Nats Fans Will 'Experience' Nothing and Like It

I feel for the Lerner family, I do. Here they are, trying to create this "fan experience" -- flat-screen TVs, jungle gym and PlayStation 3 for the kids, all kinds of fun things to do before the games begin -- that the fans don't even want. They just want to watch their baseball.

- But what about if they're coming straight from work so it's a bit early and there's nothing to-

Nope. They want to sit stoically in their seats, trying to block out the carefully chosen music and avoid looking at those thoughtfully planted cherry trees along the left-field wall.

They simply want to stare at the empty baseball diamond until the players appear on it, and then they will breathe a sigh of relief because it's finally okay to have FUN.

mortified469: If I want to go to an amusement park, I will got to Disney World. Baseball isn't the sport it was. The sport, and fans, are lame.

wlevey: When I go to a game, IT'S TO WATCH THE DARN GAME, not do everything else but or be distracted by the "game presentation"! I usually go early to watch batting practice, watch the game, and go home. At least you'll be able to read the scoreboard now as opposed to RFK.

911porsche: Baseball fans what to see Baseball. The Nationals Park is a fiasco. The City should have never built this Park. What a shame to waste RFK.

seanmg: Maybe I'm now old school,but I find a line in this story amusing.Fans who went to games at RFK had "little to do but watch the game and little to spend their money on."I don't want to shock the Lerners and Stan Kasten,but I still like to watch the game.

Southeasterner: Thank god nobody will actually have to watch baseball! Building a fan base around entertainment rather than the actual sport just shows the weakness of the DC market. ... I'm glad to see the Nats "tradition" is taken from presidents races based on the Millwaukee sausage races and singing "Sweet Caroline" from the Red Sox fans. Nats fans are lame.

Nobody should sing "Sweet Caroline" anymore, including Neil Diamond. Ugh, how creepy has that song become now that we know who it's about?

hogboss: southeasterner: If the nats, and nats fans are so lame then why watse the time to read and paste quotes from the article?

I don't know why southeasterner is doing it. I have to.

theruffs: Southeasterner must be a Mets fan

Southeasterner: Brewers all the way! Why do you think I hate the new stadium so much? County Stadium, Municipal stadium and RFK were the crown jewels of baseball. All torn down to make way for Mickey Mouse stadiums.

One man's trash is another man's crown jewel of baseball, I suppose. By the way though, RFK is still standing. Ever heard of D.C. United?

Sports_Guru jumps in to complain about the stadium's $611 million price tag:

Sports_Guru: How many immunizations would 611 million dollars buy for children? How many homes would 611 million dollars build? How many schools would 611 million dollars fund? How many police would 611 million dollars paid? How many hospitals would 611 million dollars fund? Should we really be proud that 611 million dollars was spent on this stadium, when RFK was usable and sooo many other things are needed in DC?

Look, Sports_Guru: If you want to make a point, that's fine. But we're not going to do your stupid math problems for you.

8-man: It's funny that people like Sportsguru think that the money used to construct the stadium somehow came out of the DC Treasury.

Sports_Guru: 8-man, I don't care if it came out of your butt. It could have been put to much much better use.

Finally, a little bit of misguided sunshine:

Jjesse285: Well a great idea, to bad all of us down here in the south of Jacksonville, Fla cannot go because we love baseball down here in the Sun ballpark, boy Jacksonville would look good or be looking good with one like that.

Jjesse, you have no idea what a burden it is to have such a nice ballpark. So naive.

By Lindsay Applebaum |  March 28, 2008; 8:00 PM ET  | Category:  Nationals
Previous: Let's Answer Some Email | Next: Name That Ballpark (Sponsor)

The comments to this entry are closed.