No Your Links: Dance Edition

by Jake Whitacre on Mar 10, 2008 10:20 PM EDT in Links

Sorry if I'm a tad bit excited, my future alma mater just clinched a birth in the NCAA Tourney with a win over William & Mary tonight in the CAA Tourney, much to the delight of half of Brothers Mottram and much to the chagrin Bullets Forever Ballhype Group member, Gheorge: The Blog. Of course GTB can take solace in knowing that it was an amazing run and that most graduates of W&M end up much higher on the corporate ladder than their GMU counterparts.

As for your links...

Probably the most interesting quote of the week comes from Ivan Carter who more or less ripped the Wizards' fan base (or the Verizon Center people, depending on how you look at it) a new one after the Raptors game:
And I know I've mentioned this before but it is games like last night's when the difference most NBA arenas and the VC is shocking. The fans here in this hockey crazed city were nuts during the second half of that game last night and didn't need piped in sound or goofy promotions to make noise. It was pure, honest to goodness enthusiasm. Or a whole lot of Molsons, whatever.
Calderon on the Toronto fans: "The fans are always with us and that's why we've won a lot of games this season because they've helped us come back."
Jordan on the Air Canada Centre, where the Wiz had lost four straight: "It's a great environment to play. This crowd gets into it man and you're really at a disadvantage if you don't have the confidence and the veteran poise to get through it."
In three years covering the Wizards, I've never heard an opposing coach or player said that about Verizon Center, which too often resembles the gym in Vegas during summer league. At the VC, the staff has to put up a Duke logo or picture of the Dallas Cowboys to get fans to make noise. Pathetic.

The other half of Brothers Mottram offers a rebuttal for Ivan. I'd say the reality lies somewhere in the middle (Three cheers for not taking a side!). I was actually thinking about writing a post on the subject but I couldn't find a way to do it without somehow angering some fan base, so I'm going to leave it at that.
Mo Williams and Yi Jianlian will be sitting out Tuesday's Bucks-Wizards game. No word on if it's a sign of sympathy considering Caron's been injured twice in Milwaukee.
Who's the only player that can compare basketball players to surf and turf? Gilbert Arenas.
Calvin Booth > Allen Iverson.
The Good News: DeShawn's game-winner against the Hornets has been re-created with NBA 2K8. The bad news: The person that made it didn't use the dagger call for the audio. It's still worth a look:
Hardwood Paroxysm recaps the season to date in 28 words: "You have to admire the Wizards' resiliency. They don't complain, they don't freak out. They just keep plugging. They might want to invest in some better trainers, though."
The first person to make a "My team is taller than your team" T-Shirt gets a prize!
Finally, I think this quote from the latest Wizznutzz post jumped to number one on my top 10 list of Wizznutzz quotes:
Meantime Andray Blatche is having sophmore troubles. He couldnt be more skinny and bipolar if he was 6 OClock. We should call him PAYCHECK cuz hes just trying to get from game to game. Dray is like a brother walking into an old pawn shop: he's either grinnin and winnin cuz hes about to lay down some packet for an Akai HiFi (auto rewind son!) and hes feeling on top of the world --- or hes slinkin in shoulders down, hoodie up full o shame cuz hes about to sell the family sandwich-maker to buy himself a busticket to nowhere.

BONUS: The latest edition of the Blogger MVP/ROY rankings are out. Caron got a vote! I'm at a loss as to who could've possibly voted for him, since I now know that it wasn't home cookin'.

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Comments

Good for Ivan on calling out ....

the fans at Verizon. He's not lying. Even before Caron and Gil got hurt, I've always been annoyed at the lack of crowd enthusiasm at Wiz home games. Every once in a while you get surges of energy, but it takes something amazing to get a pulse. I've heard the theory that its the ticket prices and the fact that DC is a transient town but then how do you explain the support that the Knicks get and the Lakers? Those cities have a ton of fans who are from other places in the country originally and their tickets are pricey, but they have a great fan base. So is it a matter of the Wiz winning a championship or 2 that would get them that dedicated fan base? Maybe.

by LoDawg31 on Mar 11, 2008 12:07 AM EDT reply actions

It wasn't me

Actually.

Predicting how this squad is going to perform is like trying to solve trig problems with pen and paper. -sierradave.

by Mike Prada on Mar 11, 2008 12:36 AM EDT reply actions

Well color me shocked

Whatever color that is.

Bullets Forever: Your place for the very latest in Wizards news and PhD-level analysis.

by Jake Whitacre on Mar 11, 2008 2:56 AM EDT up reply actions

I can indeed confirm...

that it was NOT Pradamaster who voted for Caron. Surprising eh?

by College Wolf on Mar 11, 2008 1:31 AM EDT reply actions

Weak crowds--Ivan is right

I blame the marketing department of the Wizards. For whatever reason, the people who are buying tickets aren't the hardcore Wizards fans. I think it might be because the marketing done by the Wizards seems to target yuppie vermin on dates (like myself), and big corporations/law firms.

The last game I went to (the Orlando debacle), the people around me up in the cheap seats were mostly couples, with some co-ed groups and a few random guys (still in dress shirts) who probably got free tix from their law firm sprinkled in. The people right in front of me were a couple--the girl spent the entire game reading cases (probably a law student), and the guy had a Dwight Howard jersey on . . . Oh, and there were 4 random German tourists sitting behind me.

The point is that none of these people were going to really go nuts at a Wizards game, especially one where the game was basically over by halftime. I'm as guilty as anyone else--my fiancee got me tickets for no particular reason (is it any wonder I'm marrying her!), and I don't want to go making an ass of myself while I'm around her like I would if I was with some of my idiot guy friends.

All of this leads to a game atmosphere where the most animated the crowd gets is when JJ Redick checks in and people get to boo him. So yeah, the Wizards are probably making money by selling to who they're selling to, but are sacrificing any kind of home court advantage because of the people they're bringing in.

by Bucky on Mar 11, 2008 1:52 AM EDT reply actions

Crowds -

I've been getting very frustrated with the crowds this season. Many games I have gone to have had a lot of empty seats - granted some of these games are against Memphis and other teams that aren't exactly burning up the league. But some of the other games without much of a crowd include the Orlando game this past week. The two games I have been to that were sellouts - Lakers and Boston were sellouts because many people were there to cheer on LA and Boston. The LA game was the worst for me - the LA fans were actually chanting Wizards suck at one point and the home crowd did nothing about it - there were no cheers back of Lakers Suck or anything similar. I think many people are staying away from games because Gilbert is out and he is the star on this team. Once he gets back I think more people will come to games. These people aren't the harcore Wizards fans but at least they will hopefully cheer for the Wizards since they like Gilbert.

Congrats on George Mason. I never went there but I have a fondness for them because I had the luck to be at the GMU v Connecticut game. It was the most exciting game I have ever been to and because of that I root for them to do well. I'm going to the first and second rounds here at Verizon and I am hoping they will play here so I have a local school to cheer for.

by ooba on Mar 11, 2008 10:11 AM EDT reply actions

it's better than it used to be

wiz don't have a widespread and passionate following, but that doesn't bother me. most of the wiz fans i've met are polite and cheer when its warranted. toronto made be loud and boisterous but that's not always what it's cracked up to be - think philadelphia eagles...

as for the celtics, i was in new england for about 10 years and the crowd really wasn't much better at celtics games. maybe it's different this year, but if the wiz had kg, pierce, and allen and were first in the conference, you can bet verizon center would be rocking. lakers fans don't even show up until the second quarter. my opinion is, it's the nba, the regular season is too long - what does ivan expect? i think he's mostly just trying to get people to post on his blog.

if the wiz have playoff success they'll get more fans. but, do you really want those fans? i'm not sure i do. redskins fans have really started to get on my nerves in recent years.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Mar 11, 2008 2:04 PM EDT reply actions

Fans

I've actually had the chance to go to a number of Lakers games over the past two years now that I'm out in LA and I've actually been surprised by fan participation. There are some stragglers but for the most part that place gets packed and noisy, at least when compared to most NBA arenas. Granted, I've been there the most this season to see the Lakers at their best, but the reality seems to surpass what LA fans are usually about.

I've only been to one Wizards game this year (Golden State) since I haven't been in D.C. very often, but even then the atmosphere was underwhelming, especially for a close game.

by MikeMid on Mar 11, 2008 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Lakers game here -

I've gone to the Wiz/Lakers game for about the past ten years and it feels like the cheering from laker fans this year was much more intense. I think it might have had something to do with the fact that they had just traded for Gasol so fans were excited about that even though he didn't play. I also couldn't tell if the whole arena was chanting Kobe for MVP and Wiz suck - the sections around me were definitely doing that. There might also have been more Laker fans around me than in the upper levels. I was in the lower level and one thing about a lot of the fans of opposing teams is that they are willing to spend the money to sit in better seats because they only go to one or two games depending on how many teams play here.

by ooba on Mar 11, 2008 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions

lakers won in a blowout

that has a lot to do with it too. in recent years wizards have beaten the lakers their fair share, so this was the first year in a while that lakers fans had something positive to cheer about. most fans are fair weather for sure. if the wiz get gil and caron back and start winning big games, i'll bet verizon gets noisy.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Mar 12, 2008 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Go Mason!

It'll be a shame to see the college careers of Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas (Charm City, baby!) come to an end. Hope they enjoy the Belgian League next year.

"Now, obviously individual production does not unilaterally equal better team production, but there's a high level of causation."

by Vanilla Gorilla on Mar 11, 2008 3:23 PM EDT reply actions