400 Level Signage Ranked, Part II

This is my last post about the new picture signs installed over this past summer at Capital One Arena. I promise. In November, I posted my ranking of the 22 signs installed in the 100 Level of the building assuming that was all the money Capital One cared to spend on these things. About a week later I made my first trip of the season to the 400 Level and found 34 more signs. I posted part one of my countdown on that level last week. Now I'm handling the top 17 on the upper deck. Then I'll be quiet about signage in the building for a while. Probably.

Let's see what I found on the top level of Cap One that's better than what I showed last week.

17. Playoff Bound (408/409)

Sometimes the playoffs are something to celebrate so I'm putting this sign at the 17 spot in this countdown. I do find the concept of this one a little curious though. I mean it's not like the Mystics had some long playoff drought. This sign is dated 2006. The Mystics made the playoffs in 2004, 2002 and 2000. Why this year? They made it as the four seed with an 18-16 record. Don't think I'm going to figure this one out.

16. Young Guns (410/411)

So let me get this straight: this sign celebrates the fact that the Washington Capitals found multiple young players in the draft that are actually good. In many, many ways this speaks volumes about the ownership of the Capitals and by default also the Wizards and Mystics. And Valor I guess; I keep forgetting that's a sport. This ranks 16th on this list because this standard is like a minimum bar for some franchises. Of course, these young guns did go on to win a Stanley Cup I guess.

15. Bondra's Goal (402/403)

I guess this is good for Peter Bondra. Score three goals in a game and get a contract extension. And we wonder why Andray Blatche got an extension for a couple of good months of play.

14. Holtby Saves 44 (406/407)
So it seems to me that this sign isn't really celebrating Braden Holtby saving 44 shots in a single playoff game; it's more about the fact that his effort in this one game propelled the Caps to a series win against the Boston Bruins. And maybe recognizing Holtby individually for being between the pipes for the 2018 Stanley Cup championship run. Why do I think that? Because yes, the Caps got by Boston but they bowed out in the very next round in the 2012 playoffs. And 44 saves isn't like an NHL record or something (it's 92, if you were wondering). Still this signs sits 14th because it spotlights Holtby and he deserves his own spotlight.

13. Wes Unseld Named NBA MVP (400/401)
Only one Wizards / Bullets / Zephyrs / Packers player has ever been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player and that's Wes Unseld (obviously). No, it didn't happen in Washington; he played for the Baltimore Bullets. But as a basketball fan, I think it deserves a sign celebrating the accomplishment. Oh...and Wes was also Rookie of the Year this same season. Only player to ever win both of those in a single season.

Oddly enough Alex Ovechkin has won the Hart Trophy (the NHL's MVP award) three times and he gets no sign for that. Even though he did it in the building. Can't figure out the logic behind some of these things. 

12. Dozen Goals (417/418)
It's not often a hockey team scores 12 goals in a single game. The Caps have done it once since the current building opened and that was in January of 2003. I'm having second thoughts about putting this one ahead of Wes Unseld's MVP season but it did happen in the building after all.  I need to post this before I change my mind.

11. Dale Hunter Number 32 Retired (412/413)

10. Phil Chenier Number Retired (431/432)

There are a total of six retired number signs that were added over the summer. Earl Monroe, whose number was retired after the move to MCI Center / Verizon Center is down on the 100 level. You can find the other five upstairs. I ranked Gus Johnson, Elvin Hayes and Was Unseld 21st, 20th and 19th respectively in last week's post because their numbers were retired before the Wizards moved to downtown Washington. Chenier's and Hunter's numbers were not; they were retired right at 601 F Street NW. Chenier's ranked higher because basketball is better than hockey.

Phil Chenier's 45 is the fifth number retired by the Bullets / Wizards and all five of those players are represented on signs in the building. The Capitals have retired four numbers and oddly enough, only Hunter is celebrated in sign form around the concourse on the 100 or 400 level. I don't know what Rod Langway (#5), Yvon Labre (#7) or Mike Gartner (#11) did to deserve to be snubbed but they were.

9. All-Star (John Wall) (433/400)

8. The #1 Pick (428/429)

John Wall has played a huge part in the identity of the Washington Wizards franchise over the last nine seasons (how has it been that long??) and deservedly so. I ranked him as the best Wizard all time (Wizard, not Bullet)  a couple of years ago based on his play over the years and his five All-Star appearances, which is two more than any other Wizard.  These two signs mark two pretty important milestones in John's career: his selection number one overall in the 2010 NBA Draft and his selection to the All-Star team for the first time.

7. Eastern Conference Best (405/406)

Yep, believe it or not, the Washington Mystics were the WNBA Eastern Conference's best in the 2010 season, long before they made the Finals this past season. They also started three players (Monique Curry, Lindsey Harding and Crystal Langhorne) in the WNBA All-Star game. Of course, there's a picture celebrating the regular season because in the postseason they bombed, losing 0-2 to the four seed Atlanta Dream.

6. 300 For Kölzig (423/424)

Olaf Kölzig in the Capitals' all time leader in games won and he won a lot of them at the MCI Center / Verizon Center. There's a lot of value in celebrating accomplishments accumulated one game at a time over the span of years. Kölzig did something here worthy of note. And sure, Olie won 300 but he only went one over that number. His career total stands at 301. Braden Holtby has 245 as of this past Sunday. What happens then? 

5. U2 (404/405)

I put most of the concert signs in the 400 level in the mid-20s (22 through 28 to be exact) of this sign rank. Well, except for Keith Urban who is deservedly dead last. But U2? No way could I put this band with the rest of the acts 17-23 spots higher. U2 is a breed apart in this bunch. As an aside, can you imagine even seeing U2 at a venue this small (which is bigger than most bands will ever hope to play)? Crazy that they weren't already doing stadium shows when MCI Center opened in 1997.

4. Community Assist (403/404)

What beats U2 and team success by the Mystics? John Wall giving back to the community, that's what. Every year since the 2011-2012 NBA Season, the NBA has handed out an annual award to a player to honor their community engagement and charitable work and/or philanthropy. At the end of the 2015-2016 season, John Wall received the award for his work making Washington, D.C. and Raleigh, NC. This is important stuff. In many ways much much more important than winning on the court. Well done, here. Proud of John for this one.

3. The Dalai Lama (427/428)

I get what you are thinking: is the Dalai Lama really more important that all this Wizards and Capitals stuff? More important than the Mystics and Valor? Than Keith Urban and U2? Yes, he is. Much more important. One could argue as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and international peace symbol and conscience of all that is good that he should be number one. But he's not on this countdown. Not today. The Dalai Lama played 601 F Street. How cool is that?

2. 17-Game Win Streak at Home (416/417)

This seems like a distant memory at this point but two years ago (yes, just TWO YEARS ago) the Wizards ran off 17 straight wins at home on their way to their first and only division title in my 19 years of being a Wizards season ticket holder. Since then? Not so much success. We'll always have the 2017 playoffs, I guess. Can't see the Wiz having the same success this year.

1. Finals Win (430/431)
Just as was the case with the 100 level signs, there is no accomplishment in the building better than the Stanley Cup Finals win so any sign celebrating anything to do with that series and that championship comes first, number one, all the time. This sign outside sections 430 and 431 commemorates the first win in Washington that put the Caps up 2-1 en route to winning four straight and closing out the Golden Knights in Vegas five days later. 

That's it. Until they put some of these on the Club level, which they likely won't. But if they do, they should right the wrong that they have done by omitting all mention of the Wizards post name change and pre-Leonsis ownership. Those players on the mid-aughts team are not a stain to be erased from the team's and building's history. Happy about this current Wizards team making the second round of the playoffs and putting two players in the All-Star Game? We should be equally happy about the team 10 to 15 years prior doing the same thing, only with three All-Stars.

10 11 25 41 45

This is blog post number three of four before I officially shut this blog down for the summer on account of the Wizards miserable play this past season. More than a month later and I'm still super bitter. This is going to take a while to wear off.

Among the bad losses, the apathetic on court attitude, the poorly constructed roster (both short term and long term) and the seemingly limited coaching skill to close out games, there were actually some good moments during this year's Wizards season. One of those occurred in late March, when the Wizards elected to retire the number 45, which of course for anyone who knows anything about the history of the Wizards and Bullets was worn mostly almost exclusively by Phil Chenier. DeJuan Blair had it for a season, if you must know.

So let's pretend that you don't know who Phil Chenier is for a minute or two and let me go through his resume just a little. Phil was drafted in the Hardship Draft in 1971 fourth overall by the Baltimore Bullets. The Hardship Draft was a supplemental draft for underclassmen who wished to enter the NBA through some hardship exception. This draft has since been eliminated but at that time,  you were not allowed to enter the draft until after your college class had graduated. Phil was selected after his junior year at the University of California Berkeley.

From there, Phil would go on to be selected to the 1972 NBA All-Rookie First Team before being selected to three NBA All-Star games in 1974, 1975 and 1977. In the 1975 campaign Phil was selected to the All-NBA Second Team making him the only player from the 1971 Supplemental Draft to make an All-Star Game and All-NBA honors. What else? Oh, how about an NBA Championship in 1978 (without playing a single minute that year unfortunately) and still holding the Bullets / Wizards single game regulation scoring record at 53 against Portland in December of 1972 (Earl Monroe and Gilbert Arenas later bested that mark in a single game but they did it in overtime). He still ranks 9th all time in franchise history in games played, 7th in minutes played and point scored and 10th in assists.

To top all of that off, in 1985 he started working the color analyst duties at Bullets games for Home Team Sports on cable television. That gig went full time a couple of years later and he stuck with it all the way until the end of the 2016-2017 NBA season when he (ahem) retired. More on that situation later in this post. 33 years calling Bullets and then Wizards games. Wow that must be have been tough. I think I've got it bad sticking with this team for just 18 years. And relatively speaking, these have been a pretty good 18 years for this franchise.

The ceremony replay in quarter three. Wizards down by 12.

Phil's 45 jersey is the fifth retired by the team, following those of (in numerical order) Earl Monroe, Elvin Hayes, Gus Johnson and Wes Unseld. The last player to have his number retired before Phil was Earl The Pearl back in December of 2007. I gotta believe that of all the retired Bullets and Wizards players out there, this has to be it. I can't beleive there are any other players from the 1978 championship team worthy of jersey retirements and I don't think any member of the mid-aughts "big three" is going to make it.

I never saw Phil Chenier play. In fact, I barely saw the Bullets play (maybe three or four times a year on television while I was a Knicks fan up in New York State). But for 18 of the last 19 seasons, I've been watching Wizards basketball on TV and listening to Phil Chenier provide analysis alongside Steve Buckhantz. Phil's been a regular fixture in my life for almost two decades. I was sad to see that run end. Phil's banner is different than the other four at Capital One Arena; his banner has a microphone with the number 33 on it to signify the number of years he called Bullets and Wizards games as a regular occurrence.

Walt Frazier passing his congrats on to Phil. Wiz within 5.

The official retirement ceremony got squashed into the regular length halftime of the March 23 home game vs. the Denver Nuggets. I guess that's how these things have to go these days. It seemed almost too short but Phil along with team owner Ted Leonsis and Steve Buckhantz made it work. The actual banner didn't get raised during the ceremony; it was already in place before we got to the game so the festivities were limited to a couple of speeches. Cardboard Phil Chenier emoji-on-sticks were placed on each seat prior to the game so fans I guess could have a memento of the occasion. I left mine at the arena. For what it's worth, I still have my Earl Monroe replica banner from December 2007. That giveaway was way better in my eyes.

There's a little irony in the whole ceremony in that Phil didn't choose to do this. He was essentially fired from the position by the network with no certain plan (at least to this fan's mind) to replace him at the end of the 2016-2017 season. Fired might seem like a harsh word since he still works for NBC Sports Washington doing occasional in-studio guest gigs but he was involuntarily removed from his position. Where I come from, that's being fired. At the risk of being like Bob Dylan at Live Aid, I have to say Kara Lawson who replaced Phil is fantastic at her job. Dare I say even better than Phil.

The retirement ceremony was part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Washington Bullets 1978 championship team, a two game event in one weekend Friday night (the Nuggets game) and Sunday afternoon (against the New York Knicks). In a fashion that seemed appropriate for the chronic underperformance put forth by the team this year, the Wizards lost both games that they had no business losing. It was terrible.
There's no question this event was deserved. Phil is one of the greats in the history of the franchise. There are only two other players (Walt Bellamy and John Wall) with more All-Star selections in franchise history than Phil and then he provided a third of a century's service (!!!!) to the team in the broadcast booth. I had the opportunity to say thanks to Phil after the end of the 2016-2017 season. I told him that I wished he could stay on for some more services. His response was "so do I". Now he gets to stick around in some form for as long as this franchise keeps playing in D.C.

Feeling Guilty?

One of the saddest parts to the end of the 2016-2017 Washington Wizards season was the announcement that Phil Chenier would not be returning as the on air television analyst for the team along side play-by-play man Steve Buckhantz. The move was stunning. I can't name one Wizards fan out there who was in favor of this change. Even Phil didn't seem to be in favor of the move when I talked to him after his last broadcast in the second round series against Boston. I told him I wished he could stay on and he responded with a "So do I."

So what gives? Phil wants to stay. The fans want Phil to stay. I'm assuming Steve Buckhantz wants Phil to stay given the smooch on the head he laid on Phil during one of their last broadcasts together. Who the heck wants to get rid of Phil? 

Well, turns out the brass at the Wizards do. Maybe they've got some ringer in mind to replace ol' 45. If they have, they are not saying right now and it (along with what ugly advertising patch is going to adorn the Wizards' unis this coming campaign) is becoming one of the great mysteries of the offseason for me.

Right after the announcement, there were some nice statements from Monumental Sports and Entertainment about Phil staying with the Monumental family and providing expertise in the studio and things like that but in my mind, we've never really received a good explanation for this move. And it's still stinging in early July even after the NBA Draft and into Summer League. It just feels like Ted Leonsis and company are putting one of the best things about the Wizards out to pasture, so to speak.

Look, I've been a Washington Wizards season ticket holder since the 2000-2001 season and these last 17 seasons as a fan for me have been tough. Very little regular season and playoff success with just a single division title (this past season) and nothing beyond the second round in the postseason. I think I've suffered for this team but I got nothing on Phil Chenier. Phil's been calling games for the Wiz since any station started broadcasting a full season on television. This was way back in 1984. That's 33 seasons!!! I can't imagine the pain he's endured watching his old team try and fail year after year and sticking with it anyway. If anyone deserves to say when enough is enough, I think it's Phil Chenier.

So it's about a month and half after the end of the Wizards second round series with the Boston Celtics and I'm at my first Mystics game of the year wandering around the 100 level concourse and lo and behold I find a brand spanking new display on the north side of Verizon Center dedicated to Phil Chenier. And I got to say something about this.

First of all, what is the story here? Was this planned for months and months or was it some sort of compensation move after Phil's departure didn't sit well with fans? I'd love to think it was the former but the initial news was broken so quietly and with so little tribute that I'm thinking there's some serious guilt trip stuff happening over at 601 F Street NW. It's probably too late to change course now (especially now they've rolled out this new piece at VC) but I'd love it if they did and I could get Phil back on the air for a few more seasons. Let him enjoy some team success for a change please.

Who knows, maybe Phil's OK with all this. I'm clearly having difficulty adjusting. In my 17 years in the D.C. area, I've never heard anyone call Wizards games on a regular basis other than Buck and Phil. I love Dave Johnson as much as the next guy and I listen to Dave during the preseason when CSN is broadcasting another team's feed but during the regular season (and to avoid the annoying time delay between radio and television) I'm a Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier guy. Always have been but now I'm forced to make a change. And I'm not particularly happy about it. I'll get over it, but I don't have to like it.

When the Wizards tip off again this fall, stop by the concourse outside Section 112 and check out the tribute to Phil Chenier. I assume it will stick and is not some sort of rotating display through various Wizards alumni or something like that. If there's a guy that deserves this sort of a tribute, it's Phil. And it's nice. It's well done. It's professional. It's polished. There are Chenier model Nikes in there (who knew there was such a thing?). And above all, it's well deserved. If anyone has earned a tribute like this it's Phil. I'd just rather have the real thing.

Look Who's At Verizon Center!

I know some of these photos suck. Get over it.

When I first became a Washington Wizards season ticket holder, the scorer's table stretched from the home bench on the east side of the court to the visitors' bench on the west side of the court. At that time, the scorer's table was where the official timekeeper, the official scorer (hence the name), the public address announcer plus the television guys both for the Wizards and the away team sat. I'm sure it had been that way for about like ever.

Then a few years ago, Wizards ownership figured they could make a little more cash if they shortened the scorer's table a bit and added some seats next to each team's bench. Now before you scoff and think about how little money that is really worth to ownership, consider these seats for the 2016-2017 season cost $2,200 per game per seat. That's $90,200 for a full regular season per seat. Heck, that's $3,300 for three meaningless preseason games. WOW!!! And there's like 12 of these things. That's pretty much a cool million per year.

Now, since the table was shorter, someone had to go, right? They couldn't move any of the game officials (how would they deal with those "operations to the scorer's table" pages when the clock malfunctioned?) so they decided to move some folks who didn't need seats as close as they used to have: the television guys. Why am I writing all this? Well, when they moved the TV guys, they moved them to the top of Section 110 and all of them now walk up the aisle between Sections 109 and 110 before every game, which means they walk right by my seats.

That means I get to say hi to Phil Chenier and Steve Buckhantz every game if I want. It also means I get to have every opposing team's announcers walk within about three feet of me. Most of the play by play guys are broadcasting guys, vets of the business who have worked their way up from entry level jobs in television to calling 82 (or more for the right team) games per year on local cable. But they are usually partnered with an analyst who's a former player. And that can be pretty cool. Here are some of the guys who walked within arm's length of me this season.

October 31: Walt "Clyde" Frazier

Two time NBA Champion; seven time All-Star; Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 1987.

Walt Frazier anchored the New York Knicks backcourt on their two NBA Championship teams in 1970 and then again in 1973. In the excess crazy 1970s, Frazier was famous for wearing full length fur coats with matching hats and driving a custom Rolls Royce. He picked up the nickname "Clyde" because the hats he wore looked like the fedora worn by Warren Beatty in the movie Bonnie and Clyde.

While Frazier played all the way until 1980 (with the Cleveland Cavaliers of all teams), I never got the chance to see him play (too young and not interested in basketball in the first year we moved to the U.S.)  but used to listen to his broadcasts while a Knicks fan in my purgatory years in upstate New York. His game calls are about as flashy as his wardrobe. Love the pink suit. And he wasn't wearing it because it was Halloween.

December 4: Derek Harper

Unlike Clyde, Derek Harper never won an NBA title and never made an All-Star game (I'm shocked about that second one). He's also never making the Basketball Hall of Fame. That's what happens I guess when you spend the majority of your career with the pre-Mark Cuban era Dallas Mavericks. But like Walk Frazier, Harper did play for the New York Knicks which is why I love Derek Harper so much.

When I first got out of college, one of my favorite distractions to my otherwise non-exciting life in Cooperstown, New York, was watching the New York Knicks on the Madison Square Garden network. When I got to Cooperstown, the Knicks had just traded for Harp and moved him into the starting backcourt along with John Starks (also LOVE Starks!) to replace the injured and out for the season Doc Rivers. Harper was the missing piece the Knicks needed to get beyond the competition and make it to the NBA Finals, their first appearance since Frazier took them to the title way back in 1973. Yes, Michael Jordan playing baseball might have had something to do with the Knicks' success but I'm giving credit to Harper anyway. The Knicks lost on my birthday that year to the Houston Rockets. That was as close as Harper got to a title.

I loved watching Derek Harper play for the Knicks. He was without question my favorite player on the team. He was so in control of the game for the Knicks and seemed to be a stabilizing force for the team when he was on the court. If I'd been buying NBA jerseys back then, I would definitely have invested in a number 11 jersey.

December 19: Dell Curry
NBA Sixth Man of the Year 1994.

Is Dell Curry more famous today from his time as an NBA player or in his current role as Steph Curry's dad? It's hard to tell sometimes but Curry was definitely a force in his playing days, winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in 1994 and scoring enough points in Charlotte to be (still) the Hornets' all time leading scorer.

Curry was selected by the Hornets in the expansion draft for that franchise on its way into the league when he was left unprotected by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the second team he had played with in as many years to start his career. He spent the next ten years in Charlotte before closing out the last four years of his career in Milwaukee and Toronto. Unlike Clyde and Harp, I have no special memories of Dell as a player, although I must have seen him play early on in my season ticket tenure when he was a member of the Raptors. I'm just happy to say I don't remember him being a Wizards killer, like so many other players have been.

December 23: Brevin Knight

I look forward to the Memphis Grizzlies' visit every year because Brevin Knight is calling the game for the visitors. Why Brevin Knight? Because right now he's the only former Wizard (Phil Chenier was a Bullet, remember) who's calling games on TV and I saw him play in his one partial season in Washington.

I remember noticing Brevin a couple of years ago making his way up our aisle and said to my friend Mike "hey, it's Brevin Knight!" Brevin stopped and talked to us, seeming surprised that someone at Verizon Center actually knew who he was. I told him I remembered him playing for the Wizards and said something about his number 22 jersey which I think struck home that I did actually remember him. Brevin spent 12 years in the NBA playing for nine NBA teams. Memphis was the third team he played for way back in 2001 to 2003.

The partial year Brevin played for the Wizards (he played for Phoenix and Milwaukee that same year) was probably not the highlight of his career but he's still my favorite visiting broadcaster. This year I said hi and got a handshake and a "Merry Christmas!" out of him. See you next year, Brevin!

January 25: Brian Scalabrine
NBA Champion.

Of the guys in this post, Brian Scalabrine is probably the least accomplished as a professional basketball player. But he did win an NBA championship, which give him something Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson and a whole lot of other guys who have played in the NBA don't have, including Derek Harper, Dell Curry and Brevin Knight.

Scalabrine became somewhat of a cult hero for Boston Celtics fans during the Pierce-Garnett-Allen (and Rondo I guess) years which produced an NBA title in 2008. He was the human equivalent of Red Auerbach's victory cigar during some of those years and at the end of a blowout win, the Boston crowd would often chant "Scal-A-Bri-Ne". Good for Brian, I guess. He parlayed the five years he spent in Boston during the middle of his 11 year career into a steady gig filling Tom Heinsohn's role as analyst during road games for the Cs. 

Dominique Wilkins
Nine time All-Star; Baskeball Hall of Fame Class of 2006.

I don't really remember watching Dominque Wilkins play basketball but suffice it to say he's likely the best player the Atlanta Hawks have ever had play for their franchise and for sure one of the best dunkers in NBA history, winning the Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Weekend twice and earning the nickname "the human highlight reel."

Dominque never earned much team success in Atlanta. The Hawks never made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in his time there. But he did cement his playoff legacy in a game seven of the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics. In that contest, Dominique scored 47 on the Cs in what is regarded as one of the greatest playoff one-on-one contests in NBA playoff history. His adversary that day? Larry Bird, who for Larry was having a pretty ordinary day until the fourth quarter when he poured in 20 points to lead Boston to victory in the series. It was in many ways Wilkins' signature moment of his career, although it ultimately came in a loss, which is sort of fitting considering the Hawks' success while he was in town.

I truly believe the NBA is the best in person sports experience in the world. One of main reasons I believe that is how close you can get to the action on the playing field. No sport gives the kind of in person, so close you can touch fan experience. For me the past few years, that experience has occurred in the stands as well as some pretty awesome former players have strolled by me. I thought it was worth putting some of this in a blog post.

I've managed to capture six of the 29 Wizards opponents' television analysts here. Notable among those who are missing are Shaun Elliot of the San Antonio Spurs and David Wesley of the New Orleans Pelicans. In the case of both those guys, I just wasn't paying attention close enough at the beginning of the games. I also missed former Wizards All-Star Antawn Jamison, who has assisted on the call a few times this year. Here's hoping AJ will make that spot permanent and spend the rest of my Wizards fan tenure walking by me.

Hey...Wait A Minute!

During Washington Wizards local television broadcasts this season, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (the amalgamation of the old CSN Washington and CSN Baltimore) has added a new feature for hard core Wizards fans tuning in at home. At some point during the game, a "Wizards Twitter Question" is posted on screen and discussed briefly by either the in studio staff or broadcasters extraordinaire Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier. Then using Twitter and the hashtag #WizardsTalk, fans can offer their thoughts in response to the question du jour and maybe see their words posted during a time out or some other stoppage of play late in the game. CSN is leveraging social media here to increase fan engagement. I think it's a great idea. God knows the Wizards need more fan engagement.

This past Tuesday, the Wizards were in Toronto to face the home town Raptors in the final game for both teams in calendar year 2015. The game itself was one of those plodders that it didn't seem like the Wizards stood a chance of being competitive let alone winning. But as things go sometimes in the NBA, the Wizards actually had a shot to pull it out in the last minute despite no Washington bench player scoring in the first half and Toronto outrebounding the Wiz by 11 and shooting 22 more free throw attempts. Since it was the last game until the new year, the Wizards Twitter Question that night was "What is your fondest Wizards memory from the year 2015?"

Now I have a few fond Wizards memories in this past year, as well as some I'd rather forget, and despite having never participated with Comcast in their Twitter question, I thought this particular question was one I could get at pretty easily. I picked as my fondest 2015 memory the last game of the 2015 playoffs that the Wizards won, game three of the second round vs. the Atlanta Hawks clinched at the buzzer on Paul Pierce's insane game winning bank shot. Why not, right? What an amazing moment punctuated by Pierce's drop-the-mic interview with ESPN's Chris Broussard. In my response to Comcast Wednesday night, I just let Pierce do my talking.

So it gets to be the fourth quarter and the Wizards are still hanging on for dear life and Steve and Phil re-visit the Wizards Twitter Question during a timeout. And guess who's up first but yours truly with my Twitter handle and everything. Woo hoo!!! On a late December evening of 2015 I get to mark about 10 to 15 seconds more of my 15 minutes of fame in the books. Good for me!

But wait a minute, I didn't write that!

The tweet displayed on screen attributed to me read "Did you call bank?" "No, I called game" as shown above. But that's neither a correct recounting of the end of the Pierce-Broussard interview, nor is it what I wrote in my tweet. True, Broussard does ask "Did you call bank" but Pierce's response was "I called game! GAME!" Not "No, I called game." And Pierce's response to that last question is just what I wrote in my tweet. Nothing more, nothing less.

So what gives? Did someone at Comcast actually re-write my tweet or was it just an innocent mistake attributing my name to someone else's message (for the record I can't imagine this last theory is true)? Did the staffers over at CSN feel my tweet didn't have enough context? If that's the case, I'd heartily disagree. Any committed Wizards fan should instantly recognize Pierce's quote and instantly think of last May. And what about my branding? I can't have mis-quoted interviews attributed to me out there in the atmosphere. I need my name cleared!!! There was no "no" in Pierce's quote!

So I'm not actually upset about my branding. The only brand I need is to be known as a die-hard Wizards fan who shows up every game giving his all to cheer on the Wiz through thick and (unfortunately mostly) thin, whether it be a home game at Verizon Center or elsewhere in the country on the road. But I do think the whole thing is interesting. There's no logical explanation for this in my mind. I wonder if it happens to other people? I'll probably be blacklisted over at CSN for this and never get another tweet posted on their broadcast. So be it. Happy New Year, Wizards fans. Orlando tonight. I'll be there and I'll probably be tweeting.

My ACTUAL tweet.

Bobbleheads

Of all the useless Wizards related things I collect (and I do collect a lot of useless Wizards related things), my favorite thing to collect is promotional bobbleheads. This past New Year's Day I added our first round draft pick from this past June, Bradley Beal, to my collection, just before the Wizards fell to the Dallas Mavericks and a franchise worst 4-26 through 30 games. Bradley is bobblehead number 23 (if you include bobblebellys and bobblehands in that number and you count Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier as two bobbleheads) and is now sitting comfortably among the other bobbleheads and nesting dolls on the shelf in my hallway.

Kwame Brown, Gilbert Arenas and Steve Blake nesting dolls. In this case, sort of a cousin of the bobblehead.

In case it doesn't become abundantly clear in the next few paragraphs, let's get one thing out in the open: I LOVE bobbleheads. I'd say I love bobbleheads more than my friend Larry loves robots, which if you asked Larry, is saying something. I base this observation, by the way, on the fact that when I go to Larry's I see no robots, but when I come home, I see a lot of bobbleheads.

I remember the first time I ever saw a bobblehead. It was shortly after we moved to this country and settled in Connecticut at my friend Greg Taxin's house back in my hometown. Greg's family were transplants from Los Angeles and I remember Greg had an L.A. Dodgers bobblehead. I'd never seen anything like it; we just didn't have anything like bobbleheads in England. It was one of those uniquely American items that fascinated me after I first moved to the U.S. Little did I know at that time, but bobbleheads had sort of come into the mainstream of American culture through Major League Baseball in the 1960s and early 1970s but they were totally off the coolness map by the time we arrived here in 1979. But from that first Dodgers bobblehead, I knew I had to have one someday. I've definitely completed that goal.

The 2004-2005 team's starting lineup. How did our best team in the last 12 and a half years have Jared Jeffries starting at the 3? The Gilbert Arenas bobblehead still talks. And in case you are wondering, iPad face detection does pick up the faces of bobbleheads.

The first bobblehead I ever owned was a bobblehead of Pete Slosberg, who was the co-founder and namesake of Pete's Wicked Ale. I saw it either in a catalog or more likely on the bottom of a six pack holder and just had to have one. That bobblehead actually has a plaster head. It took me about four tries to get one shipped from the manufacturer to my apartment in Cooperstown before I got one with an intact noggin. I still have that bobblehead somewhere at home but it doesn't sit in my Wizards bobblehead collection, which has become sort of a mini-obsession. I will not miss bobblehead giveaways at Verizon Center. I believe I have every Wizards bobblehead given away by the team since the 2002-2003 season with the exception of Jerry Stackhouse, which I did own at one point. When Stack shut himself down in the 2003-2004 season I got so disgusted with his lack of commitment to the team that I pitched that one. My standards have relaxed since then; I still have my Andray Blatche bobblehead even after his pathetic display last season.

In case my love of bobbleheads seems extremely unusual, let me point out I'm not alone in being extremely unusual. Dan Grunfeld wrote an excellent article last year about his grown-man love of bobbleheads. Dan is a former Stanford basketball player who has player professionally in Europe and Israel. Just like me, he is drawn to the shoddy promotional bobbleheads given away at basketball games which sometimes look nothing like the players they are supposed to be. If you read the article, note that Dan has many of the same bobbleheads I have in my collection, probably gifts from his dad Ernie Grunfeld, who is the Wizards' general manager. I'm sure Dan didn't earn all his Wizards bobbleheads by showing up early to games, of which half or more were likely miserable losses. Yes, I'm a little resentful here. I suffered for some of these bobbleheads.

This is the worst starting five I could assemble with my bobbleheads: Juan Dixon and Mike Miller in the backcourt; Jarvis Hayes and Andray Blatche at forward; and former number one overall pick Kwame Brown at center. Blatche's bobblehead is the most lifelike I have. At least Dray got something right in his time in DC.

I like my bobblehead collection because it reminds me of some of the players who have gone through our organization and have contributed to past successful seasons in the event I can't really remember back that far. They are also really cool pieces of Americana so even though they do absolutely nothing other than sit on a shelf, they make me happy in their own small way. There are some great players in bobblehead form on my shelf: Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler all made multiple all-star appearances while in Wizards uniforms and Wes Unseld and Earl Monroe have had their numbers retired by the franchise. I also have our current television announcers, Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier, as well as our mascot, G Wiz, who is arguably the best mascot in the NBA.

But despite having franchise legends in bobble form, my favorite bobble in my collection is actually the bobblehand of DeShawn Stevenson. That's right: bobbleHAND. The team created this essential piece of Wizards memorabilia because DeShawn used to wave his hand in front of his face in a "I can't feel my face" motion when he hit big shots. Over the years, DeShawn provided Wizards fans with some of our best moments in our on and off court rivalry with the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. For his unwavering commitment to hating that rival, I will love D-Steve forever. I was actually offered $100 for this bobble right after the game they were given away, a vicious beatdown of the Cavaliers in the 2009-2010 season. I declined the offer which I considered a joke and would have even if I thought it was a serious offer. No way would I part with this one.

23 and counting. I'm hoping for a set of five Wizards bobbleheads to add to my collection later this season.

DeShawn Stevenson: I can't feel my faaaaaaace!