Washington, DC - Jack and the Hoya

01/19/2008 - Georgetown Hoyas - Verizon Center

My intentions were good with this one. Really, they were. My college roommate (you may remember him from such posts as The Leprechaun) loves all things Notre Dame so I figured the perfect Christmas gift would be tickets to the nearest ND sporting event that I could find. That happened to be a basketball game in Washington DC against the 6th ranked Georgetown Hoyas. It's been a few years and my memory has blurred as to the exact details but when ND went down by somewhere around 30 points early in the 2nd half, he sarcastically thanked me again for the thoughtful present and offered to pick up some tickets to see my beloved Oregon Ducks football team get drubbed by USC sometime.

For an off-campus arena, I was very impressed by the student support. As best as I could tell, most of them came to arena on some sort of mass transportation and I don't know about your college experience but the thought of being up by noon on a Saturday much less taking a bus ride and being coherent enough to cheer... Like I said, I was very impressed. Despite the outcome, my roommate was a good enough sport to help me get a picture with the Hoya and Jack, their live animal mascot.

Since it was a professional arena, the food options were typical arena fare - nothing special to report. There are plenty of great eating options in the DC area, from the #1 rated, uber-expensive Komi on 17th Street all the way to Five Guys Burger and Fries (best fast food burgers EVER). So, in other words, there is really no reason to rely upon the arena hotdog to get through a gameday.

A weekend with the Blue Crabs and Nationals

Checked two more parks off the list this past weekend, Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, MD (home of the Atlantic League's Southern MD Blue Crabs) and Nationals Park in Washington, DC (home of the NL Washington Nationals). Other than some lodging issues - when I reserve a non-smoking room, I want a room that people haven't smoked in - it was a fun time. Got to try the Pincher in Waldorf, which is a made to order, deep-fried concoction that can best be summed up as a Shepard's Pie if he were herding hot dogs. Think hot dog and mashed potatoes, deep-fried in a tortilla and then covered in chili and cheese sauce.

Sunday was a fun day in D.C. We managed to meet up with three of the four Rushmores (Abe was fast enough to win the race and elude us). I got a video of the President's Race - I'll try to post it when I have a few free minutes. I'll save the rest of the details of the parks for the book but here are some pictures to keep you entertained...