Centerfield

Rick, I Hope They Don't Teach This in Journalism School

You really have to wonder about either the competence or the agenda of a journalist when he writes something as bizaare as James Dao of the New York Times did in this article about the return of baseball to Washington. It's a pretty unremarkable article about how the politicians are lining up behind baseball (there's a new slant) until you get to the following bizaare statement:

Never mind that the National's hat features a lone "W" above the bill, an uncomfortable reminder to some people in this overwhelmingly Democratic city of their Republican president.

Huh? The last time I heard, the "W" stands for a former president, President Washington, after whom the city is named, not the incumbent, whose last name doesn't even begin with a W. (And, yes, I realize people often call him "W.") I have not heard anyone say they are distressed over "W" being on the hats. I would have to wonder about the sanity of anyone who did. Does that mean that people from Seattle are upset over having "S" on their team's hat because it might evoke Stalin? Or how about the New York Giants? Maybe people there are unhappy because the "N" might stand for Nixon. I guess this is Dao's idea of being clever, but this has got to be one of the dumbest lines I have ever seen in the New York Times.

And speaking of dumb, in a story last night about presidents throwing out the first ball in Washington, ESPN reported that, in 1961, President John F. Kennedy, Jr., threw out the first ball. Hmm, he must have been a very precocious youngster; maybe his father, President John F. Kennedy, was busy that day.