Shark Pride

As Halloween approached I thought of the various Nationals symbols that bring fear- Beast Mode, the Werewerth, Bryce Harper's eye black, Air Screech, but one of the things I fear the most are sharks not named Roger, so I thought a Shark themed pumpkin would be the way to go.

I could have done a little better on the details, but it's not a real pumpkin, rather a foam one from the craft store so I can embellish a bit and keep it for years to come in celebration of the flyball-hunting skills of #2 for your Washington Nationals. I sent a picture of it via Twitter to the guys at Sharkadina and the next day they made me one of the Fans of the Month for October. That kind of instant gratification made my day.

I have been a fan of Mr. Bernadina for a while- though before the shark thing I found myself singing “Mr. Bernadina, Mr. Roger Bernadina” to the tune of “Mr. Dobalina” by Del tha Funkee Homosapien. Yes, I'm old. Now, I take my stuffed sharks to the games and wave it when Roger's at bat and it was an honor to have the big guys at Sharkadina have my work on their site.

This Isn't Dead, I Swear

 It's a shock to look at the stats and see that I haven't posted anything to this blog in months, but the truth is I was starting up a small business and it has eaten up most of my time and all of my money. I have hundreds of pics from Nats games and plenty of thoughts on their magnificent playoff run, Tebow, NHL lockout, the Redskins, etc, but it's going to have to wait just a few days more.

O Frabjous Day, Callooh! Callay!

Disclaimer: In this post there are pictures of me. As much as I'd like y'all to assume I am six feet tall and gorgeous, the truth is I spent more time on chocolate peanut butter ice cream this summer than running. My skates are sharpened and I'm working on it but pictures of cool people are going to be compromised for now by my goofy face and overpadded abs..

So I'm behind on sorting out photos and summaries from practices last week, but yesterday I headed out again to Kettler. I staked out a spot on the bench side, near the media fishbowl and consequently saw Tariq El Bashir, the Washington Post writer, walk past and I had to say hi and mention that I tweeted him before. He might have been lying when he said he remembered that, but what can you do. Awesome event #1.

Plenty of banging up against the boards that I tried to capture, but the focus was a bit slow.

Since I was on the end with the press conference room and it was uncharacteristically empty, I stayed to the end to try and get Mathieu Perreault's autograph on a puck for my dad. It was a long shot, but why not try. Luckily, it worked. He was who the woman next to me was waiting for as well, and she called him over. He signed the puck and took a picture with it for me. Awesome event #2.

On the way out, right by the door, were Alan May and Craig Laughlin. I know I interrupted their conversation but they were very cool about it. I need to work on my social skills. I mentioned that I had been wondering which shirt I should buy in the shop- May, Laughlin or Sylvain Cote. Right away they said not Cote, and I said I liked him and thought he was cute when I was in high school. Then they joked about which to get, that Laughlin's mom was the only one who bought his. I showed them the picture of me and Alan from the RMNB party in April and they agreed it was a good shot.

I then said I needed a photo with Craig for my collection, and Alan May took the photo. The first one was sharp but my mouth was open. The second one was blurry but better than nothing.

Craig wandered off, though let me mention that the whole time I was getting half hugs and shoulder touches from him. Very nice. So it was me and Alan and I mentioned this blog. He said the title was catchy.

In case he does remember it, hello Mr. May. I apologize for the amateur nature of the whole blog. I'm working on it. He had things to do so he went one way and I went another. Awesome event #3.

I remembered I did want to check out the shirts in the shop so I headed back that way and Craig Laughlin was there again. I told him our picture was blurry and he said we'd have to take another, but continued on his conversation and then Joe Beninati came in and I was reluctant to speak to him again since I sounded like such a fool the first time. They headed up to the media event upstairs and I went ahead and purchased a May shirt because he had a conversation with me, I tend to agree with his evaluations on tv and twitter and I felt like it.

Thank You, MASN ! Part Two

As expected, I was a bundle of nerves heading to Nationals Park. Traffic and public transport set up unnecessary delays and then when the inside of the stadium was closed off until 5:30 and I was supposed to be at the media entrance at 5:30, I was a pacing mess. Of course, there was no need to worry. as I made it there in plenty of time and had to wait for the other winners, but I am not the best with luck.

There were more people milling around than I had figured, and Mr. Rizzo was talking to the Marlins manager so we had to wait, but that was fine because Drew Storen was right there. Well, not as right there as the picture would make it seem- that's all zoom, but close enough to turn if someone were to call his name, which no one did. Opportunity missed.

 There are some nice heads of hair on the Nationals. I'm impressed.

 I didn't know Andre Dawson was a coach on the Marlins. Another winner was a huge Expos fan and was so eager to meet him.

A shot of me waiting to speak to Mike Rizzo. This would be the disastrous first time I did when he walked up to me shook my hand and said, "Hi, I'm Mike Rizzo." and I said, "Oh, I know." Thinking I'm an idiot, he moved on. Luckily I was able to redeem myself slightly.

Let me say right here, this is a charming man. He had the keen listening skills, staring in your eyes as you talk thing down. I may have gotten a little swoony as he rested his hand on my hip for our picture...

Right before this picture I was able to say that I admired the work he was doing and that I couldn't wait to see what he got for Ian Desmond in the off-season. He laughed loudly and said that was a trick question. Later I got him to sign my program as well- luckily I had a pen because my ever-present Sharpie was missing from my bag, and then it was time to head back off the field and to the seats.

I managed to vent my Desmond rant to the usher of the section, saying a yardstick had more range than him, etc. so that was out of my head, but then I saw that Michael Morse was out for the day. The left field seats were not completely wasted though because Roger Bernadina was there instead, so Reginald the Shark was not brought in vain.

Reginald is actually half shark and half puma- a long story of playing Frankenstein with beanie babies...

If asked, I think Screech is at the top of my list of Nationals I'd like to meet, but this was as close as he got.

The less said about the actual game, the better. A shut-out to the Marlins? Really? Still, it was a fantastic experience and great seats. I am very grateful for the opportunity.

Thank You, MASN! Part One

Yesterday I found out that I won the MASN social media weekend contest where I get to meet Nats GM Mike Rizzo before tonight's game. We have two of the best GMs around with him and GMGM, Caps man George McPhee, so I am completely excited. I am fluttery and nervous for who knows how long I am actually going to be able to speak to him, if I will at all. So I'm going to put it all down here so it can implant more firmly into my memory.

What I'd like to say:

Mr. Rizzo, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm a great admirer of what you've done for the team even though I haven't been a close observer for long. I love the park, I am here every chance I get. You seem to have assembled more talented young men than . I can't wait to see what you get for Ian Desmond. I believe a yardstick has more range and his questionable choices, poor fielding and outright errors have benefited the opposing teams more than his recent hitting surge has benefited the Nationals. As nice as a guy as Davey Johnson seems to be, I have not agreed with a lot of his lineup decisions especially when it comes to the bullpen. If he's up for managing next year, that's up to you, but I can't help but wonder how someone else would take on the logjam at first and the hopefully vacant shortstop position.

What I probably will say:

Hi, nice to meet you... <stare at ground and attempt to untie tongue>

We'll see how it turns out. Pics and stories to come after the meet-n-geet tonight and Strasmas tomorrow.

Nationals Park

Somewhere in the avalanche-ready disarray of my storage space, there are Polaroids of Camden Yards stadium under construction taken by an adolescent me. I thought it was the most beautiful place in the world I had seen. Maybe it still is, with the light brick and the dark steel, the warehouse completing the frame and the Bromo Seltzer tower in the distance, but it's far away for a person with a big ocean of dreams and a small trickling creek of income. So if I couldn't be with the one I loved, I decided to love the one I'm with.

I sat once in the unsteady seats of the permanent exhibition field of RFK to watch the Nationals. I recall the drive there and the parking lot more than the game. There's probably a ticket stub around somewhere to fill in the blanks but if I can remember details from the Orioles game I saw there in high school more clearly then I know it was unmemorable.

So this brings us to Nationals Park. After having an “eh, there's always another one tomorrow” attitude toward going to a real game, 2011's life to-do list included making the trip, so I purchased a three-game pack that included Opening Day, a Nats/O's game and the 4^th of July.

It was freaking freezing that day, and drizzly and miserable. The seats were right in front of a row of very loud Braves fans- the kind I was glad to leave behind in Atlanta, who were delighted their team was crushing ours, but the park was bright and red and beautiful and optimistic. I was legitimately in love.

Then there was inter-league month (seriously, when did it end?). It wasn't hard to cheer against a Brian Roberts-less Orioles. They were not the O's of my youth and I was now a resident of Natstown.

I arrived at the park once more at the end of June for the INOVA Blood Drive: another item on the life to-do list. One of the incentives was a tour and I was all on that. 

Now places I had never seen were open to me, the clubs and suites and the press box, where I should have been if I hadn't dropped the journalism wait list and signed up for linguistics instead.

The dugout was big event for my tomboy self. I had my picture taken standing there and I never have my picture taken. I came back bursting to tell everyone about the experience, knowing no one would really care, and when Groupon put tour tickets on discount, I signed up again, and this time I was going to go on a non-game day and see what was different. 

The second tour was bigger on the numbers and facts and history. That was fine with me. I imagined myself having enough money to actually buy a ticket to the Presidents Club, back up to the press box, a different view into the clubhouse and a new route to the dugout, more pictures everywhere. 

Then the bestest best part, a chance to throw in the bullpen. I got to stand where my favorite guys Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen stand and threw a few toward the plate. There is video of me. I wasn't great but I wasn't John Wall either. Happy happy happy. 

Next month, Caps camp will start and the Nats will wind down and I will be more of a mixed bag of emotions than usual. My hockey-heavy last few years made me push baseball back in importance but every visit to Nationals Park brought me back to my younger days when I was reading everything I could about the Black Sox scandal and scoring games off the radio. Thank you for that. 

Intro

The hardest part of this blog was thinking of a title. I had one but it was based off a misremembered quote and the real thing wasn't as catchy. Now that's out of the way, I can fill this page with all sorts of subjective material.