The Washington Nationals are withholding stadium rent from the city because, they say, the stadium isn't finished. Well! I've been to a couple games, and I see a fully-functioning stadium. And it costs $11.50 for a beer and a bag of peanuts!
Fellow D.C. taxpayers, listen to my plan: So long as the Nationals withhold money [...]
Much chatter this afternoon about a Sports Business Journal report that Washington Nationals games on TV attract an average of 9,000 households—a number that, ironically enough, matches the number of Nats players that Manny Acta has had to place on the disabled list this season. Even Alan Thicke didn't have it so bad—and he [...]
A local Girl Scouts troop is speaking out against major Nationals advertiser ExxonMobil. According to a press release from The Coalition to Strike Out Exxon:
The Washington Nationals ballpark is the first stadium to be LEED Silver Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council ... Yet the Nationals continue to accept millions of advertising dollars from [...]
Far as I can tell, only the great Thom Loverro looked into the Nats' last-minute cancellation of Sunday's scheduled jersey giveaway.
The team only told the disappointed 12-and-unders that they wouldn't be getting shirts because of "circumstances beyond our control."
But Loverro found "international intrigue" was behind the un-gifting.
"The Nationals giveaway jerseys, along with ones for the [...]
Not a lot to remember so far in this grim slog of death Nats season. But this catch by Ryan Langerhans last night is pretty nice.
Recently an acqaintance shared with me a theory that if you've had a good idea, most likely 100,000 other people have had the same idea. The trick, he said, was getting your good idea to market. He's one of the co-founders of Audible, so I figure his theory is worth pondering.
A couple of [...]
So very few people bother drive to the new Nationals Park. While researching my story on all those empty lots, I noticed one tradition that has been left behind: the tailgate party.
If Nats fans did park their cars in the lots, they didn't stick around. One patron simply sat in his air conditioned SUV until [...]
Richmond, Va.'s minor-league team, the Triple-A Richmond Braves, is leaving town to be closer to its Atlanta mothership. The team and Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder weren't able to come to terms about placing a new stadium downtown; the R-Braves currently play in the Diamond, an unloved, crumbling, 23-year-old facility that is far too big [...]
Remember, a few years back, when every politician in town was going nuts over Mayor Anthony A. Williams' plan to build a city-financed ballpark? Williams figured out a way to whip the votes to get the stadium deal through: create a "Community Benefit Fund" that would collect certain ballpark-related revenues that would be dished out [...]
Via Nationals Journal, this wonderful post from the St. Petersburg Times about Elijah Dukes' probation for a misdemeanor drug charge. The Nats told NJ's Barry Svrluga Dukes was at the Nats' training facility in Viera, Fla., rehabilitating his hamspring.
In fact he was cleaning out cages at Child magazine's #1 Family Friendly Zoo in America, the [...]
A capacity crowd showed up on opening night to see the Washington Nationals win a thrilling game.
Ever since, locals have gone back to doing what they have done for decades–essentially ignoring Major League Baseball. Confirmation of this unsurprising phenomenon comes via the Washington Post's Sports page this morning. Turns out that the Nats had [...]
OK, fine, so I'm not so great at predicting the future either–the Nats found a way to end their losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves yesterday afternoon. But between Wily Mo Peña's less-than-stellar play at the plate and in the field, and Chad Cordero keeping things interesting in the ninth by [...]
My otherwise brilliant colleague Andrew Beaujon is pretty awful at predicting the future. I, however, am utterly confident in how the rest of the Nats season is gonna go.
Downhill. Forever.
Paul Lo Duca will make self-lacerating proclamations about how he needs to do better at the plate. And then he won't do it. Ryan Zimmerman will [...]
The Nationals will be playing 81 games at its shiny new stadium. Craigslist realtors have taken note with skyhigh asking prices and too many exclamation points.
The neighborhood surrounding the ballpark hasn't changed all that much. It's still mechanic shops and liquor stores. Aside from the ballpark, the new amenities include a Subway sandwich shop, a [...]
