C'mon Guys...

The Washington Nationals: 46-85 (3-7 in the last ten games), in the midst of a losing streak, a whopping 30 games behind, and drawing a tiny number of fans per game. How's THAT for an identity?

I have to say, I feel extremely sorry for whoever is in charge of promoting baseball in DC. Not because it's not a great sport, or that the DC metro area lacks fans of baseball, it's that it has to one of the most challenging jobs around right now. The Nationals' terribleness, coupled with the fact that DC hasn't had a baseball team in 30 years must make promotion difficult, to say the least. Because of the Nats' awful record and overall play, the owners missed out on one of sport's most time-honored traditions of keeping a team popular: Band-wagon jumping!

Now, I've read several blogs stating that the Nationals were trying too hard to push the "DC sports" agenda, and I admit, I found myself being a little cynical as well. But ask yourselves: if the Nationals were good, would we still consider them to be trying too hard? Or would we consider them another link in the proud chain that is DC sports? We would probably just leap up on to that super fun band-wagon (it's a band ON a wagon! What's not to like?) and wear our Nationals hats and our Nationals Shirts and our Nationals underwear.

But because they are godawful, we distance ourselves from them and automatically assume that THEY are trying to overcompensate by playing up DC's illustrious baseball history. Maybe they are legitimately proud about the team's predecessor in DC. Besides, as PTJ quoted, "People cheer for clothes". And if the clothes always said WASHINGTON on them, why does it matter if the team was once in Montreal? The Nationals' roster has players representing every major region in the US and many foreign countries. So, is it wrong that a man from the Dominican Republic wears a uniform with "DC" on it? No? Then, to quote one of my favorite philosophers, "What's up, Doc?". What's the difference between the baseball team that's playing in DC now and the baseball team that played 85 years ago, besides the name? Both teams had players from all over and both played the sport IN DC. Oh yea, I found the only difference: this bad boy. So please, let's stop picking on the Nationals because they suck.

Hows about we pick on a big guy now? Red Sox fans: Ho many of you would like the fact that their team was the last team to integrate, TWELVE YEARS after the color barrier was broken, to just go away? That's what I thought. But it's alright, The Sox are only 6 games behind, so there's no need for that.