To be a Nats fan takes raw courage

[welch]

To quote Jim Hartley, only slightly revised: to be a Nats fan takes more than loyalty. It takes raw courage.

These are the times that try our souls. The summer-time fans will worry about the Redskins. We are still here.

Let's go Nats!!!!

[Obed_Marsh]

Ha. A bad series or a losing streak isn't the end of the world.

[Lintyfresh85]

It's just sports.

Being a fan doesn't take courage... It just takes dedication and time.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I must need more tea...I first read that as "raw sewage"

[blue911]

I must need more tea...I first read that as "raw sewage"

That's the Pirates pitching coach.

[nfotiu]

We have the best record in baseball.  There is not a team out there that hasn't had a bad important series.  I'm sure we've had less of them than everyone else. 

[wpa2629]

It's just sports.

Being a fan doesn't take courage... It just takes dedication and time.

And Maalox and an assload of Liquor

[RL04]

There is not a team out there that hasn't had a bad important series. 

How about a few bad series?

[cmdterps44]

my sports team is better than your sports team

[CALSGR8]

To quote Jim Hartley, only slightly revised: to be a Nats fan takes more than loyalty. It takes raw courage.

These are the times that try our souls. The summer-time fans will worry about the Redskins. We are still here.

Let's go Nats!!!!

My Pal Jim!  He's right!  Especially to support a team and encourage them thru the losing years!

[welch]

My Pal Jim!  He's right!  Especially to support a team and encourage them thru the losing years!

CALSGR8 knows Jim Hartley?  I need your autograph!!!!

[CALSGR8]

CALSGR8 knows Jim Hartley?  I need your autograph!!!!

Mine?  You sure you dont want Jim's?  He's the author!  Yes, known him for a number of years!  Run into him at games sometimes.  He & Tom Holster used to have Natsfests before we even had a team.

[welch]

Mine?  You sure you dont want Jim's?  He's the author!  Yes, known him for a number of years!  Run into him at games sometimes.  He & Tom Holster used to have Natsfests before we even had a team.

I remember the Natsfests...wanted to go to the 1969 reunion. Went looking for Tom Holster, who was suppopsed to be an usher on the right-field side of Nats Park. Not an usher this year. But somebody who knows Jim Hartley and Tom Holster is kind of a celebrity!

[CALSGR8]

I remember the Natsfests...wanted to go to the 1969 reunion. Went looking for Tom Holster, who was suppopsed to be an usher on the right-field side of Nats Park. Not an usher this year. But somebody who knows Jim Hartley and Tom Holster is kind of a celebrity!

I know Hank Thomas and Gary Sarnoff too!

Never thought of myself that way!  Thanks!

[Obed_Marsh]

Courage is not a spectator sport.

[welch]

Courage is not a spectator sport.

Ah...you have to read the intro to Jim Hartley's history of the Expansion Senators. He looked through all of his old score-cards -- can't believe he kept them (!) -- and concluded just what I paraphrased. It was not just loyalty to follow the Nats...it takes courage.

For example, my beloved 1959 Senators lost 19 games in a row, breaking the major league record. Honest: take a look at that big red glob in Baseball Reference between July 19, 1959, and August 5. Go game-by-game and imagine us 10 year-olds, and the Washington heat, and those losses. Wonder about a team with three guys who hit 30 home runs or more, including the AL HR leader, plus Roy Sievers who was hurt part of the season, but who had hit 39 homers in '58, and 42 in '57.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WSH/1959.shtml

Then examine this game, June 18, 1961, first game of a double-header against the Boston Red Sox. Go inning-by-inning, and read through the 9th. For delicate readers: Nats had a 30 - 32 record, leading 12 - 5 with two outs in the 9th. And then...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS196106181.shtml



 

[Obed_Marsh]

It was not just loyalty to follow the Nats...it takes courage.

Obviously I love this team but I fail to see the fear, danger, or intimidation in being a Nats fan.

Awesome.   Let's strip the meaning of another word through inappropriate use.

[lastobjective]

Obviously I love this team but I fail to see the fear, danger, or intimidation in being a Nats fan.

Took a little courage to wear my Nats gear in Philly . My family refused to wear any, just stuck to red clothing or neutral colors.

[welch]

Obviously I love this team but I fail to see the fear, danger, or intimidation in being a Nats fan.

Awesome.   Let's strip the meaning of another word through inappropriate use.

Let's call it "a willingness to endure ridicule".

I used to wear a blue Curly-W hat when I coached a youth soccer team, years ago. Except for my neighbors from Silver Spring and from Oxon Hill, anybody who recognized the hat used to give me a look of mock pity, and start that old vaudeville joke about first in war etc.

[mimontero88]

It takes a lot of courage to root for the team with the best record in baseball

Now being an Astros fan... that takes courage.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

It used to take courage.  Now it takes a Strasburg jersey and a willingness to be a shameless bandwagoner.