Ever since the end of baseball season, when the city of Washington was awarded a Major League franchise, a debate has carried on in the back of my mind as to whether this team should become my new favorite. Historically, I have been a Baltimore Orioles fan, but this has only been because the Orioles were essentially the adopted team of the DC area, whose teams I root for in every other professional league. Now that there exists a Washington Nationals, it seems only logical that this is the team I should pull for. Of course, since the Nationals will be a National League squad and the Orioles are in the American, I could potentially consider both teams a favorite without any conflict of interest aside from the ocassional interleague series or unlikely World Series matchup. Instead of doing this, however, I've chosen to throw all my support to the Nationals. I'm no sports polygamist, and I don't think a man is justified in having both an NL wife and an AL wife.
(Well...considering that this is baseball we're talking about, in my case it would be more like casually dating two girls at the same time, which I still wouldn't do. As hard as I try, I still can't get into baseball like I do other sports. I'll go ahead and acknowledge to baseball fans that their sport isn't exactly "boring," like most haters of the game claim, but I still find there to be several obstacles in the way of my being passionate about an MLB team. Chief among my complaints is the complete lack of suspense over any individual regular season game. In baseball, even powerhouses like the Yankees and Red Sox lose about a third of their games, and teams within the same division play each other countless times throughout the year. Therefore, there can really be no meaningful excitement or disappointment over beating another team on any given night, especially if your team isn't in playoff contention. In football, Dolphins fans can get psyched over beating the Patriots even if their season is in the toilet, but who cares if Tampa Bay sqeaks one out against the Yanks?)
On the surface, there are several good arguments for why I should continue as an Oriole fan. First of all, there's the question of loyalty and the natural skepticism I should have over abandoning my old team in favor of the new kid. Secondly, it's quite likely that the Orioles will be the better team between the two for quite a while, having just added Sammy Sosa to an already potent offense. Remember, the Nationals may have a new coat of paint, but underneath they're just a few free agent signings better than last year's Montreal Expos.
On the other hand, I'd be a complete tool to pick a favorite team based on their chances of success. Don't forget, this is a Redskins and UVA basketball fan writing here. Aside from my brief consideration of defecting to the Minnesota Timberwolves after the Wizards drafted Steve "Elmo" Blake, I've shown as much (or more) love to my bad teams as bandwagon fans do to theirs. Plus, even if Baltimore is an overall better team than Washington, the Nationals still probably have a more open road to the playoffs for the forseeable future. The Orioles could be the third best team in baseball and still finish behind the payroll-powered Yankees and Red Sox. It's true that the Braves have dominated the NL East since the early 90's, but from year to year that division seems a more likely candidate for parity.
Still, the deciding factor for me in picking the Nationals is my consistency in rooting for Washington area teams. Keep in mind that Baltimore is in Maryland, and the only other thing I've ever found from that state worth tolerating is Dave Theisz. If I stay an Orioles fan, I'm only allying myself with a bunch of Ravens loyalists, most of whom hate the Redskins. There's nothing worse than a blue state who only turns red to shout obscenities and burn trashcans whenever they fail to "protect their house" at Terrapin basketball games. Over time, local TV and newspaper coverage here will shift towards focusing on Washington baseball just as it does with other sports. In Virginia, it continues to make the most geographic sense to stick with the Redskins, Wizards, Capitals...and now the Washington Nationals.
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I with you, but I'd add one other important argument: Peter Angelos. He's a jerk, and had bitterly opposed baseball in DC for forever, claiming the region can't support two major league teams. Um, hello, the Ravens seem to be doing fine after being introduced into the Redskins' market, and as we both know, 'Skins fans are die-hard. I'll be a 'Nats fan, mostly to spite Angelos.
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