It’s only natural to reflect on the past year as the spring semester draws to a close, one that will be remembered for the historic Inauguration many were lucky enough to be in D.C. to experience.
For sports-loving Hoyas, though, this year will be remembered more for its misfortune. We’ve had to live in a city suffering one of the most horrific stretches of athletic ineptitude in recent memory. Whether crushing fans’ spirits with epic collapses or nightly displays of incompetence, the District’s sports teams rarely failed to disappoint.
Washington’s baseball team got things started off on the wrong foot in September. They limped to the MLB’s worst record in such hopeless fashion that even perennial presidential also-ran Ralph Nader was taking potshots. When The Washington Post told him they wouldn’t be covering his campaign because it had no chance of winning, he retorted, “Then why are you covering the Nationals?”
With the newspaper industry as it is the Post probably could have saved themselves some money and stopped running a sports section altogether. It might have spared Redskins fans the trouble of getting their hopes up. After jumping out to a 6-2 start, the ‘Skins flipped that record in the season’s second half, losing six of their last eight and missing the playoffs.
Nagging injuries to running back Clinton Portis held the ‘Skins back, but at least if you trekked out to FedEx Field, there was a good chance of seeing him carry the ball. The same can’t be said of the Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas. With the ink barely dry on his $111 million contract, the star guard announced he would miss the first month of the season with a knee injury. One month turned into five, and Arenas returned for the team’s final nine games. He was just in time to help the Wizards finish with the second-worst record in the NBA.
One of the more fascinating aspects of D.C.’s sporting failures is the way hometown fans have responded to the adversity. A frustrated fan base can produce some of the more interesting spectacles in sports, from Bostonians searching for Babe Ruth’s piano at the bottom of a pond to Philly supporters pelting Santa with snowballs. But Washington area fans have displayed none of that misguided passion.
Their general reaction to their teams’ struggles has been a disappointing apathy. Take the Wizards, for instance. After last season’s middling squad ranked 15th in the league in attendance, this year they dropped six spots to 21st, drawing a stated average of 16,612 fans per game. One must take into account, however, that NBA “attendance” figures actually count tickets sold, and there were plenty of seats to be had.
The truth of the matter may be that D.C. just isn’t a sports city. With over half the city’s residents born outside the District, allegiances may already be pledged elsewhere. Or maybe too many Washingtonians are committed to a different kind of fanaticism: rooting for Republicans and Democrats.
Not to say that politics is the only worthwhile game in town. D.C. cares enough to rally around a great team, as this year’s Capitals squad has shown. Russian winger Alexander Ovechkin blossomed into arguably the best player in the NHL, leading the Caps to the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Accordingly, the District’s residents have turned out in droves, setting franchise records for sellouts and attendance. But even Ovechkin and Co. couldn’t avoid the curse that’s plagued D.C. sports this year. The underdog Rangers have jumped out to a 3-1 lead, putting the Caps on the verge of a first-round playoff exit.
The Capitals prove that D.C. can be a great place to be a sports fan, as long as the local teams are winning. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those years. But as the star of the city’s biggest “sport” might say, change is coming. Next year, there’s reason to hope. The Redskins signed two big free agents in Albert Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall. The Wizards will return with a healthy Arena and a top five draft pick. And as for the Nationals—well, by the time fall semester comes around, baseball season is almost over.
This person obviously never lived in DC during the early 00’s. Remember when DC didn’t even have an MLB franchise? Remember when the Redskins had Norv Turner, Marty Shottenwhatever, and Steve Spurrier over three seasons? Remember when the best players on the skins were Danny Wuerfel, Shane Matthews, Tony Banks, and Trung Candidate? Remember when the Caps sucked despite trading garbage for Jagr? Remember when the best Wizards player was Michael Jordan and Kwame Brown? Remember when Georgetown had Craig Escherick? This all happened from 2000-2003.
This article has no business saying that right now is the worst time for DC sports.