How do you feel about DC as a Baseball/Sprotstown?

[mitlen]

Anyone else getting robocall surveys about the Nats (and Bryce in particular)?   

I don't know.    I never answer my phone or check messages.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Well, if there's one thing we know by now about phone polling, it's that there is selection bias.  They also asked a question about my opinion of Roberto Clemente, so there's that.

I don't know.    I never answer my phone or check messages.

[spidernat]

I don't know.    I never answer my phone or check messages.

the more posts I read authored by you the more I realize that I got old and didn't know it.

[HalfSmokes]

There's a biological cousin species that is 20 years older and still wears and listens to the same crap they did when they were 16.  I speak with some authority on this.

Today’s tech bro is yesterday’s yuppie

[varoadking]

Today’s tech bro is yesterday’s yuppie

Are tech bro's also hipsters?

[Mathguy]

Spider - the rest of us realized you got old ...

the more posts I read authored by you the more I realize that I got old and didn't know it.

[Mathguy]

Mitlen - Lyon Village was never part of Clarendon

I lived in the Clarendon area (Lyon Village) in the 80s.    I hardly recognized the place the last time I was there.

[mitlen]

the more posts I read authored by you the more I realize that I got old and didn't know it.

We ain't old.   We got standards.        I tell folks there ain't no such thing as a grumpy old man.   It's just a guy who's tolerance for bullcrap has waned over the years and he'll tell ya about it.

People wanna know if I monitor my calls.    I tell 'em, "No, I don't even get off the couch."    They ask, "Do you turn your cellphone on?"   I tell them, "I don't wanna talk to you at home.   What makes you think I wanna talk to you somewhere else?"

[spidernat]

I recently disabled voicemail.

[mitlen]

Mitlen - Lyon Village was never part of Clarendon

Probably why I wrote the "Clarendon area".    I know where I lived.     I could walk to Sears in 10 minutes.

*Sorry for bein' short Mathguy.    These damn Nats are pissin' me off.

[mitlen]

I recently disabled voicemail.

I tell people I turn my cell on for an hour every Tuesday.    I may get back to ya if your call comes in before I check.   If not, I may talk to ya next week.    Now, if I'm expectin' contact, I'll leave it on.    I ain't totally a cranky old bastard.     

[nats2playoffs]

Also the demographics are different relative to discretionary income

[Baseball is Life]

Are tech bro's also hipsters?

Geez, how old are you?

[Baseball is Life]

Mitlen - Lyon Village was never part of Clarendon

No, but it's right next to it, so cut him some slack.

[Baseball is Life]

I recently disabled voicemail.

Our voice mail at home says to not leave a message and to call us on our cell phones. The reason I don't disable it is I don't want people calling back twice thinking they mis-dialed or something. The only reason I have a land line anyway is because my wife wants one. I have not used it in four years.

[BigMeech]

It depends which circles you are talking about. Native Washingtonians tend to be African American and they would shudder at being called cosmopolitan. Native Northern Virginians (I grew up in Arlington) have seen the area change from a very southern area to a more Mid-Atlantic or Northeast type of suburb, which might be what your are referring to as DC-ification.

I'm talking about DC in general.  By its very nature, as the center of power,  it will always be cosmopolitan, even if it has a decent-sized percentage of people who were born and bred there.  Combine that with what is happening in Northern Virginia and you have an environment that will never rival the likes of New York City and Boston in terms of being a sportstown, especially when it comes to baseball. 

And yeah I grew up and still live in NoVa.  It's a nice place to live to be sure, but when it comes to sports it is so divided that it can never become a "sportstown."  I remember listening to 106.7 while driving to get lunch one afternoon and this very topic came up.  I think it was Grant and Danny.  They kept trying to figure it out, why DC pales in comparison to other regions in terms of being a Sportstown,  but it's due to the cosmopolitan nature of the DMV.  The only team that once-inspired a kind of regional loyalty was the Redskins and even now they're losing that reverence because of their suckatiude over the last two decades.

I'm rambling now but that's why the Capitals winning the Stanley Cup was an incredibly powerful moment for those who've lived in the DMV their entire lives and know nothing else.  I'm not saying this to sound elitist, but those who haven't lived in the DMV and haven't faithfully followed DC sports their entire lives could never experience the sheer joy that the Stanley Cup brought to them.  For people my age (20-29) it was finally a moment of triumph.  My father (born and bred in NoVa) would've been thrilled to finally see it happen.  Perhaps it was the kind of feeling that a third-generation Bostonian felt when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004.  Their genuine ties to the land made the triumph that much more special.

[Jeff in Gaithersburg]

I'm born and raised in the D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side, and as a fan of all 4 D.C. teams I've always thought the D.C. area got a bad rap as a sports town. The area is very unique as a sports market and should be graded on somewhat of a curve.

- The Nats have only been here since 2005 and D.C. did not have baseball for 30+ years. You have people in the area who either aren't big baseball fans or are transplants who root for other teams. Even with that said, the 30,000+ fans at games always seem to have energy and passion during games.
- Aside from a good season here or there, the Skins have been lousy for 25+ years and few if any fans like Snyder.
- Other than a few recent playoff years, the Bullets/Wizards have mostly been a doormat for almost 4 decades, during which many basketball fans latched on to other teams and big name stars.
- The Caps have consistently sold out the building and had merch fly off the shelves during the entire Ovechkin/Rock the Red era, even amid the playoff failures of past years.

The town went nuts during the Caps Cup run this year like nothing D.C. has ever seen before, whether it was watch parties inside the building or on the streets outside, and the parade crowd was beyond insane. Some bandwagon fans involved? Sure, but what city doesn't add new fans during a great season and especially championship run? I think it says more about a city/area that an entire town can come together and get behind a team when they're making a deep playoff run rather than it *only* being the diehards. If fans go back and forth rooting for different teams based on who's winning that would be one thing, but creating new fans of a team when a team is winning shouldn't be looked at as a bad thing.

What is the criteria for being a good or lousy sports town? Only a few cities/teams I can think of that will still have packed crowds at games and people watching games even if the team isn't winning - Packers, Bears, Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers and perhaps a few others. Any time I hear the "D.C. isn't a great sports town" narrative it makes me wonder what exactly those people are basing their opinion on.

[mitlen]

No, but it's right next to it, so cut him some slack.

Thanks but I took little offense.   It's the nature of the interwebz.    "We" must refute anything that is written.   "We" must prove our knowledge is superior to any other poster.    "We" must pick the white out of the chicken crap on every comment.    There is nothing too minute to refute.    I knew where I lived in the 80s.    I walked from Lyon Village (N. Danville) to Clarendon all the time.    I even lived on Clarendon BLVD just after getting married.     However, it is good to know I was where I thought I was.     

[bluestreak]

Before Game 6 of the ECF tickets could be had for $70 on stubhub. This was despite the prices being more than 3-4 times that at the beginning of the series. Prices plummeted once the Caps had lost three in a row and folks thought they were going to lose and it wasn’t a clinching game anymore. And once they won prices for the Cup Final skyrocketed to $7-800 for the Cup final.
This seems like a good representation of the DC sports scene.

[MarquisDeSade]

“DC Area” and “nice place to live” don’t go together.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Octopus chucking follows the much steadier ebb of a major metropolis bleeding out 

Good point on that Tampa Game 6 versus Vegas Game 4 though.  The going rate for the latter was actually closer to 2000 for singles as the puck drop was getting close.

Before Game 6 of the ECF tickets could be had for $70 on stubhub. This was despite the prices being more than 3-4 times that at the beginning of the series. Prices plummeted once the Caps had lost three in a row and folks thought they were going to lose and it wasn’t a clinching game anymore. And once they won prices for the Cup Final skyrocketed to $7-800 for the Cup final.
This seems like a good representation of the DC sports scene.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Meh, one creates their own microclimate anywhere, and misery or lack thereof is perhaps a person's most portable possession

“DC Area” and “nice place to live” don’t go together.

[Baseball is Life]

“DC Area” and “nice place to live” don’t go together.

I would never live any place else. The DC area has everything I would ever want. But I understand that the DC lifestyle is not for everybody.

[UMDNats]

Are tech bro's also hipsters?

no

“DC Area” and “nice place to live” don’t go together.

this is false, DC is not a place I personally want to live anymore (loved growing up there, but can't ever afford to live there again) but objectively it is a great place to live.

[UMDNats]

You described my son to a tee. I would include some well off suburban public schools (McLean, Langley, Oakton, Yorktown, etc. in NoVA). Some comparable schools in Montgomery County.

the public schools around are great but i will say the private school kids have a different vibe overall, but it's subtle. plenty of room for all bros!