$5 on game day.

I was surprised, too. I'm largely indifferent (when not hostile) to the NPL and its crummy teams, but my general sense had been that Les Expos had merded their own lit attendance-wise, partly b/c their indoor facility was so godawful a venue (pool table surface, bad sight lines, very hard to follow the ball against a darkish background-- two O's games there was more than enough). But this article put Expo attendance stats over Mets numbers for like periods and hey, it seemed to make sense: the Montreal fans were jobbed.

Nat fans who are DC residents have been jobbed differently: One of my old friends from Smithsonian days, himself originally an NPL fan (Mets), recently wrote to say he was so freakin' mad at this His Tax Dollars Being Stolen thing-- and stolen for a piece o' cheet park -- that he was NEVER going to go to a Nats home game.

I agree that there are good Nats fans out there-- or at least on their site -- and they deserve better than this $600 million ream job.

I dunno if you were just knocking me or saying that I'm representative of the DC fanbase in general, but I don't think it's fair. Frankly, everyone knows that these early-April games need to be confined to the south, and I don't blame anyone who didn't want to sit in 45-degree drizzle to watch the Nats play the Marlins on Tuesday. I know a lot of serious Nats fans here in Virginia where I live -- I don't get it, because I grew up with the O's and I think sports fandom is kind of pointless if you change loyalties on a whim, but hey, more power to them. But I don't think those people are less-than-serious fans for sitting Tuesday out when they can go see a much nicer game in a few weeks. It's not like the O's did any better during their recent M's series, and I don't hear anyone knocking the entire O's fanbase as a result and saying Baltimore doesn't deserve a baseball team.

they wouldn't go for it. The Island of Puerto Rico was plenty receptive to the idea, just as they've been interested in getting the Marlins to move over there. If baseball truly wants to grow the sport, Latin America is the place, and Puerto Rico being uniquely in both Latin America and the US, makes it the perfect starting point.

dc is not a baseball town. i think it's bullshit, but that's what they say.

I think one of the reasons why the skins have such a big fanbase is because there's a long and somewhat winning history there. That's something that only comes with time. It's really difficult to develop deepset allegiances to a team, particularly one that has never really had any success, in such a short period.

Look at the recent expansion teams....Colorado started off really strong fanbase-wise due to the insane amount of offense that that team had right off the bat, along with a playoff berth in their third or fourth year.

It took Florida and Arizona until the time they made the world series. In Fla's case, that goodwill was erased by completely dismantling that team the next year.

Tampa Bay has never had any success (though their future is pretty rosy), and so there's no real rabid Ray fanbase to speak of.

Redskins v. Ravens is a case of "Who was here first?"

I mean how many Redskins fans dropped their hats to become a Ravens fan, you know?

O's v. Nats might wind up the same, just in reverse. It was 20 years ago that the Orioles and Redskins BOTH needed an Egg McMuffin. So bad that they danced about it.

Baltimore has no complex. They just don't like DC. There's nothing really to be all that envious of. Washington is not very big. It has one of the most pronounced social disparities in the United States between its rich and poor neighborhoods. It houses a government nobody is particularly proud of and a bunch of lawyers, lobbyists & other vultures who prey on our tax money.

I grew up in Columbia, MD - dead center in between Baltimore and DC - I have known scores of people who both work & live in both cities my entire life. The overwhelming consensus was that Baltimore was a "real city" and DC was a swamp filled with sleazy politicians and those who ride their coattails.

Now, as a Skins fan, I can tell you - the Redskins are the exception. But if you've read the Washington sports press - and hell Metro Section too - dating at least back to the 80's you know that the common wisdom is the Redskins are the only thing that brings the city together. That's not a city filled with pride.

Oh and Baltimore is very into the Ravens - they haven't had the time to build the franchise the way they Skins have - but for a young team they are very popular.

I grew up in Baltimore, and lived right outside DC for 7 years. Personally, it's not even close where I'd choose to live. I prettyy much agree with Jonathan Waters spaking of Baltimore "This is the strangest, coolest, most peculiar city in America"

Still following up on Waters. Walk around and you see the all the extremes rich, poor, in between, scary, beautiful, ugly, white, black. Go into a local establishment and you're bound to see it all. Washington was much more stratified in comparison, by race and economic class (or even sexual orientation). When I visit back home, I feel absolutely no reason to venture to D.C. I'll eventually take the kid to see the museums and the government buildings.

My dad spent almost 30 years commuting from Baltimore to D.C. Once I grew up, I figured one reason he stayed put.

Also a Federal City