Wizards lost money again

[montestewart]

See, that's the response of your typical Wizards fan. That's why this franchise sucks - not because of the management, but because of lousy fans who don't actually care about basketball at all.

I've been a fan since the 70s. I've been to other arenas, and from what I've observed Sixers and Magic fans are louder and more passionate, and Knicks and Nets fans not so much better, maybe worse. But I don't see how the Bullets/Wizards long record of failure and disappointment can be laid on the fans. I'm more inclined to think the record of failure is behind much fan behavior.

Maynor wasn't any good, but he didn't deserve(or get that I am aware of) boos. The guy who should get booed for Maynor is EG.

That's a little closer to how I feel.

Blatche was a dog and deserved to be booed. I'll never boo a player for being bad, but I'll ALWAYS boo a player for putting up no effort.

However with Blatche's lack of effort he did to some degree deserve the boos that he got. He had the ability to perform a lot better than he did.

I don't know about booing a player at a game. Maybe it has a tough-love motivational effect, or maybe it just demoralizes the whole team even more than the situation (Maynor's play, Blatche's conditioning, etc.). Maybe it helps force a franchise's hand regarding a roster move, or maybe it just devalues a player, making him even harder to move. Maybe it's just an irrational aspect of fandom, but I've never booed any player on my team at a game. And that's not because I haven't been disappointed.

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

That explains selling the 2nd round picks. I would imagine that the team would have been really profitable this season.

"It wasn't just for the money, it was because strategically we wanted a first-round pick and we were willing to write a check, and trade players or trade picks, but we couldn't get things done." ----Ted Leonsis



http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball ... ree-agency

[TGW]

See, that's the response of your typical Wizards fan. That's why this franchise sucks - not because of the management, but because of lousy fans who don't actually care about basketball at all.

WTH are you blabbering about? You're telling me the fans are lousy for blasting someone who put little to no effort in a job that WE ARE PAYING FOR with OUR MONEY?

Please spare me the holier-than-thou BS.

[hands11]

Ravens fans are not going to boo Ray Rice, that's ridiculous.

No one even really knows what happened in that situation other than him and his wife..

Yeah, but who said they would boo him? Cool straw man argument, though.

And huge LOL at Ray Rice apologists. Maybe Ravens fans are unethical scumbags, but I personally take issue with wife beaters. Maybe we don't know ALL of the details, but when he's already indicted on assault charges, there's video of him dragging his wife out of an elevator, and an alleged not-public video of him punching her, I think it's a safe assumption that he's done something wrong. Sure there's a small, minuscule percent chance this was some CRAZY misunderstanding and RR did NOTHING wrong, but pretending that legitimizes the position of "NO ONE REALLY KNOWS ANYTHING -- LEAVE POOR RAY RICE ALONE" is absolutely comical. Seriously, the fact that anyone would take that position confirms that there is no shortage of sports fans who live in a fantasy world wherein their sports heroes can do no wrong as long as they're winning games -- even if they're beating/raping women, molesting children, killing people, whatever.

I know this derailing is probably kind of annoying to some posters, but I can't stand 1) amoral sports fans defending Ray Rice/Joe Paterno/X scumbag athlete/Y scumbag coach and 2) straw man arguments.

/derail

Interesting stuff for a Wizards lost money thread. LOL

That went South quickly.

[hands11]

I don't care how bad a player is, there is just no good reason to boo your own player before he even touches the ball. That is the difference between a fan and a hater. Do you want your team to succeed? Or do you numb the pain of your own worthless existence by pointing out the failings of others?

I'm pretty sure there are valid reasons to boo a player outside of a recent bad play. I think booing Ray Rice no matter what he does is fairly reasonable. I think booing Ben Roethlisberger sits pretty well with me. Wanna boo Albert Haynesworth? I'm in.

Being a horrible person and a complete scumbag is reason to receive boos, and I wouldn't say characterizing Blatche as a scumbag is entirely unfair. He created the situation he was in.

Tell me what, exactly, was Blatche guilty of, besides being out of shape and kind of a flake? Did he, say, pull guns on someone (Arenas)? Did he get in fistfights with teammates (Haywood, Etan Thomas - actually, didn't Blatche get into a fistfight)? Did he beat his girlfriend? Did he lie down on the field and let his quarterback get creamed?

Don't get me wrong - Blatche is a whiny biyatch, a quitter, a loser, and I strongly suspect he's an alcoholic. That's not what's at issue here. What I'm talking about is fan behavior.

Well he was guilty of having stinky poop shoes.

[MJG]

See, that's the response of your typical Wizards fan. That's why this franchise sucks - not because of the management, but because of lousy fans who don't actually care about basketball at all.

Nah, I'm pretty sure it's the management.

[Kanyewest]

Fans are entirely within their rights to boo a player who makes a bad play.

I don't care how bad a player is, there is just no good reason to boo your own player before he even touches the ball. That is the difference between a fan and a hater. Do you want your team to succeed? Or do you numb the pain of your own worthless existence by pointing out the failings of others?

DC fans have a right to boo, but I have a right to boo dc fans booing. Sounds like the philosophy of a Philly fan.

[Kanyewest]

Makes sense that that the Wizards aren't profitable in the sense of creating a good atmosphere.

The attendance seems pretty low during the games I went to against the Bobcats and the Raptors. Most people are pretty quiet until the 4th quarter, it also sounds like the Wizards pump in noise into the speakers. The music selection is questionable from playing Marylyn Manson at opening tip off to playing Sean Paul's "Get Busy" when the Wizards are on offense. The food from the concessions is super expensive- $9 for a Budweiser. Plus if you want to pay those kind of prices you can walk outside into downtown DC and get a much better meal.

[montestewart]

Makes sense that that the Wizards aren't profitable in the sense of creating a good atmosphere.

The attendance seems pretty low during the games I went to against the Bobcats and the Raptors. Most people are pretty quiet until the 4th quarter, it also sounds like the Wizards pump in noise into the speakers. The music selection is questionable from playing Marylyn Manson at opening tip off to playing Sean Paul's "Get Busy" when the Wizards are on offense. The food from the concessions is super expensive- $9 for a Budweiser. Plus if you want to pay those kind of prices you can walk outside into downtown DC and get a much better meal.

I lose my voice really easily, so excepting an occasional rally or spectacular play, I generally save it for the 4th quarter. Maybe others use the same strategy. I've seen dobrojim in action, and he seems pretty much buzzer to buzzer.

[Induveca]

Because you pay taxes on profits, any organization is happy to minimize the profit they must declare. It's also possible that there is some tax or other benefit to declaring a loss this year.

As well, "the Wizards" is not the same as "Monumental Sports." Nor do we know where/how the dividing lines work.

In short, there's no way to know what this means.

Well said. Also, the Wizards TV deal is extremely anemic in comparison to the local population. The Lakers make about 180 million a year off their TV deal. Washington? 70.

The Wizards corporate sponsors, outside of Verizon, are also extremely subpar. When they stop trotting out defense contractors and PwC for commercials you'll know we're no longer in the bottom 6 of ALL NBA teams in local Nielsen ratings.

With some playoff runs, and a more rabid fanbase profits will rise steadily.

This bears repeating, we're the 5th largest market in the US (when including Baltimore) yet our local ratings are in the bottom 6 of the NBA. The local TV deal ranks near the bottom as well.

It's not only Grunfeld that needs to go, it's the entire PR and marketing divisions.

[keynote]

That explains selling the 2nd round picks. I would imagine that the team would have been really profitable this season.

"It wasn't just for the money, it was because strategically we wanted a first-round pick and we were willing to write a check, and trade players or trade picks, but we couldn't get things done." ----Ted Leonsis



http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball ... ree-agency

That makes absolutely no sense. Failing to trade up or buy our way into the first round has *zero impact* on what we did (or didn't do) with our second round pick. Failing all else, we could have still drafted BPA, or drafted B Euro PA and stashed him.

[gtn130]

See, that's the response of your typical Wizards fan. That's why this franchise sucks - not because of the management, but because of lousy fans who don't actually care about basketball at all.

I like how you make this ridiculous statement and then never return to this thread. Sick life.

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

That explains selling the 2nd round picks. I would imagine that the team would have been really profitable this season.

"It wasn't just for the money, it was because strategically we wanted a first-round pick and we were willing to write a check, and trade players or trade picks, but we couldn't get things done." ----Ted Leonsis



http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball ... ree-agency

That makes absolutely no sense. Failing to trade up or buy our way into the first round has *zero impact* on what we did (or didn't do) with our second round pick. Failing all else, we could have still drafted BPA, or drafted B Euro PA and stashed him.

I agree, the explanation seems real disconnected.

Sounds like Leonsis was put on the spot and didn't know what to say...