Baseball Season

This weekend was the Washington Nationals' first home game in their brand spanking new $611 million stadium. Lauded as the "taxpayer-built palace," it sports freshly manicured Kentucky Bluegrass field and local favorite fares, such as Ben's Chili Bowl half-smokes (accordingly priced $2 higher than U Street) and Five Guy's burgers. Apparently, views of the Capitol are spectacular. One view, however, did not sparkle this weekend. Decked out in his baseball gear, our President was present to wave at the crowd and throw out the opening pitch. He was greeted with a hearty round of boos - and some cheers - and I imagine went home and stomped on his "W" hat. Perhaps it was disapproval for the war, but I like to think that the boos were attributed to the fact that he has done everything in his power to sink our voting rights bill. Thankfully, it didn't put much of a damper on the evening, and the Nationals were victorious.

I haven't been to a Nationals game yet, and given our break-neck pace for fleeing the homeland, I'm not sure I will. Maybe we'll make it out west in time to catch a couple of games at PGE Park - home of the Portland Beavers minor league team. The stadium was a quick walk from our first hotel on the February scouting trip and we passed it at least 3 times a day. I did a bit of research when I got home and found out that PGE Park, as it stands today, was originally built in 1926 as a football venue. However, the history of the site dates back to 1891 when the Multnomah Athletic Club set up a playing surface and stadium for all sorts of activities such as cricket, football, and bike races. The wooden stadium burned and was replaced, but the city decided a larger facility was necessary, resulting in the 1926 building. Football was not very profitable, so the main attraction between 1933-55 was dog racing. You heard me, pooches kept this place running for over two decades. In 1956, the Portland Beavers arrived and stayed through 1993.

Faced with the dilemma of having to attract a team back to the city, officials decided to renovate the stadium in 2001 rather than building a new one. This is one example of why I fell in love with Portland. All over downtown there are examples of how the city decided to invest in its old building stock, even in cases were it was clear that starting over from scratch might have yielded something much bigger, and (maybe) better. Although the inside of PGE Park is completely modern, the stadium still retains its old charm. And, for $8-15 a game and a quick walk from downtown, I'm ready!