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% 74368 *36 ):)6= 7)%732 For decades, the Washington sports scene meant cheering on the District’s burgundy-and-gold titans, often with disappointing results. With the arrival of countless headline-making stars and far more Ws across the Washington books, the seasonal constraints on sports are fading into year-round optimism.
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B Y L A U R A WA I N M A N
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hen reporter Juan Williams first arrived in Washington in 1976 as a wide-eyed intern for the Washington Post, he was a die-hard New York fan with a particular affinity for the Knicks. As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, some of his earliest memories included walking through the snow with his brother to pick up dinner for the family, all huddled together listening to Giants games on the radio. He was a New Yorker through and through, but a pure love of the game ran deep in his blood. Later, when he was offered tickets to the Washington Bullets, now the Wizards, as part of the Post’s employee incentive program, he had no qualms about accepting. After all, basketball was basketball. Within two years, the Bullets would become champions after defeating the Seattle SuperSonics to bring a professional sports championship back to Washington for the first time since 1942. “Watching the Bullets win that championship is burned into my memory,” Williams says. “I was instantly converted into a lifelong fan.” Thirty-five years later, if you try to make plans with Williams on a night when the Wizards are in town he will politely tell you he has an unbreakable date with his wife.The Fox News political analyst has been a season ticket holder since 1987 and an avid fan since that first and only NBA Championship in franchise history;Williams and his wife have used Washington basketball games as their date night ever since. “We don’t miss these games, because they are more than an athletic outing, they are our nights together and they have added significant value to our 35-year marriage,”Williams says. In 1978, Williams a New York-turned-Washington fan, was the exception; Washington was, and still is, a town of transplants with very few people who view themselves as Washingtonians. Inevitably, it led to a sports culture where the visiting team was better represented by fans than the home team, as the locals held fiercely to their hometown loyalties.Williams remembers the days when the best advertising strategy for the Wizards, Nationals or Capitals was to promote the visiting team with the expectation of drawing Celtics, Phillies or Rangers fans who lived in the District but had left their hearts — and sports allegiances — in the Big Apple, Philly or Bean Town. Thanks to an in influx of big-name players, teams trending toward winning seasons and accessible stadiums, Washington sports across the board are in the middle of a major boom. Though the Redskins have always reigned supreme, with 45 consecutive home sell-out seasons, their counterparts on the ice, diamond and courts are catching up. From the record attendance numbers to the emergence of a plethora of sports talk radio stations, Washington is becoming a true sports town — not just a football town — that can compete with the big boys. “D.C. is a town full of transplants from all over the country and even the world, [but] the sports teams bring us together,” NBC News correspondent Luke Russert says. “It’s great going to a Nats game and cheering next to a family of four where the dad is from Colorado, the mom from Michigan, who met in D.C., and they’re all there with red curly W hats on.”
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Bryce Harper (Larry Goren/Four Seam Images via AP Images)
Robert Griffin III (AP Photo/Aaron M. Sprecher)
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Martina Hingis (Fred Mullane of Camerawork USA)
Stephen Strasburg (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
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>>HEADLINING REAL ESTATE Washington may not have 100 years of tradition on its side like Boston and New York when it comes to generating fan loyalty, but it has learned several lessons from studying sports power houses, the first being that the fastest way to fill seats is to recruit buzz-worthy players.The nation’s capital lives and breathes the news while staying current on every political happening of the moment, and if you give the city a player whose name gets splashed across the headlines every morning, fans do take notice. In the last five years, the Redskins, Nationals and Wizards have had opportunities to select the first or second pick of their respective drafts, leading to such crucial roster gains as Heisman winner Robert Griffin III (“RGIII”), star pitcher Stephen Strasburg, superstar teen Bryce Harper and SEC player of the year John Wall.The Capitals also picked up three-time Hart MVP trophy winner Alexander Ovechkin as the first overall draft pick in 2004.The Kastles, newcomers to the Washington sports scene, followed suit by packing their roster with studs from their inaugural season, signing tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams, Martina Hingis and Leander Paes. Top draft picks and star quality players routinely draw national attention, and find themselves as the center of discussion well beyond their local papers. Harper was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in June 2009, at the ripe age of 16, a full year before he was chosen in the first round by the Nationals and declared by veteran Sports Illustrated reporter Tom Verducci to be “the most exciting prodigy since LeBron.” His mug was spotted on newsstands again this February as Sports Illustrated featured the now 20-year-old as their cover story for the second time, with Verducci forecasting the possibility of an MVP award for Harper. Teammate Strasburg joined him in the two-time Sports Illustrated cover club; first in June 2010 after only his second major league start with Albert Chen declaring him a “National Treasure” and again this March accompanying a bold cover proclamation that “the Nationals will break through and win the World Series.” ESPN called him the “most-hyped pick in draft history.” RGIII snagged serious SI real estate himself, with a cover appearance in April 2012 discussing his impending draft status and again in September to commemorate his record-breaking NFL debut. Sisters Serena and Venus Williams have been featured a combined four times- Serena most recently in 2010. Washington professional players have graced the cover of Sports Illustrated (SI) nine times in the last five years, including former Wizards center Jason Collins’ (May 2013) after becoming the first active male athlete in professional sports to come out as openly gay, and former Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell (August 2009). Prior to that, the magazine had not featured a Redskins, Nationals, Capitals or Wizards player since 1992 — with the exception of Michael Jordan’s four covers during his time with the Wizards. Although the Caps have yet to be featured there, star players Alexander Ovechkin, Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom have been mentioned in more than 60 SI articles since 2005. “The way you get invested in a team is by following them in the paper, tracking their successes every morning over your coffee,”Williams says. “After being in Washington for more than 30 years, the teams I am
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reading about are no longer the Knicks,Yankees or Giants, but the Wizards, Nats and ’Skins.” Williams is not alone in wanting to get behind the boys in the headlines, as the Capitals just finished their fourth consecutive year of selling out every home game, setting a club record of 181 consecutive sellouts (including playoffs) dating back to the 2008-09 season, with an average attendance of 98.8 percent capacity over the last five years. The Redskins concluded their 2012 season with a playoff loss to Seattle in front of an 84,435-person crowd, largest to see a Redskins postseason home game in team history, and extending their consecutive home sellout streak to an NFL-high 377 games. The Kastles have averaged 92 to 94 percent capacity, attracting between 16,500 and 17,000 fans per season.The Nationals have yet to break into the 90 percent capacity attendance bracket but have been significantly on the rise, including a leap from 54.2 percent in 2009 to 72.3 percent in 2012, and 81.7 percent at this point in the 2013 season.They are ranked sixth of the 30 teams in terms of average capacity attendance. The Wizards are still building up their following, but have hovered around 82 percent capacity attendance in the last five years, with their highest averages since Jordan’s days coinciding with John Wall’s arrival in Washington. “I’ve been a season ticket holder to the Wizards since I moved from U. Penn seven years ago, so I had a pretty immediate relationship with the team, but RGIII got me to buy season tickets to the Redskins,” Georgetown University sociology professor Michael Dyson says. “John Wall’s comeback this year and RGIII’s debut are the favorite Washington sports memories of my time here.” Many of Washington’s celebs have been converted to Washington fans based on their interaction with the players. Mike Isabella — a former “Top Chef ” contestant, the man behind D.C. hot spots Graffiato and Bandolero and a New Jersey native — places RGIII just behind President Barack Obama on his list of Washingtonians he wants to cook for and considers himself “100 percent a Washington fan” after nearly seven years here. He admits the Yankees hold a place in his heart but actively roots for the Caps over the Rangers and the Redskins over the Giants,. He attends Nation-
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the washington kastles
The Washington Kastles (Photo by Vithaya Phongsavan)
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espite the increased fan support and sports buzz permeating throughout town, Washington has not enjoyed a national championship win in the four major franchises since the Redskins’ 1991 Super Bowl victory. If you stroll down to the Waterfront one July night you may just catch a whiff of Washington’s winningest team: the Washington Kastles. Established in 2008 as part of the Mylan World Team Tennis (WTT) professional league, the Kastles have won 32 straight games heading into their 2013 season, including two consecutive undefeated seasons in 2011 and 2012. Their July 8 season opener will give them a chance to make history as they strive to tie the LA Lakers for the longest winning streak in U.S. pro sports history. “Two perfect seasons — I don’t think you can really get your hands around how amazing that is. That is remarkable and the start of a dynasty,” says Greg O’Dell, CEO of Events DC. The secrets to the Kastles’ success, which includes three WTT Championships in their five seasons, are star-studded rosters and superior coaching. Tennis legend Serena Williams, who has been ranked as World No. 1 in singles six times in her career, was with the Kastles for their inaugural season and for two championship seasons in 2009 and 2011. She was replaced in 2010 by her sister Venus Williams, who ranked World No. 1 on three occasions and helped lead the Kastles to their 2011 and 2012 championship perfect seasons. Venus returns to the 2013 roster along with Leander Paes, Bobby Reynolds, Anastasia Rodionova, Kevin Anderson and Kastles newcomer Martina Hingis. Combined, the 2013 Kastles players have won 50 Grand Slam championships. “On paper, this is the best team the Kastles have ever assembled,” Coach Murphy Jensen says. “I also see it as the best team ever put together in WTT.” Hingis, the youngest-ever World No. 1 and the reigning WTT female MVP, comes to the Kastles from the New York Sportimes, where she posted a combined 20-4 singles record and defeated 12 current Top 200 players including Serena Williams during a match against the Kastles in 2011. “Martina will bring variety and an all-court game that drives her competition nuts,” Jensen predicts. “She moves on the court in much the same way that Gretzky skates on the ice — effortlessly.” While Hingis says she is excited to join the team due to the legacy the team and owner are building, she notes that she is also looking forward to Washington’s “fantastic fan base.” And Hingis is not the first to appreciate the diverse fans who loyally support the newcomers of the Washington sports scene. “When you come to a Kastles match, you see variety in the seats, and this is a way of bringing people of seemingly different and varied backgrounds together around a common cause … watching great tennis and rooting for our team,” says Mayor Vincent Gray.
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Did you know that...
President Taft’s autographed first pitch ball from 1910 (AP Photo/Robert Clover) The ceremonial first pitch originated in Washington when President Taft threw out the first pitch at the Senators’ opening day game in 1910 at Griffith Stadium. The Washington Redskins franchise played their home games at Fenway Park as the Boston Redskins from 1933 until they relocated to Washington in 1937, sharing Griffith Stadium with the Washington Senators.
Michael Jordan (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Michael Jordan came out of retirement in September 2001 to proudly don a Washington Wizards jersey for two seasons, leading the team to an 18-win improvement in 2001-2002 from the 2000-2001 season.
Venus Williams (AP Photo/Nick Wass) Tennis great Venus Williams has been a member of the Washington Kastles since 2010 and helped lead her team to two World Team Tennis (WTT) championships. The longest home run in history was knocked out of Griffith Stadium by Yankees’ slugger Micky Mantle.
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als games whenever he can. “Some of the Caps guys will come over to Graffiato after games, and we’ll have a drink together,” Isabella says. “I’ve thrown out a first pitch at Nationals Park and met some of the athletes. I’m connected to the people here, and these are my teams.” Isabella loves seeing the young talent of Washington teams, from 20-year-old Harper to 23-year-old RGIII and 27-year-old Ovechkin. Working with kids just out of culinary school is one of his favorite aspects of his job due to the sheer energy, talent and passion they exude, and he sees the same assets in young Washington athletes. “In some cities you get the feeling that you are far removed from the players and their lives, but here you feel intimately connected with them, especially when you see guys like Pierre Garcon or RGIII out at other games around town,” Dyson says. >>MORE WS PLEASE There are few things that Washingtonians love more than the pursuit of power, and in sports power is derived from a legacy of championships. Simply put, Americans love winning; they rarely enjoy following a losing team. “I’m drawn to the finality [of sports],” Russert says. “There’s a winner and a loser and how that point is reached is played out in front of you, usually over the course of a few hours. In those few hours there’s strategy, the unforeseen, true grit — much like life.” The Redskins have become a bit of an anomaly as their incredibly loyal fans have put up with decades of blunders and still appear en masse to pack FedExField. “When the Redskins’ sellout streak began, they weren’t a good team,” says Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen, son of Hall of Fame coach George Allen. “Whereas a poor sports team in Boston or New York wouldn’t have fans in the seats, let alone a sellout season, our fans were just as diehard in 2011 when we were in last place as they were this year when we clinched the NFC East Division title.” Attendance numbers generally rise as the Ws increase and repeat wins foster a culture of excitement. With the Kastles on an impressive 32-game winning streak, the Capitals making
the playoffs every season since 2008-09, the Redskins snagging their first NFC East Championship since 1999 last season and the 2012 Nationals becoming the first Washington-based baseball team to appear in post-season play in 79 years, fans have more reasons than ever to invest time in their home teams. “The Caps have been knocking on the door of a championship for a while now and they will knock it down in the next few years,” Allen says. “The Nats drew national attention last year with the late season surge and playoff run and the Wizards played well at the end of their season — they’ll be in the hunt next year.With the winning teams developing here,Washington has no doubt become a sports town.” The possibility of a championship, even one that isn’t imminently on the horizon, can keep some fans coming back season after season. Though the Caps, Nats and Redskins have all made playoff runs of late, the unofficial Washington sports motto has long been “there’s always next year.” “I have a lifetime of memories at Washington games, that are intertwined,” says former Northern Virginia congressman Tom Davis, a loyal Washington patron since 1956, “but I want to see World Series and Stanley Cup victories. That’s what I’m living for now.” >>ON THE LINE In a city with nearly 40 percent of workers age 16 and over commuting to work via public transportation, Metro access to entertainment venues and central city placement, are critical. Until 1997, the only Washington teams located within city limits were the Redskins and the D.C. United soccer team, both of which played home games at RFK Stadium. The Wizards (then still the Bullets) and the Capitals shared the suburban Capital Centre in Landover, Md. until both teams moved to the Verizon Center (formerly the MCI Center) located downtown by the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro. Though Capital Centre was walking distance from the Largo Metro stop, it was a considerable hike out to the last stop on the blue line — 13 stops removed from Metro Center. “The downtown location allows gamegoers to enjoy dinner and drinks before the
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Alexander Ovechkin (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)
game for a full night out in the city experience, even if they are coming from Maryland or Virginia,” Williams says. This reporter happened to be riding Metro home after a Nationals game on the same April night that the Capitals clinched the Southeast Division title and couldn’t believe how similar the experience was to riding “The T” after a Red Sox game. Exuberant fans packed themselves into the Chinatown station and couldn’t have cared less that they would be waiting 30 minutes for a train. Victory chants began pulsing through the cars as Nats and Caps fans joined together to rock the red, whether of the “curly w” or starred variety. Longtime Washington Post columnist George Will penned a tear-inducing tribute column last year on the 40th birthday of his son, who happens to have Downs Syndrome, while praising both Metro and the Nats. “Two things that have enhanced Jon’s life are the Washington subway system, which opened in 1976, and the Washington Nationals baseball team, which arrived in 2005. He navigates the subway expertly, riding it to the Nationals ballpark, where he enters the clubhouse a few hours before game time and does a chore or two.” Will’s May 2012 column reiterates the fact that without Metro accessibility to the Verizon Center, Nationals Park and Kastles Stadium at The Wharf (walking distance from both L’Enfant and Waterfront), many Washingtonians would be excluded from the game-going experience, — including his son who now can spend
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take me out to the ball game
Rep. David McKinley, Rep. Diana DeGette and Rep. Jeff Denham (photo by Leisa Forbes) t a time in history when compromise seems to be the dirtiest of dirty words for politicians, getting 30 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle together for anything is a monumental feat. But what better time to set aside politics than during an outing to America’s (original) favorite pastime: a night at the ball park. On June 5, about 30 members and 400 or so congressional staffers gathered at Nationals Stadium for a “Bipartisan Baseball” game. Brought together by Republican David McKinley and Democrat Diana DeGette, who have become friends during their time together on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the group set aside work for an evening of camaraderie and patriotism, as they stood in unison to applaud the wounded warriors in attendance that evening, and old-fashioned American fun.
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charter franchises, establishing their current name in 1908 and playing at Fenway since 1912. The Rangers began play in the 192627 season, and became the first NHL franchise to win the Stanley Cup in their second season. The Boston Celtics, along with the New York Knicks, are among the inaugural members of the NBA, and Boston still holds the record for franchise championships with 17 wins, with 11 from the 1957 to 1969 years of Boston domination. Outside of the Redskins, who celebrated their 75th year in Washington last season, Washington teams arrived late at the party. Basketball came to the DMV in 1973, hockey in 1974 and the
“D.C. IS
A TOWN FULL OF TRANSPLANTS
FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY AND EVEN THE WORLD, [BUT] THE SPORTS TEAMS BRING US TOGETHER.” - LUKE RUSSERT
John Wall (AP Photo/Richard Lipski)
“81 spring, summer and autumn [nights] ... [as] just another man, beer in hand, among equals in the republic of baseball.” Again, the Redskins are an exception to the rules of Washington sports. Their fans have proven they will battle any travel difficulties to cheer on their beloved burgundy-and-gold heroes. In the same year that the Caps and Wizards chose to move their stadiums from the Maryland suburbs to the downtown Verizon Center, the Skins exited the city. Their 1997 move from RFK Stadium in the District to FedExField in Landover increased Redskins attendance capacity by more than 40 percent, and the club has sold out all 159 preseason, regular and post-season contests held at FedExField since the move. While fans continue to complain about the headache of traveling to FedEx, they routinely show up in record numbers knowing full well what traffic nightmares await them upon departure. “For years the Redskins reigned supreme in Washington and the other teams were all a distant third; there was no second,” Williams says. “Now we are seeing very passionate fans, particularly for the Nats and Caps, and their locations have been a huge part of that.” >>WHAT LIES AHEAD The biggest strike against Washington becoming a dominant sports town like Boston or New York in the immediate future is an unchangeable factor: time. What sports-crazed cities like Boston and New York have over Washington is the enduring legacy of their teams. The Red Sox were one of the American League’s eight
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Nationals (in current form) in 2005. Is this to say that Washington can never catch up to championship-laden cities that had quite the head start? Absolutely not, but the journey may be longer and the ride bumpier. It will take generations of families raising their kids on Washington sports from childhood as Fox News host Bret Baier has done. “I want my boys to grow up supporting the local teams, because that is an important part of being an active member of your community,” Baier says. “And if I want to instill the fandom in them, they need to see me rooting for the home teams, which is why my loyalty to Atlanta and New York teams has faded over the years. I am raising the next generation of Washington fans and judging by the jerseys hanging in their closets, the future is bright.” It will take hot dog-filled summers spent at Nats Park with the kids, and winters at Verizon Center “rocking the red.” Russert, who was raised in Washington, is a perfect example of the next generation of influencers supporting the local teams, as he is currently a season ticket holder to both the Nats and Wizards. “When you say Boston, people think Red Sox, when you say New York, people think Yankees and when you say D.C., people think the U.S. Capitol,” Russert says. “I do believe, however, with more success we can instill a deep love of D.C. sports in the next generation of fans, so maybe someday when I have kids they’ll grow up in a city where Nats Park is filled every night and the Verizon Center shakes as loud as RFK used to in the 1990s.” Most importantly, it will take a healthy dose of faith, patience and love as our teams continue to carve out their places on the national landscape. Even if results aren’t seen right away, the knowledge that the foundations have been laid will be enough to push through to the next season, a skill Redskins fans have spent decades perfecting. And remember, Washingtonians, RGIII’s come to those who wait.
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special report
From the Sidelines Forty years covering Washington’s sports scene left Len Shapiro with more stories than he could ever dream of sharing in print. Now, after four years of retirement, Shapiro reflects on the evolution of local sports and his predictions for the franchises’ future. BY LEONARD SHAPIRO
Len Shapiro (photo by Vicky Moon)
Oh, what a time to be hired as a young sportswriter at the Washington Post; that magical year in 1969 when Hall of Famer Ted Williams became the manager of the old Washington Senators, when mythical Vince Lombardi stunned the NFL by leaving Green Bay to coach the Washington Redskins, when flamboyant foot-stomper Lefty Driesell showed up in College Park and proclaimed he was about to turn Maryland’s basketball program into “the UCLA of the East.” Sadly, within a year, Lombardi would die from colon cancer after only one season on the Redskins sidelines. Within two years, the Senators (and Williams) would move from the Nation’s Capital to Texas. And despite attracting some of the nation’s finest high school prospects over the years, Driesell never could win a national title before losing his job in 1986 in the wake of the drug overdose death of Len Bias. Along those same topsy-turvy lines, over the last five decades, the Washington sports scene I frequently covered was filled with all manner of ecstasy and agony, not to mention some intriguing shifts in attitudes toward our favorite teams and athletes. Still, make no mistake, despite the frequent reign of error under the direction of often impetuous team owner Daniel Snyder, the Redskins remain by far the most popular team in town. And quarterback Robert Griffin III already may well have exceeded the exalted status once bestowed on the likes of Hall of Famers Slingin’ Sammy Baugh and Sonny Jurgensen. The Redskins have always ruled, selling out every game since the mid-1960s and winning three Super Bowls in a glorious 12year reign under Joe Gibbs, The First. But now, at least there is some competition for our attention. Though they break our collective hearts with an almost annual playoff swoon, the Washington Capitals continue to fill their build-
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ing and draw impressive television ratings despite never having won a Stanley Cup. And the 2012 Washington Nationals clearly captured the town’s collective imagination a year ago with a late season surge and thrilling playoff series ended by the ignominy of botching a six-run lead in a decisive final playoff game. They’re off to a slow, semi-mediocre start this year, but baseball is finally back, with a whole new generation of fans whose parents and grandparents had to get their hardball fix from Baltimore. There have been other delightful developments. D.C. United has been a dominant soccer team at times, just not this time in 2013. Some of us still have our memories of those Wes Unseld/ Elvin Hayes/Bobby Dandridge 1978 Bullets, the only time a Washington team ever won the NBA championship. The Wizards haven’t contended for anything in years, and that may not change for many more. It took a Maryland graduate, Gary Williams, to finally erase the stigma of the Driesell downfall by coaching his Terrapin team to the NCAA national basketball title in 2002. And it took a big man on campus, native Washingtonian John Thompson at Georgetown, to provide another national championship in 1984, with many years of top ten and twenty appearances in the national rankings. Does the Nation’s Capital have a chance to become a Titletown, USA of multiple yearly champions any time soon? Probably not. But with the likes of young stars like RGIII and Alfred Morris on the Redskins, Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg with the Nationals and Alex Ovechkin with the Capitals, at least we should have a grand time watching them try. Leonard Shapiro retired from the Washington Post in 2009 after 40 years as a reporter, editor and columnist on the paper’s sports staff.
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