Sunday, April 10, 2005
The Washington Elite
My last post certainly generated a lot of commentary. Woo! I guess I found out the secret to generating traffic: Pissing you all off.
Well, tough! I'm not going to piss you off this time. Sorry, I'm just too nice a guy. Instead, I'm going to discuss my excitement about the upcoming Washington Nationals' home opener.
So, as you probably know by now, the Montreal Expos moved to Washington this year, generating a whole lot of excitement from the city, which has been craving a team ever since the Senators left town some 30-odd years ago. The whole process of moving the team was excruciatingly long, starting maybe 2-3 years ago when it became obvious that the Expos needed to move, or they'd have to fold. The rest of the owners of the MLB bought the team, and then started looking for a city to which the Expos would relocate. The search lasted for at least a year, with Vegas, Portland, Monterey (Mexico) all in the running. During that time, each city put together their own arguments for why the team should come there. As part of that presentation, they started soliciting potential ownership groups, since if no one was going to buy the team after the relocation to a given city, well, the MLB would never choose that city.
I wasn't really interested in all the politics - I just wanted a team to come to DC. I've written before about the conflict I have with the Orioles, and while I'll always remain a fan, the potential of having a team in DC was quite tempting. At different points, I had all sorts of crazy ideas. Maybe I could convince OPNET to get a suite at the stadium! Maybe we could get a group together for box seats! Not knowing exactly how to get something like that done, though, I figured I should at least get started. At some point in time (I forget when, but I think it was early 2004), I searched on the web and found the site of the "Washington Baseball Club", a group that wanted to bring the team to DC and then become the owners. There was some spot to enter in an email address to be notified of season tickets and the like, so I figured what the hell, and went for it. I checked back periodically for updates, but there wasn't a whole lot there at the time. I knew it was kind of a long shot, but it required minimal effort. Plus, I couldn't find another other place to enter in my information, and no one knew anything about season tickets.
After it became apparent that the Expos were going to come to DC, things picked up a bit. Some time later, one of my friends at work mentioned that he had gotten an email (from MLB.com, I think) about signing up on some list for season tickets. I had gotten the same email, and figured that if he had gotten it, having not signed up on the Washington Baseball Club site, well, then I wasn't very special. He responded to the email, as did I, but nothing seemed to come of it.
Then, in November, I got an email from MLB saying that I had the opportunity to purchase season tickets because I was a part of their email list. I figured it was nothing really special - I kind of assumed I'd have a crack at season tickets, just like 20,000 other fans. For the next couple of weeks, I worked on getting a group of interested people together, and then I put down the deposit a few days before the deadline. We were allowed to rank our ticket preference by section, and so we went almost as high as we could. There were a few 90 dollar seats, which was a little crazy, so we didn't ask for those. But the next levels were 40, then 35, and then 30, so we requested those, in that order.
And we waited. And waited. They named the team the "Nationals". Fine. They were on their way. Fine. Then DC wouldn't build them a stadium. Not fine. Then they changed their minds. Fine again. It became official and they started moving into RFK (where the Redskins used to play, in downtown DC). Finally in January, I received an email, telling me that my invoice for the tickets was due. (For about $12,000, in case you're curious.) I looked at our seat assignment and I was flabbergasted. We were in section 214, row 1. Look here to really see the location. Essentially, it didn't get any better than that. We were thrilled!
Of course, after that was more waiting. The tickets finally arrived a couple of weeks ago. Just in time, considering that the home opener is this coming week. We divided up all the tickets, but as the organizer, I decided that I would get two (of our four ) tickets to the opener. When I was a part of an Orioles season ticket package (which not surprisingly has since disbanded), that's what that organizer did (except he took all four tickets), so I figured it was pretty fair.
In retrospect, it was more than fair. Now the Nationals are the hottest ticket in town. Check this out and you can see what some of those home opener seats are going for on eBay. Although, that doesn't quite tell the whole story, since I've heard that tickets are actually being scalped for upwards of $1200 per seat! Wow! It's gonna be pretty damn cool, and I'm quite fired up.
Much of the excitement is just due to having a team so close. Another piece of it is being part of history. The quality of our seats doesn't hurt either. But what's also cool is that apparently, we'll be hobknobbing with the "Washington Elite". Of course, at the first game, Bush will be throwing out the opening pitch (and I'll try not to boo - maybe I'll duct tape my mouth shut) (and that's if they even let me in, given that I'm a Democrat...maybe I shouldn't type that), and tons of Senators and Congressmen and other "important" people will be there. One of the guys in my ticket group sent out this article about all of the bigwigs that had to call in favors in order to try and get nice seats. Hey, how about doing things the old-fashioned way and getting on an email list?! Use a little finger grease, buddy! Won't they be surprised when they see they're sitting next to lil' ol me? I can just hear them now: "How'd that schmuck get those seats?" they'll say. "Who the hell is that guy?"
Heh heh heh. Washington Elite, indeed.
Well, tough! I'm not going to piss you off this time. Sorry, I'm just too nice a guy. Instead, I'm going to discuss my excitement about the upcoming Washington Nationals' home opener.
So, as you probably know by now, the Montreal Expos moved to Washington this year, generating a whole lot of excitement from the city, which has been craving a team ever since the Senators left town some 30-odd years ago. The whole process of moving the team was excruciatingly long, starting maybe 2-3 years ago when it became obvious that the Expos needed to move, or they'd have to fold. The rest of the owners of the MLB bought the team, and then started looking for a city to which the Expos would relocate. The search lasted for at least a year, with Vegas, Portland, Monterey (Mexico) all in the running. During that time, each city put together their own arguments for why the team should come there. As part of that presentation, they started soliciting potential ownership groups, since if no one was going to buy the team after the relocation to a given city, well, the MLB would never choose that city.
I wasn't really interested in all the politics - I just wanted a team to come to DC. I've written before about the conflict I have with the Orioles, and while I'll always remain a fan, the potential of having a team in DC was quite tempting. At different points, I had all sorts of crazy ideas. Maybe I could convince OPNET to get a suite at the stadium! Maybe we could get a group together for box seats! Not knowing exactly how to get something like that done, though, I figured I should at least get started. At some point in time (I forget when, but I think it was early 2004), I searched on the web and found the site of the "Washington Baseball Club", a group that wanted to bring the team to DC and then become the owners. There was some spot to enter in an email address to be notified of season tickets and the like, so I figured what the hell, and went for it. I checked back periodically for updates, but there wasn't a whole lot there at the time. I knew it was kind of a long shot, but it required minimal effort. Plus, I couldn't find another other place to enter in my information, and no one knew anything about season tickets.
After it became apparent that the Expos were going to come to DC, things picked up a bit. Some time later, one of my friends at work mentioned that he had gotten an email (from MLB.com, I think) about signing up on some list for season tickets. I had gotten the same email, and figured that if he had gotten it, having not signed up on the Washington Baseball Club site, well, then I wasn't very special. He responded to the email, as did I, but nothing seemed to come of it.
Then, in November, I got an email from MLB saying that I had the opportunity to purchase season tickets because I was a part of their email list. I figured it was nothing really special - I kind of assumed I'd have a crack at season tickets, just like 20,000 other fans. For the next couple of weeks, I worked on getting a group of interested people together, and then I put down the deposit a few days before the deadline. We were allowed to rank our ticket preference by section, and so we went almost as high as we could. There were a few 90 dollar seats, which was a little crazy, so we didn't ask for those. But the next levels were 40, then 35, and then 30, so we requested those, in that order.
And we waited. And waited. They named the team the "Nationals". Fine. They were on their way. Fine. Then DC wouldn't build them a stadium. Not fine. Then they changed their minds. Fine again. It became official and they started moving into RFK (where the Redskins used to play, in downtown DC). Finally in January, I received an email, telling me that my invoice for the tickets was due. (For about $12,000, in case you're curious.) I looked at our seat assignment and I was flabbergasted. We were in section 214, row 1. Look here to really see the location. Essentially, it didn't get any better than that. We were thrilled!
Of course, after that was more waiting. The tickets finally arrived a couple of weeks ago. Just in time, considering that the home opener is this coming week. We divided up all the tickets, but as the organizer, I decided that I would get two (of our four ) tickets to the opener. When I was a part of an Orioles season ticket package (which not surprisingly has since disbanded), that's what that organizer did (except he took all four tickets), so I figured it was pretty fair.
In retrospect, it was more than fair. Now the Nationals are the hottest ticket in town. Check this out and you can see what some of those home opener seats are going for on eBay. Although, that doesn't quite tell the whole story, since I've heard that tickets are actually being scalped for upwards of $1200 per seat! Wow! It's gonna be pretty damn cool, and I'm quite fired up.
Much of the excitement is just due to having a team so close. Another piece of it is being part of history. The quality of our seats doesn't hurt either. But what's also cool is that apparently, we'll be hobknobbing with the "Washington Elite". Of course, at the first game, Bush will be throwing out the opening pitch (and I'll try not to boo - maybe I'll duct tape my mouth shut) (and that's if they even let me in, given that I'm a Democrat...maybe I shouldn't type that), and tons of Senators and Congressmen and other "important" people will be there. One of the guys in my ticket group sent out this article about all of the bigwigs that had to call in favors in order to try and get nice seats. Hey, how about doing things the old-fashioned way and getting on an email list?! Use a little finger grease, buddy! Won't they be surprised when they see they're sitting next to lil' ol me? I can just hear them now: "How'd that schmuck get those seats?" they'll say. "Who the hell is that guy?"
Heh heh heh. Washington Elite, indeed.
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