Bush Booed, Crowd Subdued

The wife and I had a great time celebrating the first-ever regular season game in the new Washington Nationals Stadium last night. Though we tried to beat the crowds leaving on the Metro, and therefore missed third baseman Ryan Zimmerman's game-winning walk off home run (pictured), we still very much enjoyed the experience.

Chimpy was unfortunately on hand to uphold the inane tradition of prez-nits throwing out the first pitch. For that he was loudly booed (yes, I helped with that), though not nearly as lustily as he deserved to be.

In fact, the crowd overall seemed quite subdued given what should have been a grand celebration. The Nats jumped to an early lead, but for most of the game it seemed like the stadium was only about a quarter full. This was quite a contrast to the first Nats game in RFK back in 2005, when spontaneous cheers erupted the whole night and even got the upper deck physically rocking a few times.

I couldn't help but wonder if the economy wasn't a factor affecting the mood. Yes, most of the people who could afford to attend the game are likely to still be doing well financially, but as that faint whisper in the ear that "all is not well" grows louder, perhaps even those who have remained largely oblivious thus far are finding more difficult to celebrate with unbounded enthusiasm.