Big Lead Sports Bar

5/06/2008

BUCCO ROAD REPORT: WASHINGTON, DC

Reader Ross Bowker of Monongahela recently attended the forgettable Pirates-Nationals series in DC and sent along some pics and video of the scene. And since I neglected to talk about the series on the field, I figured the least I could do was show some pics of the atmosphere.
And now, in the words of Ross:
"I know nearly every Pittsburgh sports fan was unaware of anything going on outside of the Pens/Rangers game 5 on Sunday afternoon. I also wanted to see the game, but had scheduled a Bucco Road Trip to our nation’s capital for the weekend. My dad and I drove down on Saturday and stayed the night with family in a suburb of the city. We toured some of the landmarks and went out on Saturday night. I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the city, especially since we’re from the “sootiest city” in America. Everything in downtown DC was first class, including the Verizon Center (home of the Wizards and the Capitals), although there are some bad areas in the outskirts.
We took the Metro subway system from College Park, MD. It was very quick and got us to the Navy Yard stop, right next to the new ballpark. We were treated to quite a sight after getting off the Metro:
It was a beautiful day – about 74 degrees and not a cloud in the sky; but it was very windy. After entering the stadium, it was obvious that it would be difficult to hit a homer out to left since the wind was blowing very hard towards the 1st base side (where our seats were). Greeting us in the center field entrance was an enormous poster of the Nats opening night walk off HR by Ryan Zimmerman:
Here is another shot from the initial view after entering in Center Field:Here's an overview of the stadium from our seats. During the break from the 2nd to 3rd innings, there was a familiar sight: the Pierogi race. Only this time, they were accompanied by the Presidents: Abe, George, and Teddy (I think). Here’s a video. Abe came out on top:
What was I most impressed with? Probably the 1300” video board in high definition. It was spectacular! Here it is displaying the Buccos defensive alignment for the day:

I was also surprised at the amount of Pittsburgh fans. Yes, we all know there are Steeler fans everywhere. But I saw A LOT of Bucco fans, many of them with old style Clemente jerseys. I even sat next to a Bucco fan from Shaler, now living in DC.
The food selection is also much better than PNC Park. There were so many great things to eat, but I had a Chesapeake Burger – a quarter pound burger with a half pound of crab meat on top. It was delicious!
I would definitely recommend going down to DC to check this place out. It will be a delight for any baseball fan looking to explore another great ballpark.
Sadly, the Buccos lost. But I was informed by text message that the Pens had won, so I could still ride back with a smile on my face."

1 comment:

Jack said...

the Zimmerman walk off pic is from his HR against the Yankees 2 years ago, not this year in the home opener.