Despite All the Questions, Nats Still a Delight for Young and Old
It felt more like early summer than early spring. The fans came up from Metro's Stadium-Armory station into the night and the lights from RFK Stadium gave off a glow that clearly said Season II of the Washington Nationals was about to begin. The hand-wringing that came from an offseason of D.C. Council debates on a stadium lease, popular players who have departed and an announcement on Thursday that Major League Baseball would investigate steroid use brought us to Friday night's exhibition game between the Nationals and the Orioles.
"I'm not thinking about steroids now," said Brad Buswell of Alexandria, watching Nationals ace John Patterson pitch to Baltimore's Melvin Mora. Buswell was sitting 40 rows up -- his new season ticket location -- with his wife, Trish, and 13-month-old daughter, Piper. Piper probably doesn't know it, but she went to a lot of games last year and will go to even more this year. She brought her pacifier. Her mother brought her opinions. Lots of them.
  The Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman slides safely into second base before the throw reaches Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada in the teams' exhibition Friday night at RFK Stadium. (By Joel Richardson -- The Washington Post) |
"I like Ryan Zimmerman, Brandon Watson, Nick Johnson and all our pitchers," she said. Her husband added: "You know what I like? I like the excitement you get at the ballpark."
There wasn't much promotion for this "Battle of the Beltway." But the attendance (18,442) wasn't bad, with young fans still coming into the stadium 75 minutes after the first pitch. (Were they giving away free beer, I wondered. Why do they arrive so late?) The field looked great, if the Nats didn't. (When did these guys forget how to field?)
"I love this," said Joe Landa, who brought his 8-year-old son, Jacob.
"You know," said Brenda Sabo of Ashburn, "Ryan Zimmerman is our Alexander Ovechkin. And I'll tell you something else: Frank Robinson makes these guys play hard."
No one booed reluctant left fielder Alfonso Soriano, or openly worried about the Nats' horrid fielding this spring, or cared that they lost, 9-6, to the O's, or booed Peter Angelos's guys, or asked if Barry Bonds would cooperate with George J. Mitchell's investigators. Tomorrow, they start playing for real, but Friday night was for Piper Buswell and dreams.
Local Teams on National Stage
George Mason's success in the NCAA men's basketball tournament is a testimony to what happens when you're able to keep a team together. Three seniors -- Tony Skinn, Lamar Butler and Jai Lewis -- led the Patriots into the Final Four. That was the case four years ago when Maryland, with seniors Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter and Byron Mouton, won the championship.
Butler, who played high school basketball at Oxon Hill, had looks from schools bigger than Jim Larranaga's Patriots. But he joined forces with the school that showed him the most attention.
"A lot of kids who go to public school get overlooked by the major schools," said Billy Lanier, who coached Butler at Oxon Hill. "When the kids go to the summer camps run by the shoe companies [Nike, Adidas, Reebok], some get ordained as great players. Others don't. It's political. That's what happened with Butler. He was put on the back burner by some bigger schools. He wasn't judged on talent but reputation.
"He went to George Mason with the same type of kids as him and they all got better."
Commentator John Thompson, the former Georgetown coach, said the Patriots' success might inspire some recruits to commit earlier to mid-majors such as George Mason rather than wait for bigger schools to offer them a scholarship. But Thompson does not believe the landscape of college recruiting will change. "All the big schools saw the Mason kids and said, 'We don't want 'em.' "
