‘2010:117’
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’

With the Silver Line tracks growing longer every day, WMATA’s board is looking to refine the station naming policy that has given us such beauties as “Woodley Park-Zoo-Adams Morgan” and “New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet,” ahead of the new maps that will be necessary.  While renaming a station isn’t cheap (it’s said to be around $100,000 for all the new maps and signs), the Silver Line’s budget has new maps and signage already included, which gives the agency a chance to rethink the names of the 15 stations that violate the long-standing 19-character guideline for good station names.

The policy change also puts the onus of paying for any name change after this set on the person requesting the change.

‘waiting for Adam’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

I was reading Craig Calcaterra’s piece on each franchise’s most memorable home runs, and I felt a little disappointed as he blew right through the history of the Nats and the long ball:

Nationals

Whether you include the Expos or just go with the Nats, I’m struggling to think of a single truly memorable home run by this franchise. I looked up every memorable moment in each team’s history and none of them involved home runs.  I think Jonah Keri is gonna have to help me out here.

I can think of two that at least deserve mention, but would love to open this one up to the crowds. My two votes:

• Opening Night, 2008 – Ryan Zimmerman walks-off the Braves on the first night of the new Nationals Park on a Sunday night in front of a national audience.
• Father’s Day, 2006 – Zimmerman, again, leads the Nats over the Yankees in a final at-bat homer at RFK.

Any other votes?

‘Harmon Killebrew’
courtesy of ‘librarygrrrl’

The Lead Item: Yesterday, Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew lost his battle to cancer, passing away at age 74. This isn’t a stretch by any means to put into context for Washington baseball fans and history. As you can see above, Killebrew is topped by a Twins cap on his plaque up in Cooperstown, but he also is among the best to ever wear a jersey for the Washington Senators.

While spending much of the mid-50s going back and forth between Washington minor league affiliates, Killebrew made a more regular move to the Show in 1959, the penultimate season of the squad before it moved to Minneapolis. Mind you, Killebrew didn’t have a huge impact while the team was in Washington (in his two seasons playing full-time with the franchise before it packed up to go north, the Senators finished 8th and 5th in the 8-team AL), but at least we can tell the story that the legend of ‘The Killer’ Killebrew began here in DC. Sports Illustrated‘s Joe Posnaski passed on this story of the not-really-overnight, overnight success story of the youngster from Idaho: Continue reading →

‘Former Engine No. 12’
courtesy of ‘parkview dc’

If you follow the food scene as closely as so many do in this town, you’re probably well aware of the circumstances surrounding Firehouse 12.  The space on North Capitol and Quincy Place in Bloomingdale that was once the home of DC FEMS Engine 12 has been bought and is being developed into a restaurant named after the former occupants, Engine Company 12.

This past Friday, the General Manager Stephen May Jr. of Engine Company 12 wrote an open letter to lambast the local civic association for dragging its feet in supporting the restaurant publicly with a letter of support, which would help them through the process of obtaining an ABRA license that would allow them to serve alcoholic beverages. On Sunday, the Civic Association responded.  Late yesterday, Curbed published another response from Mr. May.

Continue reading →

Twitpic from Bud McDonald used with permission

Friend of WLDC, Ryan C., took advantage of the Nats’ $1 Monday promotion last night. $1 tickets, $1 hot dogs and other snack foods – and a response that caused the special-priced tickets for a Monday May game against the Pirates to disappear within minutes. Ryan was lucky enough to get seats, and he passed his thoughts on how things went in to us.

While it was a late arriving crowd on Monday evening for $1 night, the items were relatively easy to come by, despite my fears that the Nats would not plan for the influx of purchases and run out of hot dogs early. When I arrived at the ballpark around 6:15 pm I went to the food court area right by the centerfield gate. I went to a stand that sold hot dogs but was told that only “Nats Dogs” concession stands were selling hot dogs. I found the nearest “Nats Dogs” stand and waited in line for about five minutes where I was able to purchase four hot dogs for $1 each.

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‘Jiffy Lube Live!’
courtesy of ‘Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’

As first reported by InsideNova, Jiffy Lube Live (formerly Nissan Pavilion) in Bristow, Virginia, one of the area’s biggest concert venues, has moved to ban all forms of tailgating in their parking lots.
Continue reading →