It was a fun trip. It started with a letter from Michael Wechsler stating that his brother and my former roommate Dan would be in Washington attending the same conference as Dave Spiro. So I called Dan as I was driving down and we tried to make arrangements to get together, although Dan had a working dinner that night and probably couldn't make the game. That was the first coincidence.

When I walk into the hotel lobby eight hours later, Jack Ramsey is sitting there, down to cover the Wizards game. I used to see Jack at ESPN, so I went over and introduced myself. Jack was very gracious and we chatted for a minute. I then dropped my luggage in the room and Dave Spiro and I headed for the game.

Of course, it started raining. We bought umbrellas from a sidewalk salesman and made our way to RFK. It was very easy by subway. RFK is a decent enough place, very much like the cookie cutter fields of the 60's and 70's. If you've been in the old parks in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati, you'd feel right at home there. We couldn't see the main scoreboard from our seats, but we were dry. The auxillary scoreboards did not give enought information. They'd flash the name of the batter, but if you missed it that was it. The outfield does not drain well. Twice they dumped the tarp, and twice it took them 20 minutes of moving water to get the field looking playable.

Dan decided to skip his meeting and joined us at the park. Dan is from Montreal and was saddened by the move. He still rooted for the former Expos, however (see video). It was almost 10 PM when the game started, so we only stayed a few innings. The crowd was pretty evenly split Cubs and Nationals. I guess the Cubs national following is bigger than the current base in Washington. Cheers for the Cubs were as loud as cheers for the Nationals.

When we got back to the hotel, I ran into Ethan Cooperson. You'll sometimes hear Ethan's name as the statistican credited in national football and basketball broadcasts. He's an old friend from STATS, Inc. and a fellow Harvard alum, and he looks as dapper as ever. The third coincidence.

All it all, it was a lot of driving but well worth it. I'll have to go down again with the family and see the sights as well as a game.