Author Topic: What made you a Nats fan?  (Read 8848 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Roarin Storen

  • Posts: 1446
  • #teamlocke
What made you a Nats fan?
« Topic Start: May 27, 2009, 10:42:51 PM »
I am always asked this, mainly because they are so bad and people are curious as to how I follow the team. Most ask if I was an Expos fan and followed the team to DC. (I live in NY)

Well I am actually a converted Yankees fan, I have an older cousin who was incidentally just inducted into the NYU athletics HOF and was drafted by the Yankees. Our family over the years has ALWAYS been a Yankees family, so naturally that's where I drifted to. Unfortunately I did not really follow baseball during the Yankees glory years and picked things up in 2001 (WHAT A GREAT YEAR TO START!!!). After a WS loss, then another in 2003, the team went down hill big time and the culture of the Yanks had diminished almost totally. They weren't the NY Yankees we loved and hated, they were George Steinbrenner's evil wrath. Year in and year out the team saddened me even more with their spending and ignorance. It wasn't the losing, the team just was no fun to watch anymore.

In 2006 I turned the page, in a trip to Bethesda I decided to watch some Nats games - bought a Soriano jersey, a Zimmerman signed baseball, and some hats.  I haven't stopped watching and I love this team no matter how bad they are. I just think of the red, gold, and blue and I don't want to give up hope. When we finally win one, whether it is 5 years down the road or 20, it will be the most rewarding sports moment in most people's lives. The suffering we have endured is without a doubt going to continue for some time but there is a bright light ahead and I don't see myself ever giving up.

Offline sportsfan882

  • Posts: 93631
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #1: May 27, 2009, 10:45:07 PM »
most here live in the area and naturally picked up the Nats as their team. this thread has been made before.

good point though. If/when we ever do win it will be so sweet that there will be nothing like it in all of sports. After all the pain and agony we have been through winning and making the playoffs would be just sick. It's so much more harder to make the playoffs in baseball than hockey, football, and basketball.

Offline MDoyle

  • Posts: 654
  • UMW 2010
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #2: May 27, 2009, 10:46:29 PM »
Well... back in I was real young I was a Mariners fan, but then the Braves made the World Series in 1999, and because I lived in Georgia I followed the Braves for awhile.  I live in Maryland now, and when we got a team I thought it was cool because I could see Atlanta more often, but I guess somewhere down the line in 05-06 I just fully switched to the Nats.  My yahoo ID is still bravesfan.  Never felt like changing it.

Offline wpa2629

  • Posts: 17048
  • No Trade Clause
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #3: May 27, 2009, 10:46:58 PM »
I was an original Senator's fan ... natural progression ...

Offline Roarin Storen

  • Posts: 1446
  • #teamlocke
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #4: May 27, 2009, 10:47:32 PM »
most here live in the area and naturally picked up the Nats as their team. this thread has been made before.

good point though. If/when we ever do win it will be so sweet that there will be nothing like it in all of sports. After all the pain and agony we have been through winning and making the playoffs would be just sick. It's so much more harder to make the playoffs in baseball than hockey, football, and basketball.

Did they come out of no where as baseball fans or did they follow the Orioles?

Offline Dave B

  • Posts: 6033
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #5: May 27, 2009, 10:47:41 PM »
most here live in the area and naturally picked up the Nats as their team. this thread has been made before.

good point though. If/when we ever do win it will be so sweet that there will be nothing like it in all of sports.

so the lerners are just making it that much sweeter for us? thanks dicks

Offline wpa2629

  • Posts: 17048
  • No Trade Clause
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #6: May 27, 2009, 10:49:22 PM »
most here live in the area and naturally picked up the Nats as their team. this thread has been made before.

good point though. If/when we ever do win it will be so sweet that there will be nothing like it in all of sports. After all the pain and agony we have been through winning and making the playoffs would be just sick. It's so much more harder to make the playoffs in baseball than hockey, football, and basketball.

This is why Maryland's National Title was literally the greatest thing EVER ... it will be the same with the Nats ...(and the Caps, the Wiz, etc., ) there's virtue I think, in being a fan of a team when they bottom out and then build their way back up to a championship ...

Offline Nathan

  • Posts: 10726
  • Wow. Such warnings. Very baseball. Moderator Doge.
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #7: May 27, 2009, 10:49:53 PM »
I was never a fan of the O's even though they are the home team as a MD resident.  I finally got tired of the wait in between football seasons and started following baseball last year.

For some reason I just got into the Nats more so than the O's last year, so they became my team.  I always kinda liked the underdog teams as well, so that fits with the Nats.

Offline sportsfan882

  • Posts: 93631
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #8: May 27, 2009, 10:52:16 PM »
Did they come out of no where as baseball fans or did they follow the Orioles?
I think some followed the O's (hammonds 8)) but most were just fans of baseball like myself that did not root for any one particular team.

Offline hammondsnats

  • Posts: 37394
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #9: May 27, 2009, 10:52:31 PM »
i didn't sign up for this crap.  sure we may have gotten spoiled with that first season, but i was never expecting this crap.

grew up an O's fan - bite me all - but quickly switched over right when the team came to town.  some of my friends/family didn't, i was happy to.  it was a great feeling and each season i've become a bigger and bigger fan, and it's hurt more and more to see the higher ups to sink this franchise. 

my parents grew up senators fans and all these years they had been waiting for this city to get a team again.

dc baseball is tied for my second favorite team (w/ redskins) behind maryland basketball. 

Offline UMDNats

  • Posts: 18063
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #10: May 27, 2009, 10:53:54 PM »
i really got into baseball when the nats came, i was kind of an o's fan but not really. the nats have made me want to learn as much about baseball as possible

Offline PANatsFan

  • Posts: 37398
  • dogs in uncensored, nudes in gameday
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #11: May 27, 2009, 10:53:57 PM »
I grew up in  VA. Baltimore is NOT a DC team, and certainly NOT a VA team. I rooted for the Yankees because I hated the O's so much - but the strike and interleague play turned me off of baseball till the Nats got started.

Offline Nathan

  • Posts: 10726
  • Wow. Such warnings. Very baseball. Moderator Doge.
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #12: May 27, 2009, 10:54:52 PM »
the nats have made me want to learn as much about baseball as possible
Same here.

Offline LetsGoNats

  • Posts: 1594
  • We're Nat Gonna Take It!
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #13: May 27, 2009, 11:01:50 PM »
I moved to DC area after college in 1989, but never picked up any of the local teams because I already had other allegiances.   When the Nats came to town, I decided to "get in on the ground floor" and bought season tickets.  They are still the only DC team I really like.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

  • Posts: 17647
  • babble on
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #14: May 27, 2009, 11:07:22 PM »
Childhood Orioles fan (grew up in DC post Senators), later an Expos fan when living in Vancouver and then overseas for many years (pretty much everyone in Canada who is not from Toronto hates the Blue Jays).  So having returned to D.C. a few years earlier, the 'Spos relocation to DC was a total jackpot for me back in 2005.  Still is, really...as much of a trainwreck as they are at the moment.



i didn't sign up for this crap.  sure we may have gotten spoiled with that first season, but i was never expecting this crap.

grew up and O's fan - bite me all - but quickly switched over right when the team came to town.  some of my friends/family didn't, i was happy to.  it was a great feeling and each season i've become a bigger and bigger fan, and it's hurt more and more to see the higher ups to sink this franchise. 

my parents grew up senators fans and all these years they had been waiting for this city to get a team again.

dc baseball is tied for my second favorite team (w/ redskins) behind maryland basketball. 

Offline Smithian

  • Posts: 11497
  • Sunshine Squad 2022
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #15: May 27, 2009, 11:22:11 PM »
I didn't really get into major league baseball until 2006 and since I have family in Washington DC and am a die-hard Washington Redskins fan, I got behind the Nationals. Being in Northwest Arkansas, I get lots of heck from Cardinals and Braves followers...

I am running out of comebacks.

Offline LetsGoNats

  • Posts: 1594
  • We're Nat Gonna Take It!
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #16: May 27, 2009, 11:23:26 PM »
Being in Northwest Arkansas, I get lots of heck from Cardinals and Braves followers...

I am running out of comebacks.
Tell them that hopefully someday major league baseball will return to DC.

Offline Roarin Storen

  • Posts: 1446
  • #teamlocke
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #17: May 27, 2009, 11:27:49 PM »
I didn't really get into major league baseball until 2006 and since I have family in Washington DC and am a die-hard Washington Redskins fan, I got behind the Nationals. Being in Northwest Arkansas, I get lots of heck from Cardinals and Braves followers...

I am running out of comebacks.

Scream "STANDINGS!!", it makes no sense and it'll either make them laugh or confuse them (it's win-win).

Offline DPMOmaha

  • Posts: 22875
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #18: May 27, 2009, 11:33:01 PM »
Grew up an Expos fan.  Former Expos pitcher went to the church I went to growing up and beyond all reasonable explanations he and his wife became friends with my parents.  A natural case of hero worship developed and I followed every Expos game through middle school. 

95 almost ruined me. 

When the team moved to DC, I thought about finding a new team, a free agent of sorts.  All other NL East teams were eliminated from consideration as were the Dodgers, Cubs and Yankees.  I didn't want to go to the Royals or Rockies, the semi-local lost causes.  I wasn't going to go to a team that was bad already so that ruled out Milwaukee, Detroit, Texas, Houston, Baltimore, Tampa Bay and San Diego.  I was basically left with the Mariners, Cardinals, A's and a few other teams, but basically it was those three that I seriously considered. 

I tried to follow them and find a team I could follow but I kept coming back to the Nats and Vidro and Wilky and the gang.  This scrappy bunch was winning all these close games.  These are the same guys I'd been rooting for the past years, why not stick with them.  Now I'm here.  All the other teams bore me until September. 

Neither of my parents were sports fans so I never had a team fanhood handed down to me other than Nebraska football.  I basically got to figure it out on my own, and that was just fine with me.

Offline houston-nat

  • Posts: 19050
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #19: May 27, 2009, 11:35:38 PM »
I visited Washington D.C. on a spring break trip the week before the first-ever Nationals game. At the time I was a Detroit resident but hated living in Detroit, so I wouldn't root for the Tigers; I had previously lived in Indiana, which has no team. I decided to cheer for the Nationals casually to see how it went. Every week or so I'd check the box scores, and they were actually winning. I got kind of proud. Over the next few years, as they started to suck more consistently, I got drawn in more and more. Eventually, by 2007, and for absolutely no reason that I can figure out, I was hooked.

I have seen the Nationals live three times, all in Houston (1-2 record).
I have seen the Nationals on TV four times, twice in random restaurants (both times with Scott Olsen pitching), and twice thanks to help from NatsAddict.
That's it - I've seen D.C. play seven times. I've followed 250+ games on Gameday, though.

I'm what you might call the hardest core of fans: the hardcore fan with absolutely no reason to be hardcore and almost no means of being a fan.

Offline DPMOmaha

  • Posts: 22875
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #20: May 27, 2009, 11:38:22 PM »
So, when the Nats win that suspended game, does that go on your record or not since technically it's a home game?

Offline houston-nat

  • Posts: 19050
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #21: May 27, 2009, 11:38:49 PM »
So, when the Nats win that suspended game, does that go on your record or not since technically it's a home game?
I won't be in Houston to see it. :( I go to college in Houston (as you know - Rice Owl here) but I live elsewhere.

Offline DPMOmaha

  • Posts: 22875
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #22: May 27, 2009, 11:39:14 PM »
So that's a no?

Offline sportsfan882

  • Posts: 93631
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #23: May 27, 2009, 11:40:44 PM »
nice houston-nat and DPMOmaha. I always wondered why you guys liked the Nats.

houston: Are you going to any of the Nats games in Houston this year?

DPM: you have the extra innings package right? 

Offline houston-nat

  • Posts: 19050
Re: What made you a Nats fan?
« Reply #24: May 27, 2009, 11:41:04 PM »
So that's a no?
Well, I didn't see the first part, either. The live Houston games I've seen were in August 2007, a victory, and April (or May?) 2008, two losses in a row, following which I left town and the Nationals won the last game of the series. Best memory: an Austin Kearns home run right over my head that bounced off about 16 different pipes and walls before landing. Worst memory: having to watch Mike O'Connor take a dump on the mound.

houston: Are you going to any of the Nats games in Houston this year?
Nope - the only ones are in mid-July and I won't be there. :(