Freezing Along with the Boys of Summer

Baseball is kind of a big deal in my office. My bosses are absolute freaks for the stuff. One of the nice perks of their obsession is that we have season tickets to the Washington Nationals in their swanky new park. Another is that Major League Baseball's opening day is an official office holiday, when tradition dictates that we all down tools and head out to the ballpark to bond.

So it was more than a little disappointing when the marketing geniuses at MLB decided to commemorate this historic occasion by supplanting the lovely, languid tradition of opening day with a frigid, late, TV-friendly opening night. Gone was our day off, replaced by an all-but-mandatory evening outing with 40,000 of our closest friends, the Secret Service and the President of the United States. Par-tay.

By way of background, I am not what you'd call a baseball fan. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say that I'd like it more if there was more violent contact, more action, shoulder pads, and about a 10th as many games...that is to say, if it were more like football.

I'm also not a big fan of crowds. It's not that I'm agoraphobic, per se.  It's just that being among that many of my fellow passengers to the grave reminds me of how much our little human garden could use a good weeding.

And yesterday was cold. Not Minnesota cold, but certainly colder than is ideal for an extended outdoor sit.

So it was with some reluctance that I left my warm apartment to brave the fun and excitement of opening day. I took some pictures to document the occasion.

Crowds

Here's me getting off the metro.  You know what this escalator needs?  More people.

Security

Metal detectors and Secret Service at every entrance. Thanks to W for this, his final (we hope) insult.

Dabyball

What? Doesn't everybody read novels of English manners and listen to M.I.A. before baseball games?

Goodseats