Before the Montreal Expos moved to Washington becoming the Nationals, Washington D.C. residents yearned for a team to root for. Most of the time, Washingtonians rooted for the team where they or their parents grew up. These loyalties still exist, but not to the extent of the love for the hometown team. Your On Fire correspondent went through these difficult times. In his (or her) house, the Red Sox verses Yankees debate was a hotly contested topic (but really, there’s no contest — Red Sox, all the way). Now, however, the arrival of the Nationals has united the household, despite the Nationals letting their city’s residents down for the past 15 years.
The Washington Capitals are another example. Alexander Ovechkin played his first game with the team in 2005, the same year that the Nationals came to D.C. Despite high hopes for Ovechkin, the Russian prodigy, the team has consistently done well in the regular season but faltered out in the playoffs.
The Washington Wizards and Washington Redskins are two other teams that have attracted high profile athletes to join their ranks (Think Robert Griffin III and John Wall), yet no Washington, D.C. professional sports team has won a national championship. It is time for this to change. Washington needs change. Not change from a new politician, but change that will unite the partisan city in a non-partisan way.
The always-accurate source of Wikipedia has informed your On Fire correspondent that it has been 22 years since Washington has won a sports national championship. No other city of major importance to your On Fire correspondent has had this long of a wait. Call it what you want, loyal readers, but the nation’s capital needs something to celebrate besides avoiding another government shutdown.
And what has Washington done to deserve such a curse? We didn’t trade the Great Bambino to those a-holes in New York. Nor did we kick a man and his poor, defenseless, smelly billy goat out of RFK stadium. None of our star players have even appeared on the cover of a Madden game! The sports gods have a cruel, cruel sense of humor, indeed.
Washington needs sports. It does not need Republicans or Democrats or Independents or whatever new political party a politician can come up with. Washington needs what every other major city has — a unifying force that breaks through all the partisanship. So, given that the Redskins and Wizards seem unlikely to pull this off in the near future, let’s move on to realistic possibilities. The Capitals have a chance to move on to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Nationals have the opportunity to be great this season. Let’s all get out our rally towels and root for these teams — if not for Washington, then please do it for your On Fire correspondent.
