Anthony Daino NYC

Just a reminder Anthony Daino will be coming to New York City hopefully sometime in 2011. If you like his singing.

You Wish You Were Me

So I was dancing with the MASN announcer when she told me "hey, I got to go on the air in 60 seconds.." .... big mistake...when she went live...i went in for the kill..

That was Pretty Freakin Awesome. But...

What a game. That was about as perfect and memorable of an experience as one can have at the ballpark. I'm still giddy, although I may have that emotion mixed up with a $7.50-a-beer hangover.

I'd like to begin by saying that the stadium itself is one of the greatest things I've ever seen, and could single handily keep me from ever moving from the D.C. area. BUT, I'm not here to discuss that. I'm going to discuss the negatives of this palace, all issues that can and should eventually be tackled by management.

The lines -- Obviously harped by the attendance of the Prez, but most people were waiting two hours to get in the stadium. That cannot happen. Bathrooms and food vendors were also a guaranteed 20 minute wait all night. Reminded me of the Beltway.

The service -- There are two bars in centerfield that are remarkable. I imagine I will be perched up in one of them for most of the summer as our seats are directly underneath. However, I stood at the bar, along with about 40 other thirsty patrons, waiting for drinks while two clueless bartenders stood around talking. How hard is it to find a few experienced D.C. bartenders to work 81 nights this summer? They'll probably make more from those games than 90% of Americans will make all year. It's disgraceful.

The food -- Eh, lotta options but no quality. This better improve. The popcorn had no salt or butter, onions and peppers for the sausage weren't cooked...I could go on. Ok, I will. True story: Last night ebaggg paid the stadium a ridiculous amount of money to have the scoreboard say happy birthday for our buddy, and when they didn't do it he marched his way over to Guest services. Well, needless to say the place was packed with people bitching about losing their kid or other serious issues, but one customer in particular was screaming, and I quote, "This popcorn has NO FLAVOR. I can't eat this!" Right on guy...

Post-game transportation -- We knew this would be a problem, but it's so much worse than anyone could have imagined. I heard it took some people 3 HOURS to get home on the metro to Arlington. I guess I'm paying 20 bucks a night for a cab.

The Help -- Last night I watched a ball-girl retrieve a grounder, hold on to the ball for two minutes, then hand it to a friend of hers that had ran from his seat, 20 rows up. All this while 50 youngsters are sitting five feet from her begging for a piece of memorabilia. This game is about the kids, always has been. Please do your job instead of trying to impress some loser from your high school. Eventually you'll just end up cheating on him with a guy three years older than you while you two go to separate colleges and try to 'make it work'.

Ladies -- Where were all the women at last night? I've never seen a 40,000 - 1,000 guy to girl ratio in my life. It was so bad that every decent girl there was getting incessant cat calls from each 40 year-old drunk in attendance. Guess that's kinda normal actually.

The Garages -- There's nothing anywhere around the Navy Yard, did we really need to put garages up to block the view of the city?

That's it for now. Overall, I would say despite massive issues, I was incredibly pleased with what I saw. It's gonna be a great summer, just give me a damn gin and tonic and get some decent ladies in the place...

Dietin' Dmitri

I don't know if the Nats are pulling an early April Fool's joke or what...but they had Dimitri Young listed as 220 lbs on the scoreboard. Not sure how anyone loses 70 pounds in the month of spring training. There are a lot of jokes we can go with here. See if you can beat this one:

220 pounds? His dumps weigh more than that.

Red Porch Centerfield Bar

So the Red Porch bar at center field is awesome. It's open to anyone, has a great view, and everyone was getting loose with shots! It definitely added to the experience that I was talking to 3 hot cougars (who wanted no part of my shenanigans).

So after partying at the top bar which is outdoor, I went to the downstairs bar and was pretty shocked to see a trash can in the middle of the bar. The reason? The ceiling was leaking...badly. How does that happen with a new park? Here's some video of that and from the view up top. For the dripping video...look closely...you'll see the drip come down against the black background (ceiling).

First President's Race at Nationals Park

So it's clear that whoever scripts the Presidents races is not creative. Last night was the exhibition game against the Orioles and I thought it would be hysterical if Teddy won this race because since it is an exhibition game it wouldn't count on his record...thus he'd still have 0 wins. Predictably, one of the other presidents won. I tried out for the Presidents race last year at RFK. The story is that the Teddy outfit weighs 30 pounds more than the others. So by normal means, Teddy has a huge disadvantage. The first year of the presidents race, Teddy was actually a female which explains why he always finished last. Once the crowd rallied behind Teddy always losing, they started scripting the races for him to always lose.

The other thing now is they come out of centerfield and run down the track. Different, but whatever.

The Welcome Wagon

So here we are folks, six days away from opening day of the 2008 baseball season, which will be held in our home, the nation's capital. A brand new ballpark awaits, which has kept the city abuzz in anticipation for going on three years now. Something about watching baseball in RFK didn't feel right, whether it was the lack of a baseball stadium feel or the fact that it simply reminded us of greater times for the cities true sons, the Washington Redskins.

We will now be perched along the banks of the Potomac, in serene Nationals Park packed with hometown food vendors and an open outfield view, instead of only sausage stands and the cookie cutter stadium design. Alas, there was no debate in whether to purchase season tickets this year, and that we did despite our increasing gambling debts and alcoholic spending habits. But what about the team? Are we going to be competitive this season, and does it even really matter anyway? With the 'Skins being the letdown they normally are, Georgetown tanking as a two seed because of their refusal to put a hand in Stephen Curry's face, and the Wizards usual playoff meltdown approaching, Washingtonians have their hopes for a contender set rather low for these 'Nats. In fact, anything above .500 will be a monumental turnaround.

Nevertheless, we'll be here all season monitoring the team and stadiums progress. For instance, will our pitching hold up despite numerous injuries and an overall lack of talent? Fuck if we know. What's it like taking the metro with 30,000 other people? What do you think, it sucks balls. What are the odds that we will be cut off from purchasing another beer by the third inning? About 9/5. How many times can you eat Ben's Chili Bowl in one week? Infinity times. And so on...

We'll see ya around, and here's to hoping that DMeatri gets the opening day start over Nick. Not so much for his talent, we just like to watch him fall over while chasing fly balls (odds of happening: 2/1 each game).