As many folks know, the Washington Nationals' new slogan is 'Natitude.' It's hard to define a made-up term, one primarily chosen - in this case - because it sounds cool and is a nice melding of Nationals with a sports and societal buzzword.
In the old days, when lions like Dean Smith or John Wooden or Bobby Cox or even Joe Torre coached a team, attitude was bad. Teams strove for the antithesis, a sort of honest blend of confidence, success and humility sometimes called class, grace, or simply sportsmanship.
Now attitude is strived for, easy to market and exploit. Combine that with a team coming into it's own led by young and therefore modern stars, and voila - Natitude.
I like using the hash tag #Natitude, but could not really define it in the case of the 2012 Nats. But that was before this weekend's sweep of the Red Sox IN FENWAY.
The Nats went into Boston and were not intimidated as they swept the three-game series. Nor did they display much attitude. They were LeBron James in game 6 serious as, for 3 nights, they picked up each other. On Saturday, Ian Desmond got a big hit, with help from Adam LaRoche.
On Sunday, it was Danny Espinosa and Roger Bernadina with huge hits, with help from Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman.
On the mound, Mike Gonzalez and Sean Burnett picked up Gio Gonzalez one night, Tom Gorzelanny picked up Jordan Zimmerman the next.
And Tyler Clippard picked up everyone all three nights, earning an equal number of saves.
Doing your job, helping your team and teammates, is one definition of Natitude.
The one exception was Friday night, when the Nats' modern young stars simply dominated and didn't need much help. Stephen Strasburg struck out 13, including Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded in the 6th, to shut down the Sox with poise and simply nasty stuff. Bryce Harper did the same with his bat in blasting 3 hits, including a 420+ foot bomb to center.
Harper may best epitomize Natitude, specifically his home run trot. It's actually a sprint that takes less than 20 seconds. No boasting, no standing in the batter's box admiring his handy work. Simply and confidently blasting a home run, then not showing up the pitcher and getting back in the dug out as fast as you can.
Success without excess. Natitude.
In the old days, when lions like Dean Smith or John Wooden or Bobby Cox or even Joe Torre coached a team, attitude was bad. Teams strove for the antithesis, a sort of honest blend of confidence, success and humility sometimes called class, grace, or simply sportsmanship.
Now attitude is strived for, easy to market and exploit. Combine that with a team coming into it's own led by young and therefore modern stars, and voila - Natitude.
I like using the hash tag #Natitude, but could not really define it in the case of the 2012 Nats. But that was before this weekend's sweep of the Red Sox IN FENWAY.
The Nats went into Boston and were not intimidated as they swept the three-game series. Nor did they display much attitude. They were LeBron James in game 6 serious as, for 3 nights, they picked up each other. On Saturday, Ian Desmond got a big hit, with help from Adam LaRoche.
On Sunday, it was Danny Espinosa and Roger Bernadina with huge hits, with help from Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman.
On the mound, Mike Gonzalez and Sean Burnett picked up Gio Gonzalez one night, Tom Gorzelanny picked up Jordan Zimmerman the next.
And Tyler Clippard picked up everyone all three nights, earning an equal number of saves.
Doing your job, helping your team and teammates, is one definition of Natitude.
The one exception was Friday night, when the Nats' modern young stars simply dominated and didn't need much help. Stephen Strasburg struck out 13, including Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded in the 6th, to shut down the Sox with poise and simply nasty stuff. Bryce Harper did the same with his bat in blasting 3 hits, including a 420+ foot bomb to center.
Harper may best epitomize Natitude, specifically his home run trot. It's actually a sprint that takes less than 20 seconds. No boasting, no standing in the batter's box admiring his handy work. Simply and confidently blasting a home run, then not showing up the pitcher and getting back in the dug out as fast as you can.
Success without excess. Natitude.
