With Ryan Zimmerman's walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning in the Washington Nationals' home opener in brand-new Nationals Park March 30, fans across the city could not help but wonder if this was the year the Nationals would surprise Major League Baseball. After the team played its first three games, fans began to throw around talk about the playoffs and pennants.
As a lifetime Red Sox fan and a newcomer to D.C., I figured it was my obligation to pick a National League team to root for. I quickly jumped on the Nationals bandwagon.
I was there when almost 40,000 people booed President Bush on opening day this season, when half of the beautiful stadium emptied before the eighth inning and when Ryan Zimmerman hit the walk-off homerun that sent fireworks into the sky.
The night air was crisp, but the sky was beautiful. It was the kind of night one falls in love for the first time. So, it is no surprise that I too became a Nationals fan on the spot.
But then they started to lose. After they started the season 3-0, they lost nine straight games before they won their fourth game of the season. Bats went silent and arms became rubber. Fans began to disappear and local newspapers began to put more effort into covering the successes of the Capitols and the Wizards. These are the reasons why bad teams stay bad - the Nats have no support.
Teams with winning traditions - such as the Yankees, and more recently, the Red Sox - keep winning because the have the support of their fans and of the media in their home town. Red Sox Nation never lost interest in their beloved team when they waited 86 years to win a championship. The New York Times has an article about the Yankees almost everyday.
One cannot escape the power of baseball in Boston or New York. But in D.C., things are different. Maybe its because Washington residents have more important matters on their mind. But come October, what's more important than baseball?
The biggest problem with the Nationals is that no one, including myself, is a true Nationals fan. Even at the home opener, many of the fans at the game wore caps and jerseys emblazoned with the logos of the Mets, the Cubs, the Giants and the Braves. In fact, I wore a "Feed the Monster" shirt underneath a sweatshirt and a jacket. With a frown upon my face, I almost spent $40 to buy a Nationals cap just to give them some extra support.
At the end of nine innings, all that matters is to support your team. Tickets are cheap, so go to a game. The front page of The Washington Post called the Nationals' first win of the season a "storybook ending." That line is usually meant for the playoffs; at the rate the Nationals are playing, they probably wont make it there. But as new citizens of D.C., let's make sure their story does not end too soon.
