Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images

Wow. There wasn’t a whole lot of offense but there was a whole lot of drama as the Washington Nationals opened their new park by beating the Atlanta Braves 3-2. Ryan Zimmerman, he of the many game winning hits in his 2 seasons in baseball hit one for the ages. A walk-off, frozen rope, home run to left center field that started the season in style and opened the new Nationals stadium with a memory that none of the fans or players will ever forget.

After George Bush got more boos than cheers during the ceremonial first pitch and the Atlanta side was retired in order by opening day starter Odalis Perez, the game started off with a bang for the Nationals, getting two runs in the first inning against Braves starter Tim Hudson. Sadly, that was all the offense they could muster against the veteran as he retired 19 straight batters before being sent to the showers.

Cristian Guzman got the first hit in the park off a broken bat single and scored the first run off a Nick Johnson double. Johnson would later score off a Kearns single to right field. Larry “Chipper” Jones hit the first home run in Nationals Park getting the Braves to within 1 run in the fourth inning. A mishandled Jon Rauch pitch by Paul Loduca allowed the Braves to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the 9th, but a 2 out home run by Ryan Zimmerman against Peter Moylan allowed the Nats to take home their first win ever in Nationals Park.

(Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Overall, the Nationals pitched well, had more good defensive plays than bad and were a little overmatched at the plate against a crafty veteran pitcher. In the end, they won in very dramatic fashion but the real story of the game was that ballpark looked and played great. Hopefully Trapper John, who was at the game, will write up his game day experience in the blog, but watching it on TV, I have to say I cannot wait to see this place in person. I’m sure there will be plenty of stories today that will talk about the food lines, the high prices, the horrible traffic, the congestion at the metro stations, etc. but for now, lets just savor the Nats win and the opening of the new digs. Baseball season has started folks, and I, for one, cannot be happier.

Oh yea, Zimmerman is a God. Long live Zimmerman!

Mr. T can bring people out of comas. That is a fact. This isn’t some Chuck Norris thing, Mr. T actually brought a boy out of a coma. From Yahoo news:

[A] kid fell unconscious in Detroit, Michigan in the mid-1980s – and the only physical movement he made was in response to hearing Mr. T’s name. And when the mohawked star was in town, he stopped by the hospital to visit the ill boy – with miraculous results.

He tells Empire magazine, “His family put toys around him and one of them was a Mr. T doll. And whenever my name came up, the boy moved his arm.

“Somebody told the doctors I was in town, so they called me down there. I closed the curtains and prayed. Then, as I was walking down the hall, the kid suddenly came out of the coma and hollered out.

“That was my supernatural moment.”

Supernatural indeed, that is freaking crazy right there. Mr. T has Godlike powers that even he doesn’t understand, but he pities the fool that attempts to comprehend them. If Mr. T can wake people from a coma, who knows what else this man could do? Cure AIDS? Turn water to wine? Mr. T is not just a man, he is your new God. Bow before your new mohawked overlord.

Just like the Spurs, Davidson hates your freedom. They’d make one hell of a UN inspection team though.

Check us out! The US Dollar may be going in the toilet but American sports aren’t going out like that. They’ll take Europe one way or another. The NFL and NBA are planning to have more exhibition and regular season games in Europe in the near future.

The NFL has tossed out the possibility of having a regular season game in the UK as much as once a month during the season.

“The numbers were extraordinarily positive. We made the subsequent decision not just to return for this year but to return for the next three years,” NFL international operations manager Mark Waller said.

“This is me speaking at the moment but I can see no reason why one day you wouldn’t be able to buy, say, a game season ticket for four games that come into the U.K., say once a month.

“There is no reason you couldn’t have a game in the U.K. at a venue every month and that would enable you to have a mini-season.”

… “The biggest and, I think, the only resistance that we have to deal with is we play very few games. Therefore at the moment without extending the season the only way we can play games internationally is if we don’t play them in the U.S,” he said.

Lean back. Genius at work.

Waller says he’s speaking for himself but this has to be a thought in the league offices especially with the larger crowds and exchange rates. Teams may bitch and moan but if the Dolphins and Giants can sell, anything can and the NFL will do anything for a profit.

Not wanting to be left off the European gravy train, the NBA is increasing the number of games played in Europe. The Wizards, Hawks, Heat and Hornets will all play exhibition games this fall in London, Berlin, Barcelona and Paris. There’s not much to be said for quality but maybe they figure no one will know Shaq’s not on Heat and Jon Koncak isn’t on the Hawks anymore before they buy their tickets.

NBA Commish David Stern admits it’s about the money and fall of the dollar. Straight cash homey.

“Playing ‘friendlies’ is a historically known format outside the US. It puts less stress on us economically. Fans get to know us,” Stern said.

“Now that we have arenas like the (ones in London and Berlin), we have the economic base to support regular season games. With the changes in the economic environment, particularly the dollar to the European currency, we might have the support for regular season games. But we’re happy with the friendlies.”

Fans will love getting to know the New Jersey Nets. Maybe they can send the Clippers, Grizzle and Washington Generals before the 2009 season. That’ll really make the European fans beg for more.

A new law in Illinois forces “deadbeat dads” to pay their child support or else they cannot buy new hunting or fishing licenses. Apparently you just dont mess with a man’s hunting license. One man paid $14,000 to his baby mama just so he didn’t have to give up his favorite sport…thus making his hunting and fishing license the most expensive ever. The state so far has collected over $100,000 in child support payments through this program which really seems to work despite the deadbeat dads really not liking this turn of events:

[One deadbeat dad] isn’t happy about the turn of events, claiming the way the state works now, they’re in control of way too many things.

This is a pretty smart way to get those jackasses to pay what they should’ve been paying in the first place. If a guy is intent on not paying his child support he can get away with it pretty easy, might as well go after him where it really hurts. I wonder what else this can be extended to?

From Pantagraph.com