Washington D.C. may not be the most congenial town when it comes to reaching across the political aisle, but when it comes to sports, it may be one of the friendliest.
After the Washington Nationals baseball franchise lost three straight games on their home turf last weekend to their opponents, the Houston Astros, there was none of the toxic name-calling that made headlines in the political rags—at least, according to one Texas fan who wanted to thank the city for its cordial hospitality.
When dejected ‘Nats’ fans opened the sports page in Monday’s Washington Post, a quarter page ad appeared with the heading: AN OPEN LETTER TO NATS FANS.
The anonymous buyer who purchased the ad described himself as ‘an appreciative Astros fan,’ and said their whole family of diehard Astros fans traveled to D.C. just to cheer on their Texas team in a World Series game—which would have been risky in some cities where nasty fans take their sports allegiances way too seriously (cough-cough… Philadelphia).
“Whether in restaurants, on the way to the game, or at our seats, Nats fans have been nothing but thoroughly friendly, engaging and welcoming,” the ad read.
Traveling around the nation’s capital in their navy blue and orange Astros colors, they experienced none of the vitriol they might have expected.
“There seems to be a true appreciation of what we have in common like passion for the sport… the fun of two great teams battling it out on the field, rather than a shallow focus on what differentiates us,” the ad read. “In a world where unfortunately the focus is quite often put on the latter, I have been truly struck by how well we have been treated.”
A proud D.C. sports fan Charlie Haworth of Falls Church, Virginia, shared the letter on Facebook, and referred to a pair of recent championship wins for the city—Washington Capitals (in hockey) and Mystics (in basketball)—saying, “We may not have as many championships as other places but we have respect. There was no looting, burning or anything negative in the celebrations of the past 2 professional teams championship wins.”
The anonymous salute to Nats fans in print closed by wishing them well ‘no matter how the World Series ends.’
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Tonight is game 7, and will decide the winner, after the Nats evened the score tallying three wins on the Astros home turf.
(Photo credits: Charlie Haworth via FB; Kevin Harber, CC license)
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