Killing Time

With the Nattos on the West Coast I'm just killing time waiting for them to come on at ten. I was delighted to see that the Cubs and the Dodgers were playing on ESPN, which is for the most part, the greatest thing that has ever happened to sports fans. However, Chris Bermann was calling the game. This guy has to be the biggest horse's ass in all of sports. It is bad enough that he can turn people off from watching Sunday night highlights in the Fall, does he really need to screw up baseball too? This guy makes Troy Aikman look like the Albert Einstein of calling games. Bermann has been at ESPN forever, his time has long since come. He goes back back back back and please keep going. It was entertaining in 1991, it grew stale around the turn of the century. Somone needs to tell that guy to shut up.

A positive thing in baseball is how great Nationals Park is. I haven't gushed about this place yet so excuse me while I do. The food and all of the concessions are great but I could care less. If I really cared about food I'd go to a resteraunt not a ball game. The sightlines seem perfect no matter where you sit. I've sat in several different seats throughout the park and they are all great places to watch a ballgame. So far, it appears that it is one of the few new parks that is a pitchers park, but the stats will prove if that is true or not over the next couple of years. The Lerners have hired some good people. They have normally been pretty strict about shuffling around seats but it was nice to see the staff let most of the crowd retreat back to the shade yesterday on what was the hottest day of the year thus far. Even the players are getting into the feel-goodness. Elijah "put up your" Dukes was a controversial pickup. Watching him as a person yesterday, if you can forget everything he has done, was awesome. He was signing autographs for kids, smiling at the crowd, and everytime they were done warming up in the outfield before the inning started, he would look for a kid to throw the ball too. These kids don't know what he has done off the field so the Nattos could get him at basement price. All they know is that a big leaguer looked them in the eye and tossed them a big league ball. Even with an eleven inning loss and a bad sunburn, it was good seeing an entire organization headed in the right direction live, despite being 8 games down.

To contrast it, take an organization that was doing great a week ago, but have come back to Earth and still remain classless. Its no secret I hate Sidney "the princess" Crosby. He whines so much he makes Miss Piggy look like an optimist. The Great 8 is my favorite athlete in the land and the two will be compared throughout their entire careers and thereafter and of course I want him to collect more hardware. I just want Ovie to do it with some class unlike his so-called counterpart. Everyone watching the game last night saw the princess whining again, but this time not at the refs, he had nothing to come close to whining about, but to his teammates. The Captain of the waddlers couldn't do anything but whine to his protectors (not the refs this time, the team.) How did the team respond? Without class. They targeted Johan Fraznen who just came back from a seven game layoff with "concussion-like symptoms." The waddlers just aimed their elbows for his head the whole time. I understand that it is playoff hockey and this might be the reason the waddlers are still in the hunt for the Cup and the Caps aren't. But the Caps would have scored at least one goal in two games. I hate the Wings because they swept us in the finals. At least we lost with class. The Pens can't do a thing in the series. Their captain can't even whine enough to influence the refs. Score a goal and prove you actually belong in the series that decides the Cup before you start head-hunting. I thought for a second that maybe I had the waddlers intentions confused. Maxime Talbot described he and his cronies the best: "last game was chippy and dirty and hopefully the next game is going to be too." It was only dirty from the Pens side of it. I hate the waddlers and hate them even more for making me stick up for the Wings. But the Wings played playoff hockey and the Penguins played dirty. Oh yeah, and the Wings scored goals. The Wings want Mr. Talbot to get his wish; they also hope the next game turns out the same except hopefully Mr. Franzen can do it without risking his livelihood, mental health, and kids' college fund.

That is the difference between two opposite organizations. One is classless and has a chance at the championship in their sport. The other is a year away from having been predicted to be the worst team ever and finds themselves in the basement. If I had the choice between having the future now playing for the championship two games down without touching the scoreboard and without class, or having the future be a year or two away but getting there with class, I take the future with class. Go Nats the future looks bright, better than the present for some others.