Almost Courtside

Earlier this month, the Wizards sent out renewal information for season ticket holders. Even though the team made no noise about this, they have elected to not raise the price of season tickets for the 2020-2021 season. That's good, because I am pretty sure the secondary market can yield cheaper tickets than the price season ticket holder pay per game for about 3/4 of the schedule. 

This season has been expensive for me. I don't want to spend a ton of money to watch another Wizards team underperform but I have precious few options once I elected to renew last year. There's no market to sell at a profit or even at the cost I paid for them some games. Because it's been so difficult to sell tickets at cost, I've elected to return some of my tickets to the team using the Fluid Tickets Program rather than selling them at a loss. The result has been an unused balance of credit that has built up. So I decided to spend some of that "cash" on some VIP tickets. This month I sat in better seats than I've ever had for a Wizards home game. Twice.

So I get this is a waste of money. Effectively, I've spent $1,700 on two Wizards home games for me and my wife. But there are two things to consider here. First, once I've bought season tickets, it's all sunk cost. Once I've committed it's too late. Better to trade my tickets in to the team and get something of greater value than losing money.

Second, even though I'm paying $96 per ticket per game as a season ticket holder, the real value of my purchase is variable. That's why the list price on my tickets mailed to me by the team is different than $96 per game. That's why the Wizards offering to give me $96 of credit per ticket for my Tuesday night tickets vs. the Chicago Bulls increases my value. And that's why, faced with a choice of selling my tickets for $30 or $40 per seat, I traded in my tickets.

If you know anything about me, you know I love the all inclusive experience at Wizards games. Sure it was way better when the team provided this as an occasional perk for loyal season ticket holders but the days of this team really valuing rank and file season ticket holders (read: those who spend less than let's say $30K per seat per season) are long gone. Today, it's all about the money for this ownership group. Which means for me, I gotta pay up. With my commitment to renew for next year on the fence, I figured doing the VIP thing using the Fluid Tickets Program might actually be the cheapest way to get this sort of experience. And it may be my last chance.

If this year is my last year, February provided me with some memorable experiences. I've sat closer to courtside than this before years ago in Minneapolis but never this close at MCI Center / Verizon Center / Capital One Arena. I came, I ate, I drank, the Wizards lost. Both games. Along the way I learned some things. Here's what I got out of my experience.

1. Not All VIP Seats Are Created Equal

We picked up VIP seats in the Row BB in opposite corners of the arena for our two VIP games. Against Memphis, we sat in Section 110 across from the Wizards bench; against Cleveland (how do we lose twice at home to Cleveland?), we sat in Section 121 behind the visitor's bench. In Section 110, Row BB is two rows behind courtside seats; in Section 121, Row BB is one row behind the walkway in back of the two row visitor bench area. Seats across the court from where the players sit are way closer to the court. Also, basketball players are tall. There's nothing like Andre Drummond standing up in front of you to inhibit your view of the game. For me, seats on the non-bench side of the court are better.

2. The Game Continues To Change As You Get Closer

One of the things I love about the live basketball experience is that as you get move around the arena, the game experience changes. Want to see a TV-like view but live? Sit on the sides of the arena in the upper deck. Want wider seats and more space? Sit on the club level? Want to see plays unfold a little closer to the action? 100 level in the back. Want to see players' eyes and have them hear you when you yell at the top of your lungs? Sit closer downstairs (that was for Dray Blatche). Want to hear the players talking? VIP it.

Some chatter from the court is pedestrian. In fact, I'm sure most stuff in a game between two non-playoff teams in late February is pedestrian. Moe Wagner asking who Tristan Thompson was yapping at from the bench in the first half was a nice touch considering the Wiz were way ahead at that point. I'm sure real trash talking in an important game would be fun from that close. Kevin Porter, Jr. got tossed in the Cleveland game and we know why. After what he felt was a blown call by the official he let him know it: "That's bullsh*t! F*ck you, man!" Tossed!

3. All You Need In Life Is On The Gatorade Cart

OK, so maybe that's not exactly true. But pretty much all a player might need during a game is on the Gatorade cart. Towels, bandages, Kleenex, O'Keeffe's Working Hands hand lotion, cell phone, gum and of course Gatorade. This is not the first time I've sat this close to an NBA bench so I didn't necessarily see anything surprising here. I remember a Wizards road game in either Atlanta or Indianapolis where there was a Tupperware container full of candy and gum. Players need that sugar. And soft hands apparently.

Next to the Gatorade cart was a separate cooler with personalized Gatorade bottles for individual players. These things were sharp. Guess the cups aren't good enough for some.

4. Waffles With Caramel > Donut Holes With Bourbon Sauce

One of the benefits and downsides of the VIP experience is you end up eating things you would never in a million years eat in real life. I mean, hey, it's free, right? We had to go for the waffle dessert bar in the Memphis game and the donut hole dessert bar in the Cavs game. Neither was any good for us but we piled sauce and sprinkles and sweetened whipped topping (it wasn't actual cream) on both those things. If I ever get VIP tickets again, I'm getting the waffles again if they have them. But I'm passing on the donut holes. Way too sweet.

5. Darius Miles Fans Are Everywhere

Darius Miles was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers in the year 2000 with the number three overall pick. He lasted two years with the Clips before moving on to Cleveland before the 2002-2003 season. He spent a year and a half with the Cavs before being traded and was out of the league in 2009. More than 16 years after he left the Cavs, there was a dude wearing a Mile 21 warmup right next to us at the Cavs game.

In 2012, I attended the NBA Draft in Newark, New Jersey. Sitting near us for that event was a guy with a "Bring Back Darius Miles" sign and five different Miles jerseys that he rotated as his jersey of choice throughout the night. What's up with all this Darius Miles love? Some players stick with the fans I guess.

Unless I renew for next season or I actually break down and buy a pair of courtside seats for one game (it's on my non-bucket-list bucket list) sometime in the future, these two games may be the last times I sit inside the hockey boards for a Wizards game. If that's the case, I guess I got something close to my money's worth. Or at least made the best I could of a bad situation. I love doing this stuff. Too bad the team makes it so hard for regular season ticket holders to participate in this sort of experience.

Caveat Emptor

Every year in this blog, I beg, implore, coax, plead and whatever else you want to call it to try to get the Washington Wizards to add more bobbleheads (read: more than one) to their promotional schedule. It never works. I know, I know, nobody reads this thing let alone the Wizards staff that comes up with the less than impressive giveaway schedule every year. 

But this year it happened. For real. Crazy, right? More bobbleheads. Finally!

And then they Wizard-ed it up in the most Wizards way possible.

A little more than two months ago, the Wizards announced three additional bobbleheads would be available for fans of the team. They had already revealed Thomas Bryant would be immortalized in resin (or whatever it is these things are made out of) in April of this year. Now they'd be producing Isaiah Thomas, Rui Hachimura and Bradley Beal (as Marvel's Black Panther) for fans to pick up. Only there was a catch. These bobbles would ONLY be available with purchase of a three game ticket plan...the Bobblehead Bundle.

My dilemma in late November of last year was this: buy tickets to three games that I already had two tickets for so I could get the three special bobbleheads or stay with my season tickets and settle for a solitary bobble while those more adventurous souls got IT, Rui and Brad in addition to Thomas Bryant. 

You know what I had to do. I spent $92.50 on upper deck tickets to three games I already had tickets to. There's no way I was going to use the tickets and I can't sell them and I knew it. At least I'd have a set of three bobbleheads that few other Wizards fans would have.

No I wouldn't.

On January 23rd, the Wizards decided to supplement their meager promotional schedule with a whole host of extra items. I'm guessing tickets aren't selling quite the way Ted Leonsis was hoping. Ish Smith pop socket. John Wall phone wallet. Davis Bertans glow-in-the-dark socks. Beer stein (!!!). Rui Hachimura bobblehead. Bradley Beal (as Black Panther) bobblehead. Wait! What? Two of the three bobbleheads that are supposed to be exclusive to the Bobblehead Bundle are no longer exclusive? So in effect I'm paying $92.50 for an Isaiah Thomas bobblehead that's probably worth all of $2.50. OK, maybe not that much. I'm pretty upset.

I calmed down a little, emailed my ticket rep, registered my displeasure, requested that my complaint be passed up the chain and asked what happened to the IT bobble which is not on the new and expanded promo calendar. Before we could actually talk on the phone, though, I got an email which I feel is laden with guilt from the Wizards about my bobble purchase. The text of that email is below.

So let me get this straight. The team knew I would be upset because I basically spent money for something now available to others without buying what I bought, but to let me know that I made the right decision, I could get two Rui and Brad bobbles (if I played things right) and the IT bobble was still on the table. Why do I need two Rui and Brad bobbleheads? What good is that going to do me? 

By the time my rep and I finally connected, I knew all this and decided to just let things be. I'd be out $92.50 but at least I'd get an exclusive Isaiah Thomas bobblehead. To their credit (I guess) the team did offer to refund my money which would remove access to the IT bobble. I told my rep not to do that. I'd just be wary of these situations in the future but would be happy to pick up my exclusive-not-available-to-many-others Isaiah Thomas Nipsey Hussle bobblehead on March 25. Why the Wizards are jerking around a 20 year season ticket holder over a piece of worthless plastic I have no idea. But that's what it's come to with this team I guess.

Today the Wizards traded Isaiah Thomas.

I assume that kills the IT bobblehead, right? So what started out as a package of three tickets with three exclusive bobbleheads is now just three tickets with two non-exclusive bobbleheads although you do get to pick up two if you are also one of the first 10,000 fans in the building on the giveaway nights. What a fiasco! If they had intentionally tried to screw up this promotion any more they couldn't have. Do the Wizards now have to refund everyone's money? I'm thinking yes. Either that or stick to their guns and give away a bobblehead of a dude who's no longer on the team.

You'd think I'd be furious at this point, right?

Surprisingly, I'm not upset at all. I will not be calling my ticket rep to register my displeasure with this new development today. The reason I'm not? Because when I told them not to refund my money they did it anyway. They did exactly what I told them not to do. I got a call asking for my credit card number so they could charge me again and I told 'em no. Is this how a championship team treats their fans? I can't imagine. 

At least I got my money back.