Sunday, June 13, 2010

One of These Things is Not Like The Others: Why I Love DC and the MLB Equally Right Now

Stephen Strasburg will make his second Major League start and his road debut today. As I write this, Sports Center is taking about Strasburg live and I myself have just come back from a morning spent reading The Washington Post and USA Today with coffee in hand.

Growing up with baseball in your life, especially loving a team that is the physical definition of underdog (aka the Cubs -- and don't worry, I'm not disillusioned, I know their horrid this year. Let's not discuss it further), is what got me into the game.

That's why this morning was so much fun.

I walked into Starbucks on New Mexico Avenue near American University in a Nationals shirt (this is my first real Nats t-shirt with a player's name on the back ... I bought it on Strasmas Day, but I promise my next Nats shirt will be Josh Willingham to hand next to my new Strasburg prize). The barista and I proceeded to have a semi-lengthy dialog about how the Nats are so fun this year. She asked if I was going to the game today.

All I could do was smile.

I refrained from mentioning the fact that I follow the team daily as part of my tenure as one of two Nats beat writers for We Love DC. I stuck to the always believable and undeniable truth that I am a baseball junkie and knew they were playing in Cleveland today. The exchange was fun though. Nice to hear even the least sporty of folks talking baseball on a Sunday morning in NW DC.

Now to get to the photo that started off this post -- this is the true purpose for posting. Does that photo not scream CHICAGO TO DC? The only thing that would scream it louder would be a photo of Stephen Strasburg with Jim Riggleman and Kerry Wood at today's game in Cleveland.

That would be my best convergence off all things I now love -- Chicago, DC, the Cubs, the Nats, and Major League Baseball as a whole.

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