Define Natitude

[DPMOmaha]

care to place an avatar wager on who has the better season?

Not really. I'd just rather argue in circles.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

For all the talk about the Marlins, they had one very big addition on offense - Reyes.  You can also probably assume a big bounce back from Ramirez.  Bonifacio, otoh, will likely not have a .360 OBP again.  They scored one fewer run than the Nats last year.  If you figure RZ and HanRam improvement as a wash, the difference to me looks like Reyes v Dobbs. It is a lot, but how much in terms of runs? 

[MarquisDeSade]

For all the talk about the Marlins, they had one very big addition on offense - Reyes.  You can also probably assume a big bounce back from Ramirez.  Bonifacio, otoh, will likely not have a .360 OBP again.  They scored one fewer run than the Nats last year.  If you figure RZ and HanRam improvement as a wash, the difference to me looks like Reyes v Dobbs. It is a lot, but how much in terms of runs? 

Three words - Big Mike Stanton. 

[HalfSmokes]

For all the talk about the Marlins, they had one very big addition on offense - Reyes.  You can also probably assume a big bounce back from Ramirez.  Bonifacio, otoh, will likely not have a .360 OBP again.  They scored one fewer run than the Nats last year.  If you figure RZ and HanRam improvement as a wash, the difference to me looks like Reyes v Dobbs. It is a lot, but how much in terms of runs? 

and they were also terrible last year, I'd rather aspire to a decent offense than one step better than a slightly less terrible offense

[PowerBoater69]

Playoff talk from the Nationals? Pshaw. Playoff talk was last week’s news. This week, we’re on to the D word.

“I think everybody in the Nationals organization would agree on this: we’re not necessarily playing for one year specifically,” Stephen Strasburg said Thursday on ESPN 980. “We’re playing to hopefully build a dynasty.”

A dynasty, eh? How best to describe this outlook? Self-assuredness? Confidence? Blind faith?

No, no and no. This, friends, is Natitude.

“It’s a young team, with an edge and attitude,” Nats COO Andy Feffer told me this week. “But now it’s different than the past: they’re talented, and they’ve got the skills to back it up. That kind of edge and attitude is Natitude.”

The team will introduce “Natitude” to the D.C. area this weekend, with a press release Friday, radio spots starting Saturday during 106.7 The Fan’s first spring training broadcast, television ads beginning with Sunday’s spring training debut on MASN, and at least one commercial on the team’s Web site (below). That commercial alternates between Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa, with both men virtually leaking glowing globules of confidence off the screen.

“Some people say you’re either born with it or you’re not,” Morse says in the ad.

“I don’t care if you’re the best, I’m gonna get you,” Espinosa adds. “That’s why I always look into the dugout. I want to make sure they’re watching.”

Morse is shown repeatedly, doing some sort of primal, silent howl. “Ignite Your Natitude,” is the tag line at the end.
 
A group of Nats employees came up with the “Natitude” brand campaign together, but Feffer said it was inspired by the way the team played in 2011, by Ryan Zimmerman’s walk-off home runs and Morse pounding himself on the helmet, by Jayson Werth getting dirt in his beard while sliding into third and Stephen Strasburg “closing down the Marlins’ own stadium on our terms,” by Espinosa getting kicked out of the team’s weight room at midnight and Ian Desmond saying a double-header split with the Phillies was no longer acceptable.

“The difference is that confidence and assertiveness,” Feffer said. “We’re probably more excited than ever, more confident, more assertive and more ready than we’ve ever been to make things happen this year.”

Remember the team’s previous marketing campaigns, like “Nats Town” in 2009? “NatsTown” conjures quaint images of humble journeyman ballplayers just maybe trying to eke out one more season, one more at-bat, one more bowl of bubble-gum flavored gruel, please, sir. NatsTown had very little Natitude.

(Other campaigns:“Get Your Red On” and “Welcome Home” and “Expect It,” as I recall.)

The team has started introducing players to the new campaign, asking them to design t-shirts that express their own particular Natitude. Drew Storen has already come up with his concept, featuring the phrase “Attention fans, the bottom of the 9th has been canceled.” The most popular player shirts will be used either as team giveaways or sold in the team store.

Fans will also be asked to submit their own takes on Natitude, and Feffer hopes the campaign “will define itself over the course of the season, change, become new and fresh, less what we say it is and more what the players and fans decide it is.”

And why not? Jim Riggleman quitting in the middle of last season? Bad Natitude. Nyjer Morgan creating distractions with absurd on-field antics? Needed a Natitude adjustment. Elijah Dukes and all his baggage? Total Natitude problem.

But Bryce Harper and Gio Gonzalez and even Strasburg saying they expect to win, and soon?

“Natitude is a little thing that makes a big difference,” Winston Churchill once said, sort of.

“It’s real, what’s going on,” Feffer said. “The players know it’s real. Davey Johnson knows it’s real. They’re ready.”

(From NatsNQ)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/nats-launch-natitude-campaign/2012/03/02/gIQArFt8lR_blog.html

[Baseball is Life]

This strikes me as trying too hard and very superficial. If you have an attitude, well, you just have it. Everybody knows it and you don't need to talk about it.

It seems like they're trying to convince themselves more than anything else. Go out there, play hard, win, and the rest will take care of itself.

[PowerBoater69]

If the bottom of the ninth has been canceled, why did they pay Mr. Walkoff all that money?

[DPMOmaha]

[DPMOmaha]

This strikes me as trying too hard and very superficial. If you have an attitude, well, you just have it. Everybody knows it and you don't need to talk about it.

It seems like they're trying to convince themselves more than anything else. Go out there, play hard, win, and the rest will take care of itself.

Advertising campaigns generally are superficial.

[Obed_Marsh]

[imref]

i hated the term, but after reading that article above i'm having second thoughts.  Of course if we get off to a 10-22 start we're going to look like idiots, but for now I like the fact that this is now a team that for the first time in its history expects to win.

[imref]

that's awesome.

(need to go to youtube to watch it though.

[Evolution33]

That video sold it for me. I am on-board with Natitude. Now sound the sub horn. 

[tomterp]

If the bottom of the ninth has been canceled, why did they pay Mr. Walkoff all that money?

It's a home game, and Drew has already closed out the top of the 9th with the lead.   

[blue911]

It's a home game, and Drew has already closed out the top of the 9th with the lead.   

Rizzo's getting kickback money. Why else would they increase the payroll?

[wpa2629]

OMG

That Video



Game on nages

Let's do this

[PowerBoater69]

It's a home game, and Drew has already closed out the top of the 9th with the lead.   

I get that, but if Storen is that good why do we need Zimmm?  Can't walk off on the road.

[houston-nat]

K Drew Storen's slogan is kinda awesome.

[Baseball is Life]

Advertising campaigns generally are superficial.

Generally, yes. But there are good ones. The Nike ads come to mind.

[Baseball is Life]

That video sold it for me. I am on-board with Natitude. Now sound the sub horn. 

Eh, the video is ok, but I'm still not feeling it. Sorry to be letting down my SSS brethren.

[GburgNatsFan]

if that video were a 45rpm record (geezer alert), my wife and daughter would wear it out.

Morse puts a hell of a swing on a ball.

That video sold it for me. I am on-board with Natitude. Now sound the sub horn. 

[Baseball is Life]

Three words - Big Mike Stanton.   

[Vega]

Three words - Big Mike Giancarlo Stanton. 

Fixed.

[Galah]

That's why I always look into their dug out, I want to make sure they're watching....like it.

[MarquisDeSade]

Giancarlo the Toronado is getting major MVP votes this season.  Book it.