It's time to call them...the Nationals.

by SC on Apr 16, 2008 5:32 AM EDT in Commentary Comment 13 comments

I was thinking about how I always call our forced rivals, the Warshington "Nationals," the Expos still, and though I've explained many times that this is in no way a shot at the Nats (for the record, in case you ever missed it, I just think Expos is a cool ass name for a baseball team), I'm now starting to wonder if it's time for me to stop.

The only remnants remaining from the last Expo team are Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, Luis Ayala, Nick Johnson, and Shawn Hill.

The Expos are now very much the Washington Nationals. And with Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes perhaps primed to be the next stars -- along with current Face of the Franchise Ryan Zimmerman -- that's just going to be even more firmly entrenched.

These are the Washington Nationals, warts and all. And it's mostly warts, because as much as "their" fans (I still don't understand where their fans came from if it wasn't just quitter O's fans, to be totally honest) would love to go to Laughsville at our expense sometime, the truth is their organization is just as incompetent as ours has been. Paul Lo Duca AND Johnny Estrada? The team is still terrible, and shows only glimmers of hope that this will change any time in the next few years.

But, this really is it. When only five guys on the 40-man roster have any connection to the Montreal Expos, it's time for me to let it go.

Au revoir, Expos. Enjoy your freedom fries.

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anyways...

they have just as big a claim on being the reds east as the expos, i reckon. man, i’ll bet a shrink could have a field day w/ jim bowden.

"Well, I've been to one world fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a set of earphones."

by j.q. higgins on Apr 16, 2008 8:57 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Mid-Atlantic MLB is pretty damn sorry.

by drj on Apr 16, 2008 9:23 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Nats

Well, the Senators and Nationals nicknames co-existed for a long time.

I think that Ex-’Spos (pronounced just the same as Expos) can co-exist informally with the more offical Nationals.

And yes, despite being a fan of both teams, I’m still well under my USDA recommended dosage of decent baseball.

by Joltin Joe Orsulak on Apr 16, 2008 9:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

being a partial season ticket holder to both teams...

puts me in a small minority, i understand. but i have a connection to each team in separate ways that is hard to describe.

the Orioles were the team i grew up on. it’s hard to look past that. i have always followed the Orioles and probably always will. as you all know, it’s difficult to appreciate an organization that just does SO MUCH to alienate their own fan base, including the “new media” of which i am proudly a part.

as an adult, even before the Expos moved to Washington, i found myself drifting further away from “fandom” and more into a position of being a baseball entusiast in general. i continue to follow the Orioles, but as the continued mismanagement and further ridicule of other teams fans infiltrating Oriole Park became commonplace, i keep finding it harder and harder to care about the Orioles winning and losing. i know that’s a tough thing to hear, believe me it’s a tough thing to say. but it’s true. i guess one take all one can and then becomes desensitized. we still go to the games, and obviously i follow the Orioles right along with you guys. but whether they win or not is sort of immaterial.

when the Expos became the Nats and moved to DC, it was the best of both worlds. having two major league teams in close proximity means that much more baseball. and while the Nats stink on ice as well, it’s a different stink. following how the execs on that team are finding their way, picking up scrap heap players until some of the home-grow talent catches up…it’s just different.

i could see 200 losses this season, and it really doesn’t matter. how these two teams get there-and if they eventually will get out-is the interesting part

THIS is Birdland?!?

by Dave at Bottomfeeder Baseball on Apr 16, 2008 10:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i hear you, in part...

i sort of analogize the two baseball team quandary to the presence of free digital music if dubious legal provenance. much as the presence of free music has caused me to buy more music, two teams close by makes me go see MORE games.

"Well, I've been to one world fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a set of earphones."

by j.q. higgins on Apr 16, 2008 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Can someone explain the Expos logo to me?

I never understood it; is it just an M for Monreal and a little ‘E’???

BTW, I decided in the offseason to switch to calling them the Nats right after I heard the Tampa was dropping “Devils” from their name. Tampa is just the Devils to me.

"Hey Yankees... you can take your apology and your trophy and shove 'em straight up your ass!" --Tanner Boyle

by BirdFanInPhilly on Apr 16, 2008 2:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs