Thursday, April 21, 2005

GO NATS!

A bit of Donut background.

Although born in the UK, my growing up years were on Long Island, sorry, Lawwwn-geyelund. I traded football fanaticism for ash and leather, the grand old game of baseball.

The New York, Ok, Da Noo Yawk Mets. Dem Mets were my team. In just the third summer in the US, the previously hapless, yet lovable Mets confounded the experts and won the World Series. The Yankees? Dem Bums!

My family fled back to Blighty when I was 20. Baseball was out of my life for over a decade. Something, I don't know what, rekindled my interest in the mid 90s. When I returned for a four year posting to DC in 1997, you couldn't keep me away from Camden Yards or any ballyard. In my travels I took in stadia big and small - the Jake, horrid 3 Rivers, red Busch, sterile Kingdome, Salt Lake's jewel overlooking the Watsach.

How do you think I now feel that Washington DC has, once again, its own Major League team. I remember the horrible Senators, who bounced around an empty RFK through the 60s riots. Few were sad when they upped sticks for Texas in the early 70s. Those Senators were in fact the second Senators team between the lines. The original Senators were equally bad, but moved to Minnesota in 1960. A new Senators side were born. Going back further, several Washington teams appeared and quickly disappeared during the late 19th century.

Back to the late 20th century, a campaign grew to bring baseball back. 30 miles up the road, the Baltimore Orioles were Washington's unofficial team. But, many believed that Washington deserved a team. All efforts were in vain until last autumn. Montreal's Expos have been baseball's orphans for the last few years. Abandoned by their owner, the Expos were being run by the league. Washington were eventually awarded the team and, despite a few scares, earlier this month the new Washington Nationals started play.

So, you can imagine how pissed I am.

With any luck I'll catch a few games on Channel 5. Follow fan blogs - Nats Blog, Capital Punishment and Ball-Wonk. And, I'm planning a "business trip" later in the year.

Let's Go Nats!

:: Posted by pete @ 20:46