Take 2: Getting to know the WizFans

[fishercob]

Handle: Keynote. My rap name in high school, now my nom de plume as a part-time hip hop producer. Also, the word "keynote" contains my first name, spelled backwards.

Age: 34.9 (I turn 35 fairly soon)
Hometown: born in NYC; raised in Columbia, MD; currently live in Harlem.
Alma Maters: MIT, U. Michican
Status: Committed relationship; currently a bar exam widow (my girlfriend takes the NY State Bar in a week).

Wizards Fan History: Growing up in MD, I've been supporting the Home Team for as long as I've been able. My dad used to take me to the Wizards' open practices at Ft. Meade, MD; I saw Bernard King, John "pre-Hot Plate" Williams, Terry Catledge and Manute Bol during those practices. In college, my dad would mail me copies of the WaPo sports section, so that I could keep up with the Webber/Howard era.

I also am a "graduate" of the Phil Chenier/Dave DuPree Basketball Camp, (then) held on Howard Community College's campus in Columbia, MD. I remember Muggsy and Wes Unseld came to the camp to give us some pointers; I still remember Wes demonstrating his pinpoint accuracy with those long-distance outlet passes, even in his older, retired state.

Suffice it to say that I love the Wizards, and I can't see that changing, despite the many frustrations that come with the territory.

Great stuff, key. What's your graduate degree in? Was it MIT/Missagain for ungrad/grad or vice versa? I know all about being bar exam widow. The Mrs is an attorney -- used to be with a big litigation shop downtown, switched to working for the feds when we decided to start a fam.

[Benjammin]

Handle: first name Ben, always wanted to be able to jam.

Age: 41
Hometown: Arlington, VA current home: Richmond, VA
Alma Maters: University of Virginia, Wesley Theological Seminary, Virginia Commonwealth University
Status: Happily married, 8 years in September, 2 dogs (a Leonberger and a Chow), no kids
Vocation: Methodist Minister (yeah, really)

Bullets fan history: I used to have my mom tape playoff games in the mid 70s because I was too young to stay up and listen to them. I would listen to them the next morning before school. My favorite player was Elvin Hayes, and my favorite move was of course the turnaround fallaway jump shot. I attended one Finals game in 1979, at home, when the Sonics won the championship. I never attended that many games, but I watched a lot on tv. There have been some guys I have really enjoyed watching (Elvin, Wes, Bobby D, Jeff Ruland and Rick Mahorn, Jeff Malone, Bernard King, John Williams before his injuries Georghe Muresan, Manute Bol, C Webb, Gil, Caron). I have many depressing lottery selection shows I watched when my hopes were dashed. I watched many drafts when the Bullets lost out on a player by one pick or so (Barkley, Reggie Miller), or pick the wrong guy (the worst being Kenny Green instead of Karl Malone because Gene Shue fell in love with Kenny Green's game).

I'm not sure how I came upon Real GM, but I was a lurker a long time before I posted. I am a strong proponent and user of the chat function during games. I was the primary "play-by-play" guy for many games, when someone did not have a radio or video feed. I really enjoy the immediacy of chat and the hilarious comments that ensue. I am optimistic about this season (45-50 wins), but I am waiting on that "x" factor that will propel the Wizards to being legitimate title contenders.

[keynote]

Great stuff, key. What's your graduate degree in? Was it MIT/Missagain for ungrad/grad or vice versa? I know all about being bar exam widow. The Mrs is an attorney -- used to be with a big litigation shop downtown, switched to working for the feds when we decided to start a fam.

I had half a mind not to respond, due to the "Missagain" crack.

I did undergrad at MIT, and studied law and business at UM (so, my UM school pride isn't as strong). So, I can more than empathize with girlfriend--and your wife--on the woes of studying for the bar. I practiced law as a patent attorney for a few years; now I work as an intellectual property consultant/business development professional.

[fishercob]

All in good fun, key. Did my MBA at Ohio State, so I think I'm think I'm somehow contractually obligated to be an a-hole whenever possible to Wolverines. Rivalry aside, I'd send my kids there in a minute. That campus amazing. Love your stuff. Post more.

[keynote]

All in good fun, key. Did my MBA at Ohio State

Now *where's* that ignore button?

[mohammed10]

Great idea, group!

Pseudonym: mohammed10 - last name...perhaps there were 9 other mohammeds on here before me???

Age: Late 30's...glad to see at least two other 'old guys' here as well

Hometown: DC! Born and raised in SE...high school and college in the city as well

Status: Happily married for 9 years this October. Known my wife for 22 years..best friend. Got it right the second time around. No little people...that I know of

Occupation: Radiologist

Locale: Metro Cleveland (unfortunately)

Fav Wiz players: Elvin Hayes (Old school) and Caron Butler (New school)

Wiz Fan History: Born and raised on DC and eventually Bullets (uh, I mean Wizards) basketball. Fell in love with the game as a kid. Actually played in HS - didn't start (was actually last guy off the bench) but it helped with the ladies. Too vertically (and now horizontally) to be any good, but still pick up the rock from time to time. Loved Dick Motta's style of play ('It ain't over 'till the far lady sings!') and been suffering with Gene Shue et al., ever since. Watch as many Wiz games as possible on satellite. When I visit my brothers in DC, we try to catch some games during the year as well (mother-in-law is a HUGE Wiz fan as well...wife? not so much).

All about DC sports - Georgetown/Terps b-ball, love my Caps and closet Skins fan as well (gasp).

Fitting that this is my 1600th post...

[newslowsad]

Age: 22

School: Graduated from Old Dominion in 2008.

Work: Currently working a data entry job at a real estate company. Very tedious and boring, but it is full time and I am grateful to be employed. I am looking elsewhere though.

Not married, but planning on getting engaged later this year.

Favorite Bullets/Wiz memories: Rex Chapman's game winner against Shaq's magic to open the 94-95 season and my dad carrying me on his shoulders out of the Cap Centre because I was just a kid and he didn't want me to get trampled. Begging my dad to order Home Team Sports (HTS) so that I could watch C-Webb and Juwan's first game together. Winning the last game of the 96-97 season to make the playoffs. Gilbert's dagger against the Bulls in the playoffs that re-ignited my love for all things Bullets/Wiz. Trading Kwame for Caron. Being in attendance to watch Caron go off against the Pacers to score like the last fifteen points and nail the game winner, serving as one of the only highlights of the miserable 08-09 season. Knowing that getting rid of Eddie and hiring Flip Saunders was the right thing to do.

[Hoopalotta]

Handle: Hoopalotta. I was going to go with 'Hoopalotta Bangbang' or 'Hoopalotta Whambam', but it said the name was too long (which doesn't make any sense, as I've seen longer). Eventually, I just gave in to my quick temper when dealing with Tech stuff and clicked 'OK, fine then'.

Age: 34

Hometown: Born in San Fran, moved to DC at age 5. Lived in NW - primarily Dupont Circle - until 13 when we moved to the cushy burbs of Chevy Chase.

Status: Newly married, no kiddos.

Assorted: I've lived in Asia for 7 years now, where I had done business until the economy pinched the margins beyond function. Thus, had to close up shop, but it wasn't too bad in all as I was ready for a change and it's not like I was heavily invested in infrastructure or anything.

Anyway, my wife is a foreign national, so we're out here until a Visa can be finagled from good uncle Sam, which may take some time yet (the number of people trying to hoodwink their way into the states with a fake marriage is staggering, so the bureaucracy is reasonable). In the interim I'm teaching English while working towards another degree online (History-Education). We'll likely move back to the states after another year or so, though I don't think there is any way I'd head back to D.C. due to costs.

Hoops and Bullets: Like a few others above, I got into Hoops late, as I was gangley and awkward growing up with no family members that had any interest in sports.

But towards the end of Highschool, I was an NBA 6'5” (i.e. in shoes), while weighing about 155 pounds of assorted disinterested tissue, which was alarming enough to force the consultations a nutritionist, who then pleaded with me to start eating peanut butter straight from the jar and lifting. I was ready to concede that an infusion of physicality was in order.

I somehow got entranced with the Adams-Grant-Googs Bullets at the same time I started to really play, I don't know what it was, but there was no halfway flirting phase with the Bullets - it was an instant thunderstruck kind of thing, likely for the flaws as much as anything. 'LaBradford lights up Jordan!'-good times! There was no other sport I enjoyed playing really, so quite quickly I went from novice to overall basketball fanatic. It came from the heart though and I played a pretty good bit of pickup ball during that time.

And as mentioned in other posts, the Michael Jordan era was not a bad time to catch on either; I would always root for whoever they were playing against, having no love for that team by any means, but I could certainly appreciate the precision with which they the unfurled an inevitable sort of doom on whichever fly happened to be caught in web.

Anyway, being in Asia, the internets is the conduit through which I interact with ye' old B-Ball, so I often listen to the Bullets in the mornings on the radio feed (gametime is usually 7 AM) and I haven't been able to actually watch very often due to service area restrictions. But for whatever reason, some primitive side of myself fixes a wild-eyed importance on the performance of that old woe-weary team that I fell in love with when I was 17 years old.

[Dat2U]

Age: 34

Hometown: Born in San Fran, moved to DC at age 5. Lived in NW - primarily Dupont Circle - until 13 when we moved to the cushy burbs of Chevy Chase.
.

Wow, so we both were born in San Fran at the same time and moved to DC when we were 5. That's friggin incredible. What are the odds of that?

[Hoopalotta]

Age: 34

Hometown: Born in San Fran, moved to DC at age 5. Lived in NW - primarily Dupont Circle - until 13 when we moved to the cushy burbs of Chevy Chase.
.

Wow, so we both were born in San Fran at the same time and moved to DC when we were 5. That's friggin incredible. What are the odds of that?

Wow, you're right, I missed it! Kaiser-Permanente, May of '75?

Swapped at birth maybe? Well, except that I'm a white guy, so it would be a pretty big blunder by the hospital staff, and that without even getting into the parents;

But ya' know what? Ya' never know

I am told it almost happened otherwise: My parents were in Oakland on a day-trip or something, but my Mom, being I suppose a bit of an effete, basically said "I'll be darned if he's poppin' out on this side of the bay!" and kept herself clamped tight until they could get back across the bridge. She would have endured much worse so that I would forever have a more fashionable answer to divulge at cocktail parties .

[Soup's Uncle]

This is fun.

[verbal8]

My screen name is from my college nickname "verbal" which was suppose to be ironic because I was known for not talking much. My first name is Jesse.

Age: 31.

Married with one kid and one on the way.

Hometown: Landover, MD

Current: Reston, VA

Occupation: Computer programmer

Other interests: rugby, tropical fish, Redskins

Bullets/Wizards history: I was at the Bullets championship as a baby. I went to some Bullets game as a kid with my dad. I remember seeing Tom McMillian with his gray/white hair.
I remember crying when the Bullets lost to the 76ers in the play-offs either in 86 or 87. Apparently it was worth crying over because between then and 96/97 there were no winning seasons.

Due to the ineptitude of the Bullets, I often had to pick another team to cheer for in the play-offs. The Spurs were one of my favorite "play-off" teams. Recently I just get less interested once the Wizards season is over. Although I was happy to see Garnett get a championship with the Celtics.

[Notorious_1]

I will give it a try

NAME: Notorious_1 - There is no real story behind my name. I think I was listening to the Notorious BIG when I was registering and I really like Nick Young...hence #1. However my real name is DJ...actually that's a nickname too, but it's what I go by.

AGE: 28

Marital Status: In a relationship...I have a beautiful 1 year old daughter, who is my the joy of my life. Probably will be married in the next few years...still going through the stage where I'm holding on to a thread of me being a bachelor.

About Me: I was born in Fayetteville, NC. I first got my taste of DC when I was about 6, however I was an Army brat so I lived overseas for a few years in Germany and hopped around here in the states in Oklahoma and North Carolina before finally settling here in Silver Spring, MD. I then spent 4 years in the Air Force so I did time in South Carolina, Qatar, and Korea. Currently, I have a condo near the National Harbor in Temple Hills, MD.

Job: Currently, I'm a contractor at the FBI HQ in downtown DC...I handle the secure phones for the FBI and its field offices.

Wizards: Well, at first I never had any allegiance to any team because of all the moving I did growing up. I started watching basketball when Jordan and Bulls were dominating. I was a huge Jordan fan...not a Bulls fan but a Jordan fan. Well, when I was in high school, I became a huge DC Metro homer fan. I loved the Wiz even though people couldn't give tickets away. I was a big UNC fan so when we drafted Rasheed Wallace, that was the icing on the cake for me. So I've seen my share of the injury bug issues, losing seasons, and questionable management decisions. However, I was estatic when we put up a fight against the Bulls in the 1st round of the playoffs back in, what 96 or 97.

Anyway, now many years later, I'm still a huge Wiz, Skins, Caps, and whoever else comes out of the area fan. I lurked around RealGM for about 2-3 years before I actually registered and posted. I just enjoyed reading you guys debate on a team we all loved so much. We never really got any love from the media so I had to find a place where I could just enjoy Wiz converstation and Realgm was it.

[LyricalRico]

Not married, but planning on getting engaged later this year.

Better hope she doesn't lurk, otherwise you just spoiled the surprise.

[dobrojim]

thanks to the 2 guys who mentioned special games -

the Rex game winner v Shaq

and Dudley Bradley improbable 3 pter to cap a 17 point run to end a playoff game

sounds like we got at least 3 Restonians and one Herndon guy (Cramer) on here.

[daSwami]

I feel like this is like the fifth time I've done one of these things, but they're always sort of fun/intriguing, so here goes ...

the stats: 37-year-old married male honky, no kids, no job (presently, but eager to change that).

I grew up in the DC area (ages 1-5 in Oxon Hill, ages 6-21 in Annandale). Grew up watching the mediocre Bullets teams of the Gene Shue era. I lived and breathed basketball as a kid, spent many hours shooting buckets in my driveway. One of the highlights of my youth was attending Red Jenkins' basketball camp every summer at George Mason. I got to play with a lot of great players at that camp - I was once on a team with Grant Hill and coached by Billy King. I pretty much taught Grant everything he knows about the game. I never played in high school, opting instead to smoke dope and play guitar.

I found this board during the time when the rumors began to swirl about MJ coming out of retirement to play for the Wizards. Although I found the MJ era infuriating in many ways, it did serve to rekindle my obsession with the team. My enthusiasm waned after they traded away CWebb. Today my obsession remains intact thanks to Gilbert Arenas - a player I have grown to love more than I ever expected to.

I also feel compelled to add that this board has really been a great outlet for me. Cheesy as it sounds, I feel a debt of gratitude to the many posters here who have helped to lift my spirits during some rough times in my life.

/end homoness

[jimij]

Name: jimij. No real story on the name, just used a version of my own name since when I joined I'd never been on a message board in my life and just needed something to put down (as opposed to thinking up something original or funny). Like someone mentioned earlier, I found the board after Czaban mentioned the trade checker on the radio. Used to post a lot more but tend to be more of a lurker these days.

Age: 41

Marital status: married for 8 years with 4 and 1 year old daughters.

About me: Grew up in Stafford and went to school and W&M (undergrad) and UVA (grad) before moving to Northern Virginia to become a CPA. Have always enjoyed playing hoops and still manage to do so once or twice a week even if I'm getting way too fat and old to keep up with the young guns.

Wiz cred: My dad first started taking me to games during the playoffs the year we won the title and I've been hooked ever since. I used to be a complete sports junky but as I get older I find that mostly all I care about these days are the Wizards/NBA first and foremost and to a lesser extent the NFL and golf if Tiger's playing. My favorite moment was sitting in the mall and hearing of the Webber trade since I was certain that we'd be title contenders for years to come. Worst moment was the Richmond trade. Favorite all time Wiz players - Dandridge, Malone, Googs (because everyone seemed to think I played like him), Arenas and Haywood.

These days, I'm just hoping we get healthy and can get back to being playoff fixtures. I'd love a title run but I'd settle for being like the old Stockton/Malone Jazz - always in the mix even if you never win (and without too many off the court shenanigans).

[jimij]

Forgot to add (and didn't feel like an edit since its post 3,000 which I never thought I'd see) that I've still never been even slightly tempted to join another message board of any type. The overall quality and content from the members here is far and above that of anything else I've come across on the net.

[LyricalRico]

^ Congrats on 3,000!

[fishercob]

I feel like this is like the fifth time I've done one of these things, but they're always sort of fun/intriguing, so here goes ...

the stats: 37-year-old married male honky, no kids, no job (presently, but eager to change that).

I grew up in the DC area (ages 1-5 in Oxon Hill, ages 6-21 in Annandale). Grew up watching the mediocre Bullets teams of the Gene Shue era. I lived and breathed basketball as a kid, spent many hours shooting buckets in my driveway. One of the highlights of my youth was attending Red Jenkins' basketball camp every summer at George Mason. I got to play with a lot of great players at that camp - I was once on a team with Grant Hill and coached by Billy King. I pretty much taught Grant everything he knows about the game. I never played in high school, opting instead to smoke dope and play guitar.

I found this board during the time when the rumors began to swirl about MJ coming out of retirement to play for the Wizards. Although I found the MJ era infuriating in many ways, it did serve to rekindle my obsession with the team. My enthusiasm waned after they traded away CWebb. Today my obsession remains intact thanks to Gilbert Arenas - a player I have grown to love more than I ever expected to.

I also feel compelled to add that this board has really been a great outlet for me. Cheesy as it sounds, I feel a debt of gratitude to the many posters here who have helped to lift my spirits during some rough times in my life.

/end homoness

I hear ya, swami. I imagine that I am not alone in that I come to this board to sometimes get away from some of the pains of "real life." That being said, some of my "internet friends" have become real friends. This is actually a place that has helped reinforce one of life's lessons that for the most part, we're all the same and want the same things out of life, and that everyone is just doing their best to make it from day to day.

But yeah swami, that was really gay.