John and the Nats

Spring has sprung and among other things, the baseball season is upon us, and as most baseball fans know, the Washington Nationals opened the season this past Sunday in their brand new ball park. Two of my many favorite memories of JW deal with the Nationals.

First, it was one year ago tomorrow that John went to see a Nationals ball game at RFK stadium with Mike, Gina, Jes and Alex in order to celebrate Mike's birthday. JW, of course, was hurting and he showed it -- so much so that Mike told John that he looked bad and he should just go home and bag the game. JW would have nothing of it and -- despite the pain -- told Mike, "no, Bro, it's your birthday and we're going to celebrate it." That's simply the type of guy John was.

The other memory was when the Nationals first came to town several years ago (having moved from Montreal). John immediately went out and brought for himself a Nationals ball cap -- and made sure he got their home cap. As you can see in the accompanying picture, the Nats home cap is red with a big "W" on it. Washington being the political town it is, when I told John that supporters of our current President adopted the cap as a show of support for Bush and his policies (what it being red with a big "W") John was shocked that he unknowingly may have demonstrated such support. He immediately threw the hat in his closet and never wore it again. Instead, he went out a brought the Nats away cap, which of course, is blue (for the good guys).