'We just like watching the other teams come through town'
This week I went to the most random NBA game imaginable.
Over the past few years I have become quite the basketball fan. The only problem with this newfound interest is that I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which is something of a basketball desert in terms of teams, interest and discussion. There is no NBA team here. There is little interest in acquiring an NBA team. There is even less interest in talking about the NBA, unless you are for some reason telling everybody how much you hate the NBA. All of this limits my options. Significantly.
If I want to see a live, high-level basketball game, I have the University of Pittsburgh as my best local option. For the most part, that is fine. Their games can be fun, and when the team is good, and when there is a big opponent in town, the atmosphere inside the Petersen Events Center is one of the best in the city for any live sporting event. That place can rock.
Even this is an imperfect solution. It is still only college basketball, and while that can be incredibly fun, it is a steep step below the pros. There is also the fact the Pitt basketball program seems to be cooked beyond belief, so the atmosphere in the building is now non-existent. I do not know how they come back from the Kevin Stallings and Jeff Capel eras. It is bleak over there. Not even the Oakland Zoo has much juice anymore.
If I want to see an NBA game, some travel has to be involved. I am not opposed to that, and I have often said my favorite sports experiences are live games where I have zero rooting interest in the outcome of the game. Especially if there is a different city to enjoy.
I have been to a few New York Knicks games over the years, and that is an awesome experience if you do not mind taking out a large loan to get into the building just to sit in the rafters. I have been to some Washington Wizards games. Cleveland is a short drive away. Philadelphia is also just across the state.
There are reasonable options.
Earlier this week I took advantage of one of those options and went to one of the most random NBA games imaginable — a Portland Trail Blazers vs. Washington Wizards game.
In my defense, this was not just some spur of the moment decision. There was a plan with this. My buddy, Jeff, one of the few people in Western Pennsylvania I can talk NBA with, is a huge Portland Trail Blazers fan and likes to travel to nearby cities when they are visiting so he can see them play. Since I am always down for an adventure and a random sports road trip, this seemed right up my alley.
So despite arctic temperatures, a major Metropolitan city still buried by snow and little idea of how to clear it, we took a road trip.
I was about to get a lesson in what Shaedon Sharpe, Donovan Clingan, and Jerami Grant were all about.
I was about to get reacquainted with former Pitt players Bub Carrington and Justin Champagnie.
What I also received, aside from a lot of alcohol, was a fascinating look into the mindset and psyche of the loyal fans of a directionless franchise.
In some ways, I could relate to these people. I understand them. I understand what they are hoping to get out of their attendance at games. I also understand their frustration and apathy toward the local club. Because of that, I kind of like them.
Our first stop in D.C. was The Irish Channel, a great bar about a block-and-a-half from Capital One Arena that I have been quite familiar with over the years during several trips covering Washington Capitals games. It is a great pre-game and post-game stop, and it was the obvious choice (and easiest choice given that it was on the ground floor of our hotel).
It was there that we encountered “the line” for the first time.
When the bartender found out why we were in D.C. and what we were doing that night, there were two things that immediately grabbed her attention: The fact that the game had not been cancelled due to the weather, and the fact somebody was actually going to the Wizards game that night.
She then told me that she enjoys going to games, but mainly so she could see the other teams that come through town. She spent a few minutes telling us about how she went to see the Wizards when they were playing the Boston Celtics because she liked watching Jayson Tatum.
I have some experience cheering for a perpetually bad franchise, and I understand the mindset of what she was talking about.
While the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins have been consistently competitive for as long as I can remember following sports, the Pittsburgh Pirates have done the exact opposite and been perpetual bottom-feeders. The Wizards are, for all intents and purposes, the NBA version of the Pirates. For years I would justify going to Pirates games as not only a thing I simply enjoy doing because I love baseball, but also because it was an opportunity to see other top players and teams come through town.
The Pirates might lose 10-4, but Albert Pujols is there. He probably hit a home run.
Shohei Ohtani is pitching that night and he might do something spectacular on the mound or at the plate. Or both.
How often do you get to see the New York Yankees play in your stadium? You better believe I am going to check that out.
It is not so much about seeing your team win — because you know they are not — but just seeing teams and players you do not always get a chance to see. And that can be exciting. That can be fun. Sometimes just having a beer at a ball game is enjoyable.
I just did not think other people related to this mindset. At least not to this degree.
You have to keep something in mind about the Wizards. This is a franchise that has made the playoffs just five times in the past 18 seasons, in a league where more than half of the teams make the playoffs.
I last saw them play in person back in 2018-19 when their starting backcourt was John Wall and Bradley Beal (which was pretty good!). Dwight Howard was on that team for some reason. Those were some big names. But the team won just 32 games that season and has made the playoffs just one time since. They are bad, and have progressively gotten worse. The past three years they have been in a tanking phase that is masqueraded as a rebuild. I have no idea how much progress it is making, but Alex Sarr (the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft as a part of this rebuild) had an absolutely monster game on this night. So they have that going for them.
Overall there just seemed to be more apathy over the current state of the franchise than anger, and that is when you know things are bad. Teams will tolerate anger because it means you still care. They get scared by apathy. Or at least they should.
But not everybody was apathetic.
After leaving The Irish Channel we made our way over toward the arena and stopped for another drink at the SportsBook that is attached to it. It was there that we encountered a couple of dudes dressed like wizards. Actual wizards. Curly wigs. Pointy hats. Capes. The whole nine yards. By the time they went into the arena there were at least seven of them gathered, and they told me they are trying to make it so they can get an entire section of them for games.
“It just hasn’t taken off yet.”
Which is a shame. Because it should.
They seemed passionate, and had not yet been beaten down by the constant losing. And if they were beaten down by it, they did a hell of a job hiding it.
It was at the SportsBook bar where we encountered a man that had a cast on his left leg and was propping it up on a stool next to him. Next to him was another gentleman that was wearing a Baltimore Ravens scarf and what appeared to be a Super Bowl ring. After a brief discussion as to whether or not it was a real Super Bowl ring or a fake Super Bowl ring, Jeff turned his attention to the man in the cast and jokingly asked him if he was saving that stool for somebody.
“No! I broke my ankle!”
And as if his cast and simple explanation were not enough, he then immediately pulled out his phone and proceeded to show us all of the ankle X-rays he had and the exact details of where it was broken. He seemed to enjoy telling the story and show his cracked bone.
He also noticed Jeff’s Trail Blazers hat and remarked about how the Wizards were entering the game on a nine-game losing streak, and were about to make it 10 games which would be good news for Jeff’s team. It was at that point he started talking about his season ticket. Singular. He buys one season-ticket for himself and goes to all of the games, mostly because he "just likes seeing the other teams come through town.”
He explained that he used to have two tickets, but that because he could never get a second person to go with him, or because people were always backing out at the last minute, he just decided the hell with it “I’m going by myself” and saved the money.
Speaking of saving money, one of the perks of having a bad team to cheer for is that you can sometimes get into games for cheap, and sometimes get great seats for a fair price. When we bought our tickets for this game the “get-in” price was about $14 for upper level seats. There were certain parts of the lower level that were under $50. But because Jeff only gets to see his team play in person maybe one or two times per season, he likes to spend a little more to sit close. We ended up sitting about five rows behind the Trail Blazers bench and basically got the seats for around $100 each. I am guessing that is extraordinarily cheap for seats that close to an NBA game.
That price will not even get you into Madison Square Garden for a Knicks game.
We were sitting here.
I have sat this close at Pitt games, but never this close for an NBA game. There were two things that stood out to me.
The first was just the speed at which the pros move versus college players. It is a night and day difference. It’s fast. The pace is fast. The players are fast. The ball movement is fast.
The second is just how physical the game is when you see it up close.
Television does not do it justice.
Sitting in the cheap seats does not it justice.
It is not only a fast game, it is a strong, physical game with a ton of contact.
Jeff had warned me that the Trail Blazers were a sloppy team on offense, and that they would turn the ball over a lot, and they did exactly that. They also could not make a foul shot at all and those two things ended up being the difference in a 115-111 Wizards win to snap their losing streak.
The 12,000 or so fans that braved the temperatures and the elements not only had a chance to see another team come through town, they also got to see their team win just their 12th game of the season. And they were excited for it.
On the way out of the arena one fan noticed my Pittsburgh Penguins tossle cap, and it definitely bothered her. She looked me straight in the eyes and yelled, “I can’t believe they let you in here with that hat on!”
That hat would eventually spark another conversation back at The Irish Channel after the game.
As a young gentleman came up to cash out for the night, he ordered a shot of Makers Mark and drank it next to me at the bar. He noticed my hat and immediately started talking about how he and his wife love visiting Pittsburgh and how underrated of a city it is. We talked baseball, the Pirates, PNC Park and different restaurants in the city. He then asked us what brought us down to D.C. and we explained it was simply for the Trail Blazers-Wizards game.
He started to tell us how he and a couple of his friends purchases Wizards season tickets this season for the first time. As he was he telling this story Jeff yells at me, “I bet he says the line!”
Sure enough, before Jeff could even finish his sentence the guy said something along the lines of, “We know they are not very good, but it is fun just seeing the other teams come through town.”