Last Friday, another Washington Wizards season ended with a playoff loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Meg Zamula took a few days to recover and compose some thoughts about her beloved Les Bulletz — or at least all the stuff that happens around the Wiz during a game at the Verizon Center.

DESPITE THE INJURIES, frustrating refereeing and occasional lack of offensive rebounding, it can't be denied that this season was entertaining. Even when the shots weren't falling, the Verizon Center tried hard to keep fans upbeat and engaged with non-basketball entertainment.

Here are the good, the bad and the startlingly unattractive aspects of the live Wizards experience.

THE GOOD

It was a banner year for the Kiss Cam. After years of Sixpence None the Richer's insipid "Kiss Me" serving as its soundtrack, someone apparently realized that the majority of Wizards fans do not spend the remainder of their leisure time watching "Dawson's Creek" reruns. Replacing Sixpence's tripe with Digital Underground's "Kiss Me and I'll Kiss You Back" was a significant improvement. And if you didn't have anyone to kiss you could still shimmy shimmy cocoa pop in your seat.

This season also provided fans with at least one classic Kiss Cam moment, when Wizards announcer Steve Buckhantz leaned over and lovingly smooched unsuspecting co-host Phil Chenier's ample forehead.

The adults featured on this year's Dance Cam tended to rely heavily on the lawn-sprinkler move, but D.C.'s children demonstrated enough rhythm and creativity to compensate. Hopefully the not-so-kid-friendly prize — a gift certificate to a seafood restaurant — won't discourage them in future efforts.

Continue Reading "Between the Bounces at the Verizon Center" »

HAS IT REALLY come to this for the Maryland Terrapins?

Though men's basketball coach Gary Williams has been criticized for the swoon since winning the national championship, no one could dispute he brought the program back to respectability the right way.

There's been no hint of scandal, criminal activity or blatant cheating.

But in mid-April came the under-the-radar announcement that Williams had given a scholarship to Tyree Evans.

Once a top-flight prospect out of Richmond, Evans will be a 23-year-old junior who has been convicted of three crimes and who spent time in jail for drugs last year.

Continue Reading "Swengali: Will Terps' Risk be Rewarded?" »

BASES LOADED. INFIELD IN. Bottom of the 10th. One out. Game tied.

At the plate, Felipe Lopez had a chance to be the hero. It wouldn't take much. Just about any hard-hit ball would win the game. Lopez, though, bounced back to the pitcher, who promptly started a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning.

"It wasn't the pitch I wanted," Lopez said. "I couldn't get it done."

This was just last week against the Braves, but for Lopez it may as well have been last year. Last year, no one disputes, was a bad year.

Lopez was an All-Star in 2005, and he saw himself that way. But in 2007, he hit .245 and he sulked. By this spring, the organization didn't even see him as a starter.

Continue Reading "Act Two: Lopez Looks Good the 2nd Time Around" »

D.C. UNITED HAS PROVEN IT CAN SCORE. Twice this season it has feasted on visiting opposition, scoring eight goals combined against Toronto and Salt Lake — clubs that don't exactly represent the highest echelon of MLS competition.

The problem is that those games appear to be anomalies. D.C. has managed just one additional league goal this year and sits last in the Eastern Conference at 2-4-0.

"We are not clicking this year," midfielder Santino Quaranta told reporters following Sunday's embarrassing 2-0 defeat in Denver. "Everything has been put into place, [but] we keep getting let down by each other. There is no fighting — it's a good group here. We just can't figure it out."

The defense continues to struggle somewhat, but the problems really begin up front. Coach Tom Soehn has called United "an easy team to play against," and much of that is due to a predictable, deliberate attack that doesn't seem to know what to do with the ball when it has it.

Continue Reading "Blanked Slate: D.C. United Has No Attack Left in It" »

AS IF BEING eliminated from the playoffs for a third straight year — at home, no less — isn't depressing enough, the news isn't getting any better for Wizards fans.

If you were to look at the situation objectively, one could very easily make the case that the lowly Miami Heat, the owner of the NBA's worst record this past season, is in a better situation to win a championship than our Wizards.

Based on the playoffs, it seems that your everyday, run-of-the-mill superstars just don’t cut it in the postseason.

Of the eight NBA teams left, six — Detroit and Utah are the exceptions — have a historically good player.

Sadly the Wizards, have no such star. Moreover, Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison are free agents.

Jamison is a no-brainer to keep, as he is the team's true leader. If Arenas opts out of his contract, Washington would be crazy to give him a maximum contract given his knee trouble and erratic behavior. A sign-and-trade option would make he most sense then.

Now back to the Heat, which already has Dwayne Wade and Shawn Marion, and could very well end up with either Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose in the draft. If either rookie is as good as advertised, look out.

The Wizards, as currently constructed, can't beat LeBron James and finished behind Dwight Howard's Magic.

Add Miami to the mix and Washington is likely to fall, unless it finds one of those rare franchise players.

Photo by Preston Keres/TWP

AFTER BOWING OUT to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third year in a row in the first round of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs, the Washington Wizards have some serious offseason issues to address. Will Gilbert Arenas opt out of his contract? Will owner Abe Pollin keep head coach Eddie Jordan? Can they even keep free agent Antawn Jamison?

Join Express' Matt Swenson and Ian Herbert to discuss the road ahead for the Wizards.

SANTINO QUARANTA IS 23 years old.

That may seem like an ideal age for someone whose pro soccer career appears to be getting off the ground, but the D.C. United attacker will tell you it's about time. After all, he's in his eighth MLS season.

Quaranta was the first Freddy. A teenage phenom from Baltimore, he was drafted by United in 2001 and showed promise as the youngest player in league history, tallying five goals in 16 appearances. He represented the U.S. in the Under-17 World Cup that fall, and the sky was the limit.

Then the injuries started. A hernia, a hurt knee and a string of other ailments limited him to just 28 games over the next three years. By 2006, Quaranta, who wasn't known for his work ethic, had worn out his RFK Stadium welcome. He was traded to Los Angeles, dealt again to New York, then waived four months ago after injuring his foot.

Continue Reading "Second Prime: Prodigy Quaranta Is Back With United" »

FEW THINGS HAVE REMAINED CONSTANT about the Washington Nationals in the years since their arrival in the District, but chief among them has been Chad Cordero.

The closer has always been there in the ninth inning, finishing out ballgames and all too often toeing the treacherous line between victory and deflating defeat. He's recorded 47, 29 and 37 saves in the last three years, respectively. What would the Nationals do without him?

Time to find out. Cordero tore the latissimus dorsi muscle in the back of his shoulder during Tuesday's game. The club said he could miss four to six weeks but is prepared for a longer absence.

"The guy's probably going to be out two months," manager Manny Acta told reporters Wednesday.

Continue Reading "Needed Relief: Nats Seek Plan 'B' Without Cordero" »

NOTHING ABOUT THIS SERIES is pretty.

So, when the Wizards pulled out an ugly 88-87 victory in Cleveland on Wednesday, they breathed their biggest sigh of relief to date.

Two more grinding performances like that one — in which Caron Butler scored a career playoff-best 32 points and made a game-winning layup — will get them into the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time since 2005.

Of course, the Cavs have eliminated Washington in D.C. each of the last two seasons. They play at Verizon Center on Friday night.

Butler's shot — almost identical to the attempt LeBron James missed on the other end of the floor at the buzzer — was the team's final attempt in a game in which the Wizards made just 41 percent of their field-goal tries and turned the ball over 13 times in the first half. They were playing without Gilbert Arenas, who announced before the game that he was done for the year.

Continue Reading "Ugly Contest: Wizards, Cavaliers Leave Pretty at the Door" »

EARLIER THIS YEAR, we asked whether the Washington Wizards were better off without Gilbert Arenas, and we eventually decided the team's best player was needed to win in the playoffs.

Mea Culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa.

I was wrong, at least this year and in this most unusual situation.

Surely, it's no coincidence that the Wizards' two wins over Cleveland — including Wednesday night's thriller to stave off elimination — came when Arenas wasn't even a factor.

Agent Zero's presence has been a distraction all season. When he's healthy, he's one of the NBA's great players.

Anyone who's watched Washington the past month knows Arenas was anything but great, and the Wizards were worse trying to fit him in after he missed most of the season.

Continue Reading "Swengali: No Arenas? No Problem This Year" »