So by now you’ve all seen the fact that the Washington franchise in the National League is saving money by only embroidering some letters on the fronts of their uniforms.
I just showed my wife the photo, and the first thing she said was, “That’s great – but who are the Chefs?”
I believe that is the French spelling. They are paying homage to their Montreal roots.
Anything to save money in this economy, right? Better than cutting costs by trading good players, better than cutting your scouting budget…
Great-Googly Moogly sums that up quite well…
So if you show up to the park, and hanging in your locker is a jersey with an obvious mistake, do you throw it on anyways? Half joking and half serious, are there any options at that point? It was a home game for them, they’ve got to have some back-ups, or at least left-over opening day t-shirts…
Somewhere in upstate New York, there’s a pile of red Os next to a locker marked “Milledge,” with a young baseball player sitting nearby, watching SportsCenter, and snickering.
Not only that, but they decided to bench Elijah Dukes and threaten to demote him to Triple-A if he’s late again. The man was five minutes late for the report time (not game time) because he was at a local Little League function doing charity work. Nicely done!
I am sure glad this team left Montreal. Their ownership, management, and on field product has most definitely improved!
Grant,
After the announcers noticed it they got them new jerseys that were spelled correctly. I was watching the game and the Marlins announcers were having a good time with it.
Matt H.,
You’re saying that they had to be told part way through the game that they weren’t playing with the appropriate number of letters on their chest? Did they make the change mid-game?
Indeed they made the change mid game. At first they thought it was just Zimmerman, then they noticed Dunn had it too. In the next inning they showed Zimmerman in the dugout with a correctly spelled Jersey.
Ledezma, Rivera, Shell — struggling relievers … or the clever pranksters behind the missing Os?
Dan, I believe the line was “Great googa mooga!” One of my all time favorite lines, but more important is Duchovny’s acting “off the ball” in reaction.
Klaw hates the Nationals. And the White sox. And the Twins. And…
Bob, it’s not just those teams…Do you know the guy doesn’t really like baseball that much?
He only likes baseball played by robots on computers in his brain!
Keith,
Along the lines of your twitter/FB updates… If Russ Olendorf is shutting you out, you may not be a real contender even if you are 11-1.
This from a Marlin fan, damn.
Keith, I was walking around downtown DC on Sat afternoon, and I realized that there was a Nats game. So thinking, “why not, there are probably cheap tickets,” I decided to stop by. After being shocked that the cheapest tickets they had available were $18 (considering there are cheaper tickets available at a Mets game), I went in to watch them blow the lead in the ninth and then lose in extras. Everything about the franchise seems poorly run – from the fact that they shut down a ticket line on Saturday while about 20 fans were in line and asked us to walk to the other side of the stadium to buy tickets – to the fact that the product is just pathetic – it just appears the franchise is in shambles.
I actually found myself rooting on the Marlins at the end of the game.
Do you think the new GM will lead to a turn around of the franchise? Or is this regime going to be more of the same since the ownership group is the same?
Hey hey… no hating on O. He was totally solid today for the Buccos.
Speaking of the Buccos… how about them?
Some irrelevant/interesting trends dealing with the Buccos (13 games in) here…
http://sportsbabble.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/o-likes-his-fish-fried/
I would love Keith’s response to the whole Dukes suspension thing. ESPN reports today that the Little League is going to pay the fine for him because they think it’s the right thing to do. I hope the Nationals at least donate that to charity or to the league.
@Todd: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Googly_Moogly
The Little League Program that Dukes was doing work with is now offering to raise the money to pay his $500 fine. That is awesome! Now, MLB has to step in and pay that fine or they will look like goons as well.
Dave: I should’ve known that a brilliant line from the movie Evolution was a derivative. Thanks for the lesson.
On a side note, or side question, are the National’s Red Loft seats decent? talking the girlfriend into a ballpark roadtrip, and wanted to find something she’d be into.
Unless she’s into awful baseball experiences (team, ballpark, food/drink, neighborhood), I’d pass on Nationals Park. Go to any of the other semi-local ones; Philadelphia, Baltimore, repeat one if necessary. If I could get my day back and uncross off Washington from my “been there” list, I would.
Washington is my last park on the east coast (other than the 2 new ones in New York). Luckily for me, she has low standards. I understand the team, but the ballpark, food/drink, stadium? Are they that bad?
I thought so but I was there … checking baseball-reference … in mid-July so its possible they hadn’t worked out all the kinks. The stadium sort of looked like put up the structure then someone realized they forgot to carry a “1” and had to cheap out to finish. The closed concourse behind home plate seems inexcusable in a new park and the all green OF wall is aesthetically awful. The food was absolutely awful; I had pulled pork which looked like a cheap, chopped up pork chop on a hamburger bun. Because there were no neighborhood bars we were there long enough to need lunch and dinner and decided to pass on the 2nd meal and just hit a reststop. Cheaper price for possibly better food. The beer selection was pretty bad, a couple micros behind 1B and 3B but nothing interesting or different, just tokens.
I guess if you want to cross it off a nearly completed list, go, but safely slot it above only Shea and the Vet on the east coast. Probably could even argue one or both of those for overall experience since the fanbases add something.
my experience at nat ball park was poor as well and share similar sentiments to Dave. The thing we took away more than anything was the way we were treated. We felt as though the attendants were watching for signs of trouble from us instead of helping us enjoy the game. Worst ball park experience for me too.