Being a Democrat is similar to being a Washington, D.C. sports fan, whether it’s Georgetown University, the Redskins, the Wizards or the Nationals. As long as we don’t finish in last place, we think it’s a great year.
Since 90% of Washingtonians support Democrats, it seems like no coincidence that the city’s sports teams reflect the people that live in the city. Washington is a city that closes down when a snowflake hits the ground. Too many people are coddled and pampered.
That’s not a mindset that breeds winners. Winners look for ways to improve. Many Democrats still haven’t gotten over the 2016 presidential election.
Do these people ever watch sports? Whining about elections is like the Washington Nationals whining about not having won a World Series in 50 years. The rules in baseball haven’t changed over its history: there are still three strikes and three outs. The Yankees get the same number of turns at-bat as the Nationals, so why have the Yankees won 27 World Series while the Nationals spend year after year as runners up? Similarly, Democrats need to assess why Donald Trump won: after all,both parties play under the same Constitution and Electoral College.
My parents were New York Mets fans, so I understand the mentality of being a victim, sufferer, an underdog. It’s sad when the highlight of your season is wearing a bag over your face. My father stayed devoted to the Mets out of loyalty. He adored the team because of Brooklyn and baseball’s first black ballplayer, Jackie Robinson, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
But the Mets have long been a running joke compared to the Yankees, especially because they have been unwilling to do what it takes to win. The team was a replacement, given to Brooklyn in 1962 after owner Walter O’Malley moved the Dodgers and Giants to California, thus depriving New York of great players like Willie Mays. Brooklyn has never recovered.
Nevertheless, my father despised the Yankees because they had a racist history and were one of the last teams to hire African American ballplayers. He could never accept that the team has evolved since the 1950s. By the 1970s, George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees and not only hired African Americans but also signed Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and later Derek Jeter — some of the highest paid names in sports.
America has evolved too. Our Founding Fathers owned slaves and committed genocide against Native Americans, yet many progressives can’t see that America has also improved the lives of many fleeing from oppression and tyranny.
As long as we continue to focus on the way things used to be and complain about the competition, we will continue to lose. And whether it’s sports or politics, that mindset makes for a boring game.
It’s nothing personal: we all love a worthy adversary and hating the Boston Red Sox is what gets Yankees fans up in the morning. Adversity is the spice of life. If you have never met with failure and disappointment, chances are you done nothing worthwhile. If you don’t like losing elections, try learning how to win one instead of complaining and being miserable.
While I don’t personally support the Democrats, I do believe that great teams need worthy adversaries. The Yankees need the Red Sox and the Republicans need a Democratic party that keeps them on their toes. While I’m not a Washington sports fan, it would be nice to one day live in a city that competes for prizes rather than spending every year whining about why their lives are miserable. Learn how to win instead of whining about how the game is played.
