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Bethesda 2011, Oh Brother…
By Shaffer | Published: January 01 2012
Quite a bit happened in the Bethesda area this year. Here are some of Bethesda.com's highlights...
Bethesda 2011
Biggest Story of the Year:
The brutal Lululemon employee murder on March 11/12 in Bethesda’s swanky shopping district along Bethesda Avenue along with the subsequent trial and conviction of another store employee for the crime. Both the perpetrator and the victim were young, college-educated women, the murder having been committed over discovery of stolen merchandise. RIP Jayna Murray.
Depressing story of the Year (and previous years):
The Washington area sports scene stinks, and not just the ‘Skins. The talent-laden Caps under-perform, DC United is slowly but surely being ruined by a nepotistic front office and zero cooperation from the DC Government in building a soccer-specific stadium, Terps football was atrocious and, BTW, have you seen their men’s hoops team yet? At least Terps soccer, both men’s and women’s, is high quality. There will be a lot of empty seats at the Comcast Center this year. The Redskins? Who didn’t see that coming? Curse of the Danny.
DC Sports Silver Lining:
The Georgetown men’s basketball team is off to a solid start, with a quality Big East win at Louisville and at out-of-conference Alabama.(Thanks K) What happened to St. Leo’s and Morgan State? Good job, coach.
The Washington Nationals:
Baseball is a fickle sport, but things are looking good for a Nats club built to last with solid young players. Plus they have has a pretty nice stadium, and finished strong this Fall. A few shrewd buys, especially in pitching, and the transformation of the Baltimore-Washington baseball scene will be complete.
Biggest Surprise of 2011:
The commencement of the BRAC realignment at old Navy-Med, coinciding with the start of the school year, hailed by many alarmist journalists (myself included) as traffic Armageddon, was more like traffic, well not heaven, but not its antithesis either. Wait, there will be much, much more, as construction, employee residence and the movement of a butterfly in Oaxaca, Mexico may easily set off this powder keg in 2012.
‘Talking…about the Weather’ (wow, I’m actually quoting Natalie Merchant and her Jamestown, NY buddies 10,000 Maniacs). OPTIONAL TITLE: ‘I married me a wife, she’s been trouble all my life, she left me out in the cold rain and snow’ It’s a bit of a mouthful, but it’s Jerry G. duuuude.
When I was younger, it amazed me how weather-centric older adults were. There was a year during which my Mom watched nothing but The Weather Channel and the local radar images. Now I am, not old, but older than say 25, and I WANT MY WEATHER.
January 26: Bob Ryan ‘Weather-Gasm’: Thunder snow. PEPCO. ‘Nuff said.
March/April: Tornado Time in Texas, er Maryland (thanks to Guy Clark):
Lots of ‘naders but, mercifully, nothing like those that completely destroyed parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Missoura (that’s a phonetic spelling. Get it right, people)
EARTHQUAKE, but real this time
August 23, Tectonic activity centered in Mineral, VA (there’s a mineral Virginia now?) i.e. an earthquake of around 5.8 magnitude, is felt all round the metro area. National Cathedral sustains damage, later revealed to be a St. Albans School ‘senior prank.’
Some other stuff happened too, but, I mean, I don’t have all day people.
2012’s Official Motto: ‘The Time to Be Happy was 2011.’ Bummer. Oh it won’t be THAT bad, just think about next season’s Redskins…or a calm blue ocean.
Happy New Year from all of us at Bethesda.com to our loyal and devoted readers.
Biggest Story of the Year:
The brutal Lululemon employee murder on March 11/12 in Bethesda’s swanky shopping district along Bethesda Avenue along with the subsequent trial and conviction of another store employee for the crime. Both the perpetrator and the victim were young, college-educated women, the murder having been committed over discovery of stolen merchandise. RIP Jayna Murray.
Depressing story of the Year (and previous years):
The Washington area sports scene stinks, and not just the ‘Skins. The talent-laden Caps under-perform, DC United is slowly but surely being ruined by a nepotistic front office and zero cooperation from the DC Government in building a soccer-specific stadium, Terps football was atrocious and, BTW, have you seen their men’s hoops team yet? At least Terps soccer, both men’s and women’s, is high quality. There will be a lot of empty seats at the Comcast Center this year. The Redskins? Who didn’t see that coming? Curse of the Danny.
DC Sports Silver Lining:
The Georgetown men’s basketball team is off to a solid start, with a quality Big East win at Louisville and at out-of-conference Alabama.(Thanks K) What happened to St. Leo’s and Morgan State? Good job, coach.
The Washington Nationals:
Baseball is a fickle sport, but things are looking good for a Nats club built to last with solid young players. Plus they have has a pretty nice stadium, and finished strong this Fall. A few shrewd buys, especially in pitching, and the transformation of the Baltimore-Washington baseball scene will be complete.
Biggest Surprise of 2011:
The commencement of the BRAC realignment at old Navy-Med, coinciding with the start of the school year, hailed by many alarmist journalists (myself included) as traffic Armageddon, was more like traffic, well not heaven, but not its antithesis either. Wait, there will be much, much more, as construction, employee residence and the movement of a butterfly in Oaxaca, Mexico may easily set off this powder keg in 2012.
‘Talking…about the Weather’ (wow, I’m actually quoting Natalie Merchant and her Jamestown, NY buddies 10,000 Maniacs). OPTIONAL TITLE: ‘I married me a wife, she’s been trouble all my life, she left me out in the cold rain and snow’ It’s a bit of a mouthful, but it’s Jerry G. duuuude.
When I was younger, it amazed me how weather-centric older adults were. There was a year during which my Mom watched nothing but The Weather Channel and the local radar images. Now I am, not old, but older than say 25, and I WANT MY WEATHER.
January 26: Bob Ryan ‘Weather-Gasm’: Thunder snow. PEPCO. ‘Nuff said.
March/April: Tornado Time in Texas, er Maryland (thanks to Guy Clark):
Lots of ‘naders but, mercifully, nothing like those that completely destroyed parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Missoura (that’s a phonetic spelling. Get it right, people)
EARTHQUAKE, but real this time
August 23, Tectonic activity centered in Mineral, VA (there’s a mineral Virginia now?) i.e. an earthquake of around 5.8 magnitude, is felt all round the metro area. National Cathedral sustains damage, later revealed to be a St. Albans School ‘senior prank.’
Some other stuff happened too, but, I mean, I don’t have all day people.
2012’s Official Motto: ‘The Time to Be Happy was 2011.’ Bummer. Oh it won’t be THAT bad, just think about next season’s Redskins…or a calm blue ocean.
Happy New Year from all of us at Bethesda.com to our loyal and devoted readers.
2 comments
Chris_Shaffer
Jan 01st, 2012 03:36 PM
Thanks K. I'd blame age and musical conferences, but there's no excuse for this brain-flatulence...except spiked egg nog.
Cheers
Chris
K
Dec 30th, 2011 01:06 PM
Louisville is in the same conference as Georgetown. Beat Memphis twice.
