The Death of Sports Joy in the DMV
By: Jeff McDonough
It is said that the majority of people die within 50 miles of where they were born. I don’t think I can verify the statistical validity of that claim, but the takeaway is resounding. Where we’re born and where we grow up has a huge determination on the rest of our lives. Even for those of us who actually do leave their birthplace, we carry our hometown with us wherever we end up. A big tie-in with our hometown attachments is often a devotion to the local sports teams — and you’ve come to the Sports Addict, what other angle did you expect?
When the local teams lose, a cloud of despair is cast
citywide. Also, sometimes they riot. When the local teams win, the whole area is abuzz. Just look at Kansas
City. The Royals won their first World Series in 30 years on Sunday and on
Tuesday they held their championship parade. The turnout was an estimated 800,000 people, which is even more astounding when you consider
the city’s population is only 470,000. The pride of fans is never more on
display than after a championship victory. Also, sometimes they riot. Here in the DMV — for those of you that don’t know, that is an
acronym representing the Mid-Atlantic region of DC, Maryland and Virginia —
times have been rough lately. Like really, really rough. We are currently mired in a six-month stretch of misery that
no sporting fanbase should have to endure. It all started back on the dark night of
May 13, but I’ll get to that later. I am going to postulate that every single
major local team is some combination of bad, embarrassing, disappointing and/or
heartbreaking chokers.
