:-|

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/04/stan_kasten_sings_a_hymn_to_ph.html

Go read that. Then the title of this blog post will make sense.

Basically, Nationals President Stan Kasten went on Philadelphia sports talk radio and wooed the hell out of Philadelphia fans, all but begging them to make the three hour trip down I-95 to root against the team he runs.

Here's a quick excerpt if you're lazy:

"Hey, you've got an opening day hat!" Kasten said, when asked about any giveaways on Monday. "It's a Nats hat, which is ok, but we do feature for sale many Philly hats in our store, so come on by."

Good gracious me on the tombstone of Walter Johnson, really? You're going to say that on Philadelphia airwaves? "We do feature for sale many Philly hats in our store?" That's not being tone-deaf, that's deliberately going out of your way to play everything in E-flat when you're living in a D-major city. I'm trying to think of a more blasphemous thing a D.C. sports executive could say. Yup, still trying.

That's not all of it. That's not even close. You really need to read Steinberg's post at the Bog.

I think Bog commenter JDB1 sums it up best:

wtf wtf wtf wtfw wtf wtf wtf wtfw wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtfw wtf wtf wtf wtfw wtf wtf wtf wtfw wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtfw

At best I carry a passive interest in the Nationals, but as a Caps fan who has endured a LOT of "fan takeovers" and, fresher in memory, an Orioles fan who has been verbally accosted by drunken moron Red Sox fans yelling about Fenway South, this has got to cut deep.

For non-Nats fans, let me try to make this relate:

Could you imagine if George McPhee went on ESPN Radio 1250 in Pittsburgh and said the Caps would be selling MALSBY jerseys at FanGear in Verizon Center?

Or if Andy MacPhail went on WEEI in Boston and said, "Yeah it's T-Shirt Tuesday so everyone'll get a bright orange shirt, but don't trip ... we's got mad pink hats in the Orioles Store, yo!"

Image from espn.go.com

(Don't ask why imaginary Radio MacPhail speaks in broken '70s jive.)

You get where I'm coming from. This. Is. IN. SANE.

Sure, Stan. You can secretly hope that the Phillie Phanatics show up in droves just to fill your coffers, but don't send them a "save the date," a written invite AND provide the goodie bags.

WTF, indeed.