Washington Nationals: A personal year of lessons learned

It’s been one year since the author joined this site. He thought you might be interested in what the Washington Nationals and you taught him.

Thursday marked my first anniversary as a co-site expert for this site and the Washington Nationals.

Although we try to not interject ourselves in to what you read here, aside from wanting to thank you our readers for our tremendous growth, I thought this would be a good time to tell you five things I’ve learned since coming on board. (Not writing long sentences isn’t on the list.)

To watch and cover the Nats daily is fun. You the reader, twitter follower or DoDCast watcher make this a joy. Without you, there would be no us.

With Washington on the verge of back-to-back playoff appearances and another possible Cy Young Award from Max Scherzer, there has never been a better time to follow the team. A season and change into this, I can safely say this is one of the closest-knit teams I have ever seen.

This is the golden age of Washington Nationals baseball. The Senators never held this level of success. Montreal only made one postseason and cheated out of another. Four playoffs in six years up there would a bitter disappointment for the Habs. No one ever though the Expos were capable.

The fall I turned 10 was 1981. The thought of Montreal beating the New York Yankees in the World Series warmed this Boston Red Sox fans’ heart. Although Rick Monday broke Quebec’s, the Yankees still lost. I was happy.

That 10-year-old boy in Vermont would be saddened the Expos failed and thrilled Washington became a baseball town again. If he knew then he would play a small role in covering those old Expos or your Nats, he’d be tickled pink.

At 45, having the inner little boy come out and play is wonderful. Thanks for letting it happen. Pardon the self-indulgence and here are five things the Nats, and you, taught me in the last year.