Tanking

It has been rough for Washington D.C. sports teams the last few years. Aside from the flash of lightning that left us one game from the Super Bowl a little more than a year ago, we as DC fans don’t have too much to stick our chests out about. But there is one thing that I can hang my hat on in the case of the Commanders, Capitals and Nationals: they try to win the game.

Sure, we have had it rough the last few seasons, but in my football, hockey and baseball worlds, I have no problem putting down a couple of bucks to see my home teams compete and making a sincere effort to win the game. In one of my favorite lines from the movie Casino, “otherwise, what’s the point?” Even my Washington Capitals have made the playoffs in the last two years.

Then we come to the Washington Wizards. For the last three years, they have done the complete opposite. Not only do they lose regularly, the wear the label like a badge of honor. As of this post, the Wizards have won a total of fifty out of 241 games in the last three seasons.

Fifty. Total. With math being my friend, they have just won one out of every five games.

Their reason? They want to better position themselves to get quality players from the annual NBA drafts. Now, while I’m just a blogger, I thought that you just scout and evaluate players and just select them, regardless of when you pick them. Some players take years to develop. In fact, during the last three seasons, only three players from the last three draft classes have played in the All-Star game. Our last player to play was Bradley Beal who was our third overall pick in the 2012 draft.

In speaking to ticket holders, their frustration comes from both the product on the court as well as the annual price increases.

It is a disservice to the fans to promote losing in the league. It also defeats the purpose of why we play (and watch) the games…hello?