Enjoying it while we can...

The Nat's won again last night. Wash Post coverage follows the title link (someday maybe I'll learn how to place links in other places than the title).

My brother and father have shown varying degrees of support for the National's. As baseball aficionados (and really, that word doesn't quite do justice to the fervor my sibling and dad direct at the sport), I would think they would be jazzed by this monumental step in baseball history. Our Nation's game returns to our Nation's capitol. It's an underdog team. The stadium is currently located smack dab in the center of urban blight (not out in the burbs, or in a smaller nearby city as it is in many locations) so, really, in an underdog neighborhood. We are a poor team, in a poor city. Everyone loves the underdog, so what's not to like about the Nationals??

Yes -- I had mixed feelings about the money directed towards the whole baseball effort in light of the fact that schools, city programs, public transportation -- all of that is severely under-funded in DC. But once the debate was closed, how can you NOT support the team? And since moving to Capitol Hill three years ago, I have marveled at each new uniquely DC, really -- uniquely Capitol Hill -- phenomenon I have experienced:

Exhibit A: Gentrification. (A.k.a. Urban Renewal.) Whatever you want to call it. I think the Hill does it better than other places. Still no chain restaurants (save for Starbucks). All independently owned businesses. A generally slow and steady pace. It's been cool to watch. The streetlamps on Barrack's Row are a little too precious, but other than that, I support the sense of community behind the change. The property rates are ridiculous, but that goes for anywhere in DC.

Exhibit B: The election. That was fascinating to watch from anywhere in this country. Depressing. Sad. All of those things. But the hill was a particularly interesting place to have been during that time. Frankly, it is one of few places in the city where there are Republicans (parts of the Hill, at least). I think the rest of them live in Virgina. Where they belong. Or maybe parts of upper northwest... like Tenleytown, which always feels a bit frattish anyway.

and now Exhibit C: Baseball. Yesterday I had to remind myself that I supported the emergence of baseball in this city, when I went down to get on the Eastern Market metro and was suddenly surrounded by hordes of what appeared to be game-goers, decked out in National's gear. One particularly annoying woman didn't know how to use the metro card machine, so she was going from one to the next pushing buttons and feeding dollars into the wrong slots. She was about thirty-five, had her hair in pigtails and was wearing a Nat's cap. Also wearing khaki shorts. Ewwww. Note to self: once I turn thirty, never again should I wear pigtails. Second note to self: get rid of the khaki shorts I bought from banana republic when I was a sophomore in college.

Anyhow, I can't wait until I actually make it to a game, though that probably won't be until June. And we'll see how they keep up their (short-lived) success. As my brother put it (who was the point of this post in the first place):

"Yes, we decided, as the rest of the National League East, to let Washington enjoy the first week or two of its inaugural season at the top. Unfortunately, it wont last, because, in the end, they are still the Montreal Expos..."

Whatever. He's just jealous that there is no team in Washington Heights.