While our neighborhood NFL teams, Baltimore Ravens and Washington Redskins, find themselves in the midst of firestorms…a domestic violence case and politically charged team name, respectively…it has been challenging not to have the seriousness of those issues overshadow the thrill of having the game itself back.
It was quite nice to step away from all league related topics the other evening…primarily how the NFL can’t seem to get out of its own way. Perhaps the most recent glaring example is the emergence of a female coalition, if you will, assembled to address the domestic violence conversation permeating the organization. Exactly how the group was considered, organized and implemented without diversity in mind, still manages to escape me!
Thank you boys of summer! I was able to attend the Orioles-Yanks game in what will presumably be Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter’s last appearance in Charm City. By the way, that happens to be #2 at bat in the pic to the left…he was crystal clear to me but umm, you’re just going to have to take my word for it!
As the baseball season draws to an end, it is super exciting to have both of our local teams headed to the race for the pennant! How sweet it was to have the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals clinch their divisions within minutes of each other earlier this week!
It is powerfully sweet indeed…..to see Baltimore do its due diligence in securing an American League Eastern Division Title—the team’s first since 1997! And at home no less….even Mother Nature seemed to be in the team’s corner as she allowed perfect, crisp pre-Fall weather to wrap around Camden Yards as fans cheered and cheered and cheered. Well after the game it was difficult to see an empty seat in the stadium as players celebrated on the field, in the locker room, and then back to the field…O’s fans absorbing every drop of the electricity in the air!!
Although the Nats didn’t have the backdrop of home field for celebrating a second National League Eastern Division Title in three seasons…they were able to do it in the backyard of their division rival, the consistently competitive Atlanta Braves—that just may have been the sweetest of all!!
Winning their titles gives both teams the added advantage of resting players as well as testing the waters on which lineups produce the best results. Needless to say Baltimore and Washington D.C. residents are buzzing at the prospect of a Beltway Series…..count this resident, of a city smack dab in between both of them, as buzzing too!!
