There’s a scene in the classic baseball movie, Fever Pitch, that I’ve never fully experienced until last night. Sure, others have as they’ve accompanied us to games but never until tonight did I really feel like I was coming back home for the next six months. In the movie, Ben brings Lindsey to Opening Day and they meet all his friends in the section. He introduces them as his summer family. 
I truly hope for every baseball fan that you get to experience this at new Nationals Park. As I looked around yesterday, I saw summer families everywhere. Season ticket holders are dispersed this year all over a new park and not in their familiar nooks at RFK. Combine that with 5 long months of an off-season and you can bet most fans yesterday were thrilled to get back to life as it should be and summer nights at the ballpark, catching up with ushers, security guards, friends and colleagues.
I could say so much about my first impression of the park and the magic of it all, but I have to first tell you that the best part of my experience was seeing familiar faces everywhere I walked. You are what it makes it so special. The players will come and go. Thank you for being part of my summer family.
As far as the game goes, you already know — the Nats won 3-0! A series of consecutive walks by Loewen solidified the win. The Nats played well. There’s still so much to learn to see how the park will play. We watched Kearns and Langerhans practice fielding bounces off the walls near right field and 1st base yesterday.
We took the Nats Express shuttle from are RFK and we’re pleased to report no problems. We were on the first fan bus out and I’m embarrased to admit some news channel made us sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” before we boarded. The ride was short, but the walk to the new park from the drop-off spot was longer than expected. Upon entering the park, the employee taking tickets said, “Welcome Home.”
For the next few hours, we roamed the park and visited with old friends and other bloggers. We checked out our seats and found the most spectacular view in the park. It’s right above 1st base, between the 2 upper decks when you first get to the top of the steps. Look out there and see the whole park, the Capitol dome and the Washington monument.
The food options, as you already know, are limitless but the lines were long and the system seems to still be in the works. Though I’d been warned, the prices still seemed to jump a lot. The cupholders, by the way, are wonderful. The park reminded me a lot of Citizen’s Bank Park and PNC Park. I so desperately wish we had a city scape over left field and not a (albeit necessary) parking garage, but aside from that blemish, the park is really magnificent.
With a new stadium - and especially after the voting system for the new songs, I wondered how abrupt the break would be from RFK and previous seasons. I was pleased to see that the team kept a lot of the in-game music the same. That may not seem that important, but when you hear the Nats lineup to Magnificent 7, you’re going to remember a game, any game at RFK. It gives me chills.
We’ll know more about the batting songs tonight (most were the same as last season) but it appears Zimmerman has opted for Superstar and Rock Star.
At the end of the game, we straggled out late and witnessed the phenomenal display of fireworks over the stadium. They were testing for tomorrow so look out. The display lasted at least 5-10 minutes and it was spectacular. Tonight is going to be amazing.
If you don’t have tickets, remember to watch on ESPN in HD at 8pm. MASN has a pre-game and post game show. Charlie and Dave have the radio broadcast. XM radio has special coverage all day (and for those real baseball nerds like me, they have a full-time Play Ball channel right now that just plays baseball songs! Enjoy!)
It’s three days of specialty baseball programming dedicated to the timeless magic of Opening Day. A potpourri of sound so Baseball-centric that you will smell the fresh cut grass and beer through the XM speakers. Listen for over 300 baseball songs, re-plays of “Baseball Confidential”, comedy routines like “Who’s on First,” re-play of Bob Dylan’s Baseball episode, ear candy like newsreel audio of Joe DiMaggio’s marriage to Marilyn Monroe plus clips of classic calls like Bobby Thompson’s ‘Shot Heard Round the World’ and Bill Buckner’s flub of Mookie Wilson’s grounder in the ‘86 World Series.
Schedule:
Friday, March 28 at 12 Midnight ET - Sunday, March 30 at Midnight ET
So, enjoy tonight - however you are going to enjoy it! Happy Opening Night!
Here’s the photo gallery for last night’s exhibition game.
Entries (RSS)