The most Wizards story of 2011

By Dan Steinberg







This is how Flip Saunders began his press conference after the Wizards got stomped at home by the Spurs:

"Words can't totally explain how I feel. Disappointed. Embarrassed. And I feel bad from a fan standpoint. Realistically, I look, there's 8:40 left in the game, we were down 36, and our fans were cheering for them to miss shots from the free-throw line, which says a little bit something about how your fans are trying their hardest to do whatever they can, and just want to see you go out and just play."

It's a touching sentiment. Except, as Kyle Weidie from Truth About It pointed out on Twitter, there was a different reason the fans were cheering for Gary Neal to miss that free throw with 8:41 left, when the Wizards actually trailed by 34 points. At some point late in games, the Wizards game ops crew runs a promotion after the opponents miss a free throw. If the player misses the second free throw, everyone in the stands gets some sort of discount swag from Chick-fil-A.

So the fans weren't actually trying to do whatever they could to help the Wizards rally. They were trying to get discounted chicken. They failed, when Neal made his free throw. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the most Wizards story of 2011.