So Begins The Mad Dash To Be Among The First To Gaze Upon Strasburg

Though we here at The Sporting Blog were not around Monday to greet the official news of Stephen Strasburg’s now officially-announced June 8 debut with the Washington Nationals, somehow the sports world still found a way to lose their collective mind about it without us. How humbling that things go on like that.↵↵While there had been a run on tickets for Strasburg’s initially-reported debut on June 4 against the Reds, The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg points out that there are still thousands of seats available for Friday, which might not exactly silence the many frustrated patrons who bought tickets early to get a jump on all the people wanting to get the first live look at the Nats’ wunderkind pitcher. It does illustrate that at least some people are willing to wait until the team’s official verification of the date before going hog wild with ticket purchases. Or maybe it illustrates that the team is trying to stop fans already burned on one announced debut date from purchasing and trying to flip his official unveiling?↵

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↵↵The Nationals are doubtlessly happy to get a sellout in any way that they can come by one, but, with the amount of umbrage being shown by those who missed what was rumored to be Strasburg’s first start, what happens if the rookie phenom flames out on his first time to the mound? Not that the Nationals have to recoup the money or anything, but some Strasburg fans who get spurned by early setbacks suffered by most rookies might be hard pressed to buy into the novelty for his subsequent trips to the mound. Is there any realistic way for the team to massage expectations while still reaping the windfall of hype?↵

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