Saturday, August 18, 2007

Q&A: WE’VE GOT HEART.

Kristen & Stephanie are the proprietors of We’ve Got Heart, a great blog about the Washington Nationals. In honor of this weekend’s series, we exchanged questions about being fans of our respective teams. You can read their questions and my answers here.

Did you grow up as baseball fans?
Kristen:  Sort of – The closest MLB team to me was the Pirates.  My dad loved the Pirates and Roberto Clemente, so that sort of stuck with me.  I loved Pirates Short Stop Jay Bell as a kid.  We also have the AAABA tournament in our hometown every year.  My dad was involved with that organization, so I usually went to 3 games a day for that whole week.  There’s tons of scouts and one year, I was an Ambassador to it – selling tickets and advertisements, promoting it in the community and doing in-game entertainment things.  We had a Frontier League team for awhile too (The Johnstown Steal) and we went to those games all the time until they left.  I was so happy to move to DC and finally get my own team.
Steph:  I have always been a sports fan.  I grew up a Military brat so we moved a lot and I never had a true hometown team until the Nats came to DC.  But I used to go to Reds games in Ohio and lots of minor league games in some of the smaller towns I lived in…Seawolves, Wranglers.

What team did you follow before the Nationals came to town?
Stephanie The Nats have stolen my heart – I can’t imagine ever rooting for another team.

Do you have season tickets or do you just buy individual game tickets?
This year, we got a 20 game package but next year we’re getting 40 games.  We’re moving to a new park so it’s a very exciting time for a season-ticket holder.  We’re hoping to sit in right field.  We’ve already been to over 60 games this season, so we’ll just splurge on the extra 20.

[More after the jump.]

Do you plan your games far in advance or is it spontaneous?
I think we pretty much plan on attending every home game—If we buy tickets on gameday, it’s spontaneous.  We sit in different sections and try out different views of the field.  We love Section 301 by the Nats Bullpen and all of our friends there.

Tell me about a typical game day. Who do you go with? What do you bring? What’s in your game-day bag?
We usually drive to the game and spend the outrageous parking fee of $15 but split it between 3 of us.  We all stock up our everyday purse with the baseball essentials – it has sunglasses, wallet, baseball, sunscreen, umbrella, Nats hat, autographed baseball, sharpies, makeup, brush – all the necessities.

Who do you cheer in the Presidents Race?
Teddy – He has never won – in 100 races, but George followed us around one day.

Do Nationals fans like Screech, or think he’s kind of creepy?
He’s lovable.  He’s a good character.  Fans love him.  We like the presidents more though.

What are you most looking forward to in the new stadium?
Views of the capitol, cherry blossoms, better food and our season tickets. 

What will you miss, if anything, in the old stadium?
It’s home.  It will be frustrating to see the employees get shuffled up (our favorite ushers and vendors, etc).  It’s also easy to get autographs or balls from the bullpen right now.  Those things will be tough in the new stadium.  We’ll miss the charm.

What’s the most edible and least edible foods at RFK, or do you not bother?
Actually, the best food at RFK is the hot dogs sold from the walking vendors.  The ones from the concession stands can’t even compare.  We are also big fans of the popcorn sold around Section 301.  Food is so expensive so next year we will try to bring more of our own.

What player do you love that no one else really does?
Our rookie catcher (a Mets prospect we STOLE) Jesus Flores, Luis Ayala and Saul Rivera

What are the nicknames - good and bad - that we need to know?
Hmmm…there’s the obvious ones.  Ryan Zimmerman = Z, Zimmy, Zims, Z-Man.  The announcers have always called Brian Schneider, Schneider-MAN.  People call Dmitri “D.” Chief is Chad Cordero.  We call Felipe Lopez – “Lazy” sometimes.  We’ve always called Robert Fick “FickNasty.” We fall Flores “the Flower,” Ayala “Lights Out Luis,” and Christian Guzman – “guzzy” thanks to our announcer and your former WS MVP Ray Knight.

What’s your favorite Nationals-related item of clothing?
Kristen: My home jersey – my friends got it for me when I finished my Masters degree.
Steph:  Toss up! My red Sunday jersey and my white Nats hat.  I do have a Nats t-shirt for everyday of the week!