As some of you may have noticed (or maybe just not cared), ESPN released their yearly Ultimate Team Standings a few days ago in which they every pro franchise across the four major American sports 1-122. The DMV showed itself as the most depressing place to be a fan with the Nationals, Orioles, Redskins, and Wizards finishing at #94, 102, 105, and 120. Yup, you are reading that correctly, the Wizards came in 3rd-to-last, ahead of only the Clippers and Toronto Maple Leafs. Welcome to DC John Wall! Most notably the Wiz finished dead last in Fan Relations, described as, "Openness and considerations towards fans on the part of players, coaches, and management." and second-to-last in 'player effort on the field and likability off it.' You know you live in a depressed sports city when you look from the bottom up to find your favorite teams in these rankings.
The Wizards being so low surprised me at first, but that is what the Gilbert Arenas gun incident will do to the #98 team in 2009. The team falling insanely short of expectations (remember when we beat Dallas?) must have played a role, but it looks like Gilbert Arenas almost single-handedly brought down the entire franchise............ literally. Gil becoming a villain will certainly tank 'player likability ' and the ensuing cover-up falls under 'openness and consideration towards fans.' Hey, at least we didn't give Rudy Gay a max contract.....
To recap, DC is painfully humid, we have the most depressing sports area in the country, the Wizards owe Gilbert Arenas $80 million over the next 4 years, and the metro after the fireworks on the mall is still going to take 2 hours tonight. The bright side? The Capitals are the #11 franchise overall, and the guy who owns that team just came riding in on a white horse, and brought John Wall with him.