I'm not a big baseball fan, but I've wanted to see the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium for awhile now. Friday's game (Nats vs. Texas Rangers) was the perfect time to go, because it was Stitch & Pitch night, sponsored by the National NeedleArts Association, and my wife wanted to participate. On Stitch & Pitch night, knitters, crocheters, and cross-stitchers were encouraged to come to the game, and sit together in the same general area, sections 301-305. Each participant received a Stitch & Pitch goodie bag, with free patterns, yarn, and needles.

The stadium is brand new, and is being called Nationals Park for now, at least until the owners find some bland corporate identity to foist upon it. Access from the Navy Yard Metro station was excellent, with the crowds moving along smoothly and efficiently. Ingress and egress from the stadium was a breeze, and featured some nice views from the ramps to the upper levels. I was pleased to see that the food concessions were primarily local restaurants rather than national chains: Ben's Chili Bowl, Hard Times Cafe, etc. The seats were quite comfortable, and my back pain didn't act up the whole time I was there, which is a very good thing. The amount of lumbar support in the seatbacks must have been just right.

The game itself was OK, the Nationals eventually won, but compared to ice hockey, baseball is deadly slow and boring - it's really about the atmosphere rather than the on-field action. I like the IDEA of baseball, America's pastime, memories of the Senators, NY Giants, and Brooklyn Dodgers, hot dogs, organ music, Lou Gehrig, baseball cards (I had a rookie Roberto Clemente!), Field of Dreams, but in reality, it doesn't live up to the image in our collective memories. I did get my photo taken with their Theodore Roosevelt mascot, which is up on Flickr in "friends only" mode, since I'm such a dork.

A great time was had by all the knitters, though. They were chatting with each other, comparing projects, passing around books and patterns, and exchanging their usernames on Ravelry. My wife's coworker sat with us, and we ran into one of the women from the Columbia Heights knitting circle (Saturdays 2-4:30 PM upstairs at Mayorga). It was pleasant for me, as well, because I was surrounded by friendly female knitters instead of obnoxious, drunk guys with their shirts off. We'll go again next year!