At his grand opening press conference as Wizards owner, Ted Leonsis said he was “shocked” that so many fans were contacting him about a name change for Washington’s NBA franchise, especially with all he has to accomplish after officially becoming majority owner, i.e., turning a loser into a winner.
The next day, the issue was evidently so hot-button that Leonsis had to clarify his comments regarding the matter in two venues, on his blog, Ted’s Take, and in a meeting with editors and reporters from the Washington Post.
One can only assume that the shock has now worn off and that the realized issue might be serious enough to not be appeased by a simple changing of team colors that seems to pique Leonsis’ interest the most.
The Wizards as an NBA team nickname in D.C. has never been truly embraced by fans. Some of that surely has to do with winning, or lack thereof, but much of it is because the moniker is in no way a reflection of the Washington area and a city that stands as the capital of the free world.
That such an issue is near and dear to the hearts of many should never have come as a surprise.
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This is the last time Irene Pollin made a public appearance representing the Wizards franchise. In this instance, the team out-scored Indiana 24-17 in the fourth quarter and won the game. Of course, that didn’t bode well for draft lottery positioning. If you’re a Wizards fan, you might want to grab some of that scotch or vodka in the background.
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Whether you’ll be toasting or roasting during the late 8 pm (EST) hour Tuesday night, the results of the NBA Draft Lottery are up to a fate that will never be comprehended nor anticipated by the human mind.
On the DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has a great, yet painful chronicle of all the times the Wizards/Bullets franchise has come away from lottery night disappointed and all the marketing gimmicks (mostly of the Susan O’Malley, absurdly goofy variety) that were made to favorably sway lottery luck. Even Flip Saunders bringing his lucky coin last May 19th was along these lines to an extent.
This year seems different. The Wizards will quietly send Irene Pollin, widow of the late owner Abe, from the swamp-like (well, marshy in some local areas) territory of Washington, D.C. to the even more swampy Secaucus, New Jersey to represent the team.
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Well, the Flip Saunders era “officially” begun today (yesterday, meant to get this posted then, but blogger was acting funny) with a short and sweet press conference. Yep, seems like the Wizards franchise is ‘Determined to Deliver’ four c-words to fans next year. Keep reading for quotes and commentary from the presser.
Ernie Grunfeld Quotes:
“Start of a new beginning.”
Hopefully, every new beginning has a start … not sure if anyone can go right into the middle of a new beginning.
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