During this past season, I've written, tweeted and said a lot of negative things about the Monumental Rewards program invented by the owners of the Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics (and I guess now a yet to be named Arena Football team) prior to the 2013-2014 Wiz and Caps seasons. My written and spoken words this last year stand in stark contrast to my initial reaction to the program, when I declared it "one of the best, if not the best, benefits we have ever had as Wizards season ticket holders."
I hate complaining about benefits we didn't have five years ago but honestly, it's turned from a program that allowed the common fan access to some uncommon experiences, into a program to unload leftover free merchandise and allow people with hundreds of thousands of points (read: those who spend the most) to get even more stuff for free. It looks like it's good for everyone, but it's really all a ruse. What used to make me feel special as a long time season ticket holder now makes me feel like I'm getting cheated. Probably not fair to ownership here, but they do after all advertise it as a benefit. It's not really a benefit if you can rarely use it.
But the point of this post is to give credit where credit is due to the Monumental Rewards program. And that credit is in the bobblehead department, another area where I have been especially critical of Wizards ownership in the past couple of years. If you would have asked me how I would have improved the Monumental Rewards program this past year, I would have offered two suggestions: (1) bring back access to the VIP lounge experience that we had during the first two years of the program and (2) if you are not going to do that, start making exclusive bobbleheads available to season ticket holders. Guess what? For the first time, Monumental Rewards is now offering the second item on my wish list. Sort of.
Log in to the Monumental Rewards site today and you'll find an unavailable anywhere else Andre Burakovsky bobblehead. This is fantastic. I love it. Finally, there's a positive change in this program. Of course, it doesn't do Wizards bobblehead collectors any good because Burakovsky plays hockey for the Capitals. But it's maybe a sign that more bobbleheads might be coming. I could be fooling myself but I remain glass half full on this issue, even though I know my dream of a Randy Wittman bobblehead is now dead. The Burakovsky bobblehead costs 30,000 points. At that price, I have enough for three Monumental Rewards-only bobbles. Please get started on some Wiz bobbles ASAP. Markieff Morris, Marcin Gortat and Kelly Oubre are all under contract next year and currently without team issued bobbleheads. Come on, guys. You know you need to do this.
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