Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to witness the Wizards handle the Lakers in La-La land tonight. Bummer. Combine my distaste for the Lake-show (mainly as a result of Kobe) along with bragging rights over an LA-bred co-worker, and I hate having to neglect my Wiz this evening.

Remember when the Lakers came to DC? It was the game where Caron Butler probably re-injured himself and ended his consecutive FTs made mark at 73. A truly tragic loss, 103-91, for which I stayed the entire time, and then was forced to watch a SuperBowl between two teams I genuinely dislike. Not the best DC sports Sunday.

Today, I believe, will provide some reconciliation for that February 3rd. And I have a higher mission than the Wizards-Lakers game at 9:30 tonight. I’ll be taking the trusty green line down several metro stops to check out the debut of the Washington Nationals new ball park, Nationals Park and the domestic debut of the 2008 Major League Baseball season on ESPN (8:05 pm).

I’m really looking forward to it. I’m not a sentimentalist, nor some type of baseball purist (basketball is obviously my main squeeze), but there is something about the crack of the bat and a sporting environment which is most conducive to a day of social interaction with family and friends…..awww, screw all that, I’m just ready for the cold weather to be put out to pasture.

And who knows, if the DC metro system doesn’t betray me, I just might be able to catch the end of a game where the Wizards will hopefully have the upper-hand over the Los Angeles Lakers.

I’ll have my own review of the Nats stadium (along with photos, etc.), but here are some good Nats-related posts you should check out if you so desire:

• Nationals Park: Tighter Rules, Friendlier Staff? [Raw Fisher] - interesting tactics by the Kasten and the Lerner family; I give it to them, RFK really improved last season after the Lerners took over.
• Capitol Punishment will be in attendance – check there for some good Nats info.
• Poe’s Epic Journey From Griffith to RFK to Nats Park [another Raw Fisher post] - great story about an old usher who has authoritatively seen and heard all there is about DC baseball.
• Last night’s cherry-breaking exhibition game against the Orioles seemed to go well. [Nationals Insider]
• Get out the way when the Meat Hooks are around. [great photos from Mr. Irrelevant]

Wizards Stuff

• Do you like long walks on the beach? So do Eddie Jordan and the Wizards.
• For awhile now, I’ve been saying good riddance to the basket-completion-challenged Jared Jeffries. Now, it looks like his defense is on the decline. [Epic Carnival]
• Is the beard lying? Looks like some people think that Drew Gooden has a better beard than DeShawn Stevenson.
• The Pradamaster covers Eddie Jordan’s constriction of his game rotation. – Me? I’d love to get Nick Young more time, but yea, it’s just not realistic at this point heading into the playoffs. Not too mention that he could be hitting a rookie slump soon. In any case, Nick needs to learn to be ready to produce off the bench at any time, in any situation. Somehow knocking on wood as I type this, but the next injury could be just around the corner.
• A case for D-Song to make the All-Fundamental team, if there were one. [Washington Post]

• Yet another Jekyll and Hyde performance. Yet another instance where smallball succeeds in spite of itself. Yet another game in which Darius Songaila saves the day. [Bullets Forever]

• If interior defense were bread, Sacramento would starve. [SacTown Royalty]
• My favorite Caron Butler dunk is still the one he threw down over Yao Ming last season because well, the guy is 7-7. Another was the one he pounded on Alonzo Mourning’s head in Miami last year and of course, who can forget the one he hammered on Andris Biedrins in a game against GS at the VC last season? But tonight, Butler literally changed a game with the dunk he jammed on Kevin “I look like a late 80′s hip-hop video extra” Martin in the third quarter with the Wiz trailing 75-71 with 2:58 to play. [Wizards Insider]
• “Caron did a great job finding me and all I had to do was to lay it in and then make free throws,” Songaila said. “The biggest thing for us was getting stops at the other end. Roger came in and we were down and made a couple of shots and from there, we stayed with it, got some stops on the other end and in the end we got the W.” [Washington Times]
• “We need Mikki in the game to win,” Artest said. “We’re not beating nobody without him, and he knows that.” [ target="_blank">SacBee.com] – Mikki Moore letting Ron Artest down, what a world.

• “It’s lack of leadership on the floor, that’s what it is,” Theus said. “When things start going south, you have to have someone on the team that steps up and grabs hold of the team and says, ‘Hey guys, this is what we’re going to do and this is how we’re going to get it done,’ outside of what we’re talking about as coaches.” Kevin Martin said he agreed “100 percent” that the team lacked leadership. [SacBee.com]

photo from flickr/kla4067