Washington, D.C. Sports

With Navy's 17-3 win over Army, UCLA will play Temple in the 2009 EagleBank Bowl at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, December 29, at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. ESPN will broadcast the game live. Visit the official EagleBank Bowl web site for more information.

The Potomac Nationals, as well as other minor league baseball teams across the country, are teaming up with Kraft on a special summertime ticket promotion. Bring a wrapper from any Kraft Singles package on any Tuesday between May 12, 2009 and September 1, 2009 and receive a free ticket with any ticket purchase at the ticket office. Most importantly... Enjoy the cheese at home. Please don't bring that to the ballpark :-)

For more details visit this page.

The Washington Glory are holding a Championship Send-Off on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008, at the Red Hot and Blue in Fairfax before they head to Kimberly, WI for the 2008 NPF Championship Series from August 21 - 24. There will be a private VIP reception for 2008 and 2009 season ticket holders from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. The public is welcome to attend from 7:15pm - 8:30pm.

Please contact Katy Wilson, for questions about the private VIP reception.

Last night, my ten-year old son and I invited one of his friends to watch the Washington Bayhawks play the New Jersey Pride in a Major League Lacrosse game. While it turned out to be an expensive outing, the three of us had a blast.

The Bayhawks franchise played its first six seasons in Baltimore before moving to the Washington, D.C. area for the 2007 season. The franchise has won two MLL championships, one in 2002, the second in 2005. The Bayhawks play their home games at George Mason Stadium, which is located on the campus of George Mason University in the heart of Fairfax, Virginia. There's plenty of free parking available. For the 2008 season, single game tickets for adults cost $24 and youths (12 and under) cost $19. So, for the three of us, it was $62. A program costs $1. The crowd at the game consisted mostly of families with kids with their lacrosee sticks in attendance. There were several booths/vendors at the game, including Six Flags, Commerce Bank and Triple Edge Lacrosse. At the Six Flags booth, there was a wheel that you could spin to win prizes like a mini frisbee, skateboard key chain or a free pass to Six Flags. Commerce Bank is a Championship Partner with the Bayhawks. Several times during the game, the PA announcer would announce that the first person to show up at the Commerce Bank booth wearing a Bayhawks hat/jersey/t-shirt would win a fantastic prize. I'll be better prepared the next time I attend a Bayhawks game :-)

What about food and bathrooms? I saw two food vendors at the game. One sold normal, sporting-event fare, including hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders, lemonade, soda and funnel cakes. In addition, Domino's pizza was selling soda and pizza by the slice. My son and his friend had funnel cakes; I had a bite and it was tasty. How can you go wrong with deep-fried dough covered with powdered sugar? The prices for the food were reasonable (for a sporting event). My son purchased a funnel cake, one cup of lemonade and a bottle of coke for $11. As far as bathrooms are concerned, there were plenty of porta-potties.

There were a handful of VIP and other hospitality tents on the side opposite the stands. For an extra $5 per ticket, you could purchase a VIP wristband which allowed you to be closer to the action. Given how fast those lacrosse balls can fly, I felt a lot safer sitting in the stands far away and above the action. Before the game, we stood behind a net behind one of the goals that the players were shooting on. One piece of advice: Stand a few feet behind the net and pay attention.

The game consisted of four 15-minute quarters. Last night's game started at 7:00PM and was finished around 9:00PM. The Bayhawks players and coaches came over to the sidelines after the game and signed autographs for everyone who wanted one. My son and his friend got several players to sign his program. In addition, the two of them got tons of free stuff. Between the two of them, they managed to take in the following: six lacrosse balls, three t-shirts, two skateboard key chain, one small frisbee, one small beach ball, three sheets of four Bayhawk trading cards and three game programs. Your results may vary :-)

So, I've discussed many of the fun things about our Bayhawks adventure yesterday. What about not-so-fun things? Well, the stands face west and, at 7:00PM, the sun was directly in our faces. Wear a hat and/or sunglasses for an early evening game at GMU stadium. The admissions price is a bit high. We spent about $90 between the three of us. Besides those two (minor) things, I highly recommend attending a Bayhawks game next season.

Congressional Bowl comes to the Nationals Park on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008. Assuming that it is bowl-eligible, Navy will play the ACC's ninth-place team. More details to follow...

It's a sad day for Washington, D.C. sports fan as the legendary SportsTalk 980, WTEM, is now ESPN980. Now, Redskins propaganda can be heard on four stations in the D.C. area. You can tune to ESPN980 on 730 AM and 980 AM, as well as 92.7 FM and 94.3 FM.

Who lost in the shuffle? Well, Steve Czaban for one. His nationally syndicated Fox Sports Radio program, The First Team on Fox, is no longer on in the D.C. area. You can get his take on the situation here on his blog.

John Riggins also lost his afternoon radio show, although, according to this page on the ESPN 980 web site, ESPN 980 will "feature the unabashed hot sports opinions of hall of famer John Riggins during our Redskins coverage and throughout all of our programs on ESPN 980." I just can't see Riggins holding his tongue if the Redskins start the 2008 season 1-and-4.

So, who won? John Thompson and Rick "Doc" Walker both kept their programs.

The biggest loser as a result of this merger is us, the sports fan in the D.C. area. With no one to challenge Dan Snyder and the four-letter sports leader, D.C. sports fan have lost an important medium to both applaud their heroes and vent their frustrations.

I've used StubHub a few times to sell tickets to events I couldn't attend. The process is painless and the people I've dealt with at StubHub were friendly and helpful. Locally, StubHub has partnered with the Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards and Georgetown Hoyas. I recommend StubHub highly.

Individual tickets for the Washington Kastles, the newest professional sports team in the D.C. area, are on sale now! The next game for the Kastles will be Sunday, July 20th vs. the Philadelphia Freedoms. Kastles players include Serena Williams, Justin Gimelstob, Mashona Washington, Scott Oudesma and Sacha Jones.

World TeamTennis was co-founded by Billie Jean King and is entering its 33rd year of play in 2008. The 3-week season, stretching from July 3rd to July 23rd, will have 11 teams vying for the King Trophy.

The Division I Men's Ice Hockey championship comes to the Verizon Center April 9 and 11, 2009. The hosts for next year's Frozen Four are the U.S. Naval Academy and the Greater Washington Sports Alliance.

Check out the official 2009 Frozen Four web site for more details.

Opening game for the defending champion Washington Glory will be Thursday, May 29th vs. New England Riptide. This year, games will be played at the Westfield Softball Complex at 4700 Stonecroft Boulevard in Chantilly, VA.

Visit the Washington Glory web site for more details!

The third annual Nation's Triathlon will be held Sunday, September 14, 2008. The race includes a 1.5km swim in the Potomac River, a 40km ride through downtown D.C. and a 10km run past D.C. landmarks like the White House, Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

As of April 25th, 2008, 97% of available slots have been taken!
Register now!

While riding on the Metro to a Nationals game, I met a photographer who was headed to RFK to take pictures of the game. He and a bunch of other media types helped start D.C. Sports Box. According to their web site, D.C. Sports Box "provides up close, in depth coverage of the Washington DC and Baltimore area teams". Check out the site. The articles and photographs are terrific.

Check out the story on ESPN.com about the National Pro Fastpitch league and the game between Jenny Finch's Chicago Bandits and Cat Osterman's Rockford Thunder.

I took my daughter to go see the Washington Glory, D.C.'s own women's pro fastpitch softball team, play the Michigan Ice at GMU last night. Our general admission/grandstand tickets cost $20, $12 for me and $8 for her. It's a little pricey. There were about 200-300 fans at the game, a Friday night in early July. Most games start at 7:05PM. Sunday games start at 3:05PM. It's very easy to get to the GMU softball complex, and parking is free.

We had a great time. The PA announcer was energetic, and the feel of the game was very similar to a minor league game. There were lots of silly games between innings, such as a hobby horse race, dance contest, musical chairs contest and the ever-popular spin-around-a-bat-until-you-get-dizzy-race.

There was a small concession stand that sold the usual ballpark fare -- pretzels, hot dogs, peanuts, drinks. The choices are not as elaborate as even the smallest minor league team, but the prices were low and the food was good. Please note that I'm out the belief that all food at the ballpark is good :-)

So, I would highly recommend taking your kids to a Glory game this summer. Sure, the tickets are a little expensive, but it doesn't cost any more than going to the movies, plus you get to sit outside and cheer our newest professional sports team to victory!

There are two main sports talk radio stations that serve the metro D.C. area, WTEM (980 AM) and Triple X ESPN Radio(730 AM, 92.7 FM and 94.3 FM).

WTEM, also known as SportsTalk 980, is a Fox Sports affiliate that hosts shows by local sports legends such as Brian Mitchell and John Thompson.

Triple X ESPN Radio is the official home of John Riggins and Home of the Redskins.