Almost Courtside

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Not All VIP Seats Are Created Equal

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

2. The Game Continues To Change As You Get Closer

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

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

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

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

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

4. Waffles With Caramel > Donut Holes With Bourbon Sauce

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

5. Darius Miles Fans Are Everywhere

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

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

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

Caveat Emptor

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

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

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

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

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

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

No I wouldn't.

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

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

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

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

Today the Wizards traded Isaiah Thomas.

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

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

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

At least I got my money back.

Kobe Bryant

Everyone else is doing this so I am too. I do have some things to say here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cherrydale Sit-In

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.

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.

Sandwiched between all that, I wrote a post about the timeline of the Civil Rights Movement. I figured marking the milestones of the some of the events making up the Movement might help me understand the bigger picture. It did.

This year I'm going way smaller and way more local. To Cherrydale.

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 Google Maps for the internet-defined boundaries. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

That's it for this year's post. Wiz - Pistons today at 2! Let's go Wizards!!

Fluid Tickets...Again

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.

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?

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.

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.

• 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. 
• No ticket returns are permitted after February and a maximum of 10 games can be returned total during the season.
• 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). 
• Unused credit at the end of the season is returned to the team.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Minor Leagues

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.

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.

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.

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.

Erie Insurance Arena: Home of the Erie (PA) BayHawks. For now.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Inside the rockin' Portland Expo Center.

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.

Things were good. Good for basketball fans. Good for small cities which needed professional basketball. Good for the NBA.

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.

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. 

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?

The Springfield (MA) Civic Center, no longer home of minor league basketball.

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.

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.

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.

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.

So should the NBA. But they probably won't.

The cover photo of this post is the logos of six of the original eight NBDL teams. 

Kristi Toliver Bobblehead

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.

That was supposed to be it. I was going to be content with four Wizards-related bobbleheads this season. Then something else happened.

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.

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!

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.

Kristi Toliver this ain't.

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.

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.

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!

So about those bobblehead details...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?