2012 Nationals Soliloquy

This was a fun ride.

I knew before the season, I wanted to return as a Nationals season ticket holder after attending some games the year before when I saw the Nats transition from doormat to respectability. This year was the question if the Nats could contend not only getting over .500, but for the wild card since the playoffs expanded to 5 teams.

During spring training (where I went to Viera, FL for the first time) and throughout the regular season, this was a different squad that I saw from the seven incarnations of the Nats. This team felt ready to take it to the next level. I thought the next level would be a winning season. The Nats next level went above expectations: an NL East crown and best record in baseball.

During that journey, the team was consistently winning each month, the crowds grew bigger (on and off, of course), and old and new friends forged. DC started to become a sports town when they have their summer sport. Baseball became popular when the Nats were winning. Everyone wants their piece of the pie. I will remember July 3rd when the Nats setup the “Ignite Your Natitude” Tweetup. That was probably the most fun I had in baseball:

• Running down to see Nats players (literally) from Strasburg, Stammen, Clippard, Jackson, and Storen.
• Meeting with other Nats fans on Twitter in real life.
• Mocking Angel Pagan at section 143.
• Fireworks.
• Finally, a Nats blowout (won 9-3 over the Giants)

The 2012 season was to cherish and will never forget…

Which leads me to now.

Most in D.C. became a Nats fan because they were winning and wanted to be part of it. Some followed the sport, some wanted to join in on the fun, and some  don’t care but want to follow what’s trendy. They wanted to be part of a “magical” season that suppose to happen to the best team in baseball by record. I was just happy the Nats made the playoffs and knew the playoffs are a crapshoot and there are no guarantees.

What people have learned today is the baseball gods control destiny. The baseball gods will toy with us with relief, frustration, jubilation and mystery. The final part depends on where the wind is blowing. We originally thought it would side with the Nats with the 6-run lead, but baseball has a funny way to remember history. Do you remember July 20 when the Nats blew a 9-run lead and lost in the 10th inning against the Braves? Do you remember the September 1 against the Cardinals where the Nats blew a 4-run lead? Why do you think I tweeted “IT IS NOT OVER” over and over?

Most of the fan base (and nationally) will blame Drew Storen for not shutting the door; blame the offense for not scoring a bunch more runs after the 3rd inning; blame Davey Johnson of relying too much on certain people and things; and/or blame Mike Rizzo for shutting Strasburg early.

I look at this poetically: the Nationals were not ready to handle the baseball gods. The offense relied on the regular season success to carry-over and it bit them. The fans became overconfident (myself included). The whole pitching staff (starters and bullpen) became tired, not Rizzo withholding Strasburg and that’s when the baseball gods feast on them. St. Louis won because they know what to expect from these battles. The baseball gods respect what they have done before and got rewarded. The message the Nats and their fans got from the baseball gods is this what pain feels like; how are we going to handle it?

We never had an immediate answer and thus, the season has ended for the Nats in the most cruelest of fashions, but maybe that is a sign that the Nats need to be tougher and play differently. I know the Nats will comeback next year, but what team should we expect? This as far as we know: this will be a different team next year in every which way.

As we say goodbye this season, it is also goodbye to a few things:

• Goodbye to Bo Porter. Good luck with the Astros.
• Goodbye to the players, coaches, and front office: rest up. You deserve a vacation.
• Goodbye to all the Strasburg talk (well, here locally).
• Goodbye to my friends who I met at Nats Park and on Twitter. We’re going to meet again, but won’t be the same in a wonderful setting. Hopefully there’s a NatsFest in January.
• Goodbye to fantasy and welcome back to the real world, where I want to return to a corporate setting.
• Finally, a special goodbye to Cheryl and Dave Nichols, who will be moving to Idaho next month to startup their photography business. If it wasn’t for them, NatsJobs wouldn’t have been created.

I’m going to summarize with the popular poem “A Ballad of Baseball Burdens” by Franklin Pierce Adams (with some changes) that sums up what we’re feeling:

The burden of hard hitting. Slug away
Like Ryan Zimmerman or like Bryce Harper.
Else fandom shouteth: “Who said you could play?
Back to the jasper league, you minor slob!”
Swat, hit, connect, line out, get on the job.
Else you shall feel the brunt of fandom’s ire
Biff, bang it, clout it, hit it on the knob—
This is the end of every fan’s desire.

The burden of good pitching. Curved or straight.
Or in or out, or haply up or down,
To puzzle him that standeth by the plate,
To lessen, so to speak, his bat-renoun:
Like Stephen Strasburg or Gio Gonzalez,
So pitch that every man can but admire
And offer you the freedom of the town—
This is the end of every fan’s desire.

The burden of loud cheering. O the sounds!
The tumult and the shouting from the throats
Of forty-five thousand at Nationals Park
Sitting, ay, standing sans their hats and coats.
A mighty cheer that possibly denotes
That Nat or anyone fat is in the fire;
Or, as H. James would say, We’ve got their goats—
This is the end of every fan’s desire.

The burden of a pennant. O the hope,
The tenuous hope, the hope that’s half a fear,
The lengthy season and the boundless dope,
And the bromidic; “Wait until next year.”
O dread disgrace of trailing in the rear,
O Piece of Bunting, flying high and higher
That next October it shall flutter here:
This is the end of every fan’s desire.

ENVOY

Ah, Fans, let not the Quarry but the Chase
Be that to which most fondly we aspire!
For us not Stake, but Game; not Goal, but Race—
THIS is the end of every fan’s desire.

We had our sadness, anger, disbelief, and now it’s time for reflection. The baseball gods are telling the Nats to improve as players, as a team, as fans, and more importantly, as a whole community this offseason. It is the only way to appease the baseball gods to get something we want: a World Series championship.

NatsJobs 2012

This has been a very busy few months for me as I have been focusing and promoting a lot lately: NatsJobs.

If you have been running away from me the past few months, NatsJobs is an interactive job board where any business can post jobs during Washington Nationals games. Last year, it was a social media experiment that I was playing with and ended up as a potential cash cow for my company, Tran Recruiting. I mentioned last year that NatsJobs will be bigger, bolder, and better (somewhat in that order). I didn’t lie.

For the upcoming 2012 season, we are covering the bases. NatsJobs now has:

- A Homepage: http://NatsJobs.net
- A Twitter Page: @_natsjobs_
- A Facebook Page: http://Facebook.com/NatsJobs
- SMS/Text Messaging by texting “_natsjobs_” to 40404
- An actual email address: info@natsjobs.net
- Coming soon, the NatsJobs mobile site
- A Hologram of me…I kid. (Also, a lot of people ask me if the job will be posted on the HD Jumbotron at Nationals Park. Let me answer in two parts: 1) we’re not affiliated with the Washington Nationals and 2) It’s damn expensive)

You would think that would be enough, but I wasn’t satisfied.

Also for the 2012 season, we are holding contests and big events each month:

April: Tickets to the home opener against the Cincinnati Reds if your business post a job during the opening series against the Cubs.

May: #NatsSeekers – where 80 job seekers and 20 recruiters/HR/hiring managers network and watch the game. It’s on May 15 against the San Diego Padres at 1PM…a perfect time to do your work. Details coming soon.

June: Another #NatsSeekers opportunity, but more at a bar/restaurant. Looking for sponsors and venue.

July: I’ll let everyone take their vacation.

August: Someone will win a trip to the Season Ticket Holder event on August 4. You have to post a job with us by July 31.

September: One lucky business will not only win tickets to a Nationals game, but will join me at the Stars & Stripes Club. More details to come.

Pricing is a little different than last year. Yes, I raised the prices because we want everyone to have access to our job board either on their home computer, laptop, smartphone, cell phone, tablet, and billboard (not really). However, I kept it reasonable so you don’t bust your recruiting budget. It is $28 for non-profits, associations, government, and for-profit companies with 50 or fewer employees; $37 for for-profit companies with 50+ employees; and $99 if you want to post your job for a week of Nationals games. As an added bonus, if applicants missed your job post during the game, they can go to our job archives section where it will be there for the next 7 Nats games. If you want a head start to reserve your half-inning, click here.

If you have any questions, you can contact me. You know where I am

Of note: if you feel this blog post feels promotional, well…yeah, it is my blog. Plus, I’m both the founder of Tran Recruiting and NatsJobs, so there’s a hint.

The Reason Behind NatsJobs

If you saw the announcement a few minutes ago, I’m starting a new job posting venture called NatsJobs. It is where companies and organizations post jobs during Nats baseball games. You can get the details here. You’re wondering how did I start this?

It actually started in October during hockey season where I started to dabble on posting jobs during Caps games. It had some responses, but nothing broke through. My guess is hockey fans want to see the action more than the outside stuff, which was reasonable.

After the Caps playoff season was over against the Tampa Bay Lightning in May, my focus shifted to baseball and the Nats. At that time, Cheryl Nichols forwards a list of our mutual friends on Twitter to me of who are looking for jobs. I help gave most of the Twitter friends’ advice on their job search. It was then I decided to post jobs during Nats games just for the heck of it. To my surprise, there was a huge response of my job tweets during the Nats game. My guess is that people want to watch something other than baseball to pay attention, which can be tiresome for some fans. Posting jobs during baseball games probably was that outlet. Many people have asked, retweeted, and favorite (I have Tweetdeck, FYI) my job tweets. Some asked for me to transition this to part of my business. It was getting a lot of attention, but how was the end result?

There were two factors why I created NatsJobs. The first reason is the business aspect started to creep up during a discussion I had during an awards dinner this past week. It was the rare time I wore a suit and tie and add in the heat during the summer; it affected my decision. The second and main reason was my job postings were getting results. A few people have contacted me and got hired as a result from the job tweets I posted during Nats games. That to me puts a smile to my face and at that moment, it was time to put it to the next level. Thus, NatsJobs was created.

The purpose for NatsJobs is for companies and organizations to tap into the Nats community, which is diverse in every way from skills, ideas, and personalities. NatsJobs is also a way to communicate who you are looking for and the one area everyone is looking at one setting. NatsJobs is not only for Nats fans; it is for job seekers and businesses that are looking for and want to be part of an open community like the Nats organization and their fans. NatsJobs is always an open door for both the job seeker and business (though not sure about the Phillies).

Now, NatsJobs is part of Tran Recruiting and although my staffing firm focuses on nonprofits, associations, and small businesses; NatsJobs is a job posting service for any business that needs to advertise their job to a diverse market at a reasonable price.

In addition, no one or few businesses will dominate all the job postings during the Nats game(s), so I’m asking for 17/18 different businesses if they have a job to advertise for each game. I know there are businesses out there who want to advertise their jobs, and NatsJobs is a great avenue to go to.

Finally, and I didn’t mention this on the initial announcement, but when we post your job, it will not only be on my company’s Twitter and Facebook page, it will be also on my personal Twitter page, Linkedin profile, and my Google+ Buzz section (Oh, my whole Google+ page if you’re interested). In addition, you can add the Tran Recruiting twitter account to your RSS feed/Google Reader and follow via text messaging when a job is tweeted, so your job posting will get more bang for your buck.

I can’t wait for July 26 when NatsJobs officially begins and it will be a new arena for not only to attract talent, but keep the Nats community growing as a baseball town and a tight community people can rely on.

Two-Day Double Dip

The past two days, I went to D.C. for four events: Cherry Blossoms, Natsfest, Nationals Opening Day, and a Caps game. The only reason I wanted to go is to experience my first D.C. Sports Doubleheader. This one is special because it was opening day in baseball and the Caps push to the playoffs.

Here are the pics I took the past two days

Cherry Blossoms

I have done this the past three out of four years. It never gets old. There’s nothing to add except I would like festival organizers is more choices for JapaDogs. That day, it felt like Vancouver.

Natsfest

I walked from the Tidal Basin to Nationals Park to go to Natsfest. It started to rain when I arrived and I was amazed there was a solid crowd who came. I would imagine a smaller crowd with the weather and it was a school day, but this shows there’s a growing fan base in Washington. With the rain coming down, practice was cut short and there were no autograph sessions, but people saw memorabilia of Washington’s baseball history and Q & A sessions. The star of Natsfest Washington Senator great, Frank Howard, who told his nine consecutive strikeout story at least two times and it never got old. The event went well under the circumstances.

Nationals Opening Day

This was my first opening day. I would imagine a sunny and a crisp 60 degree day. Instead, it was drizzly, but freezing. All the weather reports said there was a good chance of rain and in the mid 40s. It almost felt like it was 25 degrees. This was easily the coldest event I went to and I was outside for a good 6 hours, although I did get a free bratwurst and water as a result from broken registers . I don’t mind the cold, but it’s spring and it’s suppose to be warm, but on the plus side, I met most of the Nats tweeps in real life and made this a better event, even in the cold. I have been to 4 different home openers and by far, baseball is the most genuine I attended, although the 2006-2007 George Mason men’s basketball home opener was very special. As for the game, the Braves beat the Nats, 2-0. A disappointing result, but a wonderful event everyone should attend and if you’re lucky, next year’s opening day might be a buck.

Just to go back on Natsfest; the Nats lost and I mostly think the weather play a role, but another part could be about Natsfest. There are several fans who were upset Natsfest was a day before Opening Day and not in January, where most baseball teams have their annual fanfest. Mark Lerner, principal owner of the Nats, said this was the only time to bring all the players to come to Natsfest. I heard all sides and both make compelling arguments. I understand Mark’s standpoint of holding the event the day before the game, but this event needs to happen a week before the first game and the Nats can’t do it because of spring training. January is a great time to do it, but I understand this is the players’ offseason and they have their own schedule, plus going into D.C. in the winter has started to become brutal with snowstorms. There are two options the Nats can take:

Option 1: Still hold Natsfest the day before Opening Day and have a deal with the DC public schools to bring kids to the park after school and bring them to the field and have the players stay in the field, meet and greet, sign autographs, and take pictures.

Option 2: Have Natsfest in January, but social media has to play a role since nearly everyone in D.C. has a social media profile (remember, DC is the most socially networked city in the U.S.). Word can get out quick and the players will respond. Right now, the Nats do not have a strong enough fan base to have their voices heard, but when 2012 comes around with Strasburg and Bryce Harper on the team, things might change. In addition, we know Strasburg and Harper have Twitter accounts, so we can bother them why they can’t attend.

Caps

After 6 hours in the unexpected freezing weather, I travel to Chinatown to California Tortilla to get a burrito and getting a “10″ hot sauce to warm myself up. After that, I went to see my friends and it was off to the game. Caps won 4-3 over the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime, but it shouldn’t be like that since Columbus didn’t have Rick Nash in the lineup and fielded an AHL team. The Caps might be in the playoffs, but without possibly Mike Green and Dennis Wideman, can the Caps advance? The longest preseason is almost to a close, but the real season begins and let’s sees if the Caps have learned from past seasons.

For these past two days, it was a time to relax and enjoy something special that may never happen again, unless you have the Beltway Series and the Stanley Cup Finals, which would be the penultimate. Overall, these past two days is a great time to be a Washingtonian…unless you’re a twitching little freak who is ticked by this and this.

Poll: Should I bring back the Elvis Silver Wig for this upcoming Washington Nationals Season?

The Strasburg

Before I begin, it should be noted from here on out, I’m calling Stephen Strasburg, “The Strasburg.”

Yesterday, I went to The Strasburg press conference to not only see The Strasburg speak, but see the real, devoted Nationals fans in attendance.  There were around 200, but most of them were under the facade since the seats were sitting on coals.  I was dumb enough to take a front seat along the third base side to see the press conference.  There was nothing special about the press conference, but it was important to see The Strasburg show off his new jersey and supporting the team (Good Move, The Strasburg).

After the press conference, the Nationals front office held a town hall meeting.  That lasted five minutes not because of protesters, but mother nature, although you could argue mother nature could be protesters.  After a few hours and food from Five Guys (not at the park, but at Navy Yard), it was time for the game.

The game was anti-climatic as the Nats lose to the Brewers 7-3.  The only exciting parts to came out from the game was the heavy downpour, and the rainbow before the game.  One thing of note: Teddy lost the race again.  Although the Nats lost, there was some positive things to came out of the day and for the future.

As you know, I’ve been calling out the Nationals for many different things from the front office, their play, the lousy music, the uniforms, you name it.  The reason I did The Strasburg Signing Deadline Countdown was to see if the Nationals are serious about building a team in DC.  It’s not important if The Strasburg does great with the Nats, although that’s would be a nice bonus.  The key is if the Nats care about being cheap or really care about their investment. In the past two months, the Nationals:

• Traded Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan to Pittsburgh for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett.  Trade is looking good so far.
• Trade Nick Johnson to the Marlins for prospects.
• Sign The Strasburg before the deadline.
• Mike Rizzo became the permanent General Manager of the Nationals.
• $1 all day passes which include the press conference, town hall, and the game.  Attendance was 75% capacity that day, which is not bad for a terrible team.
• I did not hear a song from Jonas Brothers or any awkward intro music of players (i.e. Nick Johnson and “Sexyback”).
• “We Want The Strasburg” chants were not only from baseball.  Redskins fans were chanting during a preseason game against the Steelers.

From the looks of it, the Nationals future looks bright and cannot wait for next year, where the team comes full circle…ok, they’re not going to win the division or the wild card, but with Bryce Harper in the 2010 Amateur Draft next year, the Nationals could be the great relatives of the 1994 Montreal Expos.

The Strasburg has arrived in DC

MASN’s Coverage of the Press Conference with a cameo appearance by someone you know, Part 1

MASN’s Coverage of the Press Conference with a cameo appearance by someone you know, Part 2

MASN’s Coverage of the Press Conference with a cameo appearance by someone you know, Part 3

The Stephen Strasburg Signing Countdown