Mark Knopfler At Verizon Center



No pics allowed in Verizon Center for this show.

With the Wizards off to a worst-in-franchise-history 0-9 start and moving towards cementing irrelevancy for the 2012-2013 season in only the first month of action, there hasn't been a whole lot about the trip to Verizon Center to get excited about lately. But Tuesday night the building took up the hardwood and made way for a Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan show. For me, this was a can't miss show. Even though I regularly miss Bob Dylan shows in the area, I couldn't even consider passing this one up. I was jealous last year when they toured Europe together; now I don't have to be jealous any more.

In my pantheon of music gods, Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan occupy special places. Dylan, without doubt, is absolutely the greatest ever. There has been so much good music produced by Bob over the last half century and his music satisfies on so many levels. Every year I sit down and make a list of the 50 albums I would keep if I could only have 50 albums for the rest of my life (thank God this doesn't actually happen) and I always have a difficult time deciding which Dylan albums to put on that list. Realistically, I couldn't bear to be without Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Nashville Skyline (no, that's not a mistake), Blood On The Tracks (if only just for Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts), Desire, Time Out Of Mind and some of the Bootleg Series Albums (the live versions of the Desire songs on the Rolling Thunder Revue album blow away the studio versions). When Dylan hangs it up or dies, I'll mourn that loss, even as I am comforted by everything he has given us. All those albums don't make the list of 50, by the way. There's just too much good music to spend six or more spots on Dylan.

But despite my feelings about Dylan being the greatest ever, Mark Knopfler is my favorite. I'd have Dylan opening for Knopfler but I guess most people wouldn't see it that way and they probably wouldn't sell as many tickets. I first got into Mark Knopfler's music through Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms album when I was in high school and gradually accumulated all their music while I was in college. When Knopfler put the band on hold in the late '80s and started working on side projects, I bought those albums too. But the side stuff with the Notting Hillbillies and Chet Atkins and the movie soundtracks were just not as good as Dire Straits so I was glad to see him re-form the band for 1991's On Every Street album and I finally got to see them in concert at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse.

But after that On Every Street album, Knopfler called it quits for the band and when he released his first solo album in 1996, I didn't even give it a chance, thinking it would be about the same as his side projects between Dire Straits albums. He continued to release solo albums and I continued to ignore them until June of 2006 when he played Constitution Hall in Washington with Emmylou Harris in support of their album All The Roadrunning. My friend Rachel had an extra ticket because her brother decided not to go to the show so I filled in. It was awesome. Mark Knopfler was every bit as good as he was with Dire Straits.

I always thought Knopfler was a great guitar player and an incredible songwriter, but there's a depth in his solo stuff that I don't get out of his Dire Straits songs. He writes songs about subjects that other people I listen to just don't write about whether it be the migration of working class jobs in England to Germany in the early 1980s or Charles Mason and Jeramiah Dixon laying out the northern boundary of Maryland or the decommissioning of a tanker ship built in Newcastle and torn apart in a country far away. There are a lot of English subjects, especially focused on the north part of the country, which I guess I understand from my family's history. My great grandfather worked in the coal mines for 50 years so Mark's song 5:15 a.m., which is about the effect video gambling machines are having on the population in former north England coal mining towns, resonates on a special level for me. It makes me want to reconnect with my family's history.

I have now bought every one of Mark's solo albums and I've seen every show he's played in the Washington DC area since that 2006 show with Emmylou Harris. Tuesday's Knopfler show was just as good as the rest, even though watching a show from floor seats at Verizon Center pretty much sucks. I managed to get an aisle seat with pretty much a clear view of the stage and I was close enough to see his guitar playing. The show was definitely too short. I would have taken another hour or so of Knopfler songs over Bob Dylan bludgeoning the melody out of some classic songs with his current voice; Ballad Of A Thin Man was the only Dylan song that I thought worked.

Mark opened with What It Is, which is actually my favorite song of his, before hitting four songs from his new double album Privateering. One of my favorite things about live music is hearing songs I love in a new light. His live version of Kingdom Of Gold included a guitar solo at the end which improved the song immeasurably and while Corned Beef City sounded substantially similar to the album version, the three guitars playing at once was amazing to hear live.

The middle portion of the show featured a three piece combo version of Song For Sonny Liston which was pretty powerful and Hill Farmer's Blues which is always more sinister and aggressive live than on the album version. The narrator sounds way more desperate in the live version of that songs and Knopfler's guitar playing is angrier. I love the five song extra CD included with the Privateering deluxe edition because it includes a version of this song much closer to the live version than the rendition on The Ragpicker's Dream album.

He closed with a marathon version of Marbletown, which I just wish he'd stop playing live, and Dire Straits' So Far Away which I love live because the delivery of the chorus is so much different. He also managed to slip in a great version of Done With Bonaparte which included about every instrument his diverse band could play, including accordian ("That's my fault. I love 'em" according to Mark) and uilleann pipes.

The full set list was: What It Is; Corned Beef City; Privateering; Kingdom Of Gold; I Used To Could; Song For Sonny Liston; Done With Bonaparte; Hill Farmer's Blues; Haul Away; Marbletown; So Far Away.

Celtics Fans...Or Fans I Love To Hate, Part 1

The Washington Wizards opened their 2012-2013 home season this past Saturday against the Boston Celtics. Not surprisingly, the Wizards lost to the heavily favored Celtics, a team which is supposed to contend for the NBA Championship. Considering our team failed to put the ball in the hoop for the first seven minutes of the game (our two points in that span were the result of a goaltending violation by the Celtics) but also led in the fourth quarter and ended up losing by only three points, the result is both encouraging and discouraging. We need John Wall and Nenê back in our lineup; it's just too difficult for a team like ours to win missing our two best players.

There's a lot to love about Wizards-Celtics games the past few years: the big game atmosphere, the sold out arena and the often-enough wins which feel great on the journey home and for the next few days after just like last year's wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers did. After big wins against good teams, it doesn't much matter what else happens the rest of the week with the Wizards; the feeling of those victories lasts a while, probably because there's been so little big picture-wise to cheer about lately.

But while there's a lot to love about recent Wizards-Celtics contests, there's also one major thing to hate: the number of Celtics fans at the games. Who lets all these people in the building? Saturday's close fourth quarter featured clearly audible "Let's go Celtics!" chants despite the C's fans being in the clear minority. I guess it's not really that fair to blame the opposing fans for being more passionate than the downtrodden home contingent but I hate it just the same. And yes, I realize the number one reason I hate Celtics fans in our building is because the Celtics are just plain better than the Wizards and have been for years and I resent a large group of people with a common purpose pointing that out to me. If there were a ton of Charlotte Bobcats fans in the building, I really wouldn't care because the Wizards most years have managed to beat the Bobcats way more than they have beaten us.

Above and beyond the sheer numbers, Celtics fans seem to have mastered the art of being more obnoxious than any other team's fans. Boston sports teams have been incredibly successful over the past 10 years which seems to have created a culture of entitlement among that city's fans. A Boston team has won a title in every one of the four major sports in the last decade and as a result, most Boston fans seem to think the sports world revolves around their city. To make matters worse for me, most fans seem to actually have ties to Boston or Massachusetts or New England (unlike some other teams' fans who shall for the moment remain nameless) so it's difficult to accuse them of jumping on the bandwagon or being fair weather fans.

But let's face it, the vast majority of them ARE fair weather fans and here I'm especially addressing the woman sitting behind us a couple of years ago who couldn't recognize the names Kevin McHale or Robert Parrish and the fans who show up in Tom Brady jerseys. Shell out a few bucks for a green t-shirt at least, would you??? I don't recall seeing or hearing too many of you during the 2005-2006 season when the Celtics failed to qualify for the playoffs or the following season when they finished dead last in the Eastern Conference. In fact, it's only really been since the 2007-2008 season, when the C's won it all, that Verizon Center has been frequented by Boston fans. Funny how that works, right?



Not so much green, right? But the "Let's Go Celtics!" chants were heard loud and clear.

Despite my ranting so far about the number of enemy fans in the building, I actually enjoy Celtics games, especially when we win games that we shouldn't. We have two pairs of Wizards season tickets this year: one in the lower level five rows behind the hockey (or this year so far, non-hockey) boards and one in the upper deck in Section 402. When the Celtics and other popular (note: good does not always equal popular and vice-versa) teams play the Wizards, we typically sell our lower level seats and sit upstairs because we can usually recoup our ticket price in full and maybe come away with a buck or two extra to use to subsidize the $8 Verizon Center beers. Of course, the upper deck is where most of the Celtics fans are, which makes it that much more fun when we win. There's nothing like seeing dejected Celtics fans stream past us either just before or just after the game ends. During the 2007-2008 season, with the Celtics sitting in first place in complete rebirth mode with the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, it was oh so sweet to see the Wizards send the Celtics back to Boston with a loss and then go up to Massachusetts the very next night and beat them again.

But the sweetest victory over Boston at Verizon Center came two years ago in January, with the Wizards in the midst of a 23-59 season and the Celtics sitting comfortably in first place. The game started miserably: the Wizards trailed by 15 after one and by 10 at the half and everyone in green around us was celebrating with each made basket. It looked like it was another walkoff victory. But in the second half, the folks around us got really quiet as the Wizards cut the lead to two in the third quarter and took the game away in the fourth, ultimately winning by two. After waving goodbye to all the Celtics fans inside the arena, I actually heard someone say outside that at least the Celtics were still better than the Wizards. But that's not why you went, right? That person came to see her team beat my team, thinking it was a sure thing and it didn't happen. I loved gloating that day. That still doesn't make me hate Celtics fans any less, though.

Saturday's game was the only home game this year against the Celtics and for once, there were not a lot of opposition fans sitting around us so there was nobody to taunt or be taunted by. The loss Saturday night drops the Wizards to 0-2 on the season, good for last place in the Southeast Division. Not a good start to the season. At least Verizon Center didn't play Aerosmith and Boston music like they did in one of the games last season.

J! E! T! S! JETS! JETS! JETS!

September 11, 2011: My first home Jets game.

According to Google maps, Verizon Center, home of my beloved Washington Wizards, is 6.8 miles from my current residence. By Metro, I can get there in about a half an hour, meaning if a Wizards game goes a little long, I can make the round trip in about 3 hours and 30 minutes.

In 1979, my family moved to the United States and I picked the New York Jets as my professional football team, probably because I liked the helmet. Last year, I bought Jets season tickets for the first time and I decided to renew this year. MetLife Stadium is 231 miles from my current residence and it takes a lot longer than 3 hours and 30 minutes to do the round trip. A typical day trip consumes anywhere from 12-15 hours to take in a three hour or so game. It can be absolutely brutal. This past Sunday, a pathetic 30-9 loss to the Miami Dolphins, was probably the last time I will make a single day trip as a season ticket holder. While I may still take in a game or two per season in the future, the value of buying season tickets for a team located three to five states away (depending on how you get there and how you view the District), just isn't there for me.

In my time as a season ticket holder, I’ve traveled to East Rutherford, NJ using about every combination of ground transportation I can think of: I’ve driven up and back in the same day; I’ve driven up and back over multiple days while staying with my sister; I’ve taken the train up and back in the same day; I’ve taken the bus up and back in the same day; and I’ve taken the train up and the bus back in the same day. Most of the trips I’ve taken have been smooth and uneventful; just the kind of travel I like. All of the games have been wins or close losses except this past Sunday when we got beaten badly. Did I mention the word pathetic already?

Along the way, there have been some unexpected events or crises to deal with. A couple of weeks ago after the Jets whipped the Indianapolis Colts 35-9 our train stopped dead with no power about two miles from Baltimore on the trip home. My friend Chris and I were subjected to a non-stop verbal assault from a guy on the other end of our car thinking he has stand-up talent while Amtrak non-scrambled non-furiously to find a solution. It took about 70 minutes and an all crew meeting in the dining car (announced over the PA system) to finally send another engine to pick us up after about four trains passed us. We ended up getting to Union Station after midnight. I like the train but the concept of customer service seems lost on Amtrak. Still waiting to hear on the resolution to my complaint.

I'd take train stoppages and after midnight arrivals in DC though over the late night hospital visit my friend Mike had to make after the 2011 home loss to the hated New England Patriots. That night could have literally been fatal. When I got a text message from Mike accusing me of leaving him in New Jersey (I was waiting outside the bathroom for him and he had wandered out of the stadium, for the record), my cell battery was literally 15 minutes away from empty. Getting a confused, angry, drunk guy who has lost blood (we didn't know that at the time) to find his way to the train knowing my phone was about to die is something I don't want to go through again. I don't think I've ever been happier to see Mike when I finally found him.

Anyway, I'm probably done with single day trips as a season ticket holder but just for the record, I put yesterday's trip into pictures for posterity.

6:46 a.m. Ballston Metro, open early for the Marine Corps Marathon. It's usually gated at this time so I'm typically waiting with a pretty sketchy crowd. The homeless guy doing laps of the Metro entrance made it feel like a usual Sunday morning.

7:55 a.m. All aboard! Please please please Amtrak, don't run out of power again. The trip up has always been uneventful. With a storm bearing down on us later in the day, I'm wondering if I've made the right choice with the bus return trip.

10:06 a.m. Philadelphia. This is the only skyline worthy shot until New York. I love checking out the Frank Furness designed Philadelphia Zoo on the way out of town. Sit on the right side of the train. Furness also designed the Wilmington train station that we passed through about a half hour earlier.

11:28 a.m. Switching from Amtrak to New Jersey Transit at Newark International Airport. Switching at the airport is definitely the way to go. This becomes train number four of the day.

12:05 p.m. MetLife Stadium through the filthy window of train number five. As opposed as I am to stadiums built outside of cities, I actually think this one is pretty well designed. They spent some money that they didn't have to here.

12:22 p.m. Lunch. There's something about eating hot italian sausage with peppers and onions with globs of spicy mustard in New Jersey, even if it is just stadium food.

1:05 p.m. Almost kickoff time. Fireman Ed on the screen leading the J! E! T! S! JETS! JETS! JETS! chant. It didn't work on this day. Our team came out flat from the opening kickoff.

2:40 p.m. The Jets retire Dennis Byrd's number 90 jersey. Byrd suffered a spinal injury when he collided with teammate Scott Mersereau during the 1992 season and subsequently recovered sufficiently to walk, although not normally. Nobody on the Jets had worn number 90 since Byrd. He definitely sacrificed for this team. The Jets are losing 27-3 in what has to be one of the most pathetic displays in recent memory. The first half featured almost no offense, a drive sustaining 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty on defense, a recovered onside kick by Miami and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown. Oh, we also knocked their starting quarterback out of the game and proceeded to make Matt Moore look like an all-pro.

3:31 p.m. End of the third quarter. The game at this point is well out of hand and with Frankenstorm bearing down on the east coast, it's time to get going. If we had come back and won, I would have been pissed at myself for leaving. No realistic chance of that today. I'm thinking "same old Jets" as I'm walking out.

The cattle line for the train back to New York. Since the Jets were getting stomped, there was no line this past Sunday. This picture is actually from the Colts game. I'm amazed nobody panics in these things. That would not be good. On our way out of the stadium on Sunday, I was handed a scratch and win card for an opportunity to secure my very own Mark Sanchez bobblehead. I passed. As much as I love bobbleheads, I just couldn't do it. Not that day.

4:48 p.m. Waiting for the Vamoose bus on the corner of 7th and 30th. I love the Vamoose bus. They are flexible about reservation times (I actually had a 6 p.m. reservation) and they stop in Virginia, not DC!

5:15 p.m. Bye bye, New York after a quick half hour stay. The Lincoln Tunnel has to be my favorite tunnel of all time, although all the cool art deco stuff is best seen from the Jersey side coming into the city.

8:37 p.m. Somewhere in Maryland on the bus. 4-1/2 hours or so of this view. On the iPod on the way home: some shuffling, a movie (Welcome to Death Row) and two episodes of Family Ties. :)

9:58 p.m. Rosslyn. Orange line train to Vienna. The bus on Sunday evening costs about $120 less than the train, which means I can really afford a cab home from Rosslyn. However, finding none, the Metro is always ready.

10:20 p.m. Nothing says home like a New Belgium Snow Day Ale and a bowl of jalapeno cheddar Chex mix. Actually there are a lot of things that say home way more than those two things, but that's what I had when I got home.

Free Stuff!

I attended the Wizards Season Ticket Holder party this past Wednesday (no post on that this year but just let me say every time I interact with Kevin Seraphin, he reinforces for me why he is my favorite player) and finally got my hands on one of the little fold out schedules that the team usually has for pickup in various places throughout Verizon Center. Why is that significant? Because the little fold out schedules contain the promotional schedule for the year and I'm just too damn impatient to wait for the schedule to be posted on the team website.

Over my time as a Wizards season ticket holder, I have been handed a ton of free stuff as I crossed the threshold into MCI/Verizon Center as part of Wizards promotional nights. Some of that stuff I have squirreled away in my condo somewhere, some is proudly displayed on shelves and some is long since forgotten. But whether it ends up being a permanent addition to some weird collection or just tossed in the trash, I love getting free Wizards stuff.

So now that I have the schedule, I am able to offer my loyal blog readers a semi-exclusive look at the 2012-2013 promotional schedule. Please note I've not only included the when and what for each promotion but also added my expert insight as to the long term significance (in parentheses) of each item and some words to get you pumped up about buying tickets to the six games that include giveaways. So without further ado, here's the skinny.

Schedule Magnet
November 3 vs. Boston (Essential)
The annual schedule magnet giveaway is a must have, something that gets slapped on the refrigerator door the morning or so after the home opener and serves as a guide for planning my life for the next five and a half months. If the television schedule is part of the magnet, that's even better. Can't miss this game and giveaway. It will be added to my box o' schedule magnets after the season. Yes, I have one.

The Wizards schedule magnet: essential for scheduling your late fall and winter.

Knit Scarf

December 22 vs. Detroit (Pick it up but likely discard)

I hate wearing Wizards apparel with corporate logos. It says to other people that I was either too lazy, too cheap or not passionate enough to plunk down a few bucks on a shirt, hat, scarf, or whatever. I think the last Wizards scarf giveaway was sponsored by VW. The last thing I want to do is walk around with a Wizards/VW scarf (even though I probably had a VW at that point in my life). I'll likely pick this up at the door and discard it later that night. Hopefully I can give it to a kid who came late or something.

Bradley Beal Bobblehead

January 1 vs. Dallas (Essential)

Bobbleheads are a do-not-miss collectible for me. They are far and away the best type of giveaway each year. I can't wait to put Bradley on my shelf with John Wall and past Wizards players in various size bobblehead form. I'll post pictures of this one for sure in a later post!

Wizards Tin Lunch Box

March 16 vs. Phoenix (Pick it up but likely discard)

I've picked up two Wizards lunch boxes in my 12 years as a season ticket holder and I no longer have either of them. Unlike the scarf, this will probably make it home with me, only to be either stood on my counter for a few days or my shelf for a few months before I wonder why the hell I have a lunchbox on my shelf and just throw it away. Just like the pre-Christmas scarf giveaway, this one also has a good (although slightly lower) chance of ending up with a kid who came late to the game.

1978 NBA Championship Replica Ring

April 6 vs. Indiana (Huh???)

In all my years as a season ticket holder, they have never given away anything like this. That's saying something, since once we got a Brendan Haywood water bottle and a stuffed G-Wiz (I still have that). Not sure what to make of this although I guess it is the 35th anniversary of the championship season. Who celebrates the 35th anniversary of something? I'll definitely go to the game early for this one. I wonder how real it will look and I wonder how many people will be hawking Bullets championship rings on eBay the next day. Maybe next year they will give us a replica Larry O'Brien trophy.

Team Poster

April 12 vs. Philadelphia (PASS!)

This item only makes this post so I can say I included all the scheduled giveaways for the year. I won't even bother picking this up at the door.

If you don't have tickets to the games on opening night, New Year's Day and April 6, I'd go buy them now and get there early. I'll see you when the doors open those nights. Don't say you haven't been warned.

47 Wins?

Warning! What follows is not pretty. But don't ever accuse me of being a front runner.

The 2012-2013 NBA season tips off next Tuesday, October 30 when the Cleveland Cavaliers host the Washington Wizards. At the beginning of the last few NBA seasons, I have wondered if this is the year the Wizards will finally win 47 games. Why 47 games? Because since I became a Wizards season ticket holder in 2000, every franchise except two has won 47 games in a single regular season. One of those two lowly franchises is the Charlotte Bobcats, who maxed out at 44 wins in the 2009-2010 season; but the Bobcats have only existed for eight seasons so they are a little handicapped in this statistic. The other franchise, of course, is the Wizards, who managed 45 wins in the 2004-2005 season, the same year we reached the second round of the NBA playoffs.

That anecodotal futility mark started me wondering: are the Wizards really one of the two worst franchises in the NBA over the last 12 years? Turns out the answer might be yes. Let's take a look.

Wins Per Season
Over the past 12 seasons, the Wizards have won an average of 31.4 games, including the actual win total from the abbreviated 2011-2012 66-game season. That mark is good for second worst in the NBA over that period, 0.7 wins behind the Golden State Warriors but ahead of the Bobcats by a whopping 2.8 wins. Five teams (the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics) have AVERAGED more wins over that period than the 45 games the Wizards won in our best of those 12 seasons. The Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz would be added to that list if you throw out last year's shortened season. We may be thankful the Bobcats have only been around eight years.

From the 2000-2001 through 2011-2012 NBA seasons, there were 17 teams that won fewer than 20 games in a season. The Wizards did it twice: in 2000-2001 and 2008-2009. Three other franchises, the Bobcats, Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves, also failed to win 20 games twice during that span. No franchise won fewer than 20 games three times in that span. Note I included last year's abbreviated season in Charlotte's numbers because they only won seven games. Even if the season were 188 games long, they still wouldn't have won 20 games at their pace last season. The silver lining here (it's a stretch, I know) is that in the Wizards' two sub-20 win seasons, they did manage to win 19 games each time.

While the Wizards average win total is second worst in the NBA, their median win total is tied for dead last with the Los Angeles Clippers at 31.5 wins. The Bobcats, who saved us from being dead last in average wins per season, are a full game ahead of us along with the Timberwolves. None of these franchises are models of success, although the Clippers did make the second round of the playoffs last year behind Blake Griffin and Chris Paul and appear to be loaded with talent this year.

The graph below was published in an April 3, 2012 Washington Post article at a time when it appeared last year that the Wizards might set a franchise record low for winning percentage in a season. The Hopwood years start in 2000-2001. Lots of red; I told you it wasn't pretty. Despite that performance, I have never thought of not renewing my season tickets. Take that however you will.

Playoff Wins Per Season
In my time as a season ticket holder, the Wizards have made it to the playoffs four times. That may not seem like a lot to you and it's not. Only three teams, the Bobcats, Warriors and Clippers, have fewer appearances. The encouraging thing here is that if you added the playoff appearances of each of those teams since the 2000-2001 season, they would add up to the total for the Wizards, so I'm counting my blessings (I think) that I am not a Bobcats, Warriors or Clippers fan. And while we only appear in the playoffs more frequently than three teams, there are three other teams (the Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors) tied with us at four appearances so we are not alone in our lack of achievement in this category.

When we do make the playoffs, we don't win much. We have averaged 2.0 wins per playoff appearance with just one trip to the second round where we were unceremoniously swept by the eventual champion Miami Heat. That's better than only the Portland Trailblazers, Knicks and Bobcats, who in their lone playoff appearance during this stretch did not tally a single W. 

Division Titles, Conference Titles and NBA Championships

Nothing. That pretty much sums this up. No division titles, no conference titles and no NBA championships. Granted, over the past 12 years, the NBA Finals have been dominated by a small group of teams. Only six franchises have won a championship and another five have come up short by losing in the Finals. But of the 30 franchises in the NBA, 21 have won division titles over that period, led by the Spurs with eight and Lakers with seven. The ones that haven't: the Atlanta Hawks, Bobcats, Warriors, Houston Rockets, Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Knicks, Trailblazers and, of course, the Wizards. That record puts us either last or tied for 22nd, depending on how you look at it. I'll go with tied for 22nd.

So after all that, are the Wizards one of the two worst franchises in the NBA over the last 12 years? Maybe so. If not, they are pretty close to that. There is definitely some company; the same teams appear over and over in my description above. That doesn't make me feel any better.

So as this season starts, I'm again hoping for 47 wins. That seems more realistic than hoping for division titles or championships at this point. Hopefully this is the year. It all starts Tuesday.

Three Signs The NBA Season Is Almost Here

The 2011-2012 NBA season ended a long time ago for me. I've had to endure the NBA playoffs (remember, the playoffs don't usually count as part of the Wizards' season), free agency, Summer League, the Olympics and two months of waiting, waiting, waiting. But finally the NBA is almost back and I can once again experience a time when all teams are theoretically equal, before an 0-8 start, or a 2-6 start, or a 2-7 start or...well, you get the picture.

In a normal year, there are three signs which serve as my security blanket during the couple of months of waiting, waiting, waiting prior to the tip off of regular season game number one. The first reminder that basketball is almost upon us is the first preseason or regular season NHL game, when I am perched high in section 405 of Verizon Center watching the Capitals take the ice and longing for that white surface to be replaced with the hardwood. It usually takes me about a period to get over it and get into the game I'm watching. With apologies to all my NHL fan friends, hockey just doesn't come close to basketball. Maybe I'm getting crotchety in my middle age but I seem to have little tolerance for long scoring droughts (I know, I should appreciate the defensive struggle) or games decided by shootout (read: not much better than a tie or kissing your sister).

But this year is not a normal year for a number of reasons. As it turns out, the NHLPA and the NHL are no smarter than the NBAPA and the NBA were last year and there is no hockey season yet as millionaires and billionaires are still trying to figure out how to split insane sums of money. As a result, this year we just skipped the first sign that the season is near and we have proceeded directly to sign number two, which means the season is even closer!

The second harbinger of the NBA season is the opening of training camp and a season ticket holder open practice. Camp opened this past Tuesday and mercifully, it's at George Mason University again. I loved the camps at VCU but honestly, I'd way rather drive to Fairfax than to Richmond to take in an open practice or scrimmage. Getting to the Patriot Center in rush hour traffic is no picnic either (it took me 13 songs on the new Mark Knopfler album to get there this year) but at least the trip home is quick (less than five songs).

Open practice was held last night followed by a Dave Johnson hosted Q and A session with our new players, meaning the guys who are pretty much guaranteed a roster spot who weren't here last year. I'm not sure these events ever really provide unique insight into how the team will perform, especially with all the media coverage these days. Everyone said there were a great group of guys together and everyone was working hard. They have to say that, right? But if I learned nothing else, it is that Martell Webster is a pretty interesting guy. He's very eloquent and intelligent. During drills where players were required to count out the number of passes made during the drill, he counted out in English except when playing with Kevin Seraphin when he counted in French. He also said he would be an asbestos remover if he weren't playing in the NBA (he was kidding) and genuinely made fun of himself when asked if he had any embarrassing moments in the NBA. The only reason I know anything about Martell Webster is due to this play, where he steals an inbounds pass with a few seconds left and his team down by three, takes it the length of the court and dunks, meaning his team lost by one. It was a moment of almost McGee-like concentration but he was able to joke about it in a way that JaVale never would have. JaVale's response would probably be that he didn't understand why the coaches were upset or something like that. Martell did say he dunked it hard enough that he thought it could have counted for three. He also said he had no idea what he was thinking when he decided on that haircut.

By the way, I really really wanted Dave to ask "Over the last 12 years, the Wizards are about the worst franchise in the NBA. What did you think of this team before you got traded/signed and what makes you think it's going to be any different with you here than the guys we jettisoned last year?" He didn't ask that question and maybe it's best because I may not want to know the answer. I'm actually genuinely hopeful this year and think we could make some noise, despite the fact that our best two players are injured and can't practice right now. I'm deluding myself a little, I know.

Our new players: Trevor Ariza, Martell Webster, Jannero Pargo, Bradley Beal, A.J. Price and Emeka Okafor.

And finally, I really really know the NBA season is right around the corner when I get my season tickets in the mail. They arrived yesterday. I picked them up from the concierge desk before heading out to practice. Their arrival each year is a source of unimaginable joy for me for about 30 minutes despite the fact that there is absolutely nothing I can do with them right at the moment except look at them. Just opening the package and pulling out those virgin, glossy, unseparated sheets of tickets and checking them out thrills me. And 30 minutes is literally the time I devote to these things before realizing they are not actually that interesting as objects and I find something else to occupy my shortening attention span. But for that half hour, I love it.

Only this year, it's sort of a disaster: there are no tickets. Seriously. I have a credit card sized piece of plastic that I am supposed to electronically load up with my tickets from the ticket manager site which curiously has been out of commission for the last two days. Now considering I was about the last person I knew to get a cell phone, I just bought my first computer with more than 48K of memory in 2009 (I loved that Atari 800 in the '80s) and I still write checks by hand and put them in envelopes and mail them to pay my bills, this could be a challenge for me. I'm not embracing this all electronic culture.

So it turns out things are not normal this year but even though things are a little bit different, I still have basketball to look forward to in 25 days and that's without doubt one of the most wonderful times of the year.

No tickets this year???

NBArank 2012 Wrap

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the complete waste of time that is ESPN's NBArank project. Then I admitted that I would be following it closely to see how the Wizards' players were rated and then using that data as an indication of how the team might perform during the 2012-2013 season. While I know the only thing that will truly make me feel better about my team is performance in the win-loss column, I'll take any dram of hope I can get before the season starts. After all, with the Wizards, it's often all about hope.

The 2012 NBArank data is now in the books. Well, that's not exactly true. Number one won't be revealed until late next week or maybe even the week after, but for the Wizards, it was in the books once spot number 51 was reached. That of course means that the ESPN "experts" feel our team has none of the top 50 players currently playing in the NBA and that may very well be true. But does that mean that we don't have a better team on paper than last year? Maybe or maybe not. Let's take a look at how the team stacks up in the NBArank this year.

We currently have 14 players under contract, which is one less than the league roster maximum. Our 14 players, with NBArank position are:

• 52: Nenê
• 55: John Wall
• 101: Emeka Okafor
• 142: Trevor Ariza
• 170: Bradley Beal
• 218: Jordan Crawford
• 266: Jan Vesely
• 279: Trevor Booker
• 281: Kevin Seraphin
• 292: Martell Webster
• 360: Chris Singleton
• 384: A.J. Price
• 396: Shelvin Mack
• 435: Cartier Martin

Last year, the Wizards placed two players in the top 100; three players each between 101 and 200 and 201 and 300; four players between 301 and 400; and our other three fell outside the top 400. This year, our results by hundred are similar, except that instead of three players between 200 and 300, we now have five, with the upward movement coming from the 300s and 400s. Three of our players between 201 and 300 (Vesely, Booker and Seraphin) moved up at least 40 spots from last year, with Seraphin moving up more than 150 spots. That sounds right: Book and Kevin made significant progress in their second years; I'm actually surprised Kevin wasn't ahead of Ves and Book. These guys are in all likelihood going to be the first guys off the bench. Having these guys more developed for the entire season is going to be key. Overall, better on paper this year.

Our two players in the top 100 last year were John Wall (at 40) and JaVale McGee (at 99). This year, our two in the top 100 are Nenê and Wall. While Wall fell 15 spots from his ranking last year, I'm not sure that means he's worse than he was last year. Consider the personnel John has had to work with in his first two years; I am sure guys like Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul would struggle with Nick Young and Jordan Crawford as their leading scorers too. I don't know how much I really have to say about Nenê as an upgrade over McGee. The difference is night and day. Sure, you don't get the highlight dunks out of Nenê that you get out of McGee but you don't get all the other baggage either. I don't think we'll see Nenê alley ooping to himself while the Wizards are getting blown out or claiming to not understand what coach says he's doing wrong or running back on defense while we still possess the ball. No cinnamon eating either! Top 100, better on paper this year.

Last year, our projected starting five were the top five guys on NBArank's list: Wall, Nick Young, Rashard Lewis, Andray Blatche and McGee. This year, our projected starting five at least at the beginning of the year are our top four plus the sixth man, Jordan Crawford, on our list this year. Personnel-wise, there's only one man in common: John Wall. By the numbers, Young blows away Crawford at shooting guard, Lewis last year supposedly beats out Ariza this year, Nenê destroys Blatche at power forward, and McGee edges Okafor at center. On paper, the starting five is better last year but there's no way that starting five lived up to its potential. Not even close. I'll take the personnel we have this year over the dysfunction that pervaded the organization last year. Our starting five last year didn't stay that way for long. By mid-season, Lewis and Blatche were sitting in favor of Chris Singleton and Trevor Booker. Compare that starting five to this year's starters and this year is better on paper.

Finally, it turns out I was totally wrong about the ranking order of our players last year. I clearly have a higher opinion of Kevin Seraphin's ability than the experts. I guess that's why I'm a fan and not an expert.

So what does all that mean? Absolutely nothing. But I'm excited to see how we do. Training camp starts two weeks from today. By the way, ESPN (probably a different panel of experts) picked the Wizards to finish 12th in the East with a 31-51 record. In the past, I've bristled at the low projections for my team's finish by ESPN. I even printed out the predictions one year so I could pull it out when they were proved wrong, but by mid-season it was obvious they weren't. 12th in the conference and 31 wins would be an improvement over last year. I'm hoping our team is a sleeper who can make a little noise this year. Hope has to be worth something, right?