaromir Jagr, et al) I fully expect Kwame to get picked up by a team like the Nuggets and become an all-star his first year post-DC Sports.
OK, the Nationals. I am thrilled that DC finally got a baseball team, and the fact that they have a winning record is great. I love RFK Stadium and I plan on getting to as many games as I can. But the O's are on fire. All of a sudden things are clicking and they are on top of the AL East with the Yankees and Red Sox bruised and beaten. OK, its April. But the following article makes me very optimistic.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpa2lpNnFzBF9TAzk1ODYxNzc3BHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=cnnsi-keepingthefaith&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns
Can the Os survive with the Sox and Yanks in the same division? I doubt they will be able to stay hot and their current starting rotation will be a huge liability down the stretch. But I don't think that a wild card birth is out of the question.
So besides DC United, which has picked up a handful of MLS Cup titles, the only DC sports franchise to take home a title since I became a serious fan was the Juan Dixon and Steve Blake-led Terps in 2002. Just my luck, I happened to be in Chile during their Final Four win, so I was forced to bask in that celebration via the Internet. Now I find myself back in South America and none other than Juan Dixon is leading the Wizards charge against the Bulls in the first round of the NBA playoffs. I guess I am a good luck charm when I am south of the border. Michael Wilbon writes today about the impact that Dixon had in last night's game:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/02/AR2005050201745_pf.html
Note that Wilbon is a huge Bulls fan. I applaud and agree with his comments about the softness of Kwame Brown. Kwame is your typical DC Sports bust (see: Heath Shuler, Michael Westbrook, Albert Belle, Glenn Davis, Desmond Howard, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jaromir Jagr, et al) I fully expect Kwame to get picked up by a team like the Nuggets and become an all-star his first year post-DC Sports.
OK, the Nationals. I am thrilled that DC finally got a baseball team, and the fact that they have a winning record is great. I love RFK Stadium and I plan on getting to as many games as I can. But the O's are on fire. All of a sudden things are clicking and they are on top of the AL East with the Yankees and Red Sox bruised and beaten. OK, its April. But the following article makes me very optimistic.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpa2lpNnFzBF9TAzk1ODYxNzc3BHNlYwN0bQ--?slug=cnnsi-keepingthefaith&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns
Can the Os survive with the Sox and Yanks in the same division? I doubt they will be able to stay hot and their current starting rotation will be a huge liability down the stretch. But I don't think that a wild card birth is out of the question.
# posted by Juanson : 2:06 PM
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Agree w/ most of your comments Mez, but I gotta question whether you'd be agonizing over the switch to the Nats if the O's weren't so hot. For me, there are more sentimental reasons to stick w/ the O's. RFK is an AWFUL ballpark and Camden Yards approximates the terrestrial version of Elysian Fields.
# posted by 
: 2:50 PM
: 2:50 PM
For some reason I love RFK. Well, I know exactly why - the heydey of the Skins. But even if the Os werent so hot (i had no idea that they had won 8 straight until I checked online today) I have loved them since they were battling the Jays year in and year out and the yanks didnt exist.
Its funny how year after year DC sports fans never lose heart. Ever year there is a new frenzy of hype surrounding the DC sports franchises. Whether its the fun and gun, Laverneous Coles, Rafael Palmeiro, an aging MJ, or the return of the Savior Joe Gibbs, the DC hype machine always ends in dissapointment and failure.
Gomez has finally admitted that DC sports has not stacked up during the last 15 years and for that he deserves kudos but in classic DC fashion Gomez has been caught up in this year's hype. Does anyone seriously believe that the Wizards or the Orioles are going to win a championship this year? The wizards will get swept by Detroit or Miami and the Orioles are bound to collapse before the season ends. Moreover, in a classic fair-weather fan pattern, the Wizards drew well below the league average of 17,314 fans per game. It is only in the last ten games of the regular season that game attendance surpassed 18,000.
The Orioles, despite the creation of the Nats(worst name for a team-ever), have done much better than expected attendence-wise this year but I am willing to guarantee that once the Orioles have their inevitable midseason collapse DC fans will run away as they have in years past only to be drawn in again once the DC spin machine begins anew next winter. In conclusion, to me it is not at all surprising that DC sports is all about hype and spin given the fact that it is the center of politics and spinmasters like Karl Rove. What is surprising to me is that DC fans, like our boy Gomez, keep buying into the hype year after year only to retreat humiliated and defeated by season's end.
By the way, my favorite Oriole is Chris Gomez, currently leading the team in batting average.
Gomez has finally admitted that DC sports has not stacked up during the last 15 years and for that he deserves kudos but in classic DC fashion Gomez has been caught up in this year's hype. Does anyone seriously believe that the Wizards or the Orioles are going to win a championship this year? The wizards will get swept by Detroit or Miami and the Orioles are bound to collapse before the season ends. Moreover, in a classic fair-weather fan pattern, the Wizards drew well below the league average of 17,314 fans per game. It is only in the last ten games of the regular season that game attendance surpassed 18,000.
The Orioles, despite the creation of the Nats(worst name for a team-ever), have done much better than expected attendence-wise this year but I am willing to guarantee that once the Orioles have their inevitable midseason collapse DC fans will run away as they have in years past only to be drawn in again once the DC spin machine begins anew next winter. In conclusion, to me it is not at all surprising that DC sports is all about hype and spin given the fact that it is the center of politics and spinmasters like Karl Rove. What is surprising to me is that DC fans, like our boy Gomez, keep buying into the hype year after year only to retreat humiliated and defeated by season's end.
By the way, my favorite Oriole is Chris Gomez, currently leading the team in batting average.
# posted by : 5:11 PM
: 5:11 PM
Mae,
A few thoughts from your Argentine-Canadian friend and a sincere apology you grew up in the worst sports town of all time.
1. The Nationals will always be the Montreal Expos.
2. The Jays will always be better than the Orioles.
3. The Leafs and Capitals - no comparison.
4. I am still sore about the Skins victory over the Bills (but they're not really Canadian, so I will get over it when Toronto finally gets an NFL team).
5. Juan Dixon and the ex-Bullets will go down to Air Nocioni and the Bulls. But that doesn't really matter because Manu, Tim and Tony will take the title.
6. Were you aware that DC United's playmaker is an Argentine with an unmentionable name:
http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/players/bio.jsp?team=dcu&player=gomez_c&playerId=gom165981
A few thoughts from your Argentine-Canadian friend and a sincere apology you grew up in the worst sports town of all time.
1. The Nationals will always be the Montreal Expos.
2. The Jays will always be better than the Orioles.
3. The Leafs and Capitals - no comparison.
4. I am still sore about the Skins victory over the Bills (but they're not really Canadian, so I will get over it when Toronto finally gets an NFL team).
5. Juan Dixon and the ex-Bullets will go down to Air Nocioni and the Bulls. But that doesn't really matter because Manu, Tim and Tony will take the title.
6. Were you aware that DC United's playmaker is an Argentine with an unmentionable name:
http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/players/bio.jsp?team=dcu&player=gomez_c&playerId=gom165981
Nellan's comments are somewhat on point but I detect an undertone of bitterness, perhaps because the Yankees are 6.5 games out of first right now, behind the Blue Jays too!?? anyway, having lived and rooted for teams in Philly, New York/New Jersey, and DC/Baltimore I don't find the DC "hype machine" to be all that different from the media frenzy in those cities. What is different is the amount of turnover in DC in terms of ownership, player personnel, new franchises, etc. So it's a chicken-egg situation, but I think the media isn't driving it so much as it is covering the story.
Consider: would the Skins and O's have so much buzz right now if they were still owned by Edward Bennett Williams and not Dan Snyder and Peter Angelos, respectively? If Steinbrenner sold the Yankees, you can bet there'd be similar speculation each season. And much as I'd like to attribute everything that is wrong with the world to Karl Rove, I can't honestly say he has anything to do with DC sports ineptitude (although I would be interested to hear some theories over a few beers...)
Final point -- unlike New York/New Jersey and Philly, DC has plenty of fans who were not raised in/around DC. Because the city tends to have lots of people from other parts of the country, rooting for DC sports becomes a rite of passage, a way to assimilate into the DC culture. It's something that everyone shares, BUT because the out-of-towners didn't grow up rooting for the DC teams, their loyalty doesn't run deep. So is it artificial? That's debatable. But it helps to explain why the whole town gets behind a winner, but is just as quick to ditch a losing team. now THERE is a parallel to politics.
Consider: would the Skins and O's have so much buzz right now if they were still owned by Edward Bennett Williams and not Dan Snyder and Peter Angelos, respectively? If Steinbrenner sold the Yankees, you can bet there'd be similar speculation each season. And much as I'd like to attribute everything that is wrong with the world to Karl Rove, I can't honestly say he has anything to do with DC sports ineptitude (although I would be interested to hear some theories over a few beers...)
Final point -- unlike New York/New Jersey and Philly, DC has plenty of fans who were not raised in/around DC. Because the city tends to have lots of people from other parts of the country, rooting for DC sports becomes a rite of passage, a way to assimilate into the DC culture. It's something that everyone shares, BUT because the out-of-towners didn't grow up rooting for the DC teams, their loyalty doesn't run deep. So is it artificial? That's debatable. But it helps to explain why the whole town gets behind a winner, but is just as quick to ditch a losing team. now THERE is a parallel to politics.
# posted by : 4:46 PM
: 4:46 PM
Nice post, Stazz. I would say that the media attention in DC does not approximate Philly or NYC in any way. And I would say that the majority of the DC fan base grew up in DC... it seems to me most of the people raised elsewhere bring their loyalties with them.
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