DC "Culottes" Party

I went to DC this weekend for another Deadspin baseball game meet-up. The plan was the same as the NY gathering I attended back in June: meet at a local bar in mid-afternoon, get acquainted over beers, then move on to the game (Nationals vs. Cardinals at RFK Stadium), and finish the evening at another bar. The first stop was the Pour House on Capitol Hill. We hung out there from about 3 PM to 6. There was only one other person I’d met in person before, but I got to know everyone else quickly. The bar ran a shuttle service to RFK Stadium, and the bus turned out to be an old yellow school bus. Riding in the back, I felt like I was back in high school, though I’d never been on the bus after having a few beers. By the time we got into the stadium, we’d missed out on the Thomas Jefferson bobble-head giveaway for that night. We all considered rolling some kids for their bobble-heads, but common sense prevailed. (I may look for one on eBay this week, though).

The game was a blowout: 12-1 in favor of the Nationals. We were sitting in the upper deck in dead center field, so we had a good view of the field. But it was HOT. Really hot. Disgustingly hot. It was the kind of heat that just settles in around you. You could see the haze in the stadium lights. There was no breeze up there despite the height, so we just suffered for about three hours. I had a few beers, some food, and lots of water, but it was uncomfortable the entire time. We made the best of it and had fun anyway. I felt bad for my friend Andrea; she flew halfway across the country to see the Cardinals and Albert Pujols. Not only did her team lose badly, for some reason Pujols wasn’t in the lineup. They could have used him.

After the game, we went back to Capitol Hill to The 18^th Amendment, another bar a few blocks from the first one. This bar had a basement that was blissfully air-conditioned. My friend Jon came over from Arlington to hang out with us. There was some debauchery, but I will not discuss that sort of thing in this forum. Around 1 AM we’d had enough, and we took a cab back to his apartment in Arlington, where I crashed on his couch for the night. It was another fun time with the Deadspin gang, and I’m thinking about going to another gathering this fall, possibly in Las Vegas. I haven’t treated myself to a vacation like that in a long time. I think I have an excuse to do it now.

Photos from last night are in the usual place: click on the Flickr gadget on the right.