Opening Night at Nationals Park

How much for a Bud?

Nick will crush the first HR at the new park.

Nik

Phils, Mets, Braves, Fla., Nats

...when the ceremonial first pitch was thrown? Just curious.

Go Nick!

I saw Ipp or it was a vendor with a Yankees hat, hey and Happy Birthday

Was there any doubt? Noooooo, Rag Arm Hudson gives up the F I R S T rbi to...wait for it....Nick Johnson!!

Inside Nationals Park tonight about 40,000 fans were able to enjoy the unveiling of the Nationals new incredible ballpark. What happened outside however is the tragedy.
I spend the first 8 innings of tonight's game at the DC 1st district police station , patiently awaiting the release of my father who had been arrested hours before the game. My father and I had been anticipating this day for the last year and when we were unable to purchase tickets off the Nationals website due to a quick "sellout" we did what most fans do and turned to the online market place. We eventually found some seats we were happy with and purchased them. Well about 7 hours later, on March 28th I received and email from the Nationals that I had been selected to purchase some remaining tickets from the "soldout" event. We ended up buying two tickets in the 419 section (where we had initially wanted to sit) and decided to place our original tickets back on EBAY. Well the big day came around and we were set. The plan was simple, get there early, pick up our new tickets at will call and deliver the tickets we had sold on EBAY to the buyer at the game. This is where simple ended.
After picking up our will call tickets we notified our EBAY buyers to meet us at the red carpet they had rolled out off the Navy Yard Metro exit for the exchange. After some sorting through the crowd we found the two young ladies whom we had sold the ticket too over EBAY and proceeded to hand them the tickets as they gathered the money. I had opted not to use PayPal on EBAY because of the fee they charge for received payments. At about this time an undercover police officer grabbed my father forcing him against one of the walls stating "your under arrest". As I and the two young ladies tried to explain to the officers that we were not scalping tickets but just completing a sale which we had worked out obver EBAY. He was having none of it even though we both had printed out evidence that this was an arranged meeting. My father, who is in this late 50's and had grown up a Senators fan and had been waiting for their return to DC for the last 33 years, was escorted from the front of the ballpark to the 1st district police station where I had to wait for 3 and a half hours for his release. Just in time to miss the entire game.
Who is to blame. I found myself asking this question over and over as I sat quietly in the station. So I ran down the list. The Nationals, who had stated over and over that the game was sold out however who released a small amount of tickets for resale before the game? On top of this I also came to learn that many individuals purchased tickets to the opening day game via the handy kiosks they they have set up outside the stadium. Some sold out game. Many of their own fans were forced to pay outrageous ticket prices via Stub Hub and EBAY while scalpers were purchasing tickets via kiosk for resale.
The DC Police who without any desire to hear explanation carted off my dad as if he had committed a felony away in handcuffs were not innocent either. They took in many many scalpers that day outside of Nationals Park, many of whom were your everyday Nationals fan with families simply looking to pick up or get rid of an extra ticket. While in prison my father even met a man who had been taken away while his 13 year old son was left alone inside the ballpark.
I am at a loss for feelings right now on the whole issue. I feel betrayed by both my baseball team and my city. The Nationals know scalping goes on outside their stadium and if they knew the level of enforcement that was going to exist this day why not post signs so that your average fan isn't taken away for a 4 hour screening process. Why not issue fines and citations on the site and simply confiscate tickets.
My father and eventually made it into the game. We were able to catch the last inning and a half and witnessed Zimmerman's one run shot for a storybook finish. I looked around at the thousands of cheering fans I took a look at my dad and noticed that we were the only ones not jumping and hollering for joy. We had something very special stolen from us that night and as horrible as it was for me I couldn't imagine how it felt for my dad. A man who had his baseball team moved to another city for 33 years and an opening day that he will never be able to relive.

Only being 23 I had grown up an Orioles fan but through the stories and pride for my city I became a Nat's fan. After this nights events however its going to be very hard to put my cap back on...

Hey, great job Ed. I think you, Scout and Ipps should travel to every game. It could be like a reality TV show, without the drama. (Unless Scout blamed you for Pedro's dominance of the strike zone)

How were the Nachos? Spicy cheese or mild?
What did you purchase for the archives?

Sweet dreams.