Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has a few things to say about the subject of Baseball.

First off. He loves the game of Baseball. He will not wax poetic (although he could) about the game and what it means on so many different levels. But he really loves the game. Very few things are as fun as going to a game and enjoying yourself.

That said allow your Maximum Leader to move along.

Last night your Maximum Leader had the pleasure of attending the Boston Red Sox v. Baltimore Orioles game. Those of you who might remember (or care) should know that your Maximum Leader’s esteemed Brother-in-Law is a big Sox fan. (And frankly your Maximum Leader can’t stand Baltimore - not just the Orioles - but the whole city.) We had great seats. In fact they were better than great seats. They were dream seats. If you happened to watch the game on TV you would have seen your Maximum Leader and his Brother-in-Law. We were the 30-something guys with giddy school-girl expressions sitting next to the Red Sox dugout and right behind the Red Sox on-deck circle. RIGHT BEHIND the on deck circle. Once your Maximum Leader thought of asking David Ortiz if he could move a little to the left so that he wouldn’t block your Maximum Leader’s view of the plate.

They were dream seats. Your Maximum Leader’s Bro-in-law got Manny Ramierez’s BP bat before the game began. (Manny handed it right to him.) And later in the game, Johnny Damon knocked a broken bat foul ball towards Edgar Renteria (who was on deck). Renteria picked it up and handed it to us. It was a real treat.

So, your Maximum Leader must admit that last ight’s game was probably the most memorable baseball experience (regular season experience) he’s ever had.

And on the drive home it got him to thinking…

Your Maximum Leader is a National League fan. In so far as he is concerned the National League plays better ball. They put the ball in play. They generate runs by aggressive baserunning. And, of course, they adhere to the rule of “if you play in the field you must bat; and if you bat, you must play in the field.”

Your Maximum Leader became a National League fan many moons ago. As you know, the Washington Senators left DC in 1971. At the time your Maximum Leader was 3 years old. So, if you wanted to see major league baseball and were a DC-area resident between 1971 and 2005 you had to go to Baltimore.

Your Maximum Leader can’t stand Baltimore (is he repeating himself?). So he started to look around for another team to root for. He looked south. And in Richmond, VA you have the Richmond Braves. They are the AAA team for the Atlanta Braves. And by way of extension, your Maximum Leader became a Braves fan.

But in his heart he knew that if Washington DC ever got a baseball team, he would root (root, root) for his home town team.

Well, after many years of following the Braves (roughly 1976-2005) - DC looked as though they would get a baseball team. At first your Maximum Leader thought he might get lucky and have a National League team in DC. But he hoped it would be a non-NL-East team. That way he could still like the Braves without his new DC team being in the same division. (Really now, you just can’t like two teams in the same division. It is impossible.) So your Maximum Leader crossed his fingers and hoped against hope that DC would get a NL Central team or something.

No such luck.

Now the Braves and the Nationals are in the same division. And your Maximum Leader is torn. He still has years and years of affection and fan-dom in his heart for the Braves. But he knows that he will be going to Nationals games regularly and his kids will likely be Nats fans.

But it feels wrong to just up and leave the Braves. (Although rooting for the Nats will be tough - as they are likely to suck for many years. Current standings not withstanding.)

These feelings of inner conflict are not too fun. (And Bud Selig is to blame - of course.)

So your Maximum Leader isn’t sure what he is going to do.

But he will probably start to align himself with the Nationals.

(sigh)

Carry on.