Spending on the Nats

I placed an order a short while ago to MLB.com to acquire some cool Nationals stuff - a shirt and two caps.

I had a specific reason for ordering from a website rather than just picking the caps up at the stadium or in any local sports store. It was... the W.

It means more than just the Nats here:

In D.C., 'W' Spells More Than Baseball [Washington Post]

...During the design process, a baseball spokeswoman said, nobody made the connection to a certain political figure, for whom the same 23rd letter of the alphabet is a down-home nickname.

"The political part of it never came up," said Kathleen Fineout, baseball's director of marketing communications.

Shyeah, right. You cannot pretend in this city, at this time, that well goodness gracious it never occured to us that selling a bunch of 'W'-labeled apparel would sprout a double meaning!

Pull the other one, eh.

Feigned cluelessness is apparently contagious:

So far, news of the political subtext still hasn't filtered up to the Nationals' front office, said David Cope, the team's vice president for sales and marketing. "Never heard of it," he said. "It's 'W' for Washington."

But it's obvious to everyone else:

"My immediate reaction was, 'W! Perfect!,' " said Dan Mintz, 57, of Bethesda. "Not only do I get to root for Washington, but I get to root for George."

...in the lower concourses of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium... "They say, 'W? Does that stand for Bush?' " said Gary Berned, speaking of fans that visit his kiosk.

And so of course it's already being repurposed:

...at the local level, some politicians are catching on.

Montgomery County Republicans, for instance, wore matching red "W" hats when 32 of them attended a recent Nationals game. "They like the red ones, especially," said county GOP Chairman Tom Reinheimer.

Now, the colors don't bother me; I would wear a red cap. But I'll be deep-fried and sun-dried before I'll walk around in this city, at this time, looking like I support the biggest object lesson in Bad Government I've ever seen.

So. Since the only non-W hats I've found that are remotely cool are on MLB.com, I ordered one for both of us. They're much clearer:

I love mine.

P.S. The real cherry on top of the Post article was the letter in the following Sunday's paper complaining about the Post creating so much strife by writing about the issue and making everyone now think of it this way.

Dude, it was already there.

    4 comment(s)  

The W thing never occurred to me, even after hearing that Bush threw out the first pitch. Maybe if it had been in the block font of the bumper sticker, I'd've caught on.

Because it didn't occur to me, I can believe it didn't occur to a lot of other people. Most MLB teams have the first letter of the city they play in. It's not like it says "Dubya". :-)

Maybe "DC" would have been better. Otherwise everyone might think it was the baseball team for Wash U!

      ...posted by Chris T. on July 18, 2005 1:59 PM

With due respect, Chris, Washington, D.C. is a company town and very little happens in this town that doesn't have political implications. Steve pointed out that some Republicans are already using the hat to make a political gesture. (Just as some of us independents are deliberately not wearing the foolish things.)

As I noted on my site, some in Congress are even trying to get involved with who's allowed to own the Nationals.

They do make a "DC" hat, for what it's worth. I wish they'd used that for the official team hat. Alas...
      ...posted by Mrs. NowThis on July 18, 2005 2:20 PM

Hmm- maybe it's more obvious to those in the DC area then? Or maybe I've been too caught up with the Yankees/Sox rivalry and the Cardinals' huge lead to follow the Expos. ;-)

Seriously, though, is that the best name they could come up with? The Nationals? Huh? Yes, better than the Senators. But other names would be better. An obvious one- the Eagles. Or even better- the Bald Eagles, and all the players could shave their heads! Even lots of funny names, like the Lobbyists, or the Filibusters. But I guess me saying this now is about as useful as Trump's belated twin tower plan.

      ...posted by Chris on July 18, 2005 5:34 PM

Oh, I absolutely think it's something that would probably only be noticed by people in the area or people heavily involved in national politics elsewhere...

I think "Nationals" is a boring name, too. I think the best suggestion I saw was one that you suggest: The Filibusters. I also liked "Pundits" "Monuments" "Scandals" and "Exposes." Teehee.

Alas, the Nationals are in a big slump right now - having just lost again to Colorado of all teams!
      ...posted by Mrs. NowThis on July 19, 2005 6:31 AM

Add a comment...