Manny - summer and silly Washington area fans

Well, Manny Ramirez has reached and surpassed the 500 homer threshold. I didn't like him much when he was in Cleveland since he killed the Sox in the playoffs, however, he's become something altogether different from those days. Joe Morgan on ESPN loves Manny - it's fun to listen to Morgan do color/commentary instead of Tim McCarver (cannot stand the man, plus the fact that he's a HUGE anti-Red Sox commentator - he had to eat so much crow when the Sox came back in 2004 over the Yankees). Manny did it in the Red Sox's second home, Camden Yards, with their favorite punching bag providing the fun. I watched all of the games and it is still amusing to me to see the huge amount of Sox fans in the seats in Oriole Park (official name of the baseball field). I went to Memorial Stadium when I first moved to the DC area and I found myself and maybe three others in the whole place who had Sox paraphernalia on. Nowadays the reverse is true, where there are so few O's fans you have to really look hard to find black and orange (horrible colors) apparel on someone not hawking it to someone else.

I get a kick out of listening to Jim Palmer talk about the Red Sox, he's really a big fan of how they do baseball and not a fan of the current Orioles (or for the past six years it seems) crew they've got going. That's my impression from listening to him this past weekend, even when the O's won on Monday night (let's see, lose three straight and then win one, yeah, that'll keep you in last place). Palmer is so nostalgic for the "Oriole Way", too bad that the team hasn't had a winning season since, um, was Clinton president then?
Washington area fans spend so much time on the Redskins here that they miss out on baseball and other diversions. I've never seen such homers in my life. Oh, wait, that's right, I have, but that's for another time. DC United has won four championships in the past 12 years, the Redskins have made the playoffs three times in the same time frame. Do Washington fans even know that? I highly doubt it. When it comes to baseball Washington fans are ambivalent at best (I'd venture slightly retarded at times) which is unfortunate because the Nationals are a decent mediocre team. Kinda like Houston really, nice ballpark but the product between the lines will lose more than win but are gamers mostly. With a huge potential fan base the Nationals are poised to become a 2nd tier team (up from bleacher bench seats) - they'll not get much higher until they start trading for pitching and start building some good support minor league teams. The Washington Post does some fair coverage of the Nats but I get the impression they're waiting for the prom queen to take off her brassiere and prance around center field. The cynicism in regards to the nationals is really annoying. The Post or the Times will do everything possible to have kids over the Redskins and the Nats are acknowledged as a strange relative even though their stadium is better, is better situated, and has better food.

Summer is here again and my oldest just finished his second soccer season. I have high hopes for him and I am trying not to be the pyscho dad (which is doubly hard since I'm now an assistant coach). He's going to soccer camp this summer (I hope he has a blast). My youngest is already out of school and so I've got figure out what he can do, maybe I'll sign him up for tots practice this fall. The hot weather arrived yesterday and the obligatory thunderstorm struck as well (some poor woman got killed by a tree yesterday). DC gets so hot during the summer - the only other place I've been to where it's hotter is the Gulf Coast where the sweat streams out of your body like water fountain. I'm hoping that it will cool off a little bit this summer - another hot summer will kill my $$$ (which I have almost zero anyways). I look forward to a fun summer and maybe I can keep losing weight, but that's for another time.

Why Redskins fans are homers

Far be it for me to call most other fans homers but Redskins fans are really weird. I do NOT understand how they think that the Redskins are a good team or that the team "has all the pieces". Listening to the Junkies this morning and I'm struck by how dense these folks are. A lot of complainers have balanced things out, but with both daily newspapers spending 11 PAGES! to the Redskins, this is HOMERVILLE!

I love living down here - the weather is better than it was in Boston where I grew up, folks don't cut you off every 10 feet, but it's just plain STUPID how the Redskins are WORSHIPPED here. Every Redskins game gets FRONTPAGE coverage on the Washington Post - what in the world is that about? The Redskins deserve FRONTPAGE coverage when they suck? I understand with Sean Taylor getting killed last week, that's different and I understand how that would be of high interest. However, EVERY GAME other than yesterday deserve front page coverage? When most of the coverage is such homer junk?

I find that sports journalists are less journalists and more knuckleheads. I've yet to see a good columnist who actually KNOWS the sport they're covering, ALSO, how about actually PLAYED the sport or ANY sport for that matter. I'm convinced that most sports writers aren't very intelligent, they're just overpaid fans who'd sacrifice their first born to talk to __________ __________ (fill in the blanks for your favorite sports personage).

I understand that folks love sports, but please, could we please, please, stop being homers? Painting one's body or wearing "gear" ALL WEEK LONG. Sorry, but getting a letterman jacket of your favorite sports team is just dumb. I have a fleece and three hats of my beloved Red Sox, THAT'S IT! I'm a huge Sox fan but I'm not getting matching sweat suits or getting a whole mug set. That's for the Jimmy Fallons out there, the "superfans" who are just homers. Be a fan, but don't spend your extra cash on "your team's" stuff.

Redskins fans, Steelers fans, and Cowboys fans here in DC are the most ridiculous human beings I've ever seen. My word, flags, vanity plates for the car, flags on the car, coloring your car with your team's colors, and all that nonsense is just dumb. You're not a person any more, you are a headless sheep.

death and stupidity

Sad day for Redskins fans today. One of their "star" safeties was murdered yesterday by a home invasion. Fortunately, his baby and girlfriend were spared (they were in the house with him). I have no feeling either way other than it's awful to have happened and my prayers are for his family and friends who have to pick up the pieces from this nastiness.

I find it strange that a lot of folks are jumping in either to cut down Sean Taylor or give him a medal. It's a big story, given the almost god-like status that the Redskins get in this town (I've lived here for 15 years in DC and I still find the Redskins mania to be utter nonsense). What's unfortunate is that it's going to get constant coverage, I mean, it's going to get over-played, over-discussed and dissected, and worn out fast.

The guy was injured, something with his knee, and he was shot by someone in his own home in Miami. He had a reputation for "bad behavoir", yet he was cleared of wrong-doing but folks don't believe if they don't want to. Strange how the media/press get bent if they can't get on the story or if someone stiffs them because of something or other.

It's always a downer when someone young gets killed - it would do to consider that there are bad people, and that not everyone who is considered to be bad is actually bad, ESPECIALLY because of their skin color. Best wishes and prayers to Sean Taylor's family and friends and the Redskins organization.

why are people such whiners?

I was driving in early today listening to Jason Smith's show on ESPN and he's compairing this Whitehouse singer with the Patriots, calling the Patriots a mess, super talented, but a mess nonetheless. He then creates this non-sensical claim that "other players and coaches" are bitter at the Patriots and Bill Bellichek because they're running up the score. My word, this isn't Nebraska and Kansas in 1988 or Oklahoma and Missouri in 1986, this is professional football. I cannot fathom just how stupid sports "journalists" really are. The depths of their obtuseness is beyond belief, beyond belief. Where was the outrage when the Redskins crushed the Lions this season? Oh, right, it's because "they went for it on 4th down up by 28" Puulllleeeeeze. What's hilarious is this, the Patriots are winning and now people are bitching and moaning that they don't win the way everyone else wants them to. Right, so what is the best way to win? Score only when others want them to.
Whiners, the bane of intelligent fans of the game. I would know whining, I grew up in Boston and have dabbled in that low form of discussion myself. However, removing oneself from the scene can clear up the picture pretty good. Shaddup and get a clue - most of the whiners never played sports beyond gym class.

It's great to be a Boston fan

Well, this weekend has been great for this Boston fan (horrible for sleep, working on such a low level of alertness). I could not believe how masterful the Red Sox were against the Rockies. Outscored them by double digits easy. With BC winning last Thursday and with the Red Sox sweeping up the pebbles (oops, Rockies) and the complete pasting the Patriots put on the Redskins I am pleased.

I'm soooo wiped out today and I've got three meetings. Not going to be fun today. Congrats to Boston!

What is a Washington DC area sports fan like?

I've lived here in DC for over 13 years now (almost half my adult life, short as it has been) and I'm still baffled by the folks who call themselves sports fans here. I'm a loyal listener of the Junkies (formerly known as the "sports junkies") in the morning hours since I get up ever so early to get to my avocation's work site and like to laugh. Anyways, a few days ago (last week actually) the foursome that comprises the Junkies got quite bent over a few comments from a blog site www.misterirrelevant.com. I was fairly amused at their characterizations but the churlishness showed by both sides is astounding. It all boiled up and over from an interview that the Junkies did with a Redskin receiver, Brandon Lloyd (see this link for audio http://www.wjfk.com/episode_download.php?contentType=36&contentId=1067453). The topics were pretty innocuous until Troy Aikman came up. Lloyd implied that Aikman may have had a, um, same sex encouter in the past. The Junkies hopped on that item and then the Mothram boys (who run the blog) wrote this. It created a firestorm and made Lloyd an instant media celebrity (he's a middling receiver apparently).

What I'm finding is that sports fans in DC are just plain weird. There seems to be an incessant need to nit pick or complain about everything. Now, the pot is calling the kettle black here since I'm originally from Boston and sports fans there are beyond weird. However, we're pyschos from up nawth, predictable, and hyper-passionate. I've never seen folks down here get passionate over sports unless it's the Redskins, but even then it seems pretty tepid compared to my old haunts. I mean, there are three legitimate football teams, college mind you, that play here and you'd never know it. Not unlike Boston with the Red Sox presumably, but, there are three other major sports teams that get attention, scant it may be though.

Washington DC needs to get on board with hockey. I'm a Bruins fan no doubt, grew up with Gerry Cheevers, Mike Milbury, Ray Bourque and so on, but here in DC there is a decent squad on the frozen water with a rooskie who can flat out score. Again, it's weird down here, football and basketball, that's it for sports attention. Weird I tell you.

I'd be interested in finding out if I'm on an island or if I'm close to the tree and/or target.