Scott Brooks Bobblehead

Show me a Washington Wizards fan who's happy with the way the 2016-2017 NBA season has started for our local hoops team and I'll show you an almost empty Verizon Center on pretty much any given game night. While things have gotten a little bit easier on the schedule front and the level of play picked up against Oklahoma City and San Antonio before cratering at home against Orlando and collapsing on the road in Miami (all losses by the way), there hasn't been much to be happy about as a Wizards fan this last month and a half.

That all changed in late November when the Wizards quietly released their first Monumental Rewards-exclusive bobblehead. Hooray!!! Finally something to be universally glad for as a Wizards fan this year. Especially with the holidays right around the corner (these things would look great under the tree...) and Monumental Rewards points set to time out for the first time in the program's existence. Spend up, kids. Use 'em or lose 'em.

Now this was not totally unexpected. We saw the Wizards', Capitals', Mystics' and 33% of the entire Arena Football League's parent company roll out an exclusive Andre Burakovsky bobblehead wearing the Caps' home red last spring. That move, which I praised in this blog, gave me some hope one day we'd see some not-available-to-the-public Wizards bobbleheads as well. That day is now here.

So who's the lucky player? Well it's not a player, which I think could be reasonably inferred from the title of this blog post. It's head coach Scott Brooks which makes it the first coach bobblehead I've acquired as a Wizards fan. I've got two mascots and two broadcasters but until I picked up my Scotty bobble before the November 26 home game against the Spurs, zero head coaches. Now I got one.

Before we get to the replica of the man himself, let me say this is a little bittersweet for me here. I've begged the Wizards on two separate occasions in this blog to hand out a Randy Wittman bobblehead to no avail. Heck, I even provided an image in one post that they could have used free of any compensation to yours truly. And here we are less than two months into the season and Randy's replacement gets a bobblehead of himself? Totally unfair. And yes, I'll let the Randy Wittman thing go eventually. Probably. I still feel the team missed out on a golden opportunity to celebrate the winningest (from a percentage standpoint) head coach in Wizards playoff history.

Having now obligatorily complained about the lack of a Coach Witt bobble, let me say I'm perfectly happy with my new Scott Brooks bobblehead. Brooks automatically became my third favorite Wizards coach ever (behind Wittman and Eddie Jordan, who led the team to four straight playoff appearances) when he signed with the team and he'll look great standing on my bobblehead shelf with current team members John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter (until March that is when Kelly Oubre will join him).

There's nothing fancy about the Brooks bobble. He's standing arms crossed with a facial expression that's either a slight smile or a disbelieving smirk at either the team's performance or the calls we don't get from referees this year (take your pick there). I think there's no question this looks like Coach Brooks. Some of this comes from both him and the bobblehead being white, wearing glasses and having short hair over his entire head. When I compare this one to some of my other bobbles, he's actually probably in the top third or quarter as far as accuracy to the actual person goes.

The suit and tie are well painted on the bobble I was handed at the Monumental Rewards window on the 400 level of Verizon Center. I'd grade this as better than average on the paint job side. Maybe it's because this one is reserved just for season ticket holders that the quality is above the free average we see for some in-game giveaways. The base of the bobblehead follows the circular wood like surface motif the Wizards have been fond of lately and I love the little Wizards logo standing up on the base; it makes it seem like a freebie because this is where they would put the sponsor's logo.

Scotty of course comes in a box. His container is covered with his accomplishments as a coach in the NBA, none of which he achieved as a Wizards head man (he's only been on the job less than a season after all) and none of which have been achieved by a Wizards head coach (note I wrote Wizards not Bullets here) except for the time when Eddie Jordan coached the All-Star Game in 2007. The box underscores the lack of Wizards success over my 16 plus years as a season ticket holder; it's just one more thing.

That's about all I got on this one. Bravo to the Wizards for rolling out Monumental Rewards exclusive bobbleheads. I may complain about bobblehead giveaways every year but at least there are a couple of other ways for Wiz fans to get their hands on some team issued bobbles. Now all he has to do is turn the entire franchise around. No pressure there.