Jimmy’s Blog

Wow, what a weekend in DC.   I attended both the Nationals – Orioles exhibition game on Saturday evening and the home opener last night against the Atlanta Braves in the brand, new Nationals Park.

The park is stunning.   As my brother, buddy and I walked in the park, the initial views took our breath away.  We came in through the center field entrance from the Green Line Metro stop (which is only a block or two away).   Seeing the lush, green grass in the outfield was amazing.  And, the wide concourses and the numerous eateries will surely make it a great fan experience.

Last night’s game was special … with the pre-game player intros … to the national anthem being sung by DC’s own opera diva, Denyce Graves … to the first-pitch being thrown out by President Bush … to Nick Johnson getting the first hit from a Nat player … to Zimmerman’s amazingly, clutch home run in the bottom of the ninth with the scored tied and two outs.  I had turned to my buddy, Ross, right before that and called a “home run” shot by Zimmerman to close out the win.   Ross, Kurt and I were jumping up down like three schoolkids as the Nats mobbed Zimmy at home plate.

Man, it’s great to have baseball back in DC.  And, it’s even better to have it in a brand, new gorgeous ballpark.

So, I haven’t written in a while but will now start to post regularly.

This was supposed to be a more quiet week since the class I teach at Georgetown Univ was on Easter Break this past Monday.   But, because I can’t say “no,” I ended up doing three guest lectures this past week at my alma mater, AU.   The classes were Sports Communication, Sports Marketing and Corporate Mergers.   So, although the classes didn’t end until 10:40 pm the past two nights, it was worth the time since I connected with the students and received a few wonderful emails.

I will try to relax more this weekend — by watching the NCAA’s as well as attending Opening Night at the brand, new Nationals Park.

I had an incredible 36 hours in Park City, Utah. We went there to support our good friend, Ted Leonsis, who was debuting his documentary, “Nanking” at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie was extremely powerful and moving. The movie is based on the Iris Chang best-seller, “The Rape of Nanking.”

The movie was very well-received by the audience. The director of the film festival said it might be the most important movie to come out of this year’s Sundance movies.

We then celebrated with Ted and his families. Numerous friends, business partners, actors from the film, etc were in attendance at receptions hosted by MovieFone and AOL.

All in all, we were all glad we were there to support our mentor and friend, Ted. It was truly a magical weekend.

So, it’s quite special living in the Washington, DC area as many people have to come to town to celebrate the Martin Luther King Holiday.  It’s great to read in the papers that more and more of our urban youth are learning about the importance and impact that Dr King had on society.  It’s a message that we can never forget.

This past weekend is also what many sports enthusiasts call us the best weekend of the year since there were 4 NFL play-off games played to determine next week’s Conference Championship finalists.  It was a pretty remarkable weekend with all four games being fairly close, especially the two nail-biters yesterday.

Of the remaining four teams, I’d like to see the Saints make it to the Super Bowl.  Why?  Because I think it’ll help generate more awareness about the devastated areas of New Orleans.  I went there last month and personally witnessed the Katrina-damaged areas of the 9th Ward and Lakefront areas.   It’s been 16 months and some of these areas are still completely in ruins.  This is important that Americans realize that we, as a country, should help rebuild this great southern city.