Nationals baseball vs. the ATP on a Sunday afternoon

Decisions, decisions. The ATP Tour was in town with a noon doubles match and a 3 pm singles match. The Washington Nationals first pitch was at 1:35 pm. When faced with this sort of sporting event dilemma, I normally follow a few of rules to make a decision:

1) Location of the event – Nationals Park was 8 blocks from where we were staying. The Legg Mason Tennis Classic takes place in Rock Creek Park – 8 miles from where we were staying. Favors the Nationals Game.
2) Frequency of the event – The Legg Mason Tennis Classic occurs once per year, the Washington Nationals are home 81 times per year and we just saw them Saturday night. Favors the ATP event.
3) Wife’s Plans for the day – Going to the ATP event would take up most of the day. Going to Nationals Park would give us time to eat dinner after the game before driving to the airport. Plus, Nicole does not like tennis. Nationals game wins based on a more enjoyable day for Nicole and location.
4) Caveat: I attended the Legg Mason Tennis Classic 10 years ago in 1998; thus, I did not feel I had to attend the tennis event this go around.

Obtaining Tickets
We walked to the ballpark from our friend’s house. We had a 2-for-1 coupon in hand and were hoping to buy three $10 tickets for $20 from the box office. However, as we approached the box office, we realized most people also had 2-for-1 coupons. Both the $10 and $18 seats were sold out. We could only buy $27 tickets.

Instead of buying from the box office we bought a single for $10 (face value was $10) from one scalper and 2 tickets for $15 each (face value was $30 each) from a man who had two extras. Our total cost was $40 ($20 more than we had planned to spend), but our seats were on the first level rather than in the upper deck.

The Game
Since we had missed a pre game brunch, we decided to eat at the Red Porch (Nationals Park only restaurant) in center field. The restaurant had typical bar food and the service was really slow. The only nice thing about eating at the restaurant was that we received free water and a free refill on soda.

The Rockies beat the Nationals convincingly 7-2. It was the 10th consecutive loss for the Nationals – the longest streak for the franchise since they moved to Washington D.C. In the Presidents Race, the Presidents ran hurdles in honor of the 2008 Olympics. Inspired by Michael Johnson (Atlanta 1996) and Usain Bolt (Beijing 2008), Abe Lincoln wore gold running shoes and won the race. Teddy Roosevelt took second.

Post Game Dinning
After the game we ate dinner at Zaytinya – a Greek tapas restaurant located at 701 9th St. NW. If you like Greek food and tapas then this is the place for you.

Nationals Park in Washington D.C.

Over a year ago, I wrote that I had attended a game at every Major League Baseball stadium and questioned how long that status would remain. It did not even last one year as the Washington Nationals opened their new park, Nationals Park, with the start of the 2008 season.

This weekend, I traveled to Washington D.C. with the Ultimate Sports Wife to once again complete the goal of many baseball fans – attend a baseball game at every existing Major League ballpark.

Yesterday started as any Saturday in our nations capital should – eating brunch on the fourth floor of Tabaq Bistro. The rooftop restaurant serves $3 mimosas and Bloody Marys on Saturday and Sunday and provides stunning views of Washington D.C. with the capital building and the Washington monument in the distance. After brunch we took a quick trip by car around the city to see the other sites and government buildings of Washington.

Pre Game Dining
Before the game, we ate dinner at Belga Café (located at 514 8th St., SE). Belga Café is an upscale Belgian restaurant with an assortment of Belgium beers. All of the entrees were presented well and tasted great. If you can, start by ordering some mussels.

After dinner, my friend TJ, called for a ride from e-cruzers.com. If you want a ride from the 8th street bars and restaurants to Nationals Park before or after the game simply look for the electric carts driving in the area. There are also other shuttle services to choose from the 8th street bars.

Obtaining Tickets
Our friend had already acquired four free tickets for the game last night. However, Nicole had invited a friend of hers from high school so we needed to buy two additional tickets for the game. We suggested to Nicole’s friends that they buy the cheapest seats we could find and that we would sneak them into our section on the lower level.

As we approached the park we bought 2 tickets for $10 each (face value was $10 each). As planned we all sat together in the lower level. However, we did not have to use the four lower level tickets to sneak our friends into the section since the ushers were not checking tickets.

Nationals Park
My first trip to any ballpark is always fun. But recently all of the new ballparks seem to be similar. Each of them has their own unique trait, but in the end they feel similar. We took the obligatory first visit tour around the park after the Presidents Race. The main highlights of the ballpark were:

1) The center field bar – called Red Loft.
2) The view from the upper deck of the US Capitol Building
3) The Presidents Race – George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt race each other around the park in the middle of the 4th inning (the race is similar to the sausage race held at Miller Park).

Saturdays after the game, the Nationals show a movie on their high definition scoreboard. Last night’s movie was “A League of Their Own.” We watched the first ten minutes of the movie before calling e-cruzers.com for a ride back to the house.