Centerfield

The weekend before last, Kenna and I drove to Maryland to hang out with Leah and Tricia before a speaking engagement that I had at my alma mater last Monday. The highlight of the trip was a Sunday afternoon Nationals game that I attended with Leah. I love baseball. I don't enjoy watching games on TV, but I love to go to live games. Neither of us had ever been to a Nationals game before, so on a lovely spring afternoon, we headed over to the Navy Yard for a game against the Florida Marlins.

The Nationals may not be the best team in the league, but they have an awesome stadium:

I wonder if Father of Ken could do something similar with his yard? Perhaps a "C" instead of a "W"?

Our seats were below the press box (in red below):

We were in the section in the middle of this picture, in the second row back:

It's always fun to see what kinds of creative things teams come up with to entertain the crowd between innings. The Nationals have a "Presidential Race." This is the Geico Gecko waiting at the finish line with the team mascot:

Teddy Roosevelt and George Washington running:

George Washington won, but later John Adams and Abraham Lincoln raced and Lincoln won, I think. Here George Washington and T. R. have a little "exchange:"

One cool thing about the stadium is that they have scores from all of the other baseball games that are going on at the same time. The Pirates weren't doing so well that day, but the Royals were!

The stadium design allows for almost 365 degree views, so here's a shot taken from behind the outfield:

It was a fun game. When we left, the Nationals were ahead 3-2 at the top of the ninth inning. Unfortunately, all hell broke loose as soon as we got on the metro and we later learned that the Marlins scored seven runs in the ninth inning. This resulted in three of the Nationals' relief pitchers being demoted. I'm kind of glad that we weren't there for that part.