Here's Looking At You, Northern Virginia

It’s on you, Northern Virginia, to make this thing right with D.C. area sports. You need to be the glue that holds this thing together. For too long, your importance to the culture of Washington-area sports has been neglected, and now, in the darkest hours for Diamond City athletics, you must rise up as one to rebuild a once-proud sports nation.

The heartbeat of NFL football in the mid-Atlantic, the soul of the Washington Wizards, the lifeline of the Washington Nationals, the fevered enthusiasm of D.C. United, it all emanates from Northern Virginia.

We who have grown up in the surrounding suburbs of the Maryland-side of the beltway have long envied your enthusiasm, your determination, your tawdry truck ornaments.

When Red Sox Nation runs amok in Nationals Stadium? Don’t look towards the District as the source of apathy. It’s full of black folks. The majority of us don’t even like baseball.

When the Wizards are in the doldrums and a fan in the upper mezzanine can hear a Buckhantz “How do ya like that” without the aid of an audio device? I’m not blaming the Wiz faithful in Prince George’s County. I’m blaming you.

When Washington football has sold you out on tailgating privileges, and you’re looking for a band of brothers to take up the mantle of public intoxication and mischief, your help cometh not from the sloping hills of Rockville and Gaithersburg.

It’s on you, Northern Virginia.

Yes, from the conservative rednecks of Leesburg and Chantilly to the loopy liberals of Arlington and Alexandria; it’s on all of you. Herndon, Reston and the rest of em’, it’s a state of emergency for the teams you adore. You are the heartbeat. The Metro has been your veins. You flow into the stadiums with the noble purpose of injecting life into lifeless franchises.

You’ve done it before. Where would the Washington Capitals be without you? What if you were too busy to rock the red? What if you didn’t invest as much hate into Sidney Crosby as Pittsburgh fans invested into Alex Ovechkin? Where would the franchise be without the energy of the great state of Virginia?

It starts now. The NBA Draft is tomorrow night, and even though the Wizards are sans first round pick, you can still hit up some downtown bar and scream for the next big move in Ernie Grunfeld’s master plan.

Training camp will soon be upon you, which means endless summer days of sweltering heat, unreasonable ticket and concession charges, and vague expectations out of Zorn and Company.

For the Nationals, its likely too late. But hey, someone has to catalog the series of epic failures.

NoVa, don’t let us down.