Satoransky Socks

The Wizards changed things up on me. I'm usually all over the Wiz promotional schedule (which lately - meaning for years now - has been miserably pathetic) but they added one in on me. And I missed it.

Sort of. I knew about it. I just let my tickets sell on Ticketmaster to someone who wanted to see Dwyane Wade's last game in Washington more than I did. Because I didn't want to see and hear Capital One Arena treat Wade the way they treated Kobe in his last game in the District at all. No interest in that especially when I checked out of this season just about a month after the Wizards team checked out. So...like December.

So what was it? What was this giveaway the Wizards slid in between their first (on opening night) and second (for home game 40) true promotional nights of the year? It's actually pretty cool as a concept. The team handed out player socks featuring 1980s video game style knitted likenesses of John Wall, Bradley Beal and Tomas Satoransky. And yes, the Wizards did give away absolutely nothing at the door this year in games 2 through 39.

If I were rating this giveaway during my annual promotional schedule roundup at the beginning of the season, I would likely rate this as "essential". So of course I had to have some, even though I'd opted to sell all four of my tickets for the night for $86 of profit (which can offset oh so slightly the more than $1,000 lost during the first six games of March which I couldn't attend). And as usual for things I want that are in limited supply, I turned to eBay where lo and behold I found some Tomas Satoransky socks being offered for the low low price of less than $20. Sold!

They arrived yesterday and they are pretty sweet. Although admittedly they are not without their strangeness, and I don't mean the image on the socks.

I find it odd that the socks feature the Geico jersey patch but not the Nike swoosh.

First of all, I love these as an idea and I love that the team finally gave out something specific-player oriented that wasn't geared towards John Wall and Bradley Beal. Sato deserves a spot on the promotional schedule this year and he got it, albeit he is sharing it with Wall and Beal. Although not in my house he's not because I'm not going to hunt down Wall and Beal socks on eBay or anywhere else.

So here's the thing about free stuff handed out at NBA arenas: they are often low grade versions of things you would actually spend money on. If it's a bobblehead, the paint isn't always applied as precisely as it could be; if it's a poster, the paper's not quite as thick as it would be if it were being sold to people; and if it's a shirt, the quality is just not as good as something you would get at a store. These socks fit that mold. The texture is off. It's almost as if some cheap socks have been spray-painted with an image. And they probably feel like that because that's likely exactly what happened. They also feel like a cross between dress socks and the compression socks I wear on long haul airline flights. Maybe a little snug.

Does that spoil my enjoyment of these socks? Maybe a little. I may need to be pretty conservative about wearing these things and just roll them out for special occasions, like the first time Sato makes an All-Star Game or the Wizards make the Conference Finals. Does it make me feel like I wasted money on eBay? Absolutely not!

I tried them on. They fit. They didn't necessarily return to their original shape once I took them off after about maybe a total of five minutes. I'm not sure that bodes well for their long-term survival. For now, I dropped them in the back of my sock drawer near my Duff beer socks, which I also save for special occasions, like weddings. Not kidding. I wear Duff beer socks to weddings.

I'll end this post with a renewal of my message to the Wizards about the promotional schedule: more bobbleheads please! There is one on the slate for this Friday. No way am I missing that one.

Definitely a special occasion sock!

Renewed!

Well, I did it. Last Monday I made my way to the Wizards renewal suite and committed to another year of Wizards basketball as a season ticket holder. I know a lot of people who are making a different decision.

This season has been more difficult for me as a season ticket holder than any other. This may not have been the first season I've written this about but this one truly tested my patience and dedication as a fan. I attended fewer games than I have ever attended as a season ticket holder since maybe my first or second year when I was flying solo and genuinely had a difficult time getting people to go with me to games for free. I wavered as recently as last weekend on this decision and almost packed the whole thing in and decided to walk away.

Ultimately, four things kept me in the club.

First, the decision by the team to not raise prices this coming season was important. I get that prices of tickets are probably lower in some areas of the building than in corresponding arenas around the league but you so is historical performance. I think was an important gesture although ultimately, I probably would have renewed if there were a slight increase in price. Like a couple of bucks or maybe four at most per game.

Second, I ditched my upper deck tickets which at $40 per seat per game are way above market value. There's no way the team should be charging season ticket holders this much for this product. If the Wizards would not have let me sever those tickets from my package, I would not have renewed. I've been carrying two sets of tickets for a number of years now and the reason I first started doing this is no longer valid. Took me a while to cut the cord but ultimately, this reduced my cost by more than $3,000. Next year will be the first season I will not have upper deck season tickets. 

Third, I made a season ticket referral under the team's Sixth Man Referral program which cut $800 or so off the cost of my tickets. This, along with the ability to lose the 400 level seats, was huge. I've been sharing my ticket plan with a friend for the past 17 years and he decided the Wizards' performance this year was too much to take. This cost savings along with the deletion of upper deck tickets actually allows my first cost next year to be lower than this current season. I won't have this discount next year.

Finally, next year is season 20 for me and to make it that far is an emotional milestone. Next year, just like the $800 discount, this won't apply. The team performance better soar next year. I have absolutely no faith it will, meaning there's a good chance I won't be back for number 21. New management and a new head coach would do wonders for my mindset here.

I waited longer than usual to make this decision this year, primarily because I was out of town on the other side of the globe for two weeks. The emails from my account representative during that time were interesting. The standing offer of $200 of concession credit was supplemented by an on court free throw opportunity after a game, then by a pre-game happy hour with two free drinks then the concession credit offer got upped to $300. Waiting helps, I guess. I won't renew early ever again.

These little paper bands make me so happy. Give me a couple of these a year and I'll be way happy.

Finally, if there are season ticket holders who have not yet renewed, your deadline is March 29 which is this Friday, although I would anticipate that date being flexible. I don't see this renewal period coming anywhere close to 100% renewals.

I know it's too late to offer this advice but don't ever renew on line if you can make it to a game during the renewal period. There's always an opportunity to pick an envelope with a prize in it after you hand over your credit card to the team. Like we have a few times in the past, we managed to get wristbands allowing us access to the Etihad Lounge, which if you know me at all, you know I love. I'm a moocher at heart and free food and especially free beer always goes over well with me. It was the first and only time I had access this year. Thanks to my friend Mike for picking the right envelope. The photos on this post are courtesy of that access.

I also was offered the opportunity to become a human bobblehead during a timeout for an opportunity  to win a trip to an away game next year. I declined. I already had the free beer offer and it's likely a trip to Philly which I've already done. And yes, I know a little alcohol would have helped me in the contest but I figured someone else would get more out of it than me so I passed. 

Just a couple more games this year then it's on to season 20 even though more than half of the rest of the NBA will still be playing.

Human bobblehead contest. The dude on the left won. Congrats, buddy! Enjoy Philly!

Excuses

Before the 2018-2019 NBA season began, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis gave an interview where he offered some very interesting soundbites about the then upcoming Wizards campaign. Let's check a few of them out.

"We need to raise the expectations. We have to make the playoffs. I'd like us to win 50 games. I'd like us to go to the Eastern Conference Finals."

"We have one of the highest payrolls in the league with the Wizards. They have a beautiful, world-class practice facility. They're healthy entering the year."

"If you have this practice facility and one of the highest payrolls in the league and you're getting well-tended for your health, nutrition and the like. No excuses."

So, let's see where we are after tonight's loss to the Chicago Bulls, leaving our beloved team 5 games out of the playoffs with just 10 games to play (Miami is still playing as I write this post so it will either be 5.5 or 4.5 by the end of the night). 50 wins? Nope; can't win more than 40 at this point. Eastern Conference Finals? Nope. How do I know that last one when the Eastern Conference Finals aren't here for at least another couple of months yet? Well because quite simply if you don't make the playoffs, you can't make the Eastern Conference Finals. "No playoffs?" I say? when Ted said we have to make them and the team isn't mathematically eliminated yet? That's right, no playoffs. No 50 wins. No Eastern Conference Finals. No playoffs.

So assuming I'm right, what now? Ted said no excuses, right? What will that mean? Defining a vision for the club for the future? Firing the coach? Firing our President of Basketball Operations for life Ernie Grunfeld? 

I'm guessing no on all three. I'm usually a glass half full type of guy but when it comes to these Wizards and the management structure in place, I'm seeing the glass half empty or less than that every time. It helps me to not be so disappointed. My prediction? We're getting a whole pile of excuses. Here's my top 10 list of excuses Ted might roll out at the end of the season. Call this a pre-emptive shot across the bow. Maybe Ted will be too embarrassed to use any of these when the team officially gets eliminated from the postseason.

1. John Wall got injured. Twice. So did Dwight Howard and Markieff Morris.

This is the obvious, number one excuse. I guarantee this one is going to be used to explain why the team didn't make the playoffs. Heck, Ted even said the team was healthy entering the year (they weren't!). Here's the thing about no excuses. Any reason you offer for not achieving your one goal ("we have to make the playoffs") is an excuse. There's no parsing of language to go on here. A reason is an excuse. Getting hurt is an excuse. Is getting hurt a legitimate reason to underperform? Sure. But he said no excuses. 

Who out there feels that even without John Wall and Dwight Howard that the Wizards are a playoff team? My hand is up on this one. The fact that a team with this much healthy talent can't make the postseason or finish with a winning record comes down to the fit between players being terrible or coaching just not working. Take your pick! Pick both, if you want. But it's one of those, unless you believe a Bradley Beal-led team is actually worse than the Orlando Magic.

2. We traded Otto Porter.

He can't really use this one as an excuse, right? I mean the week before this trade happened Ted said he wasn't going to trade Otto. And he was under no obligation to do so. If this is offered as an excuse (and honestly, I don't expect anyone to do that) then this is for sure of the team's own making.

3. Kelly Oubre wasn't going to re-sign with the team.

Ahh...the Kelly Oubre for Trevor Remember-How-Good-He-Was-Last-Time-He-Played-Here Ariza trade. Moving on from a player who showed flashes of brilliance along with a long way to go in exchange for a savvy vet who is a defensive stopper.

Or was, prior to this year. The theory here was that Ariza was going to be the compass to guide this directionless team forward into the future and that the team would woo him into staying in that savior role all the way deep into the playoffs of the future via a generous multi-year deal with a player option on the last year. After all, Oubre wasn't going to sign for the kind of money the Wiz would have available, right? Doesn't matter I guess. Another swing and a miss by our front office here. Don't think Oubre would re-sign? Nobody can say for sure can they? My guess is Ariza walks or the Wiz hand him a way too rich contract that will take multiple second round draft pick sweeteners to unload.

4. We didn't know what we had in Tomas Satoransky.

By we, this excuse means Wizards management, Ernie Grunfeld but most especially head coach Scott Brooks, who also didn't know what he had in Thomas Bryant or Troy Brown or Wes Johnson or Devin Robinson (who?) or Ron Baker. The list could go on and on and on. And yes, some of those players listed (hi, Wes Johnson and Ron Baker!) are those who got playing time and shouldn't have. You can't use the excuse that your head coach who works for you won't recognize talent and basketball IQ. Get rid of him! It's gotten so bad that if I could only choose one to get fired, I'd probably choose Scotty.

5. We had to get below the luxury tax line.

Yeah, I know. Believe me, I know. It's all about the money with you guys. The object of owning a basketball team isn't to save money. It's to win games. Or it would be if I owned a team. Make some smart investments instead of trusting the same decision makers that have gotten you nowhere for the last decade and a half. 

At least I don't have to stay up on draft night beyond the first round for the next five years because moving the next five years of second round picks has been the cost of getting out of the tax the last few years.

Word. Mantra. Excuse. Take your pick.

6. We thought it would be easy with LeBron in the Western Conference.
Yeah, so did everyone else, especially the Celtics who were punching their ticket to the NBA Finals before even stepping on the court this season. Building a winning team requires more than just patience and sticking with the plan. No plan survives first contact with the enemy. To win at anything you have to be nimble and adjust based on the moves of others. The Wiz aren't, which is why they stubbornly try the same thing over and over again and make statements like "we have to figure out what's wrong" after losses to teams that shouldn't beat you.

7. I gave the players generous contracts. What else do you want me to do?

Is that how it works? How about player development? How about coaching? How about not doing the same thing every year and being surprised when the results are about the same. Although let's face it, this year the results are just worse.

8. The Raptors traded for Kawhi Leonard and the Sixers traded for Jimmy Butler.

Yeah, they did. They saw an opportunity to swing for the fences and they took it. Maybe it won't work. But both franchises saw that standing pat with the same roster that hadn't won it all the last few years wasn't going to cut it, even with LeBron in the west (see excuse number 6 above). Opportunities to contend for a Finals spot (and I mean really contend, not the Wizards standard pre-season declaration that we want to contend but then don't) only come along so often. The Wiz let it pass them by. And so they are in the lottery. Again.

Will we be making fun of the Sixers and Raps next year when their newly acquired stars sign elsewhere? Maybe. But my team can't even make the playoffs and has no definable plan for next year that doesn't involve making commitments over the luxury tax line to field a credible team. And we know what happened with that sort of strategy this year, right?

9. Who saw the Nets being this good?

You know what? I can buy this. I mean, honestly, who saw that team in Brooklyn with that roster being a playoff team. Good for the Nets. It's still an excuse though.

10. We decided next year is the year of no excuses when we have Bobby Portis, Jabari Parker, Jeff Green and Trevor Ariza for the whole year.

Of course it is. It's always the next year with the Wizards. It's always that we are happy with our roster and feel we have a chance to contend and are giving our front office an A for our offseason moves. Every. Year. In my worst nightmare I see the Wizards spending way too much on all four of these guys for two year deals all with player options. Please please. No more player options on deals.

I hope to God we don't get excuses, but that's what I'm prepared for. Heck, it looks like Ernie Grunfeld has already started on excuse number 1 from some remarks he made just last month about the Otto Porter trade (see also excuse number 2 above and the image below). We're doomed. Look forward to at least one more year of the Ernie and Scotty show, unless Ted can live up to his promise of no excuses. And remember, any reason offered for non-performance is an excuse when you say no excuses.