Best of D.C. 2009

RFK Stadium’s concessions stink, the bathrooms stink, the sight lines for any non-rectangular playing field stink—but people love it. Its non-corporate name only adds to the old-school charm. When the Lerner family bought the Nationals, they thought that the naming rights to the house the city was building for the local baseball franchise would be a huge revenue stream for years to come. But the Lerners pulled a big boner by not selling those rights right away. The economy’s subsequent crumble and their team’s crumminess has not only stifled the owners’ ability to sell tickets, it’s also crushed the number of businesses that would dare shell out tens of millions of dollars to have their name on the new stadium. And the few industries that can still afford such a vanity tag—oil companies, military contractors, and, thanks to bailout billions, financial institutions—have approval ratings lower than Adam Dunn’s on-base percentage. So, Nationals Park it will be for the foreseeable future.