tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14094222541711266332024-03-13T09:53:06.444-04:00My Swag Was PhenomenalA blog about being a Washington Wizards fan and everything that comes with itJonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.comBlogger366125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-42646512276464616052020-12-30T07:52:00.000-05:002020-12-30T07:52:15.107-05:00Hopwood Out<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2OuLxShL2fY/X-vnM00gqGI/AAAAAAAALvE/-Qu9gPJd12QIP7QaKyzPXPMIhzLYzVQ4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Ves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="640" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2OuLxShL2fY/X-vnM00gqGI/AAAAAAAALvE/-Qu9gPJd12QIP7QaKyzPXPMIhzLYzVQ4gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h456/Ves.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><p style="text-align: justify;">In the fall of 2000, I made the decision to buy Washington Wizards season tickets. It was perhaps a little impulsive. I was new to the DMV and not fully invested in the Wizards, but at $410 for an entire season, there was pretty much no way to say no. As a transplanted New York Knicks fan (the Patrick Ewing-John Starks-Charles Oakley-Marcus Camby-Latrell Sprewell-Larry Johnson Knicks, that is...) who stood almost no chance to ever get some decent tickets to games at Madison Square Garden, the opportunity to go to a game anytime I wanted for a mere $10 per was too much to pass up.</p></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">About 12 years after I made that decision to buy season tickets, I'd become entirely consumed as a Washington Wizards fan, despite there being no realistic chance to that point (or since) that the team even stood a remote chance of competing for an NBA title. I never missed a game unless it really couldn't be avoided and my passion was all year round. Season. Postseason. Draft. Summer League. Free Agency. Preseason. Repeat. So I decided to start writing some of my thoughts as a Wizards fan down and post them on the internet. Why not? Seemed like a natural way to extend my love of this team to others.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It has never been easy being a Washington Wizards fan. Losing sucks. And there's been lots of it since 2000. But over the last few years, I've become convinced that this team is never going anywhere near the NBA Finals for one pretty significant reason: ownership. And so 20 years into being a season ticket holder and 366 posts (including this one) into this blog, I think I'm done with both. I'm out.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-942lLW_8BDU/X-vq3l-RroI/AAAAAAAALvQ/PLv8jXI6Lm8n8EsR-UhL6kmfwhzzTiP8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/clinch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-942lLW_8BDU/X-vq3l-RroI/AAAAAAAALvQ/PLv8jXI6Lm8n8EsR-UhL6kmfwhzzTiP8ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/clinch.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Clinching the only Division title in 20 years.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So far be it from me to drop an accusation like I did in the previous paragraph without backing it up so here goes. I used to love how I was embraced as a season ticket holder. There seemed to be so few of us at times. I literally didn't know anyone else who would even consider such an apparent waste of money. But the situation was great. Tickets were heavily discounted and the perks were great. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But those perks started disappearing. Access to special experiences started to dry up. Tickets got more expensive to the point where it was clearly cheaper to buy them on the secondary market. Eventually, it seemed like I was paying more than I should to remain a part of a club which had no real benefit.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And honestly, all of that would have been OK if there had been on court success these past 20 years. I'm OK even paying for season tickets with no discount if there were a chance at a title. But this organization is clearly not run with the goal of winning, unless it can somehow be done under the luxury tax threshold. Spoiler alert: it pretty much probably definitely for sure cannot be done under the luxury tax. The repeated decisions that have led to failure are baffling: conducting coaching searches with just one candidate in mind; trading first round draft picks for a get-in-the-playoffs-and-maybe-make-the-second-round-now reward; insisting on building through the draft and only through the draft (hey, it worked for the Caps!); and trading away mistaken signings at a cost or for nothing. None of that is going to add up to winning, especially when you hang on to coaches who clearly aren't right for this team (or the NBA) just so you can avoid eating a $7 million salary. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fewer perks, an increased cost that's more expensive than secondary market value, management and ownership decisions that lead to repeated on-court failures. Why should I stay? So I can get my 21st season mark after the team failed to deliver on my 20th anniversary reward? No thanks. I'm done. I love the Wizards but it makes no economic or emotional sense to stay in. John Wall was the last emotional reason to hang on. That trade was just the catalyst for me to end it.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73MQ5Q4Rr3I/X-vrGkXrZ4I/AAAAAAAALvU/YQoZbKYKe24Z1n1ZxoZB_J-kROsQhHzqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_1412.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73MQ5Q4Rr3I/X-vrGkXrZ4I/AAAAAAAALvU/YQoZbKYKe24Z1n1ZxoZB_J-kROsQhHzqwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/IMG_1412.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">All-Star weekend 2015. Meeting Earl Monroe.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So don't get me wrong here. I'm still a Wizards fan. I want this team to win more than practically any other team out there (the New York Jets after 42 seasons are still the one I want to win most). But this ownership and these past few seasons have taken the passion out of the whole thing for me. I don't feel important as a season ticket holder and I'm not excited about either the team's current prospects for winning something (in 20 years as a season ticketholder the team won one division title and nothing else) or even one player on the current roster.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I will also continue to go to Wizards games. I'm actually looking forward to the time when we can go again and I can actually buy tickets for way cheaper than I would have been paying as a season ticket holder. Unless that is the current team (which is 0-4 as of this writing) actually turns into a contender. My money's on that not happening.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'd like to think that I've made a difference in my 20 years as a Wizards fan. I've certainly been there for the Wizards in a number of ways. I've done two perfect seasons; seen the team on the road in 17 different NBA arenas (against 18 teams); attended every home playoff game in the last 20 years; been to the <a href="http://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2012/07/nba-draft-2012.html">NBA Draft</a>; been to Summer League seven years in a row in Las Vegas (2008-2015; there was no Summer League in 2011); been to the <a href="http://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2015/02/2015-all-star-break.html">All-Star Game in New York</a> when John Wall started the game; and was even there when the team <a href="http://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2017/03/southeast-division-champions.html">clinched their one and only Southeast Division title</a> in March of 2017. And yes, I know that last game was on the road in Los Angeles. I just happened to be there.</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Nng15qMGZY/X-vsJ4wHFuI/AAAAAAAALvk/vCPkehvjzuclwQx63BTD1AiYvCd51-seQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG-20120822-00463.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="640" height="616" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Nng15qMGZY/X-vsJ4wHFuI/AAAAAAAALvk/vCPkehvjzuclwQx63BTD1AiYvCd51-seQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h616/IMG-20120822-00463.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A very young John Wall signing at an Obama fundraiser in New York, 2012.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are still some things I want to do, Wizards-wise. I likely won't ever make it to all 29 (I'm projecting forward to the Clippers having their own pad) other arenas to see the Wizards play on the road. But I'd love to one day watch a Wizards game courtside (yes, I know all I need to do is cough up about $1,000 per seat to do that); I'd love to see the Wizards play in the NBA Finals (absolutely no control over that); and I'd love to see a Wizards player enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. And I don't mean like Mitch Richmond or Paul Pierce or someone like that. I mean someone who you could legitimately think of first and foremost as a Wizard. I guess John Wall has the best shot, although that may be a super long shot. Might be waiting a while on that last one just like that Finals appearance.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've had a great time writing this blog. Most of the stuff I've written on here has been stupid, silly stuff like ranking team logos and critiquing bobbleheads but I believe in everything I've written on this thing no matter how or when I've written it. It's been a labor of love and I've really enjoyed it. It's also connected me to a larger basketball community in D.C. in a way that I wouldn't have been if I hadn't ever written a single post on this thing. I've also met some people (some of whom have contributed to this blog) that I wouldn't have otherwise met.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eight and a half years is a long time to write about a basketball team that has accomplished almost nothing and is owned and managed by people who have proved that they don't really know what they are doing. 366 posts (a leap year's days worth of posts, if you will), seems like a good number to end on.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've dug up some of my favorite Wizards pictures over the years and included them in this post but the one below is still my favorite. I have no idea what's going on in the game but my friend Mike and I are clearly celebrating something good that the Wizards have done on court when nobody else (and I really mean nobody else) is paying the slightest attention or exhibiting any sort of excitement about what the Wizards are doing. It perfectly sums up my experience as a Wizards fan. It's even perfect that it's blurry.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's been real. Go Wizards. Always.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GoXge7jaJ3U/X-vkG5iRJmI/AAAAAAAALu4/mblF99KOWXsnoUfnooDLIy4dv9L_1Q0UgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/e13bc278215b062cd2d89da8a7ef9fd98d2737fd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GoXge7jaJ3U/X-vkG5iRJmI/AAAAAAAALu4/mblF99KOWXsnoUfnooDLIy4dv9L_1Q0UgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/e13bc278215b062cd2d89da8a7ef9fd98d2737fd.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-13920295774408619022020-12-21T16:02:00.000-05:002020-12-21T16:02:52.059-05:002020<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KOOOKYPKzB8/X9_vTuaScjI/AAAAAAAALt8/07EPgSgdJ1EPQ7KgtBSE0nLa6OHGLC21gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_5151.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KOOOKYPKzB8/X9_vTuaScjI/AAAAAAAALt8/07EPgSgdJ1EPQ7KgtBSE0nLa6OHGLC21gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_5151.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So two things right off the bat here: (1) I've been silent for way too long on this blog and (2) yeah, I know everyone thinks 2020 sucked pretty much as badly as anything as long as a year ever has. It's wrecked my year, it's wrecked my spirit, it's wrecked this blog and there's less than a month left so we don't really have to put up with this very much longer. On to 2021. And hopefully a return to normal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before I continue, this post is not supposed to be tone deaf but I realize it could come off that way. My year has been frustrating but I'm still alive and healthy and employed. There are more than 300,000 people who contracted COVID-19 who can't say that and millions more that have lost friends, relatives and jobs or have aftereffects of an illness that will never be cured. Compared to all those people, my year has been a breeze. I wouldn't wish 2020 on anyone but my heart goes out to those that have come through this thing way worse off than they started through no fault of their own.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now back to that wrecking this blog thing...it's true. Since I started writing this thing in 2012, I published 51 posts every full year from 2013 to 2017 and then decided to take the summers off in 2018 and 2019 and dropped my output to 36. There's nothing magical about those numbers (no it's not for Michael Ruffin and Etan Thomas although it would be awesome if that were the case) it's just the way it worked out. This year? 9 posts through the middle of December (meaning before this post). Nine!!! Pathetic.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Speaking of pathetic, that's about how the Wizards' year has been don't you think? Let's recap, shall we? And yes, there's plenty of self pity here.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>January</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Do you know what it's like for your team to have no shot at winning anything before the season even started? I do. I'm a Wizards fan AND a New York Jets fan. There has been plenty of that hopelessness before anything started over the 20 years I've been a Wiz season ticket holder and the more than 40 years I've been a Jets fan. The 2019-2020 season was about as miserable as I have felt before the beginning of a campaign. The Wizards started 2020 with a New Year's Day loss to the Orlando Magic which dropped them to 10-23. I'd pretty much lost interest at this point. There was just no conceivable way that this team turned things around.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>February</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The All-Star Game is held in February without Bradley Beal. Why? Because Beal wasn't selected by the coaches to be an Eastern Conference reserve. Considering the success of the teams from which every other All-Star reserve was selected, it's difficult for me to argue with Beal's omission. Team success affects All-Star voting, at least among coaches. It just does. Deal with it!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3OobJ9PI83I/X-EMXi02apI/AAAAAAAALuU/0P7dkxlFMk0zbU8W4HJw2Veo3hro1phbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/3282_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1568" data-original-width="2048" height="490" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3OobJ9PI83I/X-EMXi02apI/AAAAAAAALuU/0P7dkxlFMk0zbU8W4HJw2Veo3hro1phbgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h490/3282_001.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>March</b></p></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After waiting through the first four months my 20th season as a Wizards season ticket holder, I finally get the information about my 20th anniversary reward, transportation to and from a regular season game with dinner pre-game. I select the March 15 game against the Thunder as my game. Then four days before that game, the NBA shuts down, dooming my reward that I've waiting 20 years to get. It's not the first time the Wizards have skipped a significant milestone. My five year reward was supposed to be a reception with a player but Agent Zero skipped out alleging a flat tire and the team never felt like that was important enough to reschedule. I got a signed basketball instead. It's not the same.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ePNYkn8iWPk/X9_vftmIdYI/AAAAAAAALuA/3vx5LR7B2hcK_TaPr9j9qxIreJZAgPbbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1047/s-l1600.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="785" data-original-width="1047" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ePNYkn8iWPk/X9_vftmIdYI/AAAAAAAALuA/3vx5LR7B2hcK_TaPr9j9qxIreJZAgPbbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/s-l1600.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>April</b></p></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The season is still shut down. But...</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So not only did the NBA shutdown affect my 20 year reward celebration, it locked Wizards fans out of the biggest bobblehead bonanza in more than a decade. Finally after single bobblehead seasons the Wizards low low low attendance forces the team to hand out more swag. April was supposed to be Bradley Beal Black Panther and Thomas Bryant bobblehead month. Never happened. Same for Rui Hachimura bobblehead night in late March. The Wizards probably have upwards of 9,000 or so of these things in some closet at Cap One. They could mail them to season ticket holders, but don't.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In typical fashion, there are clearly some of these things out there and on eBay. The Wizards have given away some of these to fans here and there and there was a promotional special for season ticketholders who visited the team store at Cap One a couple of weeks ago and dropped a minimum spend. It also appears that the team mailed out a special package to some fans with the Rui and Beal bobbles and some other swag. Some dude in Canada has one for sale. The picture is above. Have at it, fans!!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>June</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The NBA finalizes plans for The Bubble, a way for teams to finish out the 2019-2020 season. Not every team is a part of this thing but the Wizards are because they are close enough to the playoffs to be deemed competitive. There are going to be eight seeding games to allow teams on the outside of the playoffs looking in to catch the teams above them. If a team is within four games of the eighth place team there will be a series of play-in games. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The NBA is wrong to deem the Wizards competitive here.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vo7S3arvkbM/X9_vsNqcSfI/AAAAAAAALuE/pRDtzcYUQpk9GhI9D3U5fHLYjR2ESrwGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s696/Draft_lottery.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="696" height="358" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vo7S3arvkbM/X9_vsNqcSfI/AAAAAAAALuE/pRDtzcYUQpk9GhI9D3U5fHLYjR2ESrwGgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h358/Draft_lottery.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>August</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">By the time the eighth month of 2020 starts, the Wizards have already seen Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans opt out of The Bubble and the team has already dropped their first of eight seeding games. It will get worse. It will take the Wizards until their eighth game to win one by which time they are long out of any sort of postseason scenario. The Bubble is a wasted experience.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The NBA came up with a way to get fans of the home teams engaged by having them attend games virtually having their likenesses pasted into seats on video boards. True to form, the Wizards "arena" under this scenario is more than half empty.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After their seeding games, the Wizards have the eighth worst winning percentage in the NBA for the 2019-2020 season. They entered The Bubble with the ninth worst winning percentage so by going 1-7 in July and August, they actually slid below the Charlotte Hornets in the standings, which last season were determined by winning percentage because not every team played the same number of games. In the annual NBA Draft Lottery, the eighth worst team moved up to the number three spot. But...the rules don't allow Bubble teams to slide below non-Bubble teams for the purposes of the Draft Lottery. The Hornets move up and the Wiz stay at nine. Figures! Push the knife deeper, why don't you?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f3bW3fMs4Wg/X-ENJYS5SoI/AAAAAAAALuc/nzQse1tgjkAgCxjbvZdBkgF6yKB6WjJcwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Russell-Westbrook-John-Wall-Rockets-Wizards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f3bW3fMs4Wg/X-ENJYS5SoI/AAAAAAAALuc/nzQse1tgjkAgCxjbvZdBkgF6yKB6WjJcwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Russell-Westbrook-John-Wall-Rockets-Wizards.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>December</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Wizards trade John Wall to the Houston Rockets along with a future conditional first round draft pick for Russell Westbrook. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm crushed. I still haven't recovered emotionally. I can get my head wrapped around the idea that Russell Westbrook is going to hold the entire Wizards team accountable in a way that John Wall or Bradley Beal or Scott Brooks never have been able to but I'm still crushed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In my 20 years of season ticket holder-dom, there have been only two players on this team that I have truly loved. They are (and there's probably no surprise here) Gilbert Arenas and John Wall. There's nobody else that's come close. Micheal Jordan, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Bradley Beal have all been All-Stars in Washington over that time and Brendan Haywood and Martell Webster have been favorite players of mine at one time or another. But none of those guys have offered me hope of achieving something more than just mediocrity as a Wizards fan. Gil and John did that. Nobody else. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Wizards traded Gilbert Arenas because he ripped his knee up in a game against the Bobcats and did something immeasurably stupid by bringing a firearm into the locker room. The team apparently traded John Wall because someone in John's inner circle leaked a video of him flashing some gang signs at a party this summer. Not a smart thing to do, I get it, but the franchise has been talking about just wait until John Wall gets healthy for more than a year and right when he is they go and trade him. Makes no sense. That's all I'm going to say about that. Words can't express how faithless and utterly lacking in loyalty I think that trade is. I know...it's a business. John Wall offered me hope. The Wizards have taken that away.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Is that enough for this year? It is for me. The NBA season starts tomorrow. The Wizards open Wednesday at Philadelphia in front of no fans. I feel the same way I felt last October. The Wizards have no shot here at winning anything. Maybe they make the playoffs. Maybe they don't. If they make the playoffs this year then they get a mid-first round pick who likely won't make a difference to the team's future success in any real way and maybe they stay a playoff team the next season and then give up their 2023 first round pick as part of the Wall trade.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Maybe Russell Westbrook makes the Wizards better. Maybe Davis Bertans is worth the investment and maybe a draft pick pans out. What then? I get that it's unfair to say this but the guy who's supposed to be calling the shots for the Wizards was the team's third choice. Are we happy there? I know, the book's still out. But he did back a coach who's shown little ability to get the most out of his teams. Maybe Ted Leonsis called the shot on that one, not willing to part with $7 million for nothing, just like Ted called the Wall trade too. And refuses to exceed the luxury tax to take a shot at winning. Tell me where my hope is.</span></p>Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-80068213988305520042020-06-16T22:25:00.002-04:002020-06-16T22:26:01.453-04:00Where's Our Stuff?<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3VufxPwLy90/Xul904jfM6I/AAAAAAAAKvY/DqWnwRaMWPk02XHTdT1ikzTW0KIvV55HQCK4BGAsYHg/s1152/ETMNZe0UUAA3Ygs.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1152" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3VufxPwLy90/Xul904jfM6I/AAAAAAAAKvY/DqWnwRaMWPk02XHTdT1ikzTW0KIvV55HQCK4BGAsYHg/w640-h640/ETMNZe0UUAA3Ygs.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">So the NBA season is resuming July 30 in Orlando. With the Wizards by the way. And maybe no Kyrie Irving. Maybe. And it goes until when? October? Then the next season starts in December? When's that one going to end? Does it go until August of next year? Or is it a shorter schedule? Or compressed so we get tons of back to backs and three games in four nights type things? Will the players union stand for that? Will fans even be allowed in the buildings? Do we have to say see you in October 2021 to our favorite teams? </font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">So many questions, right? But I have to say the biggest one I have out there is "Where's our stuff?" Not trying to be greedy. Just stay with me here a minute or so. This one's not that long.</font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">So the 2019-2020 season from a fans attending game scenario is done. But what about the free stuff the team had planned to hand out at the games that were cancelled? What happens to all that stuff? And most specifically, what happens to all the bobbleheads??????</font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">So I get there's a ton of irony for me personally here. I've been begging and pleading with the Wizards to go above and beyond the one bobblehead they give away each year and they finally relent and give in and follow other great bobblehead-distributing franchises and then all the games with the bobbleheads have been cancelled? What are they going to do with all those things? What happens to the stash? And why can't loyal season ticket holders get a hold of them?</font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">Before we go further, maybe we need to recap exactly what we fans are missing here. </font></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">Sunday, March 15 (vs. OKC): Beer Stein</font></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">Saturday, March 21 (vs. Milwaukee): Glow-In-The-Dark Latvian Laser Bertans Socks</font></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">Wednesday, March 25 (vs. Phoenix): Rui Hachimura Bobblehead</font></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">Saturday, March 28 (vs. LAL): John Wall Phone Wallet</font></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">Friday, April 3 (vs. Philadelphia): Black Panther Inspired Bradley Beal Bobblehead</font></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">Wednesday, April 15 (vs. Indiana): Thomas Bryant Bobblehead</font></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">Now admittedly, I'm not super enthusiastic about all these giveaways. My phone probably doesn't fit in the John Wall phone wallet and as much as I love the idea of some glow-in-the-dark Davis Bertans socks, I'm not sure they are an essential fashion accessory for me. I still have my Sato socks from last year and I've never ever worn those things.</font></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">But a beer stein? And three bobbleheads? Come on...fans have got to be wondering what happens to those goodies, right? Right? RIGHT??</font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">What corner of Capital One Arena is filled with 10,000 Beal and Rui bobbleheads? I'm guessing the same corner of the building that has those 20,000+ Thomas Bryant bobbleheads. I'm an architect and I've never met a client that didn't have enough storage space; they are always asking for more when we are designing their buildings. How about liquidating that inventory by allowing loyal fans to assume possession of all that merch and getting back a ton of closet space. I mean we'd be doing the team a favor.</font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">The cancellation of the NBA season (and all sports for that matter) has been a total bummer. I mean if there's one thing we could have used in a time when those of us fortunate enough to be able to stay at home and work have essentially quarantined ourselves, it would be a team to root for, no matter how hopeful or hopeless the cause might have been. This truncated season was my 20th as a Wizards season ticket holder. I missed the end of the season and my 20th anniversary milestone reward. But most of all, I miss having a brand new Rui Hachimura, Bradley Beal Black Panther and Thomas Bryant bobblehead securely nestled within my bobblehead collection. After 20 years and many many seasons begging and pleading for more bobbleheads, why can't we just get a package from the Wizards next week with all three of these things?</font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">So here's my proposal to Ted Leonsis: get on a Zoom call this week and get someone or someones (with mask(s) or other sort of face protection of course) down to Cap One and start sending these giveaways out to season ticket holders to reward them for their years and years of loyalty. It's just the right thing to do. Please. Do it. For the fans. Three bobbleheads and one stein per season ticket holder. Throw the socks and the phone wallet in there too if you feel like it. But the stein and the bobbles please.</font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><font face="georgia">So for those of you really paying attention, I know I have not addressed the issue of the Isaiah Thomas bobbleheads, which we know exist since IT posted one on his Twitter feed and it's the cover photo of this blog post. If Ted actually reads this thing...come on, man...let us have that one too. Please?</font></div>Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-1325089780916056632020-05-21T20:38:00.003-04:002020-06-17T21:29:05.553-04:00Zooming With Jamison<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3gLf3Xtbqq8/XscdzuenyEI/AAAAAAAAKrI/3sngJ9bUvoofrNJg9qF0zmxgK78e-ZcjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-05-21%2Bat%2B1.36.05%2BPM.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" height="358" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3gLf3Xtbqq8/XscdzuenyEI/AAAAAAAAKrI/3sngJ9bUvoofrNJg9qF0zmxgK78e-ZcjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-05-21%2Bat%2B1.36.05%2BPM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">It's now officially mid-May and there's still no basketball. Two months without the NBA. Sure, there's been some talk, the Draft lottery has been postponed, the Wizards have offered season ticket holders refunds and I've gotten an email from the Mystics to ask me about when I'm ready to come out and support the team. But basketball? No. Any meaningful event to slake the thirst of Wizards die-hard fans? Also no. And Scott Brooks' haircut doesn't count there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">And on the Mystics front...I'd love to come back and see a winner. Start the season and let me see how it goes with crowds in building at live sporting events and I'll be right there. But just expect me to be a late adopter about returning to crowds of strangers in enclosed spaces.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">But the Wizards did manage to break up the ennui of mid-March to mid-May and beyond by hosting a live chat on Zoom with two time Wizards All-Star and general all around legend Antawn Jamison this afternoon. OK...so chat means a chat between AJ and Dave Johnson but it was still worth me tuning in at 1:30 this afternoon to see what the current Wizards Director of Pro Personnel was up to these days and maybe get a story or two from the seasons that made up four consecutive playoff runs in the mid-aughts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">When I got this invite earlier this week I leapt at the chance to participate, especially since the session was limited to just 500 season ticket holders. I signed up as soon as the email hit my in box, entered a question into the question jar that I knew would never see the light of day with this ownership group and then prayed I'd make the cut. I did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">The topics in the almost 50 minute chat ranged from Antawn's thoughts on ESPN's 10-part The Last Dance series on the Chicago Bulls championship teams to musings about how to build a team in an era of positionless basketball to comments on the relationships between the Wizards, Mystics and Capitals. He also covered how it feels to be back in the Wizards organization and just a brief description of what he does as Director of Pro Personnel. This last one I didn't actually know but it sounds like he does anything behind the scenes to get the Wizards better on the court.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">All that was well and good, but I wanted to hear about those 2005 through 2008 playoff teams and the seasons that led to those four straight postseason trips. And we did get some of that.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">On how he made those crazy and unorthodox shots in games...</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Apparently AJ never really learned any technique in high school. He just did what he wanted and was more athletic and just plain better than anyone he played against. When he went down to the University of North Carolina, he had to learn the fundamentals but he also had to face players bigger than him guarding the basket. Apparently getting those looping, scooping, underhanded and push shots got him around those guys. Seemed natural. Never practiced it. Doc Rivers apparently didn't believe it; swore it was scripted.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">On how the mid-aughts Wizards would fare in the NBA today...</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">What's he going to say here? That the Wiz wouldn't cut it? He spread the love around to himself, Caron Butler (would score from anywhere), DeShawn Stevenson (can defend multiple positions) and Brendan Haywood (would be effective at both ends). But his highest praise was for Gilbert Arenas who he called James Harden and Russell Westbrook before those guys were around. High praise. And you know what I wanted to hear more than anything was stories about Agent Zero.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">On his favorite moment as a Wizards player...</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Clinching the playoffs in 2005 and the look on Abe Pollin's face when he came in to the locker room after the game. I still remember that night. After the Wizards won their game against the Bulls at MCI Center, we stayed in our seats and the players stayed on the court to watch the end of the Nets-Pacers game and celebrated when New Jersey knocked off Indy. It was clear that Antawn took great pride in leading a team starving for playoff action from a postseason outsider to the first round of the playoffs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><b>On his favorite places to eat in Washington...</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Home. Although he did mention Georgia Brown's as a top spot. I used to work a block from Georgia Brown's and used to take people there who I wanted to make an impression on. Good stuff!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Of course, Antawn also had to take a little swipe at Andray Blatche (the only other Wizards teammate that he mentioned besides the four above and Larry Hughes) by talking about what leadership means. How could he get on Seven Day Dray to get in the gym and work if he wasn't leading by example? He also made a couple of dubious claims, comparing the work ethic of Gilbert Arenas favorably with that of Kobe, Shaq, LeBron and MJ, and claiming the Wizards are looking for players with "Championship DNA" to the roster. Really? To both of those last two claims.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Finally, and because LeBron ain't...MJ is the GOAT.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">And my question that I knew wouldn't get asked? What does Gilbert Arenas and this current ownership group need to do to get Agent Zero back to D.C. and part of the Wizards extended family. Told you there was no way current ownership would let that one out of the box.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">This was a good break from the boredom of my 10th consecutive working at home week. It's sometimes good to reminisce about the good times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Two final things. First, there was no need to worry about being one of the first 500 to sign up for this thing. Attendance on the Zoom call surged to 34 at one point in the conversation and that included Dave Johnson, AJ and whoever at the Wizards was hosting. Finally, I appreciate the personal shoutout from Dave Johnson on the call, who never seems to forget how <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2016/08/offseason-shopping.html">we bumped into each other in the airport in Reykjavik in 2016</a>. Thanks, Dave!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Glorious stuff! I still have this in my file cabinet from 2005.</span></td></tr>
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Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-33253741840151597822020-04-19T13:17:00.000-04:002020-04-19T13:17:10.090-04:00If They Play, Will You Go?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r9_FyO3J-PE/XpuuFASfpmI/AAAAAAAAKpc/gCVPiXe0dKkTYzpVhTs8dY5LOunJbDwkQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r9_FyO3J-PE/XpuuFASfpmI/AAAAAAAAKpc/gCVPiXe0dKkTYzpVhTs8dY5LOunJbDwkQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3419.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On March 11, the city of San Francisco announced a two week ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people in response to the then rapidly escalating number of cases of COVID-19 spreading along the west coast of the United States. For the first time, the prospect of an NBA game without fans was looming, with the Golden State Warriors set to host the Brooklyn Nets later that same week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They never made it. Later that same day, an odd scene played in Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena where the home Thunder were about to host the visiting Utah Jazz. Just prior to the opening tip, the players were evacuated from the court, the Jazz bench was swabbed with chemicals and eventually the game was cancelled around a rumor (which was true) that the Jazz's Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Games went on that night in Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Dallas. The next day the whole league was shut down. It still is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since then, the league, players and media have talked about a number of different scenarios for the rest of the season. Play without fans. Make no decision until May at the earliest. Move the whole league to one spot (Vegas, anyone?) and play the whole rest of the season game after game in the same arena. Start the playoffs now and put every team in. Players said they wouldn't play without fans. Then flip-flopped quickly thereafter. Now according to commissioner Adam Silver "everything" is on the table. Realistically, everything's been on the table for a while now with all the ideas that have been thrown around in the last five weeks or so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We are now beyond the scheduled end of the regular season (April 15 in case Wizards fan appreciation night wasn't circled on your personal schedule). We are supposed to be watching playoff basketball. But still, no decision from the league. It's still a waiting game. There's still too much money at stake for the owners and a lot of other people associated with the continuation of the NBA schedule for a decision to cancel to be made. I'm sure there are teams and players out there who don't want to stop. I'd put Milwaukee Bucks fans (worried about if Giannis will leave if the team doesn't win this year), LeBron James (worried about if Anthony Davis will leave) and Los Angeles Clippers fans (can their team finally make a conference finals appearance?) at the head of the line.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the meantime, there's a new normal out there, whatever that really means. Staying at home. Working at home if you are lucky. Uncertain infections symptoms. Uncertainty around immunity if the disease is contracted and you survive. Sure there are people out there who seem very upset about the whole thing who are determined to protest the government's right to restrict their movement or who seem to feel this thing is no worse a killer than the flu or car accidents (last time I checked car accidents weren't contagious). but unless there's vaccine found pronto, there's no real concept of what normal or a new normal is going to look like.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The question then is, if the NBA somehow feels it's safe enough to resume games with fans, do you go? I don't think I do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The last crisis that stopped American sports on a grand scale were the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon just outside Washington and wherever Al Qaeda wanted Flight 93 that was downed in Pennsylvania to hit on September 11, 2001. After a pause in on field events, the United States got back to playing sports and rooting for their teams as a symbol of defiance against a terrorist organization determined to take down the American way of life. Our turning up en masse to congregate together was a glorious sign of solidarity and a message that we would not be afraid or defeated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This COVID-19 situation is not 9/11. Coming together in a building full of friends and strangers is exactly what we should not be doing at this time. We should not be breathing the air that people next to us exhale or cough or sneeze in crowds of 12 to 20 thousand. Depending on who you are, that sort of behavior could do nothing to you, or get you very sick or kill you. How do we really know things are safe? What's going to make the NBA make that decision?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe they plan to social distance. Airlines are still operating flights and have decided to seat folks every other row or every third row and no more sitting in the middle seats. It's not the recommended six feet but it's better than having someone sick in the very next seat. Does the NBA do the same thing? Do they operate with crowds of 8,000 or less than that with gaps in the seating? Every other row and every third seat? I can't imagine, even though it may actually be possible in some arenas and yes, Wizards fans, you know what I'm talking about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've been working at home for almost five weeks now. Other than runs at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. to the grocery store and a weekly trip for takeout at our local ramen shop, I've mostly stayed inside 24/7. My car battery is dead. I roll out of bed every day and start working straight away in my pjs and the shirt I wore the previous day. I shower only after I work out, which I've been doing about five times a week. I have no idea right now what would make me feel comfortable enough to go out for real.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For sure, there's nothing that would go on down at Capital One Arena that would make me go to a building with more than 10,000 fans in it. The remaining regular season games in the 2019-2020 regular season? I don't think so. Not even if the Wizards were in real playoff contention (I know it's mathematically possible but come on...). Let's say the NBA decides to play out the regular season (they won't in my opinion). Do I go to see LeBron James and the Lakers visit D.C.? What about Zion Williamson? There are three bobbleheads left on the schedule. What about those? My answer here is no way for all of those. I love the Wizards and bobbleheads but no way do I go to a meaningless game for the rest of the current season. I'd think hard about going to pick up a bobblehead and come straight home but I can't even imagine that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why would we? Why should we put anyone at risk so Bucks, Lakers or Clippers fans could see their teams win a title and so the mostly billionaire NBA owners won't lose quite as much. Any resumption of the season would put players, fans, owners, staff, stadium workers, first responders, healthcare workers and more at risk. Why would we do that? So the Larry O'Brien trophy can be handed out? I know the teams don't want to give cash back to the fans for unplayed games but honestly, that decision can't be anything else really but inevitable at this point, right? The end of the 2019-2020 season seems like a no brainer here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The bigger question is what happens after this. The NFL claims their season will start on time. Why? How do they know that? If there are enough empty hospital beds to accommodate a surge in infection from NFL games do we go ahead? The NBA has a couple of more months to figure out things for their next season. But in all honestly, unless things are completely under control I can't see myself heading to the Wizards season opener. And really, how can things be completely under control about five months from now? I know there's a long way to go but I can't see it.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o5QPOJJ6YdA/XpuuMCmmqfI/AAAAAAAAKpk/rD5zXIRrhasdvYAuY4k5GQ0og1adwpLgACEwYBhgLKsoDAL1OcqxxMtjAbgJmVvUkxzIKoFA-XxrmppvbEiagLotn4aKdtRijyx0YAMxQyynAHiBjkf2azGby7dYPkLiiWACzqUlifvxRd-Iawu074ZWmurXow4TIgujGcoGvnfeyTf_fcsu2wVvlxiPtZkQ-ZLJtb3REVpi9oa3EtT1pY7cm9OYmPYwk0-eZYTAyH4fjvmxolSmQ0VILp3YjQT46UaOUMsGWqICn0Ip7V9TwF_OQ1kU85n9EhPUvStH-PHb9zfAnH19m2BvidzWGZ9XpO8WECgEtEMSKPQIaOVT8qwuDup7pNrwyVF4l9xMN2d9LITxyRnpOyaQT59YOdPjqE8l3o3myZIbGIOZ7a9sYGrEdc7MG-ha5TTFGRM2iXpCjgW--xtV20aXxFAkbI7JFB4RTtjSyCdGX2YGGa7dnRCgiIp-oj0mkt3Yp1MX3ruYEI6SbAnoU77-70nle7sqPgSTvGgk5qy7BpvDMEW0X4FuHMuD2Eg3_NxNAZnhd4qQ2mm9gbhj6ir5NE4_qJu-wIH3SWdjcBq91-xzAL8Ar6cvMx9T11X76CH1XRIEoeoTXJ2haPO06CbfzNolJGVr_ia2OWKlvTERP28Ywr-Pu9AU/s1600/IMG_3556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o5QPOJJ6YdA/XpuuMCmmqfI/AAAAAAAAKpk/rD5zXIRrhasdvYAuY4k5GQ0og1adwpLgACEwYBhgLKsoDAL1OcqxxMtjAbgJmVvUkxzIKoFA-XxrmppvbEiagLotn4aKdtRijyx0YAMxQyynAHiBjkf2azGby7dYPkLiiWACzqUlifvxRd-Iawu074ZWmurXow4TIgujGcoGvnfeyTf_fcsu2wVvlxiPtZkQ-ZLJtb3REVpi9oa3EtT1pY7cm9OYmPYwk0-eZYTAyH4fjvmxolSmQ0VILp3YjQT46UaOUMsGWqICn0Ip7V9TwF_OQ1kU85n9EhPUvStH-PHb9zfAnH19m2BvidzWGZ9XpO8WECgEtEMSKPQIaOVT8qwuDup7pNrwyVF4l9xMN2d9LITxyRnpOyaQT59YOdPjqE8l3o3myZIbGIOZ7a9sYGrEdc7MG-ha5TTFGRM2iXpCjgW--xtV20aXxFAkbI7JFB4RTtjSyCdGX2YGGa7dnRCgiIp-oj0mkt3Yp1MX3ruYEI6SbAnoU77-70nle7sqPgSTvGgk5qy7BpvDMEW0X4FuHMuD2Eg3_NxNAZnhd4qQ2mm9gbhj6ir5NE4_qJu-wIH3SWdjcBq91-xzAL8Ar6cvMx9T11X76CH1XRIEoeoTXJ2haPO06CbfzNolJGVr_ia2OWKlvTERP28Ywr-Pu9AU/s640/IMG_3556.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wizards fans frequently social distance at the beginning of games. A frequent sight during team intros.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-430449632386512452020-04-05T20:33:00.000-04:002020-04-05T20:33:35.319-04:00Should I Go Wizards?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cm6eTe_2vns/Xop4OmmolHI/AAAAAAAAKoo/Gd3BF8CF5Z86TkLF9dz4wlPUm6OSnrS7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_4437.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cm6eTe_2vns/Xop4OmmolHI/AAAAAAAAKoo/Gd3BF8CF5Z86TkLF9dz4wlPUm6OSnrS7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_4437.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So it's April 5, the NBA is considering cancelling the season (if rumors are to be believed) and the Wizards STILL haven't sent me an email about the season being on hold. I find that last point to be unbelievable especially considering the NHL (never bought an NHL ticket in my life) and the Orlando Magic (just attended one game in Orlando ever) have checked in with me about their respective seasons being on hold. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Wizards did send me a note reminding me of the season ticket renewal deadline and letting me know they'd extend that for an unspecified period. Priorities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have not been watching the simulated NBA games during this suspension of play. I don't see the point. It's not the real Wizards players playing the video games. I can't get that juiced about a video game simulation of reality. Back when I was cooped up in an apartment in upstate New York I can't tell you how dominant the New York Jets were on Madden with me on the controller on my Nintendo and that never translated to reality either.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But a video game tournament between actually NBA players? Count me in!!! At least as long as 13 seed Rui Hachimura is representing himself and the Wizards (OK, maybe not so much the Wizards) is in the action. I spent an hour in front of the TV earlier tonight watching Rui take on Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz in a game Rui was expected (by the seedings) to lose. I don't know who seeded this tournament by the way. The lower seed won three of the four games on day one by 16, 16 and 30 points. I guess there's not much data to go on here which raises the question why bother seeding.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xmYj9hF8cKc/Xop4VKDlTwI/AAAAAAAAKos/MdAsSRlCeoEOgC3LYvzOeTgMqOQUFSyLACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_4439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xmYj9hF8cKc/Xop4VKDlTwI/AAAAAAAAKos/MdAsSRlCeoEOgC3LYvzOeTgMqOQUFSyLACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_4439.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does this qualify as an esports event? If it does, this is my first time watching that genre of sports. I can't see much more of this in my future even though Rui managed to pull off the upset over Mitchell which I'm obviously thrilled with. The average Wizards fan hasn't had a lot of hope this year. The team's season was essentially over before it started, Davis Bertans gave it a good run in the All-Star Saturday Night Three Point Contest but ultimately came up empty and that's about it. Rui's our great hope here. Let's keep it going.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So here's the scoop: Rui's Los Angeles Lakers team took out Mitchell's Brooklyn Nets team by three. It was a four point game at half and the Nets took a brief lead in the second half only to have Rui bring LA back from behind for the win. If I'm understanding the rules correctly, I think Rui can no longer us the Lakers the rest of the way but I'm really not that sure. The game had a couple of time-space continuum issues: Kevin Durant is good to go despite still recovering from the achilles issue from last season's finals and Kenny Atkinson is still his coach, despite being relieved of those responsibilities by the Nets on March 9.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From an entertainment point of view here, I'm sure ESPN is disappointed that Rui won. Donovan Mitchell's the bigger game and Rui plays with about as much to say as I have when I'm gambling. That is...nothing. Too focused on the game. Mitchell was talking the entire time, more often than not to simulated Jarrett Allen. It worked for Rui I guess since he won.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Best line of the night: The non-response by both Mitchell and Rui to Rui's question "Should I go Wizards?" Silence from both. Rui's probably glad he didn't go Wizards. Stay away from that team please if you want a chance at winning this thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Second best line of the night: Donovan Mitchell with "I gotta get someone in the game who can guard LeBron." Yeah, not the first time that's been said I'm sure. Mitchell never solved that problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other issues: (1) Home decor does not seem to be a strength for either player. Rui had some sort of art on the wall on his right side but overall...tons of beige/white painted gypsum board. (2) I have no desire to ever see a MyPillow.com commercial ever again. Why is that fool on my TV? (3) Of course, I wore my Rui Hachimura shirt.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wAv6Xs9BWd0/Xop4baxaRvI/AAAAAAAAKow/FMsE1AUjBuEfhZVHz4X7d6ivQ2GWFjjbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_4440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wAv6Xs9BWd0/Xop4baxaRvI/AAAAAAAAKow/FMsE1AUjBuEfhZVHz4X7d6ivQ2GWFjjbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_4440.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, is Coby White living in an apartment or a townhouse or house? To me, it looks like he's in an apartment. Glad I don't live below him with him doing basketball drills when he gets bored.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rui's next opponent is either Devin Booker or Michael Porter, Jr. That game's going on right now. I'll be tuning in to the next one. Go Wizards! Sort of! </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sn3buurf2ao/Xop4gn-MvXI/AAAAAAAAKo0/ZESqEiozllAWMJ_AepSMAE22kROOdNCLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_4442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sn3buurf2ao/Xop4gn-MvXI/AAAAAAAAKo0/ZESqEiozllAWMJ_AepSMAE22kROOdNCLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_4442.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Game over! On to Round 2!!!</span></td></tr>
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Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-59290236764388330392020-03-10T08:05:00.004-04:002020-03-10T08:05:52.432-04:00Attrition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l3GFBfRdbXk/XlxFsblp5mI/AAAAAAAAKlA/cDt1lDBuSOYWPLbbUzMWjDY6TmAh8k_AQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_4351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l3GFBfRdbXk/XlxFsblp5mI/AAAAAAAAKlA/cDt1lDBuSOYWPLbbUzMWjDY6TmAh8k_AQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_4351.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Every year since the 2014-2015 season, the Washington Wizards have been putting the names of each and every one of their season ticket holders on the court at Verizon Center / Capital One Arena. It's a pretty cool gesture that builds a little value and costs virtually nothing for the team to do. Once or twice a year (this year it was once), the team lets season ticketholders stay after a selected game and check out their names right there on the hardwood where the Wizards play. I skipped my session this year; I had sold my tickets that night and I already saw my name the prior game during <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2020/02/almost-courtside.html">my latest VIP session</a> vs. the Cavs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you haven't noticed the names on the court while you've either been at a game live or watching on TV, I'm not surprised. They are pretty darned small. You might have noticed (but honestly probably not) sometime over the last half dozen years <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-insert-your-name-here-memorial-court.html">a sticker on the sides of the court</a> on the opposite side from the player's benches that reads something like "DC FAMILY" or "dcRISING" or "@WASHWIZARDS". These are where the names of the season ticket holders are. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It occurred to me last year when the Wizards sent this notice out that they are essentially publishing their list of season ticketholders here. Or close enough; they are actually just printing the way the season ticketholder wants their name printed and for most people this is probably the same thing. I then wondered if I could get an idea of how much season ticketholder attrition there was year to year just by saving last year's list and comparing to this year's. Yes, this would mean matching names year by year. Yes, this would be extremely tedious and a complete waste of time. Yes, I did it anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you had asked me what I would have expected at the start of this exercise I would have said three things: (1) the old time season ticket holder numbers, say 15+ years at this point, would be fairly stable; I mean after this much punishment and disappointment, why not keep coming back? (2) there would be obvious surges in season ticketholder numbers after successful season and not so much after failing to make the playoffs and (3) there would be substantially fewer numbers of season ticketholders this year than last year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before I get to all that, a few clarifications. The years referred to below are the years when the season ticketholder started purchasing tickets. In other words, if the first purchase was for the 1999-2000 season, that account belongs to the nineties. Second, 2019 denotes this current season; 2018 is last season (mansplaining, I know). Finally, I'm merging the sixties and seventies together because there's only one account still active from the 1960s (1967, if you must know and it's Acme Paper. Kudos to them for sticking it out this long).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here's how the list of names on the on court stickers breaks down by decade, this year vs. last year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>The Sixties and Seventies</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2018 Number: 34</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2019 Number: 26</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>The Eighties</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2018 Number: 87</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2019 Number: 66</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>The Nineties</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2018 Number: 182</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2019 Number: 140</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>The Aughts</b> (or 2000s if you prefer)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2018 Number: 336</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2019 Number: 245</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>The Teens</b> (2010 to now)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2018 Number: 1,637</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2019 Number: 928</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These numbers represent the number of names on the court as counted by me. I have no idea if they are precisely the number of season ticketholders. But I have to think it's pretty close. Also, in checking the names (and yes, I checked every name) there were some names on the 2019 list that were not on the 2018 list. I'm assuming these are name changes based on season ticketholder preference. I know the company I work for has tickets. The 2018 sticker had one of our employees names on it; the 2019 one has our company name. In any event, I think the numbers above are close enough to accurate within say 1-2%. That's close enough for the conclusions I'm going to draw in this post.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Overall, from this year to last year based on counting names, the Wizards season ticket holder number dropped by 38.9%. In one year. I don't have historical context here to know if that number is high or low but I have to believe that is not the kind of attrition rate anyone in client management wants. Now, these numbers might represent way fewer dollars. If the 38.9% drop is solely in the upper deck, then the actual dollars lost is way, way lower.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Here's the bad news for the Wizards: the attrition rate is actually worse. The numbers above include the 114 new names added in 2019. The actual attrition rate for 1967 through 2018 is 43.8%. Yikes! The attrition rate for the nine years from 2010 through 2018 is slightly higher than 50%. I find this a little shocking. This can't say success on any level to the team.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Digging into the details, I'm surprised at a few things. First, as I assumed, it appears the number of season ticketholders spikes after playoff seasons. Generally the numbers are higher in seasons after playoff runs. But not always. There are still a substantial number of season ticketholders remaining from the 2011 season, the one where the team slashed a number of per seat prices in half. I'm surprised these people have stuck with it now that their cost has about doubled or maybe more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I'm also surprised by the departures of '60s, '70s and '80s season ticketholders. Their attrition rate from 2018 to 2019 is over 20%. I guess enough was finally enough for some of those folks. These people (and indeed those with a little less tenure) should be hugely valued by the team. Although I guess when there are this few, it hardly seems worth bending over backwards to make a few people stay. Personally, I feel that in the customer service efforts over the last 10 years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I'm not sure I really learned anything astonishing here and I don't think it was a total waste of time spending hours counting names but I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I know. And it sure does explain my account rep calling me way earlier than anyone has in past years. </span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-10959009421303281122020-02-28T20:29:00.002-05:002020-02-28T20:29:30.797-05:00Almost Courtside<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9VScWEG7_k/Xlm9p1I3kOI/AAAAAAAAKkA/r8umtuM6isojL2wiJzRkZ2oxknAvE58DQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_4312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9VScWEG7_k/Xlm9p1I3kOI/AAAAAAAAKkA/r8umtuM6isojL2wiJzRkZ2oxknAvE58DQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_4312.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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 <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2019/12/fluid-ticketsagain.html">Fluid Tickets Program</a> 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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Not All VIP Seats Are Created Equal</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. The Game Continues To Change As You Get Closer</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. All You Need In Life Is On The Gatorade Cart</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>4. Waffles With Caramel > Donut Holes With Bourbon Sauce</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5. Darius Miles Fans Are Everywhere</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 2012, I attended the <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2012/07/nba-draft-2012.html">NBA Draft</a> 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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-30909877226040955462020-02-06T20:27:00.002-05:002020-02-06T20:27:53.825-05:00Caveat Emptor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But this year it happened. For real. Crazy, right? More bobbleheads. Finally!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then they Wizard-ed it up in the most Wizards way possible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">No I wouldn't.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today the Wizards traded Isaiah Thomas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You'd think I'd be furious at this point, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">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. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At least I got my money back.</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-70997978213854053322020-01-31T16:53:00.001-05:002020-01-31T16:53:29.186-05:00Kobe Bryant<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bYzxTwAhnN8/XjShMiG7LQI/AAAAAAAAKgQ/PZ1phnWgGZwba78jgYYzH2-lt0NWROlSgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_4159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bYzxTwAhnN8/XjShMiG7LQI/AAAAAAAAKgQ/PZ1phnWgGZwba78jgYYzH2-lt0NWROlSgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_4159.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Everyone else is doing this so I am too. I do have some things to say here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last Sunday evening my wife handed me her phone. Kobe Bryant. Helicopter. Dead. Wow! I mean...shock! Too young. Far, far too young. After that first reaction, my thought was honestly about his 13 year old daughter Gianna (also known as Gigi). I'd seen her and Kobe on some Twitter post or ESPN or somewhere sitting courtside at an NBA game and talking. My very first thought was that girl (I didn't know her name last Sunday) will never have another moment like that. She'll grow up without a father. At that point I didn't know she was also in the helicopter with her dad and was also one of the victims.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over the past week, the entire NBA and beyond has paid tribute to Kobe Bryant and his legacy. Some of these tributes have been incredibly creative and inventive: 8 second and 24 second violations to start a game in honor of Kobe's two numbers he wore while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers for 20 seasons. Others like players switching their jersey numbers away from 8 and 24 to honor Kobe show how personal this loss is to some players. Still other ideas, like proposing the NBA logo be revised to Kobe's silhouette or the convoluted first one to three quarters plus 24 rule to win the All-Star Game are a little reactionary of just plain confusing; I can't imagine Kobe would want anyone to go to some of these lengths.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last night the Washington Wizards staged their own tributes to Kobe before their game against the Charlotte Hornets. Warm-ups with 8 and 24 Bryant jerseys; a 24.8 second moment of silence; tributes from key personnel within the Wizards organization; and 8 and 24 second violations to start the game. The Hornets participated in that last one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was not a fan of Kobe Bryant while he was in the NBA for one reason and one reason only: he didn't play for the New York Knicks during the 1990s or for the Washington Wizards after that. Those were the only two teams I've rooted for in my time as an NBA fan and I don't root for other players on other teams. I'm not at the games to see other teams' players play ball. I don't care how great they are. I'll maybe make an exception for former Wizards that left on the right terms (I define what's right there) but other players? Nope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A lot of people have posted this week their favorite Kobe memories. The 81 point game vs. Toronto, first Championship, scoring 60 vs. Utah in his final game, whatever. I had to search for mine. Over the past 20 years as a Wizards fan, I've seen Kobe Bryant play a bunch of times. I can only remember two: the 2002 game when Jerry Stackhouse dunked at the buzzer off the in bounds play to beat the Shaq and Kobe Lakers in a game the Wiz had no business winning and Kobe's final game in Washington in 2015 when the Verizon Center was making way more noise for Kobe and the Lakers than it was for the Wiz. I loved the first one; I hated the second. Neither of those are my favorite Kobe memory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My favorite Kobe memory was watching the conversation he had with Gigi just a few weeks ago and which I referenced earlier in this post. Kobe is breaking down plays for his daughter while sitting courtside. The discussion is so detailed and animated and it's clearly being had between two very smart people. And she looks like she's holding her own, although she looks like she doubts him at one point only to remember he's one of the best players in the history of basketball. It's an awesome clip, even without sound, which I'm not sure anyone has. To me, Kobe was always the guy to root against, because he was either playing against the Wizards or I just always rooted against the Lakers. That clip got me beyond that, which is why my first thought when I heard the news about the helicopter crash was about Gianna as well as Kobe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I get older, I think I'm getting softer. But these kinds of events, where young people with promise are taken (and yes, I'm including Kobe in that group) are truly tragic. There were seven other people on that helicopter. Just like Kevin Blackistone said on ESPN's Around The Horn on Monday, I feel bad just commenting on two of the nine who died, but I don't know anything really about the other seven. I got nothing else here. Rest in peace. Never forget.</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-8248087660097545602020-01-20T07:00:00.000-05:002020-01-20T07:00:04.712-05:00Cherrydale Sit-In<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PyHmiRxHMMU/XiJhrxLyBDI/AAAAAAAAKao/4k-YKJJLL3ED2D6DraaupSmOBaGQOyR4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-01-14%2Bat%2B8.38.21%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="642" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PyHmiRxHMMU/XiJhrxLyBDI/AAAAAAAAKao/4k-YKJJLL3ED2D6DraaupSmOBaGQOyR4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-01-14%2Bat%2B8.38.21%2BPM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today is the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. As I have done for each of the past six years that the Washington Wizards have hosted a matinee game on this holiday, today's post has something to do with the Civil Rights Movement. While there is plenty of action in the NBA today, this is not the day to post about basketball. Basketball today is a megaphone for something greater than a game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over the past six years, I have tried to write about places that had some significance to today's namesake, Dr. King. I've written about the Sanitation Workers' Strike in Memphis; the Lorraine Motel in that same city (where Dr. King was assassinated); the Lincoln Memorial (where he gave his famous I Have A Dream speech); West Park in Birmingham, Alabama (site of some particularly violent 1963 protests); and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. To reinforce my own understanding of these events, in the last six years, I have been to each of these spots where these events happened. There's nothing like being there to understand history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sandwiched between all that, I wrote a post about the <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-brief-history-of-civil-rights-movement.html">timeline of the Civil Rights Movement</a>. I figured marking the milestones of the some of the events making up the Movement might help me understand the bigger picture. It did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This year I'm going way smaller and way more local. To Cherrydale.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l46i6Y8JiEc/XiJisKxLEII/AAAAAAAAKaw/d5ygmAgwtdQomMLWUi979gZJRgXoyvV_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-01-17%2Bat%2B8.40.50%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="617" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l46i6Y8JiEc/XiJisKxLEII/AAAAAAAAKaw/d5ygmAgwtdQomMLWUi979gZJRgXoyvV_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-01-17%2Bat%2B8.40.50%2BPM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">About two years ago, I got married and moved to Cherrydale, a section of Arlington, Virginia defined by I-66 to the south; Cherrydale Baptist Church at the intersection of Lorcum Lane and Military Road at the north; Utah Street to the west; and a variety of roads at the east edge. Check out <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cherrydale,+Arlington,+VA/@38.8950959,-77.116,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89b7b5d496684247:0x7324f55b6c57f536!8m2!3d38.8972445!4d-77.1087792">Google Maps</a> for the internet-defined boundaries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am fortunate to work in Clarendon, which means on days that are cool enough (which is generally about September through May), I can walk to work. When I can, my commute involves walking down the north side of Route 29 (yes, I'm refusing to use that other name) past the 7-11, the nail salon, the yoga place and the Safeway all the way down to Highland Street and then hanging a right to walk uphill to Clarendon. Apologies for using the generic names of the establishments along my walk. The names of these businesses don't register with me; I just know them by topic. I know there's a mattress place, a fishing tackle place and a tanning place on the opposite side of the street and I don't know those names either. I'm getting older, what can I say.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sometime in the last couple of years, I noticed something had changed on my commute route. There had been a plaque set into the wall of the nail salon. Since pretty much nothing else on my morning and afternoon walk changes ever, I figured I'd stop and read it. Turns out in June of 1960, there was a sit-in at the counter of the Cherrydale Drug Fair to protest segregated lunch counters then in place throughout the south.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is difficult today to think of Arlington as a segregated society. It's not like it's Alabama or Mississippi where people are still clinging to the idea of the old south in the 21st century. But I suppose at one time, it was just as bad if not worse than those places are today. I suppose that really it's not quite as accepting as I think it is today. I'm sure we still have lots of work to do here like we do most places.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On June 9, 1960, six college students from Howard and Duke Universities walked into the Cherrydale Drug Fair, sat down at the counter and because they were not all white, were refused service. They sat at the counter for almost 10 hours and endured threats and assaults throughout the day, including being pelted with cigarette butts and having to suffer through a visit by George Lincoln Rockwell (shown above) who was head of the American Nazi Party which was headquartered in Arlington at that time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Compare the pictures above to those of similar events in Wichita, Kansas or Greensboro, North Carolina, and I'm sure the crowd standing, berating and leering at protestor Dion Diamond looks pretty tame. I mean there is genuine violence present in some of those photos in places elsewhere. But I'm pretty sure some of the white kids and adults shown above would have taken matters into their own hands quite willingly had the opportunity arisen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think it's important today to remember that places where we live today around D.C. were just as complicit in racial segregation as some of the states and towns that I've written about on this day in past years. I also think we need to remember to reject anything like this way of thinking. Today is not about basketball. Today we need to think about what this day means.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's it for this year's post. Wiz - Pistons today at 2! Let's go Wizards!!</span></div>
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Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-90268342701022045472019-12-31T07:13:00.000-05:002019-12-31T07:13:17.953-05:00Fluid Tickets...Again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWgIEWXNuP0/XgqyTfc-6tI/AAAAAAAAKZ4/FbZ7CRzljlAs5_dEc2mdHUe-gGEdTm8nACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWgIEWXNuP0/XgqyTfc-6tI/AAAAAAAAKZ4/FbZ7CRzljlAs5_dEc2mdHUe-gGEdTm8nACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_7036.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Seems like it's every year I'm writing about this Fluid Tickets thing that the Wizards rolled out for season ticket holders a few years ago. Here goes the 2019 version.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before we get to my thoughts on this year's version, let's recap what this whole thing is about. This program was introduced during the 2016-2017 season to add value to season ticket holders who couldn't (or didn't want to) make it to all 41 home games. The team allowed ticket holders to return a certain number of their tickets to the team in exchange for store credit (so to speak) generally at the per game price paid by the ticket holder. The credit could be used to purchase additional tickets returned by other ticket holders. Easy enough concept, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For the first two years the program was great. The inventory of available returned tickets was pretty decent (especially in the all-inclusive VIP end zones which I covet) and the team made participation in the program attractive by giving $100 in credit as a kickstarter to get you into using the program. But towards the end of the second year the inventory of tickets became decidedly less attractive as (and I'm guessing here) people in the more expensive seats figured there was no point trading in tickets for credit. Last year the Wizards put additional restrictions on the quantity of games that could be traded in and they eliminated the free $100. So last year I just didn't participate. I figured it was a waste of my time, although a fellow season ticket holder did tell me he used the program pretty regularly last year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This season I'm giving it another shot. And so far, I'm OK with the results. Let's cover this year's rules first then get to what I've found.</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This year tickets can be returned up to 48 hours before tip-off for credit equal to the per ticket purchase price. However, tickets returned more than 48 hours in advance of tip-off get you an additional 15% bonus credit. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No ticket returns are permitted after February and a maximum of 10 games can be returned total during the season.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Credit for premium games (vs. the Clippers, Lakers, Warriors or the March 21 Milwaukee or April 3 Philadelphia games) get an additional 50% credit over the per game purchase price (not the price listed on your printed ticket). </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unused credit at the end of the season is returned to the team.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So at first pass here, the terms and conditions look about the same as they did last year. I don't remember if there was bonus credit available last season but it makes sense. Generally speaking the team wants that inventory back to they can re-sell. Considering how poor the Warriors record is right now and how many people they have out, it might actually make sense to return that game, although I haven't yet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But checking out the program this year I've noticed one big difference from two years ago: the inventory seems to be way bigger. In fact, the inventory seems to be about every seat that's available. And that makes this year's program way way better. To be fair to the Wizards, the inventory may be identical to last year's selection; I just wouldn't know because I sat out the program last year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's been a few years since I've wanted to attend every Wizards home game. The performance of the team combined with other interests in life have combined to get me down to about 20 or so games per year. But the resale market for some games just isn't attractive. No way do I want 25 or 30 cents on the dollar for a mid-week game; I'd rather take some team credit for some upgrades If they are available. But without an attractive inventory of alternate seats, the program is useless. That seems to have been solved this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So far this year, I'm at five games returned, including tomorrow's sort of matinee against the Magic. I've got an all-inclusive game sitting out there in March or so that I'm looking forward to and a little credit to spend. No idea how I'll spend that but maybe another VIP game is in the cards. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As we turn the page into 2020, the Wizards are about as bad as I thought they would be. Ticket prices on the resale market are still miserable and while it feels like trading second round picks away to get rid of bad contracts, I'm looking at my season ticket investment as sunk cost at this point. At least this year's version of the Fluid Tickets program allows me some options.</span></div>
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Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-9638075477928891412019-12-28T18:26:00.005-05:002019-12-31T17:13:39.717-05:00Minor Leagues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KBbvijY7yl4/XgF3CRxeJ6I/AAAAAAAAKZQ/9HsN4ZM_0OE8OIyDVRXuAiZkIqgqrjVngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-12-23%2Bat%2B9.20.22%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="819" height="382" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KBbvijY7yl4/XgF3CRxeJ6I/AAAAAAAAKZQ/9HsN4ZM_0OE8OIyDVRXuAiZkIqgqrjVngCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-12-23%2Bat%2B9.20.22%2BPM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last month, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced plans to potentially reduce the number of Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams across the United States by 42. Considering the number of MiLB teams out there stands at around 160 or so, 42 is quite a cut. MLB claims this will save them a ton of money and they might be right. I've read that the cost savings might be around $22 million or so per year. I've also read that Major League Baseball brings in revenue of about $10 billion per year. $22 million divided among 30 teams pulling in $10 billion seems like small potatoes to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Understandably, there has been some backlash to this plan, particularly from the communities which stand to lose their baseball teams. Think this isn't important? I disagree. Access to live professional sports for communities is sometimes vital for community pride and social connection. It has been for centuries. Take away the Pioneer League (which is part of the contraction plan) and you've just wiped out professional baseball in Montana. Like all of it. So maybe not that many people out west care about a rookie league or any other team that's being run out of business, but I bet some do. And not just the owners of the teams (MiLB teams are not owned by parent organizations) and the communities that have financed stadiums for those teams. Although those two groups might have a pretty strong opinion of Major League Baseball telling them they are out of business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Need any other reasons why this sucks? How about tradition? The Chattanooga (Tennessee) Lookouts are on the chopping block with this proposal. They have been the Lookouts since 1909 and their franchise dates back to 1885. They might have survived without MLB affiliation in the early 20th century but today that might be a different proposition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So why am I writing about baseball on a Washington Wizards blog that's supposed to be about basketball? Well, because I think this same sort of thing has been going on for the past few years in the NBA's minor league system, the G League. Not the contraction (because the G League has actually been expanding) but the removal of professional sports from towns and cities with little to no access to that kind of thing once the NBA moved their teams. And I'm arguing what the G League is doing pretty much sucks too.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oMwk6I1x8DU/Xge4uSAOWcI/AAAAAAAAKZc/Jf7cJAHVw38LmXuMlF_kMIA24z26VvNlACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_2265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oMwk6I1x8DU/Xge4uSAOWcI/AAAAAAAAKZc/Jf7cJAHVw38LmXuMlF_kMIA24z26VvNlACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_2265.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Erie Insurance Arena: Home of the Erie (PA) BayHawks. For now.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Consider this: at the beginning of the 2009-2010 NBDL season (the NBDL or National Basketball Development League was what the G League used to be called before corporate sponsorship got involved) had 16 independently owned and operated teams spread out over 14 states. Of those 14 states, seven of them had no NBA team so the NBDL was all they had. Of the nine teams located in NBA states, one (the Tulsa 66ers) was in their state before the NBA was (on a permanent basis, anyway) and two of the other teams (in Hidalgo, Texas and Bakersfield, California) were hours by car from the nearest NBA arena, which made access to live pro basketball an overnight or very late arrival home affair. Point is, professional basketball was available to people in the United States without having a visit an NBA city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fast forward to today and the G League looks much different. There are now 28 teams in the league which from a growth standpoint is awesome. But all of those teams are now owned by NBA franchises and just six of those 28 teams are located outside the state of their parent team. Considering one of the remaining six is the Memphis Hustle which plays just over the Mississippi border about 12 miles from Memphis but is named after the city where the NBA team plays, it's really just five remote teams. Of those five, just four are located in states without an NBA team. I think things are trending in the wrong direction there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the NBDL was launched in 2001, it was deliberately located in the underserved (from a professional basketball standpoint anyway) southeast of the country. At that time there were other non-NBA affiliated regional leagues (notably the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) centered in the midwest of the country) around the United States but I guess the southeast stood out to the NBA as an area of opportunity. Plus I imagine locating all eight charter members of the league in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama cut down on travel expenses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It didn't work. Within four years, two of the franchises had folded and four of the other six had moved. The two that remained in place? Gone one year later. New teams were added in Arkansas and Texas and they too went belly up after just two years in business. Not such a good idea to start a basketball league in the southeast apparently.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAF6GC0KK9Q/XgfknvOOzmI/AAAAAAAAKZs/qNuPQoc8plocyGCciVsFoeQ1z8KSjrLNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_1479.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAF6GC0KK9Q/XgfknvOOzmI/AAAAAAAAKZs/qNuPQoc8plocyGCciVsFoeQ1z8KSjrLNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_1479.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Inside the rockin' Portland Expo Center.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Obviously, the league was able to weather the poor start, likely because it had the backing of the NBA. Original franchises which had re-located to Albuquerque, Austin and Tulsa were more successful in their new locales than their original cites and in 2005, the league engaged in a serious expansion, fueled in part by the defection of four teams from the CBA, to bring the total number of franchises to 12. Three years later it was 17. The league that started in the deep south now spread from Los Angeles to North Dakota to Portland, Maine. And they had taken the CBA out along the way and stood as the only serious minor professional basketball league in the country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Things were good. Good for basketball fans. Good for small cities which needed professional basketball. Good for the NBA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then things started to go downhill. Maybe not for the NBA. Maybe not for the players. Maybe not for the owners of the teams that were suddenly being offered large sums of money for their teams. But for fans in small cities...for sure. In 2011, the Boston Celtics entered into what would be known as a hybrid affiliation with the Maine Red Claws. Under that arrangement the Celtics got to run the operations of the team and install their own coaching staff. That meant they could coach their G League assignees in the exact same system they were using in the NBA. Huge advantage to have that kind of control.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two years later, the Knicks founded their own G League team. That slowly became the new norm. One by one (well except for the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers) teams were either added to the League (typically in very close proximity to the parent club) or NBA teams purchased existing franchises and moved them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dakota Wizards? Gone from North Dakota to be close to the Warriors who bought them. Replaced by...nothing. Reno Bighorns? Also gone. Moved to Stockton, CA to be close to the Sacramento Kings. Idaho Stampede? No more (say hello to the Salt Lake City Stars)! Get the picture? How about in Oklahoma where the Thunder actually moved a team from Tulsa to Oklahoma City. That's 107 miles away. Did they really need to move that team?</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OpAqtvg2cAg/XgfkbqLgMRI/AAAAAAAAKZo/4eLNQxZvS1Mzkos3KDNmvIlggELzrSOPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_1331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OpAqtvg2cAg/XgfkbqLgMRI/AAAAAAAAKZo/4eLNQxZvS1Mzkos3KDNmvIlggELzrSOPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_1331.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Springfield (MA) Civic Center, no longer home of minor league basketball.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have never visited Bismarck, North Dakota or Reno, Nevada or Boise, Idaho during basketball season or at any other time in my life. But I have visited Hidalgo, Texas and Erie, Pennsylvania and Canton, Ohio and Portland, Maine. They are all cool little cities who showed up to root for their basketball teams, no matter that they were in the G League. All of those cities fortunately still have their teams (except Hildago - the Rio Grande Valley Vipers moved to Edinburg about 20 miles away) although Erie will lose theirs at the end of this season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Celtics, I guess to their credit, didn't move the Red Claws (awesome name by the way) from Maine to Boston but instead keep them in the old 1915 Portland Expo Center. I saw that team play on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of winter and the place was filled. If any team saw the atmosphere inside that place I kind of believe they would think twice about moving that team. Maybe. Probably not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While I have never been to Bismarck, Reno or Boise, I have been to Springfield, Massachusetts. I was there in 2014 to see the Springfield Armor play in their final season, right before the Detroit Pistons bought the team and moved it to Grand Rapids. With no offense intended toward the place where basketball was founded, Springfield is dead. In the two days I was there (small sample size I know) the streets were empty and decidedly not alive. Except before and right after the Armor played. The NBA took that away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So I know I'm being a little melodramatic here. I mean, it's not like the NBA forced all these team owners to take millions of dollars for what were probably barely profitable teams. On the other hand, I'm not. I really believe in the power of sports to bring people and communities together. And I think the NBA has played a role in taking that away from some cities and towns. Just like Major League Baseball will if their plan to contract their (admittedly much more extensive) minor league system goes forward. They should stop it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So should the NBA. But they probably won't.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The cover photo of this post is the logos of six of the original eight NBDL teams. </span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-52256950879577062502019-12-15T18:07:00.002-05:002019-12-15T18:07:25.295-05:00Kristi Toliver Bobblehead<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IT4rT762BKE/Xfa78Zu7bsI/AAAAAAAAKYQ/B8cnq9OCWUI1yBfztbQqC-KMzI6yoL0pgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3880.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IT4rT762BKE/Xfa78Zu7bsI/AAAAAAAAKYQ/B8cnq9OCWUI1yBfztbQqC-KMzI6yoL0pgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3880.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I know we are more than two weeks away from the new year but I have to say 2020 is shaping up to be a banner year for Wizards bobblehead collectors. In addition to the end of season in game Thomas Bryant bobblehead, the Wiz have rolled out a three game / bobble pack that I'm looking forward to starting in February. And yes, I've already shelled out some extra money to make sure I've got those three collector's items coming home with me in the new year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That was supposed to be it. I was going to be content with four Wizards-related bobbleheads this season. Then something else happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Every so often at lunch or before I start work (and I swear it's just those times) during the weekdays, I check in on Twitter to see what's going on. A Monday morning 7:15ish check of that social media site last week got me interested in a raffle for Ted Leonsis' courtside seats for the December 28 home game vs. the New York Knicks. $20 for 20 entries. I figured it was worth a shot. Plus the money went to charity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But on closer inspection, I found out I could spend $80 more, get 80 more tickets (and 80 more chances to win) and snag a Kristi Toliver autographed bobblehead in the process. Don't have to ask me twice on that one. I'm in!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I didn't win. But my KT bobblehead showed up in the mail today. Better to spend $100 and get this than spend $20 and get nothing.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w1vqssfjNX0/Xfa8Xu9Ij0I/AAAAAAAAKYc/xzjMZUVqBFE7bd7s_WXFGpjZOo9H5ATNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3881.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w1vqssfjNX0/Xfa8Xu9Ij0I/AAAAAAAAKYc/xzjMZUVqBFE7bd7s_WXFGpjZOo9H5ATNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3881.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kristi Toliver this ain't.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the Mystics made this bobblehead available this past summer as part of a three game ticket package, I was tempted to shell out some money and get myself one. If I have a favorite Mystics player, it has to be Toliver; she's absolutely the fiercest, most stubborn competitor and she's really good and she knows it. But we were out of town or otherwise occupied during the pickup game date so I passed. This second opportunity couldn't be passed up. With just 20-some of the 100 available remaining at the time of my Monday morning Twitter check, I made a quick decision. Glad I did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is something about in-game giveaway free bobbleheads that fascinates me. Maybe it's the had-to-be-there-to-get-one nature of the acquisition (although in this case I guess I wasn't really there). Maybe it's the limited edition aspect (not numbered or anything, just limited). Maybe it's the crappy quality of these things. Maybe it's all of it. This bobblehead has all of that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before we get to the details, let's address the small elephant in the room that nobody except me knows about, shall we? Yes, it's true my current bobblehead collection is a WIZARDS bobblehead collection. Over the years, I have picked up a few other non-Wizards bobbleheads and those are all packed securely away out of view. My Kristi Toliver bobblehead is not. She's on the shelf with the rest of my active Wizards bobbleheads. That's because she is a Wizard. She's spent last season and this season as a barely paid (thanks, archaic WNBA rules!) assistant coach. She deserves to be on the shelf!</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5G-NKqrSyP4/Xfa8Qpf7e6I/AAAAAAAAKYY/wTINWAtm73ET2N5BD633i958NnMRb_i9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-12-15%2Bat%2B6.01.55%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="670" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5G-NKqrSyP4/Xfa8Qpf7e6I/AAAAAAAAKYY/wTINWAtm73ET2N5BD633i958NnMRb_i9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-12-15%2Bat%2B6.01.55%2BPM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So about those bobblehead details...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the first quality tests of the freebie bobblehead is the head. Does it really look like the person whose name is on the base? I'm a little torn on this one. There's no way this thing actually looks like Kristi Toliver, despite the analysis of some of the individual details. There are two images of Kristi on the box, one frontal and one in profile and it's difficult to nitpick many of the details. The profile is almost correct, the face around the mouth is pretty good and the nose is almost spot on frontally. But the eyes and ears are clearly wrong and the overall effect is more Michelle Obama. Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that but it doesn't look like the person it's supposed to represent. It's not as bad as some of the Wizards bobbleheads I own (particularly the elf-like John Wall from 2011-2012) but it's not great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then there's the overall pose. Every so often the bobblehead designer makes a conscious effort to make a bobblehead after a specific picture. This is clearly the case here and they blew it. Sure it looks find in profile but the geometry of the typical bobblehead (oversized head and disproportionately stubby and short arms) renders the desired effect useless. The result is a shooting motion with one hand on the ball and the guide hand nowhere close. This is NOT a shooting motion. Fail on this point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally I think it's worth checking out some of the details. One of the things I loved about older school in-game giveaway bobbleheads (and here I'm thinking like 5 years ago) is that their jersey numbers were cast in bas relief onto the person's body. Lately, the bobble artists have been ditching this strategy (which requires hand-painting the numbers) in favor of decals, which are I guess quicker to apply and more precise in detail. Here, not only are the numbers cast and hand painted but so is the "Toliver". I love that even though the front of the jersey logo and advertisements (gotta get the advertisements in...) are applied stickers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's not a whole lot else to note about the finer points of this bobblehead, although I will say I appreciate the effort to do something different with the shoes. Maybe I'm too soft here but the overall execution is lacking. It looks like the court is adhered to the soles of the shoes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Glad to have this one in the collection. Next summer I need to make more of an effort to get over to southeast D.C. more than once to pick up what I assume will be a treasure trove of champions bobbles. Don't laugh. After all the team owner is still the same, right?</span></div>
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Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-13076747007622388502019-12-08T20:30:00.002-05:002019-12-17T20:05:07.196-05:00Load Management<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L3q1xQEOkas/Xe2hR-SdDGI/AAAAAAAAKX8/1vHAgT6LuZsXjZ-fWwwsfWVfDIFpeezUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_7032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1033" data-original-width="1034" height="638" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L3q1xQEOkas/Xe2hR-SdDGI/AAAAAAAAKX8/1vHAgT6LuZsXjZ-fWwwsfWVfDIFpeezUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_7032.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tonight the Washington Wizards hosted the Los Angeles Clippers for the one and only time this season. I didn't go. I had a holiday party to go to that was a more important way for me to spend my Sunday afternoon so I sold my tickets. I made it home in time for the second half to see the Wizards fight valiantly again but lose again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm thinking (and I'm guessing here) there might be a good chance the person who bought my tickets did so to see Kawhi Leonard play. If that's the case, they got lucky because a few weeks ago it became apparent the Kawhi wasn't going to play the first night of back-to-backs this season for medical reasons and the Clips are playing in Indiana tomorrow night. Kawhi's playing regiment (or maybe sitting regiment) is justified by the term "load management" which essentially means he's technically healthy but that if he played, he might not stay that way. This whole issue has a bunch of people a little upset.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now, I can imagine if you bought tickets to an NBA game with the intent of seeing a specific player suit up that you would be disappointed to see that player sit out. I get it. I also get there are no guarantees in life when it comes to who's going to play in any single game. This is not like going to see a concert where the artist can't be swapped out. On any given night any player can miss time. Injuries. Sickness. Personal issues. Suspensions. Whatever. Go see the teams, not the players. It will save you some angst.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It may be difficult to swallow when you pay a bunch of money to watch one player on the court but look, life is full of risks. An NBA player missing time for whatever reason on any given night is one of those.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">People getting upset about this issue is nothing new. This has been bothering people for years. Then-NBA Commissioner David Stern got upset seven years ago when the San Antonio Spurs elected to sit Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Danny Green on the last game of a six game road trip. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich just felt those guys needed a blow, despite there being no injury to report. The Spurs lost that game. Just. But it was also on national television and despite there being no restriction on resting healthy players, Pop got fined $250,000 by Stern.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since then, there have been other NBA luminaries who have expressed their opinion on this issue including Hall of Famer Kevin McHale and LeBron James. McHale allowed that you might need a day off if you were a coal miner (like his father was) but missing a game of a back-to-back seemed inexcusable to him. I mean, after all, it's just basketball. What's the threat to your health here? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">LeBron James has weighed in this year based on Kawhi sitting out early season games, stating quite heroically "If I'm hurt, I don't play. If not, I'm playing."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's some irony here. I don't know if any of you have watched Kevin McHale walk (or limp) these days. It looks painful and I'm sure it has something to do with what playing basketball did to his body. And LeBron? He was sitting multiple games a year a few seasons ago. His take on the issue was much different back then. After a game in 2017 when he, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love sat out a game against the Los Angeles Clippers while perfectly healthy, he said "At the end of the day it sucks at times where certain guys have to rest but certain guys need rest." Including LeBron, who is now not a fan somehow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I don't agree with David Stern, Kevin McHale or the 2019 version of LeBron James. If Kawhi Leonard needs to sit out a game every now and then because he and his medical staff have determined playing all 82 games in a season will do irreversible damage to his body, then he should sit and neither Stern, McHale or LeBron should have anything to say about it. I admit playing in the NBA is not likely to cause brain damage leading to suicide like it has done so many time to former NFL players but it can take a toll on the body. I'll point back to Kevin McHale's limp. Or former Wizards head coach Randy Wittman's gait. Just looking at Randy hobble on to the court during timeouts made me feel pain. And I'm positive it's from playing in the NBA. If resting every few games solved that for Randy or McHale, I gotta believe they'd welcome it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So what about us fans? Don't we have a right to have players that are signed to contracts for our teams give everything to win for us? I mean aren't they supposed to leave it all on the court for the price of victory now despite all future consequences?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two things here: (1) no they don't and (2) doing this doesn't mean you can't win a championship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the first point, I think sometimes we think that because the athletes we watch on TV or live in the arena make millions and millions of dollars, that we have some right to expect them to do whatever it takes to win at all costs. We don't. I am sure current Wizard Isaiah Thomas, who did major damage to his hip in the 2017 playoffs and cost himself tens of millions of dollars in the process, could adequately tell you or me all about that kind of expectation. Getting paid millions of dollars now does not entitle us fans to expect these guys to do things to their bodies that is going to make them live in pain for the rest of their lives. It just doesn't. It's their bodies, not ours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the second point, how do I know that? Because Kawhi did the exact same thing last year and he (and the Toronto Raptors) won the NBA Championship. After all, there are no back-to-backs in the playoffs. Not sure why there was much less fuss about this last year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Today, the rules for NBA teams resting healthy players are different than they were in 2012 when David Stern lightened Gregg Popovich's wallet by $250K. It's OK to sit healthy players these days, you just can't do it during a nationally televised game. I'm not sure how being on national television solves long term injuries to a player by them playing too much, but that's the rule. In Kawhi's case, he has special dispensation so the Clippers avoid fines in these situations but what about the rest of the league? If my knee hurts from working out the previous day, I generally don't work out the next day. Why can't NBA players have the same latitude?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's one more reason I've heard floated about healthy-ish players missing games, that it messes up people gambling on the games. To anyone offering up that reason, you are clearly more committed to gambling than you probably should be. Despite Ted Leonsis saying that sports gambling is essentially good for everyone, it's not. The house always win. Gamble and expect to lose, that's all I have to say on that one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If the person who bought my tickets to the game last night did it to watch Kawhi Leonard play, I'm happy it worked out for him or her. I just wish Kawhi would have sat out for load management reasons to give the Wiz a better shot at the W. But ultimately, it's not my call. He, and every other player, needs to do what's best for their long term health. As much as it might disappoint us fans.</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-5912101271754563392019-11-24T21:35:00.004-05:002019-11-24T21:35:45.609-05:00Bang The Gavel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Z-RwqKLZQ0/Xds9u1Z-muI/AAAAAAAAKXU/uXyGW-6R_JAFHef0qkVq3VvlYY4cYQukACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3825.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Z-RwqKLZQ0/Xds9u1Z-muI/AAAAAAAAKXU/uXyGW-6R_JAFHef0qkVq3VvlYY4cYQukACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3825.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A new NBA season for the Washington Wizards sometimes means new traditions. This year is no different. New Wizards team, new in game announcers, new broadcast team, total loss pretty much all floor seats in the east end of the arena...I could go on but I'll stop there. Almost. The Wizards have decided to insert a new tradition into the pre-game announcements and it's just not working for me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Get to a Wizards game prior to the team introductions like half of the crowd during an average home game and you might notice that after the lights are dimmed and in between the starting lineups for the visitors and the home team, there's a new pregame ritual where a special guest grabs an oversized gavel and bangs it on an even more oversized sound block (yes, I had to look that up) to get the crowd fired up for the introduction of the Wizards starting five.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I get the intent here. We are in Washington, D.C. where the Supreme Court (and many other courts for that matter) meets and there's a basketball pun tie over there with "court is now in session". Get it? Court. Basketball court. Basketball. Wizards. The reason why you are at Capital One Arena. It's cute, right? And no that's not my objection. Nor is the fact that the sound block just appears to be G Man's old drum head painted with wood colors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If this were something that really got the crowd pumped up, I'd love it. But it's not. For a couple of reasons. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First, introducing a new pre-game "get everyone excited" ritual is probably best initiated when the team is good and the Wizards just aren't this year. But more than that, this whole thing seems slid into a spot that needs to be passed over as quickly as possible and the lighting and fanfare employed by the Wizards isn't enough to get it noticed at all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What I mean by all that is the visitors have just been introduced and the crowd expects the Wizards lineup next, which we get soon enough. If the Wizards really want to pull this off, they should intentionally break the action here and make it obvious that something exciting (or even just different) is happening. The Philadelphia 76ers have a similar ritual where someone rings a replica of the Liberty Bell and the New York Jets (speaking of teams that are no good) have someone famous lead the J! E! T! S! JETS! JETS! JETS! cheer before the game. They both work, because the entire atmosphere is focused on that event. The Wizards' treatment of this pre-game "ritual" needs more emphasis. Turn the lights on or create a custom graphic to blast on the fancy new scoreboard or move it to some other spot. But where it is now isn't working.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm interested to see how long the Wizards keep this up in its current format. If they do, they need to get whomever is banging the gavel a better prop than whoever did it during the Spurs game when the head actually fell off the gavel. And try getting some more recognizable folks. Dave Johnson was an awesome first choice for this. But the Bud Light guy from Nationals Park? Not cutting it for me. Get John King to do it. Or past Wizards players. Just my advice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apologies on the terrible photo on this post. I can only take so good a pic of this event from where I sit (probably because it's right in the corner of the court). Had to resort to a scoreboard pic.</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-84551496093514489142019-11-21T21:16:00.000-05:002019-11-21T21:16:11.560-05:00Wizards Bobbleheads (Finally!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XaGJ4uxIhjk/Xdc9QGLUZUI/AAAAAAAAKW0/z1sL9X6H19sLc0F3j4bbbBztABiPu6D3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-11-21%2Bat%2B8.39.00%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="758" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XaGJ4uxIhjk/Xdc9QGLUZUI/AAAAAAAAKW0/z1sL9X6H19sLc0F3j4bbbBztABiPu6D3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-11-21%2Bat%2B8.39.00%2BPM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have been asking and pleading and begging the Washington Wizards to make more team-issued bobbleheads practically since I started writing this blog. I even one summer gave the Wiz permission to use my <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2015/07/2015-2016-wizards-bobbleheads.html">mocked up example bobbleheads</a> for inspiration or blueprints or whatever they wanted to make it happen. Today, it appeared the Wizards have answered my asks and begs and prayers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Behold...more Wizards bobbleheads than the annual freebie they have been giving away for the last I don't know how many years (probably nine or ten with maybe a year off would be my quick guess). This is glorious stuff!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I kind of called this. In my annual <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2019/10/bobblehead-nation-2019.html">Bobblehead Nation post</a> I expressed a little shock as to how the Wizards in all good conscience could have NOT made their one bobblehead giveaway this season a Rui Hachimura bobble. Now I know why. They were saving Rui for the bonus bobblehead package that they just rolled out this week. I'm chalking this whole thing up to Tommy Sheppard by the way. I might be way wrong on this one but that's what I'm sticking with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So here's the deal: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Friday, February 7 vs. Dallas is Isaiah Thomas bobblehead night. IT is displayed on a checkered base with lyrics from his friend and rap artist Nipsey Hussle's song "Dedication" on three of the four sides. Thomas has at least three tattoos inspired by Nipsey, who was gunned down in front of his Marathon clothing store in Los Angeles earlier this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wednesday, March 25 vs. Phoenix is Rui Hachimura bobblehead night. It's also the Wizards' celebration of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. Rui, like the Cherry Blossoms, started out in Japan so there's a logical tie there, although I can't remember the Wizards ever celebrating the Cherry Blossom Festival before. Timing is everything I guess.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Friday, April 3 vs. Philadelphia is Bradley Beal as Black Panther bobblehead night. This is not the first time an NBA team has rolled out a Black Panther bobblehead. The Brooklyn Nets have given one of these away each of the last two seasons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's a catch. I mean of course there is. There has to be a little irony in the Wizards finally giving away more bobbleheads. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These things are not on the promo schedule. You have to buy a separate ticket package as shown in the advertisement graphic above. I guess I'm going to have to fork over an extra $89 for these things. I'm surprised the games are actually as good as they are as part of this package. Dallas and Philly? And both on a Friday night? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.</span></div>
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Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-77363260464943388322019-11-14T06:21:00.000-05:002019-11-14T06:21:21.752-05:00NBA Bottom Five<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The teams I love the most stink. I mean really stink. Like really bad. I know I've covered this subject on this blog in the past but this fall seems like an appropriate time to re-whine on the subject.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before I go into full whinge mode, I should point out that this year's actually been a pretty good year, sports-wise. The Mystics are WNBA champions. England won the Cricket World Cup and finished runners-up in the Rugby World Cup. Tottenham finished second in the UEFA Champions League final (before totally crashing this season). And the Nationals just won the World Series. Not bad, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But the two teams I really love (those being the New York Jets and the Washington Wizards and I do mean like really really love) are now both 2-7 and the next six or so months of any hope for my teams winning anything (like even having a winning record) are gone. Already. Damn this stinks. I'm looking forward to next September when things might get better. Might! But probably not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've read a lot of tweets this year about how this year's Wizards team is going to be a lot of fun to watch. And on the surface of things, I might agree. I mean it's kind of liberating watching a team with nothing to lose with a ton of upside and see what develops. But two things cut against that: (1) I'm paying $8K or so for the privilege of watching this fun development and (2) they keep losing. Now I get that it's only nine games in so far but its started already. And it's about to be not fun. Call me impatient. 19 years of non-achievement as a season ticket holder will do that to a person.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How bad have the Wizards been in my 19 years? Really bad. Let's take a look at some numbers regular season and playoffs to get a sense of how bad I've had it. Spoiler alert: it ain't looking much better this year I don't think.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let's start with overall record.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Fewest Average Wins Per Season</b> (2000-2019)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (31.5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. Minnesota Timberwolves (33.3)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. New York Knicks (33.9)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. Washington Wizards (34.5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. Philadelphia 76ers (34.6)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So over the past 19 seasons, the Wizards have posted the fourth fewest wins per season in the NBA. Yeah, it's been not much fun for any of the teams in this bottom five but at least the Timberwolves grabbed the number one seed (and a spot in the Conference Finals) in the West one year and the Sixers actually made the NBA Finals in 2001. I'd take either of those highs over the Wizards. Most wins per season by the way over this period: San Antonio (58.1) / Dallas (51.2) / Houston (45.6).</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most Sub-20 Win Seasons</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. (tie) Cleveland Cavaliers (3)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. (tie) Minnesota Timberwolves (3)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. (tie) Philadelphia 76ers (3)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (2)*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) New York Knicks (2)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Washington Wizards (2)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">* In 15 seasons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Does this list look familiar? Don't worry, this will happen more than once in this post. It should come as no surprise that the teams with the fewest average wins per season also log the most dismal seasons. The one addition? The Cleveland Cavaliers, who have also made it to five Finals with one championship over that same span. Give me a title in exchange for futility every year the rest of my life. 12 teams, by the way, have had no sub-20 win seasons since I first bought season tickets. Definitely can't relate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This list does include the strike shortened season of 2011-2012 and yes, I'm categorizing teams by franchise, not by city, in this post. That means the old Charlotte Hornets are counted against the current New Orleans Pelicans franchise. Not a huge needle mover because the Pels show up later in this post. Just explaining.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fewest 50 Win Seasons</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Washington Wizards (0)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (0)*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) Charlotte Hornets / New Orleans / Oklahoma City Hornets / New Orleans Pelicans (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) New Jersey Nets / Brooklyn Nets (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) New York Knicks (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">* In 15 Seasons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I swear I'm not making up these categories to make the Wizards look bad. They manage to do that on their own. It's not going to be good to be on any of these lists, let alone make most or all of them. I see 50 wins as a mark of a quality year. The Wiz have none of them, not a single one in 19 seasons (this will be 20). They edge the current Hornets in this category because that team has only been around for the last 15 seasons. The Nets are to this list as the Cavaliers are to the last one. Two NBA Finals appearances in the early 2000s. The most 50 win seasons? San Antonio (17) / Dallas (12) / Houston (9). San Antonio even had one in the 2011-12 season when each team only played 66 games.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fewest Division Titles</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Vancouver / Memphis Grizzlies (0)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (0)*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) Atlanta Hawks (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) Charlotte Hornets / New Orleans / Oklahoma City Hornets / New Orleans Pelicans (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) Denver Nuggets (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) New York Knicks (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) Philadelphia 76ers (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. (tie) Washington Wizards (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">* In 15 seasons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The fact that the Grizzlies and current Hornets franchises haven't won any division titles since I first signed up for this Wizards journey I'm on makes me feel no better about the Wizards solitary Southeast Division crown. Nor does the fact that five other teams have finished atop their own divisions just once. There are only five teams in the Southeast Division and it's been that way for 15 years. The law of averages says each team should have at least three at this point, right? Doesn't work that way, I know. There are four franchises that have won seven or more over the last 19 years. San Antonio has 12 followed by Miami with nine and the Lakers and Celtics with seven apiece.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Feeling bad about the Wizards' regular season campaigns? Get ready for the playoffs. It's actually better than the regular season. Mostly.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fewest Playoff Appearances</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (2)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. (tie) Minnesota Timberwolves (5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. (tie) New York Knicks (5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. (tie) Sacramento Kings (5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. Los Angeles Clippers (7)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally a futility list in this post that the Wizards do NOT appear on. If I had gone six deep, they would have. The Wizards have made the playoffs eight times in the 19 seasons I've been a season ticket holder. The Kings are a bit of surprise to me on this list since they were such a good team when I first became a season ticket holder. There have been some long and lean years since Webber / Divac / Williams / Bibby / Turkoglu graced the court for Sacto. Who has the most playoff appearances between 2001 and 2019? Well the Spurs of course with a perfect 19. Right behind them: Dallas (16) and Boston (15).</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fewest Playoff Wins / Year</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (0.2)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. New York Knicks (0.5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. Minnesota Timberwolves (0.7)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. Sacramento Kings (1.2)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Denver Nuggets (1.5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Portland Trail Blazers (1.5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Once again, the Wizards miss the list, although once again only just. The Nuggets and Blazers have exactly one fewer postseason victory than the Wizards. This list is average playoff wins per season, not average playoff wins per postseason appearance. I'm shocked by Denver and Portland on this list. I would have thought (without thinking too hard) that those Denver teams with Carmelo Anthony would have had more postseason success. Although since both Denver and the Knicks are on this list...maybe not. Most wins per year? Do I even need to tell you it's San Antonio? 7.9 wins average. Lakers are next with 5.7 then Miami at 5.4. Think there's not a lot of difference between number 3 at 5.4 and number 25 at 1.5? You're wrong. There is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Fewest Playoff Series Wins</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (0)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. New York Knicks (1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. Minnesota Timberwolves (2)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. Denver Nuggets (3).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Los Angeles Clippers (4)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Vancouver / Memphis Grizzlies (4)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Milwaukee Bucks (4) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Charlotte Hornets / New Orleans / Oklahoma City Hornets / New Orleans Pelicans (4)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Portland Trail Blazers (4)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Sacramento Kings (4)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. (tie) Washington Wizards (4)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you need any proof that the same teams dominate the postseason every year, this is the list. And yes, the Wizards are back on the list here. The newcomer on this list is the Bucks who have just four playoff series victories in 19 years: two in 2001 en route to the Eastern Conference Finals and a loss to the 76ers and two last year when they lost in the Conference Finals to Toronto. A whole lot of nothing in between. The Spurs, by the way, have two fewer playoff series wins (32) than all 11 teams listed above. Lakers are second with 25 and Miami has 22. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Fewest Conference Finals Appearances</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. (tie) Los Angeles Clippers (0)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. (tie) Charlotte Hornets / New Orleans / Oklahoma City Hornets / New Orleans Pelicans (0)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. (tie) New York Knicks (0)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. (tie) Washington Wizards (0)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (0)*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">* In 15 seasons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This list is it. If there's a more chilling indictment of lack of success in the NBA over the past almost two decades, this is it. There are only five teams which have failed to make it to a conference finals. The Bob-nets get a bit of pass here because they've only had 15 tries at making it that far in the playoffs. With zero playoff series victories and no superstar talent, I don't think those extra four chance will mean much. By then, these other four teams will have had 23 cracks at it and they won't have made it either. No surprise here but San Antonio leads the good end of the category with nine. Five other teams including Detroit and Cleveland are second with six each. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where does all this leave me? Well for a start, I feel for all the fans in Charlotte. That team is actually the worst. I mean hands down no dispute the worst in the NBA. After that is it the Wizards? I could make a case that it is based on the lack of 50 win seasons and conference finals appearances. If they are not second, they can't be any higher than fourth if you consider the Knicks and Timberwolves worse. There you go. Bottom four for sure. Make an argument against. I'd love to debate. I don't see you winning though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My season tickets are in Row E of Section 109. This season I'm sitting a couple of rows and the width of an aisle away from seats in 110 earmarked for the Wizards new power structure, namely John Thompson III and Sashi Brown, two of the components of a front office that looks nothing like the Wizards front office has ever looked like before. During Friday's game, Ted Leonsis chatted with those two just two rows from me while the miserable Cleveland Cavaliers took down my beloved Wiz at home. I would have loved his input on this post. His ownership, which at first looked so different than Abe Pollin's, has yielded no different results and I don't see anything different happening this season. Always next year, right?</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-69045671293957417212019-11-10T13:41:00.004-05:002019-11-10T13:41:37.112-05:00What's New At Cap One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y67EKOb7dXE/XchXp3GwI5I/AAAAAAAAKU4/cyMT7akV0HgyOw8suKwB11Ue-BSU46XBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3689.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y67EKOb7dXE/XchXp3GwI5I/AAAAAAAAKU4/cyMT7akV0HgyOw8suKwB11Ue-BSU46XBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3689.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We are now four regular season and three preseason games in to the 2019-2020 Wizards home schedule and if you haven't been down to 601 F Street NW yet, you are in for a few changes when you get here, assuming the current Wizards roster actually piques your interest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This summer, Capital One Arena went through phase two (of two, I believe) of a renovation that started in the summer of 2018 using (and I'm assuming here) a massive influx of Capital One sponsorship cash. Last season we saw the concourses renovated on all levels, the old Acela Club moved out and replaced (yes, I know the Acela name is years old...), some new seats installed and some snazzy new signage. This summer, they finished the job. Mostly. Here's what to expect.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2YEreu29uOU/XchXzXZklbI/AAAAAAAAKU8/xoayrCDf0UUcjT7IwIfh7U5bcFrn-j1vgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2YEreu29uOU/XchXzXZklbI/AAAAAAAAKU8/xoayrCDf0UUcjT7IwIfh7U5bcFrn-j1vgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3704.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Scoreboard</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So let's start with the most obvious upgrade over the summer: the new massively bright scoreboard right in the center of the arena. I remember when the former scoreboard was installed in what was then probably MCI Center. I recall reading how Abe Pollin was determined to have the first high definition scoreboard in the NBA. So he did. That was a long time ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's aged a bit since then and as I've traveled around the NBA, I've realized just how much technology has passed the Wizards' home by. It was especially noticeable in Detroit last year. This thing brings us on par with the rest of the league. While the sheer surface area of video display is probably overwhelming, I love the advanced stats available (no longer have to look to the corner of the upper deck and wait for the stats to get to the home side) and the coordinated displays with the rest of the signage in the arena during team introductions are pretty impressive.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Other Video Displays</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So you can't talk about the scoreboard without noticing the rest of the video displays installed in the arena. The video bands below the 200 and 400 levels pretty much match what was there last year. But above the 400 level there's a larger video ring and the old black and yellow bulb stat displays in the upstairs corners are gone and replaced with massive LED full color screens that slide up and down depending on how full the upper deck is. The overall effect is pretty spectacular. Worth all the money? I don't know. But the larger screens in the corners of the upper deck are very welcome.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SRPIZ5tvu0I/XchX7uXae2I/AAAAAAAAKVE/izZDVEm53ugaTRHEvyK4nZnRnXAXVkUdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3690.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SRPIZ5tvu0I/XchX7uXae2I/AAAAAAAAKVE/izZDVEm53ugaTRHEvyK4nZnRnXAXVkUdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3690.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The District</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you are are completely in love with the new scoreboard and video screens, let me bring you back down to Earth a little.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As if crowd noise wasn't enough of an issue in the Wizards home building, ownership has, in all its wisdom, decided to actually remove seats from the floor area of the arena. That's right, they decided over the summer to add a standing area at the east end of the building for VIP ticket holders to eat and drink beer (or whatever else they want, I guess) while they try to see over the five rows of tiered courtside seats in front of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This sucks. It's a distraction to people like me who sit all the time at the Wizards bench end of the building and during times of the games when you need a ton of crowd noise (it DOES happen sometimes for the Wiz), there's going to be a huge hole in the crowd. Someone somewhere in the hierarchy of Monumental Sports must have thought (a) this was a great idea or (b) it would make ownership a couple of bucks more. If it was the first one, it's not a great idea.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Budweiser Brewhouse / Devil's Backbone Lounge</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's been a pregame ritual for me for the last few years to spend time before games with my favorite bartender, Roxy, at the Budweiser Brewhouse on the club level. This year, it's gone. Under renovation. Or more accurately right now, NOT under renovation but still closed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So where to get a pregame $12.25 25 oz. can of Budweiser before the game. Well if you want to hang out with the Budweiser Brewhouse crew. head up the 400 level to the Devil's Backbone Lounge. It was sparsely populated during the season opener. It was dead by game three vs. the Pistons and it wasn't much better last Friday night against the Cavs. I get that it's a long way to go but you'll get great service (I mean, hey...there's nobody there) and you can get the $3 season ticket holder discount on your overpriced Bud or Bud Light. If you decide to stop by, say hi to me. I'll likely be there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Silver lining here? Beer price didn't go up over the summer, at least not for the large cans of Bud and Bud Light. Yep, I know these things are like $2 or something at 7-11.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">New TV Crew</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So in general the exiling of Steve Buckhantz after kicking out Phil Chenier two seasons prior is a super dark cloud over the decision makers at Monumental Sports and Zach Leonsis in particular who allegedly runs the media arm of the the Wizards. Maybe they needed someone cheaper because they can't really have been seeking an upgrade for Buck. They replaced Kara Lawson (who was awesome and for me an upgrade over Phil) who quit with a combination of Drew Gooden (who's terrible) and Caron Butler (who I haven't heard call a game but come on...Tough Juice is a Wizards legend).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I get that whoever's calling the game on TV doesn't affect folks at the game itself because they don't broadcast over the sound system. But for those of us on the aisle between Sections 109 and 110, it's awesome to see Caron Butler stride to the announcing table and be able to yell "Tough JUUUUICE" as he walks by. It's the small things, I know.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Row Markers</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Speaking of small things...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Phase one of the renovation last year got rid of all the purple seats (I mean...why??) and the purple and yellow (again...why??) signs on the concourse. But they didn't purge the entire place of purple. They missed the circular row markers cast into the concrete steps at the lowest level of the building. This time, they got them. And replaced them with red and white lettered markers. This is a good thing.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3BIsAD1WBmg/XchYUuOq8bI/AAAAAAAAKVg/j_lo8R95nmcWQ0pSaF3ep8C07450ulcdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_3802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3BIsAD1WBmg/XchYUuOq8bI/AAAAAAAAKVg/j_lo8R95nmcWQ0pSaF3ep8C07450ulcdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_3802.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rui Hachimura Shirts</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And I mean lots and lots of Rui Hachimura shirts. For the past few years, Wizards fans have had to content themselves with slim pickings when it comes to player specific shirtwear (jerseys do not count as shirts). Want a John Wall t-shirt of some sort? Got a bunch of those! Brad Beal, too? Yep, Beal too. Anyone else? Not so much. Rui is different.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They have a bunch of different choices for Rui apparel over at Capital One Arena (remember, there are discounts on merch using either your season ticket holder pass or Capital One card). These include the jersey-like t-shirts with the number 8 and Hachimura on the back just like there are for Wall and Beal. But there are also other shirts including the one above and a giant silhouette of Rui's head with hair and his name in enormous letters where his face should be. That last one's pretty cool. Had to pick myself one of those up at the season opener.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm sure I've missed some things but that's what I've got out of my first few games this year. There are some new food options but they are not as sweeping as the past couple of years. Alex McCoy's Lucky Buns is gone </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">this year and replaced with a Ben's Chili Bowl. No loss for Wizards fans there I don't think. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There's still the issue of what happens to the Budweiser Brewhouse but it looks like the transformation of Cap One is complete. I'm just hoping they replaced the roof while they were doing all this.</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-44548291658181328012019-11-08T09:00:00.000-05:002019-11-08T15:14:51.409-05:00Bobblehead Nation 2019 Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5MGqwAlwSgM/XbYqFVbko8I/AAAAAAAAKTk/ZF4twRPuFG4p57YgMKv3xtFFVd48b9JUACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/deafawareness_1000x410_2-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="1000" height="262" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5MGqwAlwSgM/XbYqFVbko8I/AAAAAAAAKTk/ZF4twRPuFG4p57YgMKv3xtFFVd48b9JUACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/deafawareness_1000x410_2-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So it's been a couple of weeks since I posted my annual post letting all NBA fans (OK, so the 20 or so people who read this blog) know where to get the choicest bobbleheads around the NBA. When I published my <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2019/10/bobblehead-nation-2019.html">Bobblehead Nation 2019</a> post back in October, I had just over half the NBA teams' promotional schedules and I hadn't even started checking out the G League quite yet. Three weeks or so later, I have done that (the G League part). Time for an update.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">First of all, let me say that the G League bobblehead schedule this year is pretty amazing. For the past couple of years, we've seen NBA team bobbles be handed out to fans at the minor league levels on a pretty regular basis. Canton and Santa Cruz have been notable in their rigor in treating Charge and Warriors fans to Cavaliers and...well...Warriors big league bobbleheads. This year, there's plenty of that and I've listed everything I could find below. But there are also a number of bobbleheads available which are exclusive to the G League and that's pretty exciting I think. Looks like some road trips are in order for some die-hard bobblehead collectors. Let's get right to the supplemental list, shall we?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oh..and there have been a few new NBA promo schedules released. Only one of those (Houston) features bobbleheads. For those fans in Dallas, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Utah...better luck next year. Each of those teams have released promotional schedules since my post last month and there ain't no bobbleheads on them, although the Pels' schedule is mysteriously incomplete in its stopping in December. No way are there four promo nights in November and December and nothing the rest of the season. There has to be a Zion bobble, right? RIGHT??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>November</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>9 Sugar Skull</b> (Windy City Bulls)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last year my bobblehead update was posted in December. Because the Windy City Bulls are handing out a bobblehead on November 9 (or tomorrow), I've been forced to go early this year. The Bulls are handing out a pretty sweet (no pun intended) Sugar Skull bobblehead (shown above) for their season opener this year. This type of bobblehead is typically handed out in late October to coincide with dia de los muertos. Since the G League season doesn't open until November 8, the Bulls are going with better late than never here. I'd show up to the Sears Centre for this one. The Bulls do note the bobble is available while supplies last. Get there early. This is generally true for all G League giveaways.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>18 Russell Westbrook</b> (Houston Rockets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the biggest offseason deals (top 3 after Anthony Davis and Kawhi/Paul George to LA?) has to be the Chris Paul and a like a half million draft picks to Oklahoma City for Russell Westbrook. I don't think Russ is winning a title in Houston; I also think the Rockets live to rue the day they made this trade. But if nothing else, Westbrook gets a bobblehead out of the deal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>29 Draymond Green San Francisco Edition</b> (Santa Cruz Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Warriors got bested by the Cavs in the bobblehead department at the NBA level this year. But they are still kings of the G League bobbles. Try six bobbleheads. That's more than they are giving out in San Francisco (remember there's no more Oakland...). Five of the six match giveaways scheduled at the brand new Chase Center. The last is a G League exclusive. First up? Draymond Green in the mysterious San Francisco Edition. If you miss this one six days earlier in San Fran, drive down to Santa Cruz.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>December</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>13 Kevon Looney Stormtrooper</b> (Santa Cruz Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Warriors bobblehead #2 in Santa Cruz, two days after the same giveaway in San Francisco. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>14 Austin Carr</b> (Canton Charge)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is the first of three Cleveland Cavaliers bobbleheads being handed out by the Charge this year. I'm assuming this is a duplicate of the Carr bobblehead given away in Cleveland two nights prior. First 1,500 fans only on this one, folks!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>27 DeAndre Jordan Star Wars Night</b> (Long Island Nets)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Brooklyn becomes the third NBA team to have a pile of parent club bobbles at the door of their G League franchise when they open up the arena on December 27. If you missed this one at Barclays on December 21, head out to this game six days later. The Brooklyn club doesn't have an image of this bobble on their website. The Long Island version does (above). First 1,000 fans only.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>28 Whammer </b>(Canton Charge)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bobblehead night #2 in Canton is a repeat of the December 20 giveaway in Cleveland. First 1,500 fans here just like on December 14 in Canton.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>January</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>4 Marvin the Martian and Gus T. Bull</b> (Windy City Bulls)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Are you kidding me? I get that the Brooklyn Nets have co-opted about half the Marvel character list to tie in to their bobblehead promotions this year but Marvin the Martian? In the G League. I'm buying Windy City Bulls season tickets if I'm in the Chicago area. This thing is epic. Photo above. And remember...while supplies last.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>6 Raptors Alumni Night</b> (Raptors 905)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No promises here for a bobblehead but the Raptors' minor league franchise is hosting three Alumni Nights (on January 6, February 22 and March 11). All three nights advertise "special appearances, bobblehead giveaways and more." The focus here seems to be on Raptors players who have spent time in the G League. Pascal Siakam, maybe? Fred Van Vleet? Just my own guesses there. I don't see a promo schedule on the Raptors site right now. Could these be exclusive G League collectibles?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>11 James Harden Space Bobble</b> (Houston Rockets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If it seems like every year I write this post, I'm writing about a James Harden bobblehead in Houston, you'd be correct. Seems like they are giving out these things more often than Harden travels in a game (not gets called for traveling, because that wouldn't be very often at all, but actually does travel). In the past five years, there have been four James Harden bobblehead nights in Houston. 2019-20 makes it five out of six. Apparently this one is space themed...cool!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>18 Mark Price</b> (Canton Charge)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bobblehead night #3 in Canton matches the January 4 game in Cleveland. Just like the two prior bobblehead nights for the Charge, there are only 1,500 of these things available.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>24 D'Angelo Russell</b> (Santa Cruz Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bobblehead night #3 in Santa Cruz is January 24 when the guy traded for Kevin Durant get his own plastic bobble likeness. 10 days earlier, he gets distributed at the Chase Center.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>25 Gus T. Bull ASL Bobblehead</b> (Windy City Bulls)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ASL is American Sign Language and this is the third not-available-at-the-parent-club-level bobblehead to be handed out by the Windy City Bulls. This is awesome that a bobblehead is actually addressing a cause of some sort rather than just spitting out an image of a player or mascot for the fans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>February</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>22 Alumni Night</b> (Raptors 905)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">See January 6 above.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>28 Klay Thompson Headband Edition </b>(Santa Cruz Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well when I speculated about what this bobblehead would look like in my prior post, I was right. It is, in fact, Klay Thompson wearing a headband. And, yes, it's the same color as the one he wore when he dropped 52 on the Bulls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>29 Ben Wallace</b> (Grand Rapids Drive)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No bobbleheads on the schedule for Pistons fans in Detroit but head west to Grand Rapids in late, late February (like, really late) and you can pick up a Ben Wallace bobblehead. Gotta think some Pistons fans are hopping in their cars for this one. I would.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>March </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>11 Alumni Night</b> (Raptors 905) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">See January 6 above.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>14 Stephen Curry Santa Cruz Warriors</b> (Santa Cruz Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is the only one of the six bobbleheads available this year in Santa Cruz that's exclusive to the G League. Surprise, surprise, it's Steph Curry. Presumably wearing a Santa Cruz jersey. If the Capital City Go-Go handed out a John Wall Go-Go jersey bobblehead I'd be there for sure. Of course, it's a bit further from San Francisco to Santa Cruz than it is from D.C. to another part of D.C. I'm seeing some Dubs faithful making this drive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>18 Stephen Curry Popcorn Edition</b> (Santa Cruz Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Steph in front of a giant tub of popcorn bobblehead that so befuddled me in my prior post shows up in Santa Cruz in mid-March. Go for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>27 Dr. J as Black Panther</b> (Long Island Nets)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The second Long Island Nets offering in the bobblehead department is the same as Brooklyn's giveaway three weeks prior. If the image above is true to life, I'm not sure how Dr. J is Black Panther. Maybe the real version is different? Looks like the Nets are making 2,000 of these available for G League fans. Get there early.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's all I got bobblehead-wise until (a) the Thomas Bryant bobblehead gets released at Capital One Arena or (b) the Wizards by some miracle decide that there's another way Wiz fans get a different bobblehead this year (come on...there's got to be a Rui Hachimura bobblehead ticket package somehow). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm still missing some lists from some NBA teams but there have been some bobblehead-less schedules published at the G-League level. Get ready to be disappointed some of you. Hoping for bobbleheads in Aguas Calientes (Clippers), Erie (Bayhawks but the Pelicans G League team), Greensboro (Hornets), Iowa (Wolves, short for Timberwolves), Salt Lake City (Stars which is way better than Utah Jazz) and Stockton (Kings).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Good luck NBA (and G League) bobblehead collectors!!!</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-40435437694962187932019-10-22T06:17:00.002-04:002019-10-23T23:17:34.377-04:00Meet The Team 2019<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The 2019-2020 Wizards season starts tomorrow. If I were in a different spot in my Wizards fandom, I'd be excited for the next six months or so. We have an exciting young team with a ton of future upside, with heavy heavy heavy emphasis on the word future. It could be a ton of fun to see what this group can do. I'm hoping this team makes some noise and keep me interested for the duration. To be clear, I'm expecting a lot of losing. I just think there's a chance it could be different. Ever optimistic, I know. I'm a fool. I'm a New York Jets fan too, remember.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For as long as I can remember (or about since 2003) the Wizards have hosted a Meet The Team party to introduce season ticket holders to the current players. This event has been mostly a chance to get some swag signed and to get a little free food, although some years the food was absent and the opportunity to get swag signed was pretty limited. And I say since 2003 because I believe this event was on hiatus during the Michael Jordan years as fans were experiencing "the Jordan effect", although I'm sure the Wiz meant something a bit different than the way it turned out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This event used to be held over at MCI Center / Verizon Center (although once it was at the now-closed Newseum) but for the last ten or 12 years or so we've had to traipse out to Six Flags America in Bowie. Yes, I know my NoVA view of the world is showing in that statement but it's a long way to go, especially when it used to be held at night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This year, the Wizards changed it up, so for <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2013/11/meet-team.html">the first time since 2013</a>, I'm writing a few words about this opportunity to say hi to my favorite Wizards players (although not all of them).</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Venue</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whether it's a new change in management or just Ted Leonsis somehow being locked in a dispute with Dan Snyder (who owns Six Flags America), the party was not held out in Bowie and that was very, very welcome. The new venue? The National Museum of African American History and Culture. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is a win-win-win. First, the party is held in the same city that the team actually plays in. I get for non-Metro users this might have been more difficult to get to especially on a weeknight but this event belongs in the District. After all, it's the <i>Washington</i> Wizards, not the <i>Maryland</i> Wizards, we are buying into here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Second, this is an important building. It's right on the National Mall but more importantly, there are pieces of our nation's history which need to be preserved and displayed so we don't ever go through something like this again. Yes, most of what's in the Museum is difficult to see and read and hear (go to the Emmett Till exhibit if you want to experience how cruel people can be to each other) but it's important we not forget. An opportunity for a somewhat private experience in this place is rare. I only regret we didn't have longer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, it's October and it's cold out at night. Being indoors is good.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Event</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By The Event here I mean the catering. The food (and beverage) choices here were way, way better than the hotdogs, chicken sandwiches, potato salad and lemonade you get out at Six Flags. Passed hors d'oeuvres? Yes, please!!! And especially the chicken croquettes! Mac and cheese station? Shawarma? Chicken and waffles? Yes, yes and yes!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The trays of chicken croquettes, mini-Cuban sandwiches and Caesar salad skewers were great. The self-serve food? Not so much. Doors opened at this thing at 6:30. Signings were supposed to start at 7:30. So an hour for some nosh, right? Not so much. The self-serve food stations were supposed to open at 7:15 so for the first 45 minutes of this shindig the catering staff did everything from shooing people away to putting themselves between hungry people and plates to keep them off of the food that wasn't toted about on trays. What a disaster!!! If they do this again, they have to change this up. Don't keep people from the food, folks!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally on this point (and most important)...free beer. You had me at free beer.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Signings</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I don't know if the food up on the ground level of the Museum distracted people but by the time we wandered downstairs for some signatures the lines were pretty short. And much to our surprise, signings were clearly going on before 7:30. I am pretty positive those two things are related.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've stood in plenty of long lines to get Wizards jerseys, photos, cards and other items signed over the past two decades so not having to wait long to get John Wall to sign my jersey or Rui Hachimura or Troy Brown, Jr. to sign my Wizards first first round draft picks ball was very very welcome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just like they have done the past few years, the Wiz wristbanded some lines. Typically they have issued wristbands for John Wall and Bradley Beal and you can only get one or the other, meaning you need to bring one friend of some sort to get signatures from both. Last year, they did three for Wall, Beal and Dwight Howard. This year, they subbed Rui Hachimura for Howard, meaning you had to bring two friends (I don't have that many tickets any more) to get all the players. This practice sucks! This year, we went Wall and Hachimura. I know Wall's out all year (probably) but he's still my favorite player.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What Was Said</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maybe it was the less crowded lines or maybe it was the couple of beers (OK, three), but this year's event made it way easier to stop and talk to the players. Here's what I got out of my dialog with four of this year's team.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>John Wall</b>: I told John I was going to miss him out on the court this year. Simple response: "I know. I'm pissed." Just reaffirms John Wall being my favorite player.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Moe Wagner</b>: Moe went to Michigan. So did I (Class of 1990). For this, I got a fist bump that I screwed up before getting a handshake. I let him know Michigan won a title when I was in school there and that the loss to Villanova killed me. Ish Smith (sitting next to Moe) burst out laughing. I'm sure I handled that wrong. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>C. J. Miles</b>: Miles was sitting next to Isaiah Thomas signing swag. I asked C.J. if this was the Wizards killer section of the Museum. He claimed he wasn't a Wizards killer. He is. November 24, 2015. Verizon Center. 32 points as a member of the Indiana Pacers. Of course the Wiz D that night was awful. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Isaiah Thomas</b>: Three words here: "It wasn't me." If there was a chance at the greatest glory for the Wizards franchise since 1979, it was game seven in Boston two seasons ago (how quickly things fall apart for my teams...). Thomas killed the Wizards that season. When asked about it, he claimed no involvement. I remember differently. I also think the Celtics took advantage of Thomas' sacrifice and cut him loose. I let him know that and told him I hope he makes a ton of money in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm glad the Wizards do this. We need more of these on weeknights downtown. I hope this season brings unexpected surprises. It all starts tomorrow in Dallas. By this time Sunday, the Wizards will already be three games in. Let's just hope we don't lose them all.</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-9598812747860298562019-10-18T22:23:00.003-04:002019-10-18T22:23:46.094-04:00Bobblehead Nation 2019<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The NBA season starts October 22 so that means it's pretty much time for some excellent bobblehead giveaways over the next seven months or so, right? Well it does if you are (a) in the right location where your local NBA team is actually handing out bobbleheads, (b) are willing to travel somewhere on bobblehead night or (c) know when to check eBay for the latest bobbles that someone's looking to make a couple of bucks on. Either way (or if it's something different) you need to read this annual post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the last month or so, NBA teams have been putting their promotional schedules up on their websites and we've about reached a critical mass where there is enough information to actually write a meaningful post with multiple dates and multiple teams. And this year there are no preseason bobble giveaways (we see you, Golden State Warriors) so everything in this post this year is actually in the future. Very excited about that last part.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This year's schedule is packed full. It features bobbles from some usual reliable sources like the Warriors, the Brooklyn Nets and the Charlotte Hornets but there are also some shockers on here. Every year I've been writing this post (this is year six), the San Antonio Spurs haven't published one promo schedule with a bobblehead. This year they have three on their calendar. Who'd have thunk it? For those of us Wizards fans, yeah we got the one and only one as usual. Keep reading way to the bottom of this post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'll give a spoiler alert and save folks in Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles (at least Lakers fans, anyway) Memphis, Minnesota and Sacramento from having to read this whole post. There's nothing for you in this one. The schedule's out and there are no bobbles to be found. Although the Lakers do have two nights just labeled TBA so maybe there's some hope for you there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Without further ado, here's this year's post.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">October </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>30 Stephen Curry Popcorn Edition</b> (Golden State Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the last four seasons, the Golden State Warriors have, by my count, handed out six Stephen Curry bobbleheads at pre and regular season games. Yep, for those of you who can do math, that's right...two years in there they gave away two. So it seems right that we would see yet another one this year. The Dubs did not disappoint, not even making it out of October, without a Curry bobble. I gotta tell you though, they are kind of running out of ideas. After multiple regular Steph bobbles, one wearing a San Jose Sharks sweater and even an MVP edition, there's this year's offering which is Steph standing behind a giant thing of popcorn. I got nothing here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the way, the Trolley Car in the picture above? Preseason giveaway. You'll probably need to find one on eBay at this point.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">November </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>20 Lou Williams Underground GOAT</b> (Los Angeles Clippers)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If there's a must have on this year's NBA bobblehead schedule, this (shown above) has to be it. Sweet Lou shooting a J with his three Sixth Man of the Year trophies sitting on a shelf behind him. Are you kidding me? I should find a way to get out to L.A. right before Thanksgiving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">22 Spider-Man</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-weight: bold;"> (Brooklyn Nets)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span>Something good is going on in Brooklyn. In the last few years they have been extremely bobblehead focused. This year they enter Warriors territory and have five on the schedule. Good for them. And for Nets fans. As if it weren't great enough getting KD and Kyrie to go to Brooklyn, they also get five bobbleheads. Brooklyn, it seems, is taking a bit of an unorthodox approach to this whole thing. There's a lot of Marvel tie-ins. Either that or the Nets had way more cap space than I thought and managed to sign Spider-Man with the Mid-Level Exception or something.</span></div>
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<b>25 Draymond Green San Francisco Edition</b> (Golden State Warriors)<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's a storyline this offseason tha</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t the Warriors decided to tear it all down and rebuild for a year. Gone is Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala was traded and Shaun Livington retired. But they still have Steph Curry, an injured-but-soon-to-return Klay Thompson (just wait two days for the bobble on that one) and of course Draymond Green. Doesn't sound like any sort of rebuild to me. I'd love to see this team playing in Washington wearing the red, white and blue. Apparently the bobblehead version of Draymond Green this year is a San Francisco edition. Whatever that means. Show up November 25 to find out I guess.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>27 Klay Thompson Headband Edition</b> (Golden State Warriors) / <b>DeMar DeRozan</b> (San Antonio Spurs) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While I have no ideas on the San Francisco Edition bobblehead on the Warriors' calendar, I'm pretty sure the Klay Thompson Headband Edition bobblehead is Klay Thompson wearing a headband. I could be off base on this one but I think I may actually have this right. I didn't remember Klay actually ever wearing a headband while he played. I found one picture: on ESPN on an article about him dropping an NBA record 14 threes in a game en route to scoring 52 against the Bulls. Maybe there's something there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the same day, the NBA stunner of bobblehead announcements kicks off with a DeMar DeRozan bobblehead in San Antonio. Who knows...maybe they give away bobbles in San Antonio every year and I just miss it but for me right now this is huge. Maybe it's because the Spurs' stock is dropping slightly? Who knows? If I'm a Spurs fan, I'm circling this and two other dates on my calendar a can't miss games.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>December</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>3 Austin Carr</b> (Cleveland Cavaliers)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I can't stand the Cleveland Cavaliers. I don't like what they did to the Wizards in three straight playoffs, I resent the fact that the NBA kept handing them number one overall pics, and I really really detest their owner. But, man, do they hand out some bobbleheads. Six this season. SIX!!!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's the Cavs' 50th anniversary and they are pulling out all the stops bobble-wise. They are releasing bobbleheads as voted by the fans representing each era (as defined solely by the team itself - I'm debating attaching the name "era" to some of these) in team history. Austin Carr (ANOTHER first overall pick by the Cavs) starts the party off on December 3 representing what the Cavs are calling "The Early Years Era". Seems like they could have omitted the "era" from that one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>6 Giannis Antetokounmpo MVP</b> (Milwaukee Bucks)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Milwaukee Bucks haven't had a league MVP since 1974 (Kareem; he won three in Milwaukee if you must know) so it seems natural that they'd celebrate by casting Giannis in resin along with a pretty detailed MVP trophy. If the actual item looks like the picture (see cover photo of this post), this one's going to be worth showing up for,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>11 Kevon Looney Stormtrooper Edition</b> (Golden State Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In recent years, the Warriors have been a bobblehead collector's dream, not just for handing out plastic likenesses of their All-Stars but for celebrating success in bobblehead form deep into their rotation. This year is no exception as December 11 sees breakout star in the making Kevon Looney get his very own likeness in bobblehead form. It's the fourth of five total bobbles being handed out in San Francisco (remember they moved...) this year. Stormtrooper Edition too. Thinking Star Wars there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>20 Whammer </b>(Cleveland Cavaliers)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two and a half weeks after handing out bobblehead number one, the Cavs are back on the schedule with a Whammer bobblehead. Yeah, I had to look it up too. Apparently he's a polar bear who was the Cavaliers' mascot back in the day. Who knew? Whammer represents the "Gund Arena Era" in the Cavaliers 50th anniversary celebration. He's got to be wearing one of those top 10 worst unis in NBA history that they wore back in the day, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>21 DeAndre Jordan Star Wars Night</b> (Brooklyn Nets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Somehow the Nets have managed some Marvel and Star Wars tie-ins this year. I hope they got a package deal from Disney. Bobblehead #2 in Brooklyn drops just before Christmas (these things make great presents, folks!) and one day after the ninth and final Star Wars movies. They get closer than Golden State did to the actual date but somehow I still feel they should have been out in front of this a bit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>22 Bango Snow Globe</b> (Milwaukee Bucks)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I love mascots bobbleheads. Heck, I love anything associated with mascots at all. But a mascot bobblehead that's also a snow globe? Oh! My! God! And it's Bango too, who topped out at <a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2013/08/nba-mascot-rank-part-5.html">number four on my mascot rank</a> (back when I used to do such stuff in the summers) before Hugo's return in Charlotte knocked him down to the five spot. Bango Snow Globe bobblehead? I'm there. Not really, though, since I'd have to go to Milwaukee right before Christmas. Nothing against Milwaukee (in fact, lots FOR Milwaukee). Just not going right before the holidays.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>23 Deandre Ayton</b> (Phoenix Suns)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Only in a world occupied by Kelly Oubre, Jr. can there be a bobblehead series called the Valley Boyz Bobblehead Series. Unfortunately for Wizards fans, that world is no longer Washington, D.C. Fortunately for Suns fans, Kelly is now re-signed in Phoenix and bobblehead fanatics in Arizona are the beneficiaries. Deandre Ayton is up first in this trilogy. That's two years in a row with an Ayton bobblehead. There's got to be something in Phoenix to make up for all that losing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>31 Terry Rozier Star Wars</b> (Charlotte Hornets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Michael Jordan may not like spending money on free agents, but he sure does love handing out bobbleheads. There are four on the calendar in Charlotte this year, starting with the third (and so far to my knowledge, last) Star Wars themed bobblehead this season. Freshly acquired point guard Terry Rozier gets things kicked off in the Queen City.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">January</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>4 Mark Price</b> (Cleveland Cavaliers)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Cavs celebrate the "Richfield Coliseum Era" (the third questionable "era" celebrated so far in Cleveland) just after the turn of the new year. I'd definitely show up for a Mark Price bobble, who I assume will be wearing the Cavaliers blue jersey with the orange CAVS logo where the V is a basket. But...since I don't live in Cleveland and they aren't playing the Wizards, I'll be passing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>14 D'Angelo Russell</b> (Golden State Warriors)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mid-January ends the Dubs' bobblehead run for the 2019-2020 season with their newest All-Star in cast resin, D'Angelo Russell. They swapped Russell for Kevin Durant in the offseason from the Brooklyn Nets (where Russell was an All-Star). There are more plenty more goodies later in the season for Warriors fans but not in the bobblehead department. Have to wait until next year for another five or half-dozen or so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>18 Spencer Dinwiddie as Iron Man</b> (Brooklyn Nets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Marvel bobblehead #2 in the NBA is available for the taking (or the picking up) at Barclays Center in mid-January two days before the annual Dr. Martin Luther King holiday. After Spider-Man in November, you get Spencer Dinwiddie as Iron Man after the new year. What exactly is this going to look like? I assume he's not fully helmeted, right? Otherwise, it's just an Iron Man bobblehead, right? I should note this one is not on the Nets' promo schedule page on their website but was part of their Instagram promo night announcement. Trusting Insta is right here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>19 Patty Mills </b>(San Antonio Spurs)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Bobblefest in San Antonio contines in late January with Patty Mills in bobblehead form. I'm telling you, if I'm in San Antonio, I'm not missing this stuff. I love that the Spurs are doing one of Mills, who is super valuable but will likely never get to All-Star game level. Wish the Wiz could honor more steady players like the Spurs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><b>31 Notorious B.I.G.</b> (Brooklyn Nets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I don't know what to say about this one. Bravo, Nets! This has nothing to do with hoops and it doesn't matter at all. Awesome!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>February</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>5 Paul George</b> (Los Angeles Clippers)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This summer the Clips pulled off the biggest splash signings and trades of the summer, signing Kawhi Leonard on the open market and trading about a million draft picks to Oklahoma City in exchange for Paul George. Now they gotta win. The Clips have never even been to the conference finals before. Seems like this year might be the year. This is the second and final Clippers bobblehead of the year. So in other words, no Kawhi. I would bet that Kawhi has a clause in his contract that the Clips NOT make a bobblehead of him. Note this is not on the giveaway schedule on the Clippers' website but it was in the press release regarding the promotional schedule. I'm counting on the press release being right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>7 Kelly Oubre, Jr. </b>(Phoenix Suns)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have never ever ever bought a bobblehead off eBay or some other website. I'd consider breaking that fast for this Kelly Oubre bobble. Yes, I know, I've already got one in a Wizards jersey. I'm still bitter about that stupid trade last year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>22 Miles Bridges</b> (Charlotte Hornets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Miles Bridges got 25 starts and averaged 7.5 points per game as a rookie in Charlotte. With the Hornets being essentially completely irrelevant this year, he gets his first team-issued bobblehead. Good luck with all that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>28 Devin Booker </b>(Phoenix Suns)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bobblehead number three in the Valley Boyz Bobblehead Series is Devin Booker. Makes sense to me. Booker's been the only bright spot on the directionless Suns team the last few years. Can't wait to see what this set looks like together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>29 Zydrunas Ilgauskas</b> (Cleveland Cavaliers)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apparently the Gund Arena Era was so awesome in Cleveland that they are handing out two bobbleheads representing those 11 or so years, including one of former Washington Wizard Zydrunas Ilgauskas on February 29. I'm making fun of the Cavs' "eras" a lot here I realize but it's probably deserved. The Cavs still play in Gund Arena to this day, it's just that owner Dan Gilbert has re-named the place after his Quicken Loans and now Rocket Mortgages businesses.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">March</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>1 "Dwayne" Bacon </b>(Charlotte Hornets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">OK so honestly, I'd never even heard of Dwayne Bacon but apparently he's entering his third season with the Hornets. Maybe I'm completely out of touch with non-superstars in the NBA and if that's the case, I'm OK with that. Charlotte (for lack of a better choice) is riding a youth movement this year and I guess someone feels Bacon is a rotation guy. For the life of me, I can't figure out why the Hornets issued a schedule with Bacon's first name in quotes. From everything I can tell, his first name is actually Dwayne. I'm matching the Hornets website however.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>4 Daniel "Booby" Gibson</b> (Cleveland Cavaliers)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I first started researching this post this date was pencilled in as a fan-voted bobblehead representing the New Wine and Gold Era in Cleveland. Apparently between the time I first saw the promotional schedule and the time I wrote this post, the fans voted for a Booby bobble. There wasn't much competition here. Some of the alternates were Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and Ira Newble. I mean, really? Ira Newble? I would have voted for Larry Hughes. LeBron was NOT on the ballot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>6 Dr. J as Black Panther </b>(Brooklyn Nets) / <b>Benny the Bull x Hebru Brantley</b> (Chicago Bulls)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Nets are the best. At least in the bobblehead department this year. I can't wait to see this one. How's Doc's afro gong to fit in here. Makes me jealous of Brooklyn fans. Almost. This is the last one in Brooklyn this season. What a run!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Over in Chicago on the exact same day, the Bulls are handing out a Benny the Bull bobblehead for at least the third consecutive year (last year's is shown above). This is also the only bobble handed out in Chicago this year which is quite the indictment of the Bulls' roster although if it were me, I'd be all over the Satoransky bobblehead. I'll confess, I had to look up what or who Hebru Brantley was or is (showing my age, I get it...). He's apparently a Chicago hip-hop artist. After the Lou Williams Underground GOAT bobble, I'd circle this as the most intriguing of the year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>7 Mystery </b>(Charlotte Hornets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not much to say here. Watch this space I guess. Awesome that the Hornets are going four deep in the bobblehead department this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>22 Rudy Gay </b>(San Antonio Spurs)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If I'm a Spurs fan, I'm a bit puzzled here. I mean I know Rudy's been a solid contributor the last couple of years but he gets a bobble over LaMarcus Aldridge? Or even Dejounte Murray? Still, they are getting three bobbles this year. Don't be picky. I wouldn't be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>30 Fan-Voted Championship Era & Beyond</b> (Cleveland Cavaliers)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The sixth and final bobblehead to be handed out in Cleveland this season will be determined by fan vote starting November 4 and ending a week later. It's gotta be LeBron, doesn't it? Two reasons why it might not be: (1) Cavs fans still hate LeBron and vote for Kevin Love or J.R. Smith or someone like that just to spite him or (2) owner Dan Gilbert doesn't even put him on the ballot. Number 1 is unlikely; number 2 is very likely and Gilbert also omits Kyrie from the ballot too.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">April</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>15 Thomas Bryant </b>(Washington Wizards)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If I'm a Wizards fan (and I am) I've been sitting around the entire NBA season to finally get a bobblehead handed out to me and my fellow fans at the doors of Capital One Arena. On the VERY LAST day of the regular season, we finally get one. And it's not (thank God) a Bradley Beal or John Wall default bobblehead. This year's offering is breakout star (from last year) Thomas Bryant who went from the waiver wire to a three year, $25 million contract in one year. I'm honestly a little surprised Rui Hachimura didn't make it here but lately it seems that rookies get about as much consideration for a bobblehead giveaway in Washington as they get in Scott Brooks' rotation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As usual with this post, this list may not be comprehensive. As of the writing of this post, I'm missing schedules from Boston (no surprise there), Indiana, Miami, New York (also no surprise), Orlando, Philadelphia and Toronto in the East and Dallas, Denver, Houston, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Portland and Utah in the West. Seems to me that Toronto (to celebrate their 2019 Championship) and Portland (50th season) would want to do something bobble-wise to celebrate this season. I'm also shocked that the Rockets haven't released a schedule; they are usually one of the first to chime in. Maybe there's a second post in the wings in the next month or so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are some other interesting non-bobble giveaways out there. Golden State is handing out some All-Star Voting Nesting Dolls and a Stephen Curry Action Figure. The Bulls are also getting into the nesting doll game with a Benny the Bull Nesting Dolls giveaway. If gnomes are your thing, both Milwaukee (Giannis Antetokounmpo) and the Brooklyn Nets (Jarrett Allen) have gnome handouts this year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The last thing I'll point out is that this year, there are only two days where multiple bobblehead giveaways are scheduled on the exact same day. So theoretically, you could get them all in person (except two) given enough time and money. Happy bobble hunting, NBA fans!!!</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-13680083901394284732019-10-03T21:13:00.000-04:002019-10-03T21:13:41.754-04:00Is That It?<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">From 2012 when I started this blog until two years ago, I wrote and published a post each fall called Free Stuff! That annual post was a preview of the Wizards promotional schedule and my writing of that column was generally accompanied by a circling of key dates when good stuff would be available at the doors of MCI Center / Verizon Center for me to add to my Wizards shelves at home. Lunch boxes, nesting dolls, action figures, stuffed G-Wizes and the top of the top giveaways: bobbleheads.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://jonathanhopwood.blogspot.com/2018/10/magnet-bobblehead-poster.html">Last year</a> I wrote about the Wizards promotional schedule but I didn't call it Free Stuff! becasue there was barely any stuff on it. I thought maybe this year (and I'm pinning this all on the fact that Ernie Grunfeld is gone for some reason) would be different. Maybe this would be the year when the Wizards would put out an honest to goodness promotional schedule.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's not. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This year's promotional schedule is:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">October 30: Schedule Magnet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">December 18: Rep The District T-Shirt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">April 15: Thomas Bryant Bobblehead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's it. Three nights. A schedule magnet, a t-shirt (that will surely be XL only and thus completely unwearable) and a bobblehead. Pathetic. There are teams out there giving away more bobbleheads than the Wizards are giving away things. This is awful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now being a Wizards fan, I have to see the bright side in getting disappointed year after year after year so I'll say two things here. First, I'm thankful the bobblehead isn't Bradley Beal or John Wall since those two seem to be the Wizards' default positions for the annual bobblehead. Second, last year the Wizards had three items on their promo schedule and added a pair of socks later on. Maybe there's hope for a fourth item. Probably a poster.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm disappointed. But then again, that's nothing new for me as a Wizards fan. I did circle April 15 on my calendar (or more accurately I took that game's tickets off the Ticketmaster resale site) and I will be showing up that night. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The picture at the top of this post is the picture used by the Wiz in <a href="https://www.nba.com/wizards/wizards-announce-theme-night-and-promotional-schedule-2019-20-season">their announcement</a>. Why? There's nothing Bradley Beal related or Rui Hachimura related about this announcement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's all I got here. Out.</span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-26044193598528320762019-09-30T21:18:00.000-04:002019-09-30T21:18:14.211-04:00The Finals<div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's 2019 and the Washington Mystics are in the WNBA Finals. Just like last year. Two years in a row. This year behind a WNBA best offensive team in the history of the league with a superstar who just became the first WNBA player to shoot 50% from the field, 40% from beyond the arc and 90% from the free throw line. They are clearly the best basketball team of any sort here in the Washington, D.C. area.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Game one of the Finals tipped off yesterday, a game that the Mystics came out and won on their home floor just like they should. One down, two more to go until the franchise's first WNBA championship. Yes, it looked like a comfortable victory at the end of the first, second and third quarters for the home squad until a series of offensively futile possessions in the fourth allowed the opposing Connecticut Sun to catch up to within six.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So often in basketball games the team that makes a furious push to erase a pretty big deficit eventually runs out of steam and it happened to the Sun the moment Ariel Atkins hit a big three pointer from the corner and it just broke them. From there the Mystics cruised to victory. One - zero.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What a difference a year makes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last year the Mystics were the clear underdog in the Finals, coming in to the playoffs as the three seed and going through Atlanta in five games to get to the Seattle Storm, the best in the league with Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird leading the way for that team while Elena Delle Donne played nursing a bone bruise she suffered in the Atlanta series. It showed. The Mystics got swept 3-0.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They also spent the postseason as nomads, being bounced from Capital One Arena in favor of a construction crew working to give the place a makeover. They played their series against Atlanta on the campus of George Washington University in the West End but then were forced all the way out to Fairfax on the campus of George Mason University. Home court advantage? Not really. We went to that one Finals game there last year and almost didn't make it on time. The traffic was horrendous. That campus is not built to accommodate any sort of traffic surge. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This year the Mystics own the number one seed in the playoffs, sporting the league's best record overall and the only winning road record in the league. They might have gotten a little lucky. Minnesota's Maya Moore sat out the season and Breanna Stewart was out the entire season with an injury. Then again, the Mystics are really good. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They are also no longer nomads. Instead of bouncing between co-opted arenas this year they are playing in their home building, the brand new and oh so unimaginatively named Entertainment and Sports Arena in southeast D.C. The building is the home court of both the Mystics and Wizards' G-League franchise Capital City Go-Go as well as the Wizards main practice facility. It moved the Mystics out of the 20,000 or so seat Capital One Arena and into more intimate surroundings with a seating capacity of just a bit more then 4,000. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yesterday's Finals game was my first Mystics game of the season. I could offer a myriad of excuses for not going earlier than that but I won't. I just didn't make it happen and I'm fortunate that I saw the team win in a Finals game this year vs. losing in their only shot last year. It was also my first trip over to ESA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Did I already say what a difference a year makes?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ESA is a little closer to get to than EagleBank Arena at GMU but the travel time was remarkably different. There was basically no traffic to get out to SE once you got around the Nationals afternoon traffic and the parking lot was super easy to find. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The arena being rightsized for the crowd is also a huge plus. Watching the Mystics play at Capital One in a half or more empty arena (they only ever sold lower bowl tickets) was depressing. That building is not built to be rocking at 1/5 or less of its capacity. No matter how many people were there the place always looked empty. We even got moved from our end seats to second row on the side facing the television cameras once so the place would look more full on TV. The gym (because that's really what it is) was almost fully occupied on Sunday. I could see a few seats in the upper rows that were empty but the game was played in front of a full house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This place is bare bones but it works. There's nothing fancy about the building on the outside or the inside. Sure the corridors are a little packed and the triangular space in the corner of the building that's been turned into a merch center is super small but it works. The only disappointment for me was the railing on the stairs actually blocking my view of the court. It got worse when people got to the top of the stairs and stopped to figure out where their seats are (why is this so hard) and blocked basically the whole lane area. It was worse if it was a mascot in the way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the biggest difference is on the court. This team is talented and this team is deep. I guess it helps when a former league MVP forces a trade to your team but while Elena Delle Donne is clearly the best player on the team / in the league it's way more than that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Three years ago Emma Meessemann was the best player on the Mystics. She opted to sit out last season (the life of a WNBA player often involves playing a full season in Europe in addition to international competition in the WNBA offseason) to rest. Now at the age of 26 she's in her prime and coming off the bench. She can easily go for 20 plus in a game. Off the bench. There's some luck in building this team but there's also some solid drafting and team building.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Two more games. That's all this team needs to bring the first professional basketball franchise to Washington since 1978. If you told me I would have to hold season tickets for 20 seasons to see a basketball championship in this season I'd have taken it. Of course, I have season tickets for the wrong team. I hope this team does it. They and the city deserve it. I won't likely be at any more Finals games this year but I'm glad I got one in. Let's go Mystics!</span></div>
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Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409422254171126633.post-14702601789025229142019-08-14T20:33:00.000-04:002019-08-14T20:33:40.424-04:00The 2019-2020 NBA Schedule<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Wizards schedule for the upcoming season was released this past Monday. I know, I know, it's Wednesday already. A late-ish night at work putting a proposal or two together and then a night out at Wolf Trap with the Stray Cats delayed my posting this by a couple of days. Wrote most of it Monday; just had to find some pics to go with the words.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This season promises to be pretty darn grim for the Wizards die-hard faithful but I've written this post every year but the first that I've been writing this blog and so I'm doing it again. Here are my lucky seven takeaways from the annual schedule release. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But first...what is with this graphic the Wiz have rolled out this year? All-Star Bradley Beal and this year's number one draft pic Rui Hachimura make a ton of sense on the schedule. But what's with Troy Brown Jr. in street clothes and a backpack? Don't get it. Must be getting old. Let's get to my seven things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>1. Rough Start</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So this year's already going to be rough enough with no John Wall likely for the whole year, the team trading away or just letting veteran talent walk and no cap space whatsoever to restock the larder. On top of all that, the league has to start this traditionally slow-starting team with three road games in four nights against Dallas, Oklahoma City and San Antonio? Looks like an 0-3 start to me to point this team in a great direction to start the season. I guess the good thing is if they manage to steal a game, the trip is a success.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Think things get easier once we open at home? Umm...no. The season opener is against James Harden, Russell Westbrook and the Houston Rockets (God that Westbrook part sounds odd). I'm thinking 0-4 here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>2. Sell High</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have paid entirely too much money for Wizards tickets over the past few years. This year I deleted a couple of generally worthless upper deck seats from my account but I'm still in for north of $8K with no help this year (thanks, Mike!). Looks like I'll be looking to sell what I can when I can, which means I'll likely be absent from the marquee games this year. Again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So what are those? I'm thinking the Lakers, Golden State, the Clippers, New Orleans and Houston in that order. We get lucky with three of those five after football season is over (always a better time to sell) and got a gift with the Lakers game on a Saturday in March. No Eastern Conference games on the list? I'm thinking no. It's going to be another down year for the East now that the spectacularly successful Kawhi rental in Toronto is over. We didn't even get any resale value out of that one since amazingly Kawhi was still under most fans' radar last regular season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maybe Milwaukee provides some value.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>3. No TV Love</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By my count, the Wizards are on national television twice this year. Twice!!! And once is in November against Cleveland. I mean who's going to tune into that game unless ESPN gets guest broadcaster Steve Buckhantz to sit in on the play-by-play mike. It will probably just get cancelled. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I get that the Wiz aren't a draw this year. Or maybe really any year the way some other teams are. But two games on national TV??? I mean we do still have one All-Star active. They can't get us one or two more slots? One of the two is an NBA TV game, which doesn't really count since it's just a broadcast of one of the two teams' live feeds. No respect! Not saying this team has earned any. Just no respect anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>4. MLK Day!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Wizards have enjoyed a pretty nice run of consecutive years on the annual NBA Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. These things used to get interrupted by presidential inaugurations but it turns out it's really just by <u>popular</u> presidential inaugurations. As a result of the lack of conflict with the sparse Trump 2017 showing, this is the Wizards seventh consecutive MLK Day hosting a home game. Despite the seriousness of this day, this game is always welcome no matter how bad a season this Wizards are having. Here's hoping this one is just as meaningful as the rest. January 20 vs. Detroit in case you want to mark your calendar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>5. Big 3</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No, this isn't a reference to the league started by Ice Cube that continues to spurn D.C. (the league - probably legitimately - claims Cap One is significantly more expensive than other venues) but I just had to get that in there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Every year the schedule allows the Wizards to play each Western Conference opponent home and away and twice that amount for Southeast Division rivals. The rest of the schedule is filled with four games against six of the remaining 10 teams and just three against the other four. Getting three games against the right teams can get you an easier 5% of the schedule but get the wrong teams missing at home and it can cost you a couple of bucks on the re-sale market. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This year's three game teams? Toronto, Brooklyn, Indiana and Cleveland. Three playoff teams (including the champs...sort of) is not a bad draw to get. Of course, the Wizards will be so bad this year that none of that will matter anyway. Just one home game against the Raps and Pacers this year. Not too broken up about that since Kawhi's not up north any more. No resale impact there for me.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y0JRXNq2xTA/XVSnsXxNnQI/AAAAAAAAKEI/-BOSzYSkZp8x0jPR8v-G9oSteWFffmxHACLcBGAs/s1600/D1B1Tu6UcAAbmcx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y0JRXNq2xTA/XVSnsXxNnQI/AAAAAAAAKEI/-BOSzYSkZp8x0jPR8v-G9oSteWFffmxHACLcBGAs/s640/D1B1Tu6UcAAbmcx.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">NBA apparel in Rotorua, New Zealand. No Wizards stuff. Shocker!!!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>6. Vacation Time!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last year I went on vacation in early March figuring the Wizards would be on the road. They weren't. I missed six home games and in the process squandered more than $1,000 in loss via the resale market. This year, I'll be smarter. It's been a few years since I've worried about making sure I'm in town for Wizards games but this season I feel like I have to get to these un-sellable games rather than skipping town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">March is a great time to get out of D.C. Maybe the weekend of the 14th or 28th. Yes, I know there's a home game on the 28th but come on, it's the Lakers. No way am I giving up that resale opportunity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>7. Road Trip?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I believe I've left Washington and seen some hoops on the road each year I've been writing this blog so it would be a shame to not do that this year. But honestly, I want to go somewhere I haven't seen a ball game yet and the more places I go, the fewer there are left on the list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This year's possibilities for uncharted territory? Considering I'm looking ideally for a Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon game, it looks like I'm stuck choosing between San Antonio in late October (out of town the next weekend so not good) and at Charlotte on April 11. I'd love to go to Charlotte for a game but honestly, this Wizards team will have probably crushed all my spirit by that time. If I open it up to Friday nights, then I can consider Oklahoma City in game two of the season (carries the same problem as San Antonio), Boston on March 13 (yeah I know I said that would be a great weekend for a vacation but I didn't mean to Boston) and Houston on April 10 (which has the same killed my spirit issue as the Charlotte game).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This might be the year I'm done. In more than one way. Holding out hope that the Wiz will be in contention in late March so I can go to the Queen City.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Too little to get out of this year's schedule? Too much? That's all I got. Season starts October 23. Not necessarily looking forward to this one I have to say. </span></div>
Jonathan Hopwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13862547598512441569noreply@blogger.com0