tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72731272025-09-27T12:18:53.474-04:00A Decade of IntermittenceRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.comBlogger742125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-51601608828549671042018-03-30T14:04:00.002-04:002018-03-30T14:04:09.559-04:00

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-49139867421971750822017-05-30T19:14:00.000-04:002017-05-30T19:14:52.937-04:00

It seems like every year we have a chance to talk about on-field violence, and every year we have a chance to talk about Bryce Harper being an idiot and missing games because he's an idiot, depriving our beloved Nationals of their best player, who is an idiot. This year it all happened at the same time, and I'm overwhelmed with emotion. It's like a wedding and a graduation at the same time,

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-26981468031488457892017-05-23T19:25:00.000-04:002017-05-23T19:25:03.291-04:00

I don't like clutter, throws to first, or symbolic safety regulations. It's time to get rid of base coaches. Both of them. The idea occurred to me as I watched some Brave get awesomely thrown out on his way to home plate. It was great! Very exciting, and exactly the kind of thing I want more of. It was then that I realized that these damn base coaches are getting in the way. Consider the first

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-41192091848465286402017-05-21T19:06:00.000-04:002017-05-21T19:06:08.959-04:00

The Blue Jays ruined this weekend for me. Last week the Jays went to Atlanta and had one of those "Screw you!"/"No, screw YOU!" kind of series where each game is more violent than the last. The lasting result is that Braves first baseman/all time legendary Nats-slayer Freddie Freeman is out for a while because some Canuck plunked him on the wrist. It's a damn shame that this happened . . .

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-28596299415006405152017-05-14T19:25:00.002-04:002017-05-14T19:25:23.188-04:00

Did you hear the news that Bryce Harper knows how much he'll be making in 2018? Did you read anything into it? It's none of my business, but I think you should resist that impulse. I understand it, really. What could be more important to a Nats fan than Bryce Harper's long-term plans? And when there's something that important that you have no control over, you start looking everywhere for hints

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-76791133756092689822017-05-08T20:46:00.000-04:002017-05-08T20:46:05.077-04:00

So, who's excited for this hot interleague rivalry we got going on right now? Anyone? It seems like Nationals vs. Orioles never got off the ground. They didn't even play until the Nats' second year here. Once they did face off, it did not turn out to the be apocalyptic explosion of regional resentment and long-held grievances that I was expecting. The New Yorkers looked like they were having

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-73402024946715186702017-05-02T20:17:00.000-04:002017-05-02T20:17:03.993-04:00

I wonder if the Nats are overqualified for the wrong game. I heard Mark Zuckerman on the sports talk radio today, and he made a point about Adam Eaton: Eaton's the kind of guy who wins difficult at-bats, and that's vital in the playoffs. I know Michael A. Taylor has his virtues - defense, cheerful demeanor, his batting helmets don't take up much room - but grinding out plate appearances against

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-41513372996722708642017-04-30T21:24:00.000-04:002017-05-01T17:00:24.789-04:00

My wife asked me if I remembered the Beavis and Butthead where Beavis composed and performed a song that went: Dammit dammit son of a bitch Dammit dammit son of a bitch Son of a beeeeeetch sonofabitch sonofabeeetch Dammitdammitdammitdammitdammit Of course I called her a damn liar. Nothing so perfect could exist in this world! But she was right. It was during a song by a band called the "

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-85719440717305858492017-04-26T21:00:00.000-04:002017-04-26T21:25:54.211-04:00

These ESPN layoffs got me to thinking: Is this the first time Jim Bowden's been fired without completely, obviously deserving it? It also got me to thinking about local, hand-crafted, artisanal baseball content. It's like with tomatoes or Korean fusion tacos or whatever. Yeah, there's a lot of hippy-dippery involved, but the fact is that a tomato or a Korean taco that traveled only 25 miles to

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-25862605826034049602017-04-24T20:07:00.000-04:002017-04-24T20:07:29.212-04:00

Is it too early to proclaim "Game Over" on the 2017 Major League Baseball season? The Nats just swept the Mets in their crappy city, their crappy borough, and their crappy stadium. So we win. It's too much to come back from. I guess. I warned you that I wasn't going to do the math, but if the Mets aren't mathematically eliminated, they're definitely eliminated according to some other discipline.

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-23579069629475237572017-04-09T20:10:00.000-04:002017-04-24T18:49:20.624-04:00

You know how when you live around here, in this area that all of a sudden we're supposed to call the DMV like those letters don't already mean something else, you almost never go bask in the tributes to star-spangled glory that dot our nation's capitol? Like that statue of FDR's little dog? U-S-A!! U-S-A!!! Well I had friends from the provinces in town, so I actually went to look at monuments

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-49845985007931186222017-04-04T18:22:00.000-04:002017-04-04T18:22:18.175-04:00

You ever watch those Nostradamus shows? The ones where under- or ill-accredited experts explain that when some dead French guy refers to the Danube as the "Hister," he's actually predicting World War 2? What fools we were to ignore Nostradamus' warnings about Matt Williams! I can't get enough of them. But I do think they miss what must have been a significant part of Nostradamus' life. If the

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-46951468560346512452017-04-03T17:22:00.000-04:002017-04-04T17:22:04.293-04:00

I was able to watch the season opener, having been laid up with a fortuitously-timed cold. I know what you're thinking, but this was the real thing. I wanted to go to work. In the spirit of the Wrestlemania season, this is a shoot cold. I'm not working anyone. So we can all agree that the one game we're all paying super-close attention to is the one that sets the tone for the rest of the season

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-42249046893011391382017-04-03T10:17:00.000-04:002017-04-03T10:22:30.267-04:00

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-26917708821278268722017-04-02T14:44:00.000-04:002017-04-02T14:44:18.100-04:00

"I could do the math, but I choose to take a nap." -RiFF RAFF "If you're good at something, never do it for free." -The Joker (attributed) These two aphorisms are the new twin mottos of Distinguished Senators. One comes from an outlandish fictional character whose unbelievable antics have entertained us for years, and the other is from some Batman movie. Above: Rap game Katy Perry To

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-25139033170645190052016-08-25T21:01:00.000-04:002016-08-25T21:03:44.447-04:00

There are actually people who argue about whether Scots - you know, like Robbie Burns or Trainspotting - is merely a hideous dialect of English or a whole different language. Any of you who have had the misfortune of talking to Orioles fans lately will know what I'm talking about. How bout dem O's, laddie? I know they can be hard to understand, but in among all the "up'ere"s and "

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-92027683097985720262016-05-16T20:44:00.000-04:002016-05-16T20:44:14.133-04:00

Man, how about that Rangers/Blue Jays fight, huh? My favorite part was when Rougned Odor punched Jose Batista right in his damn face. Moments before this picture was taken, those glasses and that helmet were actually on that guy's head. Is that bad? Should I not have enjoyed that? Here's a Craig Calcaterra piece that suggests that I shouldn't have without managing to say much of anything.

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-16564414210853753962016-05-11T18:31:00.000-04:002016-05-11T18:31:58.219-04:00

Having Alonzo Mourning as the best player on your team was less than ideal for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is that while Mourning was very good, he wasn't that good. He wasn't Hakeem Olajuwon. The other problem is that Mourning allowed himself mentally to be taken out of games. All Dennis Rodman had to do was some light needling followed by a discreet elbow, and Mourning would go

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-3232985676361019672016-05-10T17:33:00.000-04:002016-05-11T09:30:02.274-04:00

Stephen Strasburg's going to be sticking around for a while, and what a pleasant surprise that is. I figured the combination of Scott Boras' advice and the Nationals' organizational whateverness when it came to Strasburg meant he was bound to go the way of the Zimmermann, but maybe the organization wasn't as whatevery as I thought. I was influenced by the fact that the fans all seem to hate him

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-59281783649874787292016-05-09T17:27:00.000-04:002016-05-09T17:27:57.400-04:00

The Nationals have been doing some excellent foreshadowing. First, they underlined the fact that they are definitely going to win the division by going to Missouri and kicking ass across its entire expanse. Then they ran into the Cubs, who it turns out are going to be this season's final boss. It's just like in Karate Kid when Karate Kid meets the guy from those Buffalo Wild Wings commercials,

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-33338776968066747982016-04-29T12:08:00.000-04:002016-04-29T12:08:33.783-04:00

I remember reading an article about the men at the periphery of professional basketball (this was back in the day when "NewsRadio" was still on the air, so I have no chance of tracking it down now). These were players who went un- or barely drafted and wound up in Europe or playing on ephemeral teams with silly names in some of your less glamorous cities. A common complaint among these athletes

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-57673535985487153822016-04-28T20:40:00.002-04:002016-04-28T20:40:47.385-04:00

The ancient Greeks had a proverb: Zeus strikes the tallest tree. It worked on a couple levels. Literally, if confronted with several trees, lightning (i.e., Zeus) will zap the one that sticks up the most. Figuratively, the idea is that if you're too successful, you're going to get smacked down so hard that you'll wish you were never king of Lydia. You can tell this is a timeless idea because

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-73603166851748947042016-04-25T16:53:00.000-04:002016-04-25T16:55:05.049-04:00

An argument for the designated hitter is that no one wants to watch pitchers bat. We pay to see the best in the world doing the things at which they are best. I've never agreed with this. Seeing the best do something at which they are not the best is not only entertaining in its own right; it makes the people who are the best at it seem even more impressive. And, of course, sometimes the

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-40141807756181313662016-04-21T21:35:00.000-04:002016-04-21T21:46:54.459-04:00

During World War I, the Germans had an idea. Rather than having the guys who were good at World War I spread out all over the army, they decided to concentrate them into all star teams which, having been given special training, would actually accomplish something after years of everyone sitting around in trenches picking vermin out of their food. Combat prancing was a big part of the training.

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273127.post-6019416840869284602016-04-20T17:06:00.001-04:002016-04-20T17:07:35.846-04:00

The Nationals have won the division, which is the primary goal. Now they have the opportunity to accomplish a number of secondary goals. One of these is keep me from worrying over the course of the season. Following a sports team is not a restful pastime. You worry and get angry and wind up wincing every time you hear Pete Kozma's name years later. The Nats' main priority should be making

Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205825004111276799noreply@blogger.com0