Hangin' with the Nats: A DCSportsChick/MissChatter Exclusive

Miss Chatter has already covered our experience in excruciating detail, so I won't go into everything. Just some thoughts (and photos, courtesy of MC):

- We owe it all to the wonderful gentlemen who got us in to the back room in the first place. Thank you, guys! We'll never forget you (indeed, we feel like we should recognize you from somewhere and are kicking ourselves for not doing so).
- I told Soriano how much I appreciated everything he's done for the team this season and thanked him for his efforts.
- Melvin Dorta, Austin Kearns, and Tony Beasley were really, really nice. They were the exceptions to most of the other guys, who had attitudes of "why are YOU talking to ME?" Then again, I was "that girl" so I guess I can't blame them.
- It was funny, because none of them expected anyone in there to know anything about them, certainly not two girls. All of my questions (indeed, all the questions I ever wanted answered) were usually met with surprised looks on their faces.
- Nick Johnson was surprised when I asked him about the sock-to-stirrup change. "People notice that?" he said. "Of COURSE they do, they notice everything!" I said. He replied that Fick dared him to do it, or something along those lines.
- Speaking of Fick, he is indeed the class clown. I was talking to Patterson and Fick introduced himself by some other name.
- I asked Patterson how he was doing- told him we missed him and couldn't wait to see him back next season. "Feeling good," he said.
- Tony Beasley was so charming, I just loved him. His fashion sense was great too.
- Austin Kearns was funny. He's my new favorite player. I asked him about his choice of at-bat music and he commented about how he's the only guy in the clubhouse who likes country. (Shocker.)
- There's other stories, but if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, right?

While it was amazing to have unrestricted access to the players, there was also a lot of surprises. I didn't expect Kearns and Dorta to be so nice (and patient). I also didn't expect some of the players to be jerks or have the IQ of a bowl of pudding. Yeah, I'm naive. As great as the experience was, it was quite disillusioning in a lot of ways. Would I do it again? Absolutely! Wouldn't trade it for the world. It was helpful to see that the players are real people too, even if they don't see it very often.

I feel partially responsible for Nick Johnson's broken leg, though; on Thursday I told him how great I thought he was and now he's done for a while. Poor guy! I swear I'm a jinx. Then again, I also talked to Zimmerman and Soriano for a second and they had a great game on Friday. Who knows?