Tuesday, August 24, 2010

What Brings Nationals Fans Together?

When you're the fan of a team that never wins and has no real chance to win, it's hard to get real excited. There's no real point in hoping for a winner, so there are other things you have to get riled up about. And it's doubly hard as a fan base to find things other than wins and losses to really be passionate about as a united group. Everyone has their own opinions about what the team should do and what brand of beer they should sell at the park.

But from time to time, we as Nationals fans have been able to come together passionately around certain causes. Firing Jim Bowden. Loving Ryan Zimmerman. Spoiling the Mets. Hating the Phillies. Clint.

Now, we have another: Rob Dibble. Dibble has for a long time been a polarizing figure. Some love him, some hate him. Charitably, I'd say he's a big personality and inspires strong opinions. That's not a bad thing.

But now that Dibble has put himself squarely on the side of hating Stephen Strasburg--he started by bad-mouthing him last summer during his contract negotiation and amped it way up this week by criticizing his toughness--I predict that Dibble will be the next cause celebre to bring Nationals fans together.

You didn't hear it here first, and this won't be the last, but for the love of god, Stan Kasten: fire Dibble.

3 comments:

Chevis Ryder said...

Agreed. While players shouldn't be immune to criticism, Stras (a) wanted to stay in, and (b) has by all accounts shown himself to be tough if you listen to what his teammates say. We don't need our hometown announcer hating one of our stars - especially not insuch a disrespectful way.

Mac G said...

I can list a laundry list of things to hate Dibble for but him sucking the life of already listless Nationals games in number one. It is three hour torture to listen to him be a buffoon that every answer is to throw high and tight or the umps are always screwing the Nationals.

He can take his banal commentary elsewhere.

face said...

Not me. I like that he says stupid stuff and is very opinionated. I will agree that he (and carp) often makes preposterous indictments of the umps. However, even when he is wrong it is funny to hear his stupid comments. like the other day when he made fun of a fans ugly orange shirt. Also not to mention that the comments on Stras were not on the Nats broadcast. Besides the point, if the broadcast is so bad you should go to more home games, Mac.