Well, all the folks here in DC are doing lots of back-patting about baseball’s so-called triumphant return to the Capital.

I’m excited to see a baseball game here in town. Though I’ve been to a few games up in Camden Yard, it’s an especially difficult trek to make on a weeknight, involving either a tedious drive through rush hour traffic or a train ride up and a looooooong bus ride back. Yuck.

And I also think (unlike O’s owner Peter Angelos) that having two teams in close quarters will actually increase the fan base for both teams and inspire a neighborly B’More/Washington rivalry.

BUT–and there’s always a but, isn’t there??–I’m concerned. I’ve seen Washingtonian’s sports enthusiasm. It isn’t good. Especially for a sport like baseball that doesn’t have the fast-paced, intense action that football has.

A style writer in today’s WaPo says it best…

The sport of baseball, the skeptic must note, is rather serene by the visceral standards of contemporary entertainment. There are moments when the only movement on the field is the pitcher almost imperceptibly shaking his head at the catcher to decline the suggestion of throwing a curveball. There are moments when the pitcher will make such a desultory pick-off move toward first base that time itself will threaten to come to a standstill.

Washington, by contrast, is a city in a rush. Some fans will spend the entire game pounding out e-mails on their BlackBerries.

Good grief. I can just see it now.