In The Defense Of Nationals Fandom: Part I

Each Thursday We Let A Nats Fan Sound Off, Because Quite Frankly, The Fans Know More Than We Do

This Week's Entry Is a 3-Parter Written By A Huge Nats Fan From Twitter:  @TClippardsSpecs

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Part I: Bad Fans

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“In God we trust; all others must bring data.”

-W. Edwards Deming

"Bad fans".  That may be the answer you get when you ask fans of other Major League baseball teams to describe the Washington Nationals fan-base.  And no fans beat this dead horse more than the humble and demure residents of that quaint village about 150 miles north of our nation's capital; Philadelphia.

As the weather begins to get warmer, the season begins to heat up as well, and the notion that the Nats' fans are subpar intensifies.  Images like the following are being passed throughout Twitter along with the message that the Nationals' fans are terrible supporters of the team.

Keep in mind this photo was taken at a game with a 1:05 start time, just moments 

after a brief rain delay, but hey, let's not have facts get in the way of a good story...

What Philadelphia fans give as the evidence damning Nats fans as "bad", is attendance. "No one shows up to your games" - We have daily sellout crowds"

While there is some merit to this notion (DC has the 4th lowest attendance in the NL this season), this is not necessarily the factor of the city it is taking place in.  All teams throughout their existences, have encountered this problem, even Philadelphia.

Why such poor attendance? Because everyone loves a winner...and if there's been anything lacking in the Nationals short history, it is wins (Avg 70 wins from 2005-2011).  The Phillies on the other hand have not only won a lot of games (Avg 92 wins from 2005-2011), but they have taken home a World Series title.

Phightin fans, and Philly sports writers claim that Washington isn't a good baseball town based on these attendance figures and images of empty seats...but should that be their only evidence?

Phillies fans may remember (or choose to ignore) the mid to late 1990's – it wasn't pretty, and neither was Veterans Stadium.  Kevin Sefcik and Wayne Gomes playing with Terry Francona at the helm aren't the first memories that come to mind when you think of the Philadelphia Phillies.  The team's recent success has pushed these memories far out of our mind's reach.

So do Philly fans have a leg to stand on?  We look at the stats in Part II

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