Is it just me or is Washington DC extremely underrated as a city?

[Nomad9]

Originally Posted by LA21st

This.
You have to live there to really notice how the area is affected by it. The people arent really friendly, and that goes for the suburbs too like Fairfax County.

Yea, its great on paper for salaries, incomes etc and it always will because of those jobs. But, there is a cold (?) feeling to the residents. Maybe not cold, stiff? I dont know how to describe it really. But its noticeable. When I moved to Chicago, I saw a difference for sure.

This is my critique of DC. Very cool place from an architecture/history/urban planning standpoint, but it’s a city full of people hyper focused on climbing the political or corporate or bureaucratic ladder. Makes for a city that feels cold and cutthroat.

[UPChicago]

Originally Posted by Segun

DC's Black population, I believe, is 4th after NYC, Atlanta and Chicago.

What I know about DC culture-wise is from Gogo music (not the same as skimp-ly clothed white women in 60s LA, it's a very African influenced homegrown sound), Funk Music, Wayne Perry, Mumbo Sauce, Doin Da Butt, and a never-ending beef with Baltimoreans. + Wale and Oddisee. Every time I've been, the Black people always seem to have a distinct slang and style of dress. I have to dig up an old picture I took where it looked like George Clinton was walking in front of a group of colorful rowhouses. It seems like a place full of colorful characters. It reminds me of the Black scene in the Bay Area. Chocolate City.

Also, the prominence of West Africans seems to be greater than any other city in the US. I haven't been to Houston in a while, so maybe my perception is wrong.

I think DC is a very attractive city for black professionals. It's the only other place I could see myself living in the US, so I don't see it as underrated.

I want to correct the record, though, Mumbo Sauce was invented in Chicago

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by dave8721

I remember there used to be the tradition of the Reds used to open every season basically with a home game like the day before the rest of the teams started. A Reds home game was the baseball opener. That tradition ended in the 90s with most of baseball's traditions.

-Looking up why, it was of course because of ESPN which wanted a Sunday night opener with lots of games. And MLB took ESPN's money.

It's like how the Dallas Cowboys play Detroit every year on Thanksgiving. The NFL somehow understands that its weird quirks are what help make the sport #1. Meanwhile, MLB keeps tinkering with things for no good reason.

College football is also about to mess everything up.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

It's like how the Dallas Cowboys play Detroit every year on Thanksgiving. The NFL somehow understands that its weird quirks are what help make the sport #1. Meanwhile, MLB keeps tinkering with things for no good reason.

College football is also about to mess everything up.

The Dallas Cowboys don't play Detroit on Thanksgiving. Dallas and Detroit each host a Thanksgiving game playing a different team. Dallas playing on that day has never been in question, but for years, people wondered why Detroit hosted since they were mostly a bad team, but it's been a tradition since the 1930's per Wiki. And it doesn't matter right now, because the Lions are actually a good team.

I think most people will like the expanded college playoff schedule. The current format of 4 teams left much in question, since teams that lost one game in their conference playoff seemed to be doomed. I do think that the bowl games are no longer relevant, as there are way too many. I used to watch the Rose, Orange, and Sugar Bowls, but now don't even bother with any bowl games as the teams are just runners up. But I think that is because the league is getting greedy by thinking that more games mean more revenue from networks.

The NFL seems to be getting greedy, by adding an extra game (17 and possibly soon to be 18), more playoff teams (some have mediocre/losing records and some of the early playoff games are uninteresting blowouts), overseas games (I don't even pay attention), and now more networks (Netflix recently added and I don't have so I won't be watching those games).

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by DCReid

The Dallas Cowboys don't play Detroit on Thanksgiving. Dallas and Detroit each host a Thanksgiving game playing a different team. Dallas playing on that day has never been in question,

I have always detested "America's Team" and have never watched them on Thanksgiving, so please excuse my technical error. Curiously, in 2023, the Reds' PR team, contemporaneous with the emergence of the Dominican Elly de la Cruz, tried to brand them "America's Team", but that effort floundered after their mid-summer surge collapsed.

I do think that the bowl games are no longer relevant,

Well there is something called...The Super Bowl. But there is something cool about how the irrelevant bowl games give a team's season "closure", and I think the schools like it because it's an excuse to throw an alumni networking event in whatever city the bowl is staged.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by DCReid

The Dallas Cowboys don't play Detroit on Thanksgiving. Dallas and Detroit each host a Thanksgiving game playing a different team. Dallas playing on that day has never been in question, but for years, people wondered why Detroit hosted since they were mostly a bad team, but it's been a tradition since the 1930's per Wiki. And it doesn't matter right now, because the Lions are actually a good team.

My conspiracy theory is that no other franchise actually wants to host a Thanksgiving game every year.

Originally Posted by DCReid

The NFL seems to be getting greedy, by adding an extra game (17 and possibly soon to be 18), more playoff teams (some have mediocre/losing records and some of the early playoff games are uninteresting blowouts), overseas games (I don't even pay attention), and now more networks (Netflix recently added and I don't have so I won't be watching those games).

I'm very excited about NFL games on Netflix. I don't have cable and have been trying to avoid paying for the YouTube NFL package. I was hoping Netflix would pick up college football too.

[SWDC]

Originally Posted by Nomad9

This is my critique of DC. Very cool place from an architecture/history/urban planning standpoint, but it’s a city full of people hyper focused on climbing the political or corporate or bureaucratic ladder. Makes for a city that feels cold and cutthroat.

[Preface: there’s many groups in DC, including several I belong to such as South American, LGBT that not everything below fully covers…]

That can definitely be true about the culture of DC, lol. Latte Liberals who like to Brunch and I don’t know the word, polished? Jusgementala but. Or maybe I’m projecting.

I was recently in Seattle. I absolutely loved it. Great, beautiful city. Great people. Feels large and global. But man, I was really taken aback by how many people had tattoos all over their bodies, necks, faces, a grungey looking fashion scene, Pearl Jam and heavy metal flyers and scenes in many places including the airport lol. Basically, a lot of stuff looked like Pizza Planet or Sid’s bedroom from Toy Story lol.

Not hating on it, I absolutely love Seattle & the people and culture but I totally am definitely a brick compared to those people. I would feel so ridiculous trying to be as cool as them…So I definitely can see the DC critiques some have given when I contrast it to a place like Seattle.

Philadelphia I definitely vibe with their culture. In another life, I must’ve lived in Philly because I just totally love everything about it despite not having been there many times.

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by SWDC

[Preface: there’s many groups in DC, including several I belong to such as South American, LGBT that not everything below fully covers…]

That can definitely be true about the culture of DC, lol. Latte Liberals who like to Brunch and I don’t know the word, polished? Jusgementala but. Or maybe I’m projecting.

I was recently in Seattle. I absolutely loved it. Great, beautiful city. Great people. Feels large and global. But man, I was really taken aback by how many people had tattoos all over their bodies, necks, faces, a grungey looking fashion scene, Pearl Jam and heavy metal flyers and scenes in many places including the airport lol. Basically, a lot of stuff looked like Pizza Planet or Sid’s bedroom from Toy Story lol.

Not hating on it, I absolutely love Seattle & the people and culture but I totally am definitely a brick compared to those people. I would feel so ridiculous trying to be as cool as them…So I definitely can see the DC critiques some have given when I contrast it to a place like Seattle.

Philadelphia I definitely vibe with their culture. In another life, I must’ve lived in Philly because I just totally love everything about it despite not having been there many times.

Washington DC and Philadelphia are two of my favorite US cities.

[Prahaboheme]

I suppose if you are in DC and need a dose of hipster-chic en masse, you can take the train up to Baltimore for the afternoon or down to Richmond.

[Steely Dan]

A lack of face tats sounds like a huge plus for DC!!

But that's probably because I'm from Chicago, where face ink is most often associated with gang affiliation, not so much "modern primitive" hipster dingleberries.