Gil Won't Return Without Jamison

(By Jesse D. Garrabrant - NBAE via Getty.) This was supposed to be Gilbert Arenas's last blog of all time, and I was anticipating another heart-felt manifesto on the meaning of life and NBA basketball. Instead, we get equivocation; "I'll give you all a hesitant no, this is not...

By Dan Steinberg | May 7, 2008; 05:16 PM ET | Comments (14)

New Crybaby Shirts

(By Winslow Townson - AP) Remember the Papa John's Crybaby t-shirts on eBay, referenced in this space yesterday afternoon? Well, one loyal reader attempted to buy one, only to be told the item had been removed, which a quick eBay search confirms. "They're trying to make fun of me,...

By Dan Steinberg | May 7, 2008; 04:04 PM ET | Comments (3)

Wiz vs. Caps on TV

Still winning, but just barely. D.C. Sports are obviously one big happy family, as evidenced by the following logic ladder: Clyde Simms goes to Caps games, from where Alex Ovechkin goes to Wizards games, from where Roger Mason goes to Redskins games, from where Jason Campbell goes to Georgetown...

By Dan Steinberg | May 7, 2008; 10:14 AM ET | Comments (12)

Get Yer Crybaby T-Shirts

Well that didn't take TOO too long. Five LeBron James Papa John's Crybaby t-shirts available on the eBays, all priced between $11 and $18. Like I said, if Papa John's would just sell these shirts in D.C., and sell "We're Not Really Crybabies and In Fact the Term Highly...

By Dan Steinberg | May 6, 2008; 04:46 PM ET | Comments (13)

Gil's Wardrobe and Gil's Summer Plans

(By Nick Wass - AP) Still clinging to the sweaty jerseys of D.C.'s most bloggable team, I present some of Gilbert's pre-Game-6 thoughts. I'll stop soon, I swear. On whether DeShawn crossed the line from funny character to villain this year: "No, he's still on the borderline. Like I...

By Dan Steinberg | May 6, 2008; 11:59 AM ET | Comments (5)

On Pizzas and Crybabies

Lingering Wizardly depression and major Blog Show responsibilities prevented me from working yesterday, thus depriving me of a golden chance to make fun of Clevelanders. (Watch Blog Show, today between 5 and 6 on Comcast SportsNet's Washington Post Live, featuring a guest appearance from important blogger Chris Cooley. Yeah,...

By Dan Steinberg | May 6, 2008; 10:59 AM ET | Comments (11)

Wizards Dipped in Chocolate

The wives of Darius Songaila and Antonio Daniels, covered in chocolate. How best to recover from the Wizards' untimely departure from the playoffs and the gaping three-month span until Redskins training camp? How 'bout at a high-end fundraiser featuring C-SPAN's Brian Lamb, social gadfly Oleksiy Pecherov, and the wives...

By Dan Steinberg | May 6, 2008; 09:03 AM ET | Comments (9)

The Wizards Disappear, With Smiles

(By Preston Keres - TWP) "No, he's crazier than me. I'm already broken. I learned early. He's not filtered. I think about stuff. Mine goes through the filter first." - Gilbert Arenas, on whether DeShawn Stevenson is as crazy as he is. "I'm a man, he's a man, and...

By Dan Steinberg | May 2, 2008; 11:51 PM ET | Comments (76)

Pro'Verb's Got a New Wiz Anthem

The frothy extracurriculars in this Wiz-Cavs series have been banished to the sidelines, and we're (mostly) back to talking about basketball. That goes for the series's hip-hop participants as well, which is why Pro'Verb--the local rapper who famously responded to Jay-Z's DeShawn Stevenson diss track with a defense of D.C.--has...

By Dan Steinberg | May 1, 2008; 05:33 PM ET | Comments (23)

The Best Wiz Practice Quotes

(By Nathaniel S. Butler - NBAE via Getty) "I don't golf." --Caron Butler, responding to Charles Barkley's taunt that the Wizards should get ready to break out their golf clubs. "I've said it before, I'll say it again: we're a better team with him out on the court....I'm the...

By Dan Steinberg | May 1, 2008; 03:57 PM ET | Comments (6)

Gilbert On the End of His Blog and His New Tats

(By Gregory ShamusGetty) Gilbert pre-game transcript courtesy Michael Lee. Gilbert: "I think I got one more blog in me, then no more blogging. I'm going to retire from blogging." Media: Why? Too much controversy? Too much fun? Gilbert: "A little bit of both. But media is different than when...

By Dan Steinberg | May 1, 2008; 02:29 PM ET | Comments (12)

Gilbert Says Wiz Are Better Without Him

Cheerleader, Ukrainian. (By David Liam Kyle - NBAE via Getty) Like everyone else in the world, I've said less-than-complimentary things about Gilbert at various points this season. But last night was just classic Gil. When the locker room opened before the game, he was lounging around and laughing and...

By Dan Steinberg | May 1, 2008; 12:37 PM ET | Comments (11)

Wiz Win: The Video

Let me set the scene: media members often get trapped in their concourse seats right after games like this. Mike Wise and I had gone down to the media room to avoid that, but then we sprinted back through one of the tunnels with 11 seconds left so we could...

By Dan Steinberg | May 1, 2008; 10:56 AM ET | Comments (11)

DeShawn: Still Popular

So, the Vick jersey and its deep meaning? "Uh, actually, nothing, I just put it on," DeShawn Stevenson said yesterday, and I actually believed him. "Michael Vick is--WAS--my favorite football player. I had his jersey, I felt like wearing a jersey, so I put that one on." (Of course,...

By Dan Steinberg | May 1, 2008; 10:10 AM ET | Comments (21)

Tough Juice Gets Tuff

As an impartial journalist blogger, I don't root for teams. But I don't think there's a rule against rooting for inanimate objects like a playoff series, and dang was I rooting for this most-ridiculous-of-all-time first-round series to continue. So when I saw some frowny faces at Tuesday's practice--Oleksiy Pecherov...

By Dan Steinberg | April 30, 2008; 10:51 PM ET | Comments (64)

Gilbert Shuts It Down

Any surprises left from the Wizards? Sure, why not one more. Gilbert Arenas will not play in Game 5 of the team's first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight, and said his injured left knee will not permit him to play again this season. "I'm done," he said. "My...

By Dan Steinberg | April 30, 2008; 05:09 PM ET | Comments (24)

I Love This Series: the Video

No, really, I do. I I love Brendan Haywood for having a sense of humor and perspective, DeShawn Stevenson for his sense of theater, LeBron James for never breaking character, Jay-Z and Pro'Verb and Soulja Boy for the absurdity, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels for refusing to...

By Dan Steinberg | April 30, 2008; 03:23 PM ET | Comments (7)

Cleveland Fans Appear Confident

Do I think the Cavs will almost certainly win this series? Of course I do. You'd say that about any team up 3-1 at home, much less a team that has so completely owned its opponent for three postseasons in a row. Do I think it's 100 percent stone-cold...

By Dan Steinberg | April 30, 2008; 01:49 PM ET | Comments (32)

DeShawn Appears to be Popular in Cleveland

Why do I continue to mildly defend the indefensible tomfoolery that has threatened to torpedo yet another Wizards season while turning the entire country against this team? I'm not really sure. I still find them likable, somehow, and anyways, everyone else has already piled on, with reporters even looking...

By Dan Steinberg | April 30, 2008; 11:04 AM ET | Comments (19)

DeShawn Goes Vick

Hmm, this month has worked out pretty well. I've gone from being a fairly obscure shooting guard--perhaps best-known for my back tattoo featuring my name and uniform number adorned with dollar signs and bullet holes--to a national sports figure with a sizzling beef against one of the NBA's best...

By Dan Steinberg | April 29, 2008; 11:07 PM ET | Comments (129)

Wizards Hold Their Form

Nick Young's gumby hairstyle, courtesy Gilbert. This afternoon, Antawn Jamison addressed the flowery ornamental treats that have made this series more icing than cake. He sounded let down rather than angry. It was like your boss coming over to check on a deadline project and finding you busy creating...

By Dan Steinberg | April 29, 2008; 02:59 PM ET | Comments (12)

Damon Jones Faux-Slashes His Throat

So DeShawn Stevenson was fined $25k for his "Roc-a-fella dynasty" hand signal-throat slash maneuver early in Game 4. The NBA described it as a "menacing gesture." Fair enough. Except just last month Damon Jones made a three-pointer late in a Wiz win over loss to the Cavs, which he followed...

By Dan Steinberg | April 29, 2008; 09:01 AM ET | Comments (24)

The Capital Disses Back

Closed fist? (By Jim Young - Reuters) LeBron gets Jay-Z to diss DeShawn; now Pro'Verb has stepped up to diss back. More than that, Proverb name-checks a certain newspaper: Who would have thought that I'd have to step into this territory; The Washington Post couldn't write a better story....

By Dan Steinberg | April 28, 2008; 03:48 PM ET | Comments (30)

Why Gil Didn't Throw His Jersey

Jeff Green, Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley. Brief rays of light on a gloomy morning.... * Gilbert did his post-game interviews in the locker room while wearing his Wiz jersey. A jersey that, in normal circumstances, would be in the grubby mitts of some happy kid in the crowd. This...

By Dan Steinberg | April 28, 2008; 10:33 AM ET | Comments (5)

Here's Jay Z's DeShawn Song

Possibly the last DeShawn-LeBron non-rivalry post. Possibly. Anyhow, by popular demand, here's that Jay Z freestyle about DeShawn Stevenson that was played at Love on Friday night. Thanks to intern Boris and YouBeenBlinded for the link, which is now also all over YouTube. Language alert, I suppose. A rundown...

By Dan Steinberg | April 28, 2008; 01:41 AM ET | Comments (26)

Wiz are Now Climbing the Mountain

Down three games to one? Heading back to Cleveland? To face a team that's ended your season two years in a row? In a building where you just lost by 30? That's, you might say, is a tough mountain to climb. Don't like the metaphor? Too bad, because it's...

By Dan Steinberg | April 27, 2008; 06:20 PM ET | Comments (1)

LeBron-DeShawn: Pre-Game IV

Further updates on the rivalry that isn't.... * Before the game, DeShawn Stevenson, on Jay Z: "He's worth about $500 million, and he's writing songs about me? What does that say about DeShawn Stevenson? Balllllllllllllling!" * Before the game, LeBron James on Jay Z: Essentially, no comment. * Before...

By Dan Steinberg | April 27, 2008; 01:45 PM ET | Comments (5)

Akron Columnist Dismisses Wiz Fans

This just keeps getting better and better. Jay-Z cutting a special track for the club, ripping on DeShawn Stevenson? Allegations of DeShawn and Damon Jones "jaw-jacking" at Park? Unreal. I'm choosing to believe all are approaching this in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, and that Game 4 won't forever be known...

By Dan Steinberg | April 26, 2008; 08:51 PM ET | Comments (27)

Blog Show: The Soulja Boy Interview

Watch Washington Post Live at 5 today on Comcast SportsyNet. It's gonna be great. Here's the Blog Show portion of your program, featuring appearances by Brendan Haywood and, yes, Soulja Boy. Other marginally related things you might want to check out: Christmas Ape discusses his WaPo departure (On the DL...

By Dan Steinberg | April 25, 2008; 04:28 PM ET | Comments (10)

Dre Blatche and Wiz Dance Man Do Sprinkler

Never gets old. This guy definitely averages more minutes on the Jumbotron than Dom McGuire, Nick Young or O-Pech....

By Dan Steinberg | April 25, 2008; 02:44 PM ET | Comments (5)

Wiz Mohawks and Fades

As you no doubt realize by now, yesterday's morning hair hijinks got a lot hijinkier by the evening. Andray Blatche came in the locker room first, with the early-season Mohawk back where it belonged. "I was ballin' in my Mohawk," Blatche explained. "We all getting ready to go to...

By Dan Steinberg | April 25, 2008; 10:44 AM ET | Comments (3)

Soulja Boy Can't Feel His Face: the Video

Before last night's game, I worriedly asked my editor whether any of our Wiz stories would cover the Soulja Boy angle. Ha! Dude got in the game story. Dude got in Wilbon's column. Dude got in Mike Lee's story. Dude got in Ivan Carter's post-game blog, and in my post-game...

By Dan Steinberg | April 25, 2008; 09:04 AM ET | Comments (23)

DeShawn, LeBron and Soulja Boy in Game 3

(By Ned Dishman - NBAE via Getty) Well, that was different. Crowd made a bit of noise. Wiz made a bit of noise. Gilbert jumped up on the scorer's table before the game even started, waving his rally towel and making a bit of noise. And Soulja Boy got...

By Dan Steinberg | April 25, 2008; 01:11 AM ET | Comments (26)

Wiz Discuss Their Hair, in Video

The bad-audio shaky-video version of this morning's Wiz Hair post.......

By Dan Steinberg | April 24, 2008; 04:36 PM ET | Comments (0)

Wiz Discuss Tonight, in Video

A few moving-pictured thoughts from the Wizards after this morning's shootaround, concerning tonight's game....

By Dan Steinberg | April 24, 2008; 03:22 PM ET | Comments (7)

Wizards Shaving Heads

This is why you couldn't pay me enough to have me switch my blogging focus from Washington to Cleveland. We all started out in the Cleveland locker room this morning, which had all the humor of Rust Belt decay. Then we gradually wandered our way to the fun side...

By Dan Steinberg | April 24, 2008; 11:38 AM ET | Comments (16)

Today's Top Five: Soulja Boy Reps LeBron

Photo yanked from Ohio.com. 1) Soulja Boy is actually a LeBron fan? Sigh. That's not so great. Well, he has a plane ticket here for tomorrow, anyhow. (Brian Windhorst) 2) A cartoon summary of Game 2. Hint: it doesn't end well. (Waiting for Next Year) 3) Gilbert Arenas "needs...

By Dan Steinberg | April 23, 2008; 05:18 PM ET | Comments (9)

A Wiz White Out

Cavs fans wear yellow, or gold, or whatever. (By Jesse D. Garrabrant - NBAE via Getty Images) Red Out? That's SO mid-April. It's now late-April, and that can mean only one thing in Chinatown Fuddruckerstown: White Out. "White House?" asked Brendan Haywood. No, no, Brendan, White Out. You know,...

By Dan Steinberg | April 23, 2008; 03:43 PM ET | Comments (8)

Wiz: Serious, With a Side of Goof

Booooooooooth. There were conventional signs of abnormal Wiz seriousness at yesterday's practice. Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas did not address the media. Eddie Jordan looked like he had been sleeping on a bed of nails. Brendan Haywood went out of his way to praise his coach, saying...

By Dan Steinberg | April 23, 2008; 11:08 AM ET | Comments (11)

Mike Brown: Stay on the Bench, Please

Um, paging Scottie Upshall. (By Aaron Josefczyk - Reuters) Complaining about the refs and diving is a highly subjective business, eh? Flyers fans boo Ovechkin for diving, while Caps fans have great fun pointing out how the Flyers have whined about the officiating. Scottie Upshall accuses Ovechkin of diving,...

By Dan Steinberg | April 22, 2008; 03:49 PM ET | Comments (43)

Playoff Week on (Game) 7th Street

Do it for this guy. There have been five occasions in which the Caps and Wizards/Bullets made the postseason in the same season: those wondrous springs of 1988, '87, '86, '85 and '84, when I was in like elementary school or something. There have been zero occasions in which...

By Dan Steinberg | April 22, 2008; 01:14 PM ET | Comments (5)

DeShawn's Face Gets Felt

This might be a good time for DeShawn to start not feeling his face, because everyone else in this series has already completely lost face feelings. For example, and with thanks to Odenized, we have TNT's Ernie Johnson not feeling his face. And LeBron James not feeling his face....

By Dan Steinberg | April 22, 2008; 10:01 AM ET | Comments (16)

Last Week's Five Stars

Having quit the Internet for much of what turned into the most exciting D.C. sports blogging week of calendar year 2008, figured I'd say hello to the five stars of the last week. Yeah, blogging is supposed to combat the ills of recycling mild news that's six days old,...

By Dan Steinberg | April 21, 2008; 02:24 PM ET | Comments (0)

Wiz-Cavs III: More Trash Talk

Covering the Wiz-Cavs build-up from a Chicago hotel room.... LeBron James: "I wanted to play someone else, but if we have to play somebody, I'm glad it's Washington." Comment: I do not understand this. Gilbert Arenas "Last Blog of Season" Report: I think everybody wants Cleveland in that first...

By Dan Steinberg | April 16, 2008; 11:14 AM ET | Comments (31)

Gilbert Calls Out Tom Knott, George Bush

Gilbert's new target. (Reuters) After promising he was done blogging this season, Gilbert struck again last night, lobbing another grenade at Tom Knott and also setting his sights on George W. Bush. Like the Wiz don't have enough trouble attracting fans in D.C. Plus, Gil revealed that he was...

By Dan Steinberg | April 16, 2008; 10:01 AM ET | Comments (8)

Down Goes Jamison

Sometimes, Steve Buckhantz goes with "Dagger." Other times, he chooses "Bulls-eye." I much prefer "Dagger" to "Bulls-eye," in this context. Via Ballhype, and if there's a better duo in the NBA at discussing potentially debilitating and yet potentially amusing private part injuries, I've yet to meet 'em....

By Dan Steinberg | April 15, 2008; 04:59 PM ET | Comments (7)

Chris Miller is Hardheaded

After a rocky start to his D.C. tenure, treating Blog Show with all the respect LeBron has shown Deshawn Stevenson, Comcast SportsyNet's Chris Miller has grown on me immensely, to the point that I've laughed at his on-air jokes more regularly than with any CSN personality save Michael "Mohawk" Jenkins....

By Dan Steinberg | April 15, 2008; 02:42 PM ET | Comments (10)

The Fans Were Phenomenal

While I'm off talking to rowers and badminton players, and playoff invitations are being officially extended to Soulja Boy, the D.C. fans have been phenomenal. 1) These Ovechkin Rock the Red tees would seem to be the best hockey tee I've ever seen. Go buy them at the Concrete...

By Dan Steinberg | April 15, 2008; 10:37 AM ET | Comments (15)

DeShawn Is: Accessory Man

Accessory Man, as Jerry Stackhouse. The 2007-2008 DeShawn Stevenson style encyclopedia already has several odd chapters, from the '80s-themed costume party to the ZZ Top beard-growing contest to the customized bathrobe to the jersey-on-his-back tattoo. One notable absence, though, was the creation of an alter-ego named Accessory Man who...

By Dan Steinberg | April 14, 2008; 02:51 PM ET | Comments (16)

Fresh Gilbert Quotes (From the Past)

Gilbert hasn't been talking or blogging for a minute. The AP is saying he's discovered a silent alter-ego, with Eddie Jordan lavishly praising Gil's performance and saying "we're all happy" about his silence. Based on past experience, I'd say either Gil maintains this silence for weeks, or starts spinning...

By Dan Steinberg | April 11, 2008; 01:29 PM ET | Comments (4)

More Wizards Prizes

Nancy is giving away yet more prizes for Wizards nicknames. I don't ask why; I just promote. She has so many prizes that you'd be well-served suggesting nicknames like "Funny Nickname" and "Original Nickname," just to try to claim a prize. Deadline for submissions is noon today. Targets are Dominic...

By Dan Steinberg | April 11, 2008; 10:44 AM ET | Comments (4)

Caron's Birthday Party: The Video

The party was a month ago, but the footage just appeared this week, and there are a few pleasing visuals here. Like Nick Young's outfit, at 4:12....

By Dan Steinberg | April 10, 2008; 04:08 PM ET | Comments (3)

Gil Gives Away His Shoes

Zak Kapugi, holding Gilbert's shoes. As Gilbert left the locker room after last night's win over the Celtics, he told SportsTalk 980's Jerry Coleman that he was done talking for the rest of the regular season. The playoffs were a maybe. That left others to do the locker room...

By Dan Steinberg | April 10, 2008; 08:19 AM ET | Comments (10)

Caps Go Culture

Amazing photoshop from All Things Go. (Adapted from previous items for purposes of newspaper excerpting.) The residents of the Verizon Center are undergoing some sort of musical moment this spring. Indie rocker Stephen Malkmus has played a tune called the Caron Butler Blues, telling the Village Voice he has...

By Dan Steinberg | April 9, 2008; 05:31 PM ET | Comments (4)

Wiz Contest: Win Bobbleheads, Tickets

Take me home tonight. This woman Nancy, who sometimes reads this Bog and has already been inducted into the Bog Hall of Fame, is just incredibly generous with her Wiz swag. Remember last year, she gave away all kinds of tickets to whomever came up with the best 50-word...

By Dan Steinberg | April 9, 2008; 10:58 AM ET | Comments (84)

By the Numbers at Verizon

A few numbers to remember from last week's glut of local games. 1988: Last time the Caps and Wizards made the playoffs in the same season. Twenty-four hours: Amount of time it took the Caps and Wizards to clinch playoff berths at home this weekend. 5-1: Caps and Wizards...

By Dan Steinberg | April 7, 2008; 12:01 PM ET | Comments (9)

DeShawn's Party: The Video

The video version of DeShawn's birthday party, courtesy of Comcast SportsyNet, Washington Post Live and BogTV. Please watch till the end to see Nick Young dancing....

By Dan Steinberg | April 7, 2008; 10:32 AM ET | Comments (11)

DeShawn, Rubik's Cubes and Slick Rick

When the apocalypse descended out of that massive high-def scoreboard last night to smite the Wizards, with virtually the entire starting lineup simultaneously writhing on the floor in agony as their lead vanished, I initially worried that DeShawn Stevenson's birthday party that night might be ruined. But as Stevenson...

By Dan Steinberg | April 3, 2008; 05:43 PM ET | Comments (10)

Wizards Fans Like to Dance

Never let it be said that Wizards games lack excitement. Well, fine, you can say that, but never let it be said that Wizards games some guy who shows up every single night and waits for the fourth quarter Dance Cam in order to break out an unending supply of...

By Dan Steinberg | April 3, 2008; 01:42 PM ET | Comments (17)

DeShawn's Birthday Party: The Photos

Feel free to write this in the comments--"why are these guys dressing up and acting silly two hours after they lost a crucial basketball game in back-breaking fashion while i'm paying my hard-earned money for tickets and papa johns pizza and they should be home watching tape and beating...

By Dan Steinberg | April 3, 2008; 12:14 PM ET | Comments (28)

Are the Wiz Better With Gil?

Loved the shoes (Jonathan Newton - TWP). Seems to me there are two different versions of this question. As a viable D.C. sports enterprise, there's no question they want as many players who emerge from the locker room at odd points wearing custom-made shoes and enter games to standing...

By Dan Steinberg | April 3, 2008; 10:43 AM ET | Comments (11)

Gaaaack: The Video

Here are two different ways to lose a basketball game: In the first way, you can go out West, short-staffed, and go against the best player in the world and one of the best teams in the NBA, and you can take that team to overtime despite yet another mid-game...

By Dan Steinberg | April 3, 2008; 09:34 AM ET | Comments (11)

Indie Rockers Love Caron Butler

Indie rock god. (AP Photo) I first learned that former Pavement and Silver Jews indie rock/genius person Stephen Malkmus had a weird Caron Butler thing from Kyle Gustafson, who writes about both indie rock and the Wizards for DCist and who covered Malkmus's show (with the Jicks) at the...

By Dan Steinberg | April 1, 2008; 05:01 PM ET | Comments (13)

The Next Five Days Downtown

This actually happened at yesterday's Wizards game. (Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty) Last night's Wizards loss was a gimme, and hardly changed the playoff math. If the Wizards beat the five bad-to-mediocre teams left on their schedule (Milwaukee, Miami, Indiana and Philly at home, and Chicago on the road), they'll...

By Dan Steinberg | April 1, 2008; 03:54 PM ET | Comments (4)

Gilbert Likes Contests

Gilbert Arenas hasn't played a game of competitive basketball in calendar year 2008, and his return date has been marred by more delays and more heartburn than Opening Night at the Ben's Chili Bowl stand, but in the meantime he's managed to perfect two other skills: finding his way...

By Dan Steinberg | March 31, 2008; 06:43 PM ET | Comments (4)

The Best Sports Weekend in D.C. History*

This photo sums up the past weekend perfectly. (Courtsey of Under the Shell). Due to daddy day care demands, I did not post a word between Thursday late afternoon and Monday late morning. The three days I skipped just happened to form one of the most amazing three-day periods...

By Dan Steinberg | March 31, 2008; 12:46 PM ET | Comments (18)

D-Steve's Birthday Party: Biz Markie

So I guess there was some sort of big sporting event in D.C. last night. I hear it went over pretty well. But this wouldn't be the D.C. Sports Bog if the first story of the day didn't involve a three-day old press release heralding DeShawn Stevenson's upcoming birthday...

By Dan Steinberg | March 31, 2008; 11:01 AM ET | Comments (7)

Gil Won't Debut on the Road

Gil, not playing. (Nick Wass/AP Photo) The headline for this entry could just as easily have been "Gilbert Considers Suicide," because his latest blog post--another bit of pure Internet mastery--includes this passage concerning his drive home after he was ruled out of Sunday's game: It was just me and...

By Dan Steinberg | March 25, 2008; 05:17 PM ET | Comments (13)

Wiz and Cavs Wage Destiny's Child War

This playoff series is ready to rule. (Marvin Joseph/TWP) As it has become increasingly clear that Wizards-Cavs III is ordained by fate and cannot be stopped by mere humans or Jose Calderon, the early chatter made this a hip-hop feud: LeBron playing Jay-Z to DeShawn's Soulja Boy. Which is...

By Dan Steinberg | March 25, 2008; 10:44 AM ET | Comments (10)

Wizards Party, Make Hand Signs

Don't get it. Help? Over the weekend, an anonymous party person sent me five photos of the Wizards having fun on the town while making hand signs. Apparently this party person sent the same five photos to the Wizznutzz, which managed to post them about 48 hours before I...

By Dan Steinberg | March 25, 2008; 09:42 AM ET | Comments (7)

Freddy Adu has a Lady Friend

Freddy and friend. (By Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images) Or a friend who's a lady, anyhow. This photo refers to the unidentified woman with Freddy at last night's Wizards game only as a "companion, but those are some awfully googly eyes for a companion." In any case, Freddy might...

By Dan Steinberg | March 24, 2008; 02:09 PM ET | Comments (17)

DeShawn Calls Out LeBron Again, and Again

DeShawn, bidding for cult hero status. (By Toni L. Sandys - TWP) I went on a podcast this week saying I just don't want to go back to Cleveland for Part III of this playoff rivalry, because it's kind of played-out, but now I've officially changed my mind. Also,...

By Dan Steinberg | March 20, 2008; 07:54 AM ET | Comments (131)

Caron's Birthday Party Report

Gilbert, at Caron's birthday bash. (Photo by Shakirah Hill, taken from DCFab!) I was at the Big East, although to be honest a birthday party featuring Caron Butler, Carmen Electra and Kim Kardashian is a lot more bloggable than a Big East game featuring Jim Calhoun and a guy...

By Dan Steinberg | March 17, 2008; 12:59 PM ET | Comments (11)

Caron Butler's Having a Birthday Party

During the Big East quarterfinals? Really? Who's going to Caron's birthday party? Well, Kim Kardashian, if this invitation is to be believed. The Examiner has more: A source close to the planning of the party said Butler was also willing to pay none other than Paris Hilton to come...

By Dan Steinberg | March 12, 2008; 02:39 PM ET | Comments (9)

Gilbert: I'm Not Scared

No fro, no fro. I was on Washington Post Live last week when the news broke out of Wizards practice: "Gilbert Arenas is Scared!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!" I believe I said pretty quickly that this just sounded like another day of Gilbert being Gilbert, or something to that effect, which was the...

By Dan Steinberg | March 10, 2008; 03:14 PM ET | Comments (7)

Wizards Crush Tom Knott

SLAMOnline invaded the Wiz locker room before the win over Toronto on Friday night, and Marcel Mutoni emerged with a solid handful of choice nuggets, including Dominic McGuire requesting pre-game popcorn, Nick Young claiming his favorite baseball player of all time to be Deion Sanders, Antonio Daniels responding by flinging...

By Dan Steinberg | March 10, 2008; 11:37 AM ET | Comments (11)

Buck and Phil Kiss: the Video

Our good friends and colleagues and countrymen from Comcast SportsyNet have come through again with video of the two Steve Buckhantz-Phil Chenier kissing incidents from recent weeks. What do Wednesday night's loss and this smooch have in common? Plenty of O, but no D. Which was followed by one of...

By Dan Steinberg | March 7, 2008; 02:13 PM ET | Comments (6)

DeShawn's T-Shirt Upgrade

Last year's shirt. Last year DeShawn Stevenson gave away 3,000 "I Can't Feel My Face" t-shirts, and while it was a great gesture, the t-shirts were sort of smallish, and the design left a bit to be desired. Note: I'm not a particularly large man, and yet this still...

By Dan Steinberg | March 6, 2008; 04:47 PM ET | Comments (10)

Make Pecherov's Without Ice

Pecherov's bad haircut, grown out. Oleksiy Pecherov is from the Ukraine, home of various styles of sub-zero precipitation. He was born in December, a month which is synonymous with scenes of frozen bliss. Pecherov likes to shoot the ball as often as possible, regardless of past results, a trait...

By Dan Steinberg | March 5, 2008; 02:05 PM ET | Comments (9)

Wiz Painting Skills

Ok, last bit of publicity for the Crystal City BID, whatever that is, but some of this Wiz artwork really needs to be in a museum somewhere. The American Museum of (Court) Vision-ary Art or something. Here were the six best pieces of Wiz art, from bottom to top. No....

By Dan Steinberg | March 4, 2008; 03:47 PM ET | Comments (2)

Gilbert Practices, Talks

Gilbert and the media. The doors opened to the first Gilbert Arenas practice of 2008, and the media stormed in. At least 31 folks perched on the rail, watching the team run through five-on-five drills in which the losing side had to do full-court sprints. When Gilbert's team ran,...

By Dan Steinberg | March 4, 2008; 03:01 PM ET | Comments (13)

Wizards Take Flight

The Wiz plane, by Amy Marshall. With Gilbert's promised appearance on the practice court to actually practice this afternoon, the D.C. media stars are out. The doors haven't even opened yet, and already Lindsay Czarniak and Sara Walsh and Dave Johnson are here, along with usual suspects from the...

By Dan Steinberg | March 4, 2008; 12:14 PM ET | Comments (0)

Eddie Jordan's Stuffed Dog

The Jordan family. I don't go to Wizards games any more, because I don't go to any games any more, but there are two possibilities for a Wizards postgame. 1) The Wizards lose, and it's really boring. 2) The Wizards win, and something bizarre inevitably happens. Inevitably. It's like...

By Dan Steinberg | March 4, 2008; 10:29 AM ET | Comments (4)

Pecherov as Stewie

This Ukrainian Stewie thing is certainly nothing new. Stacey King compared Pecherov to the Family Guy character back in the preseason. Months later, Caron Butler agreed, saying ""Look just like him, right? Think about it," back in January. (See also: Stewie doing the Soulja Boy.) Well, the Wiz were in...

By Dan Steinberg | March 4, 2008; 09:44 AM ET | Comments (11)

Ernie the Enforcer

Ernie, as his number is retired (AP Photo). As Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood took to punching each other in the head in recent years, Ernie Grunfeld would frequently attempt to diffuse the "wow these guys hate each other" storyline by talking about how he fought plenty of teammates...

By Dan Steinberg | March 3, 2008; 12:29 PM ET | Comments (2)

Wizards Celeb Kiss-Cammers

The rough stuff. If I ever get a tattoo, it's going to be of this image. That is all....

By Dan Steinberg | March 3, 2008; 10:59 AM ET | Comments (12)

Gilbert Gambles with $5 Bills

(Jonathan Newton - TWP) Last night kept open, in my mind at least, the possibility that this Wiz season might be saved from a won-loss standpoint, and now ESPN the Mag's Alejandro de los Rios has rekindled my hopes that this Wiz season can be saved from a blogging...

By Dan Steinberg | February 26, 2008; 12:31 PM ET | Comments (4)

Wiz Win, Buckhantz Screams

Before watching this classic Buckhantz offering, bear in mind that on Washington Post Live yesterday evening, I made the following two claims: 1) The Wiz were cooked, at least for this week's road games. 2) As solid as he's been, the Wiz don't want DeShawn Stevenson taking the last shot,...

By Dan Steinberg | February 26, 2008; 08:53 AM ET | Comments (9)

Wiz Celebrity Sightings

Batista, rocking the Wes. I'm not sure how long this feature has existed, but the official Celebrity Sightings Gallery on the Wizards' site is the best possible way to spend 52 seconds at work. It includes a comprehensive look at the 26 celebrities who have been spotted at the...

By Dan Steinberg | February 20, 2008; 11:54 AM ET | Comments (12)

Serena Comes to D.C.

Your newest Top 4 D.C. athlete. (Getty Images) A while back I created a list of D.C.'s six biggest pro athletes, judged on a combination of fame, fan favoritism and widespread familiarity. My top three were Arenas, Portis and Ovechkin. I can't say for certain without putting more thought...

By Dan Steinberg | February 19, 2008; 03:35 PM ET | Comments (12)

Wizards Dance Team Has Fun Too

Wiz dance team, having fun. After last week's Don Chavez and With Leather-instigated flap over the Sacramento Kings dance team went national, it probably figured that the world would demand a few off-the-clock photos of the Wizards dancers as well. These are far tamer. There are several fairly run-of-the-mill...

By Dan Steinberg | February 19, 2008; 10:14 AM ET | Comments (9)

Nick Young Goes Home

SCPlaybook.com photo. What we learned about the Wizards during all-star break. 1) Brendan Haywood, who was astonished to learn how many calories are in Krispy Kremes, recently added orange roughy to his training table and particularly enjoys shrimp with saffron rice, while Caron Butler has never considered vegetarianism. 2)...

By Dan Steinberg | February 19, 2008; 09:06 AM ET | Comments (4)

Buckhantz and Chenier Bobblehead

Image courtesy the Wiz. After my spate of bobblehead news, a commenter noted below that the Wizards are giving away 8,000 Chipotle-sponsored Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier bobbleheads on April 4 against the Heat. If it were necessary to cut off half a pinky with a rusty daggerrrrrrrrrrrrr to...

By Dan Steinberg | February 14, 2008; 02:34 PM ET | Comments (14)

Watch the Wiz Lose a 23-Point Lead

For the record, these games don't count until all the injured guys come back. This is just something we'll all look back and chuckle about after the victory parade down Pennsylvania Avenue....

By Dan Steinberg | February 12, 2008; 12:44 PM ET | Comments (12)

Bosh Still Channeling Gilbert

I thought Chris Mannix's SI story praising the hell out of Chris Bosh for his quirkiness and YouTube skills was fine enough, although I found it stunning that Gilbert Arenas wasn't mentioned once as the prototype. The best part of the piece: For a high school project Bosh once made...

By Dan Steinberg | February 12, 2008; 12:04 PM ET | Comments (3)

Gilbert's New Favorite Drink

Completely running out of Gilbert photos. Honestly, with his regular 3,500-word soul-baring missives on his own blog (He's bowled a 277? He thinks Nick Young is top-two in this rookie class?), you'd think Gilbert would run out of material at some point, but Men's Journal got him for a...

By Dan Steinberg | February 7, 2008; 03:01 PM ET | Comments (20)

Coke's Wizards Ad Explained

G-Wiz and Carville, pre-kiss. Yesterday I posted about the way some obsessive Wiz fans and I noticed that the audio and video of Coke's Super Bowl ad featuring the Wizards did not match up. Investigative journalism commenced. (If you just want the answer, scroll to the bottom.) From the...

By Dan Steinberg | February 7, 2008; 01:18 PM ET | Comments (16)

Gilbert and Buckhantz: a Super Bowl Mystery

Taking photojournalism to a different level. So I get an e-mail on Monday from a trusty reader asking me to check out the Super Bowl ad for Coca-Cola featuring the Wizards, G-Wiz, James Carville and Bill Frist. I completely ignored all the commercials on Sunday night, as I was...

By Dan Steinberg | February 6, 2008; 01:21 PM ET | Comments (14)

Buckhantz: It's Not Possible

Since so many have asked.... Wow....

By Dan Steinberg | January 30, 2008; 06:38 PM ET | Comments (6)

A.D. Bog Bio

Reports indicate Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, Andray Blatche and Oleksiy Pecherov are currently playing HORSE at the Verizon Center. I'm not there, so please imagine several hundred words of hilarity and droll quotations. Thanks. In the meantime, you can console yourself with this BogBio of Antonio Daniels, in which he...

By Dan Steinberg | January 24, 2008; 12:19 PM ET | Comments (5)

Pecherov's Brozer From Anozer Mozer

The White Hole, Ernie Grunfeld and some unidentified smiling person. (By Preston Keres - TWP) I received a superb e-mail yesterday about my previous Wizards style notes, which read, in part, "I was looking for something of socially redeeming value that might explain the Post's publishing a half-page of...

By Dan Steinberg | January 23, 2008; 06:00 PM ET | Comments (8)

Dave Hopla's Legend Grows

Hop with Ed Tapscott. (Courtesy DaveHopla.com.) I meant to link to this extremely well-done Dave Hopla profile by the AP's Howard Fendrich when it came out two weeks ago, but I never did. But you must read it, if for no other reason than this section: Arenas also remembers...

By Dan Steinberg | January 22, 2008; 11:25 AM ET | Comments (8)

Wiz Win, With Style

Not pictured: Gil's borrowed shoes. (By Jonathan Newton - TWP) Six style notes from Verizon Center, as the put-together Wizards continue cutting the NBA's best down to size in a most attractive fashion. This might not be the hottest team in the NBA, but it might be the haute-est....

By Dan Steinberg | January 21, 2008; 05:53 PM ET | Comments (13)

Etan Speaks to the Media

(By Jonathan Newton - TWP). Etan Thomas pre-empted his media availability this morning by speaking to Dave Zirin in SLAM Online and then going on the John Thompson Show last week, but he talked with the rest of the media for about 30 minutes before today's game. Many of...

By Dan Steinberg | January 21, 2008; 02:36 PM ET | Comments (13)

Pecherov's New Nickname

Nickname list: Agent Zero, the Black President, Hibachi, Tough Juice, the Locksmith, Mister 50, Big Oily, the Poet, the City....this Wizards team was already pretty well-stocked in the nickname department. But there's always room for another racially-tinted moniker for a shoot-first Ukrainian. Eternal thanks to Awful Announcing, and to Nick...

By Dan Steinberg | January 18, 2008; 11:51 PM ET | Comments (9)

How to Become a Wiz Ballboy Without Really Trying

Gilbert, Drew Cleary and Garrett. (Mitchell Layton/NBAE via Getty) The first time Gilbert Arenas called Garrett Scanlon, he was at school. "Let me call you back," Scanlon said. "Who was that?" his friends asked. "Uhhhh, Gilbert," Scanlon said. (This story, I should point out, is brought to you by...

By Dan Steinberg | January 17, 2008; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (45)

Gil: I Plan on Coming Back

Imagine DeShawn here. Poor Gilbert. You have to feel for him, reading his latest blog, which just went up this afternoon. He wants to be out there so bad he's texting teammates with what plays to run (in the middle of games), texting players with advice on how to...

By Dan Steinberg | January 15, 2008; 04:17 PM ET | Comments (16)

Wiz Win Streak

Six small facts about the Wizards' win streak, which happens to include two straight against the NBA's best team, and which was certainly spurred by the photo-shopped Locksmith. 1) Washington's record before Oleksiy Pecherov made his season debut was a pedestrian 17-16. Washington's record since Oleksiy Pecherov made his...

By Dan Steinberg | January 15, 2008; 10:43 AM ET | Comments (7)

Gilbert's (26th) Birthday Bash

Well, at least he's doing something to celebrate his birthday. Theoretically. Open vodka bar for the ladies till midnight! Somebody who lives in NYC, please, go and report back on whether there were ice sculptures. (Thanks to intern Boris of the fine blog that I don't understand, Metal Lungies.)...

By Dan Steinberg | January 14, 2008; 12:14 PM ET | Comments (4)

DeShawn, Pech, Donjulio and Capri Sun

Capri Sun!!!!!! (Joel Richardson - For TWP) Two more Wizards notes I forgot to include last week. 1) Oleksiy Pecherov likes to talk on the practice court. A lot. He jabbers constantly. He says Eddie Jordan told him that he's a big man, and big men need to talk....

By Dan Steinberg | January 14, 2008; 11:26 AM ET | Comments (10)

52 Hours at Verizon

It's very easy to make historical claims about the greatness of recent events, because people have poor memories, and everyone likes to get caught up in the moment, and no one cares enough to go to the facts or the history. That being the case, I'm going to make a...

By Dan Steinberg | January 14, 2008; 08:56 AM ET | Comments (7)

Kimmel/Letterman Copying DeShawn/Gooden

(NBAE via Getty) For all my talk about being a great source for professional athlete facial hair news, I've been woefully lacking on three recent major stories. 1) In yesterday's Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Drew Gooden provides an update on his beard-growing contest with DeShawn Stevenson. "There's been a lot of...

By Dan Steinberg | January 11, 2008; 10:59 AM ET | Comments (8)

DeShawn's Tattoo: An Update

If I'm not mistaken, there's still more work to be done, but here's the number, joining the name. Did I realize that the number would be filled in with dollar signs, $100 bill icons and what looks like bullet holes? I did not. Also, it's sort of a nice...

By Dan Steinberg | January 11, 2008; 06:37 AM ET | Comments (7)

DeShawn's Robe, the Locksmith and Stewie

Oddly, his back looks much the same. Scroll down for whatever explanation I could manage. Six more crucial factoids small, insignificant facts as the Wiz get ready for four games in five days.... I got to practice today expecting the worse. I hadn't been around much lately, but 2008...

By Dan Steinberg | January 10, 2008; 05:07 PM ET | Comments (10)

Gilbert's Recipe for Happiness

(Preston Keres - TWP) I'm starting to think of Gilbert as sort of the secular Joe Gibbs. Gibbs puts his weekly spiritual guides to life on the Web; Gilbert does the same, a bit less regularly but with equal length and earnestness, invoking True Happiness as his God. But...

By Dan Steinberg | January 7, 2008; 03:43 PM ET | Comments (1)

D.C. Cheerleaders Party

For as long as I can remember, I've been writing about the ties between local athletes from different teams: D.C. United players going to Caps games, the Caps taking batting practice with the Nats, prominent Nats being spotted at Wizards games along with members of the Redskins, Redskins reserves...

By Dan Steinberg | January 7, 2008; 11:31 AM ET | Comments (10)

Top 11 D.C. Sports Moments of 2007

Sadly, this is what we'll all remember first from 2007. (By Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post) One year ago tomorrow, I published the Top 11 D.C. Sports Moments of 2006. This year, I had hoped to actually publish my list in 2007, which seems to be the...

By Dan Steinberg | January 2, 2008; 11:46 AM ET | Comments (23)

DeShawn's New Year's Party

It's late in the day. Perhaps you already have your evening plans. Perhaps you're not on the Internets right now. But if you don't, and if you are, and if you haven't yet heard all those radio ads, here's the invite for the DeShawn Stevenson-Andray Blatche-Crystal City NBA Players...

By Dan Steinberg | December 31, 2007; 03:34 PM ET | Comments (4)

Wiz Rookie Rumble

Well. Um. This looks like fun. I believe most NBA rookie teammates/roommates set up fake boxing promos for the Internets. PS: Why wasn't I invited on the train ride Gilbert, DeShawn, Nick and friends took to NYC? I'm sure that was pretty normal. Wonder if they sat in the quiet...

By Dan Steinberg | December 27, 2007; 01:52 PM ET | Comments (5)

The Santa Claus of Bikes

First it was Gilbert riding around downtown on his red mountain bike. Then yesterday, it was Alex Ovechkin on a Segway. And today? Why it was Caron Butler's Great Christmas Bike Giveaway of 2007, of course. This, friends, is the undisputed best source for all your two-wheeled local athlete...

By Dan Steinberg | December 20, 2007; 06:22 PM ET | Comments (16)

DeShawn Stevenson's Father

Heavens knows I've posted plenty about DeShawn Stevenson in this space, usually about his hand gestures and his nicknames and his back tattoo (which now includes a huge numeral "2" in addition to his name, although it's not completely done yet) and other such trifles. But I have to say...

By Dan Steinberg | December 20, 2007; 01:37 PM ET | Comments (5)

Pecherov Gets His Drivers License

And we're not talking about Segways, son. Look out, downtown pedestrians. On the scary meter, Pecherov on 4 wheels >>> Ovechkin on 2 wheels. Also, Reader Will from Rockville e-mailed with his "Where Amazing Happens" tribute to the Wiz....

By Dan Steinberg | December 20, 2007; 12:20 PM ET | Comments (5)

Mike Wilks's Teammates

Scoring in front of an ex-teammate. (NBAE) New Wizards guard Mike Wilks is often described as a "journeyman." As in, eight NBA franchises in six years. Plus at least two NBDL franchises. Plus at least one more NBA franchise in a preseason. That's a lot of teams. More importantly,...

By Dan Steinberg | December 19, 2007; 12:47 PM ET | Comments (6)

DeShawn's I Can't Feel My Face Explanation

(Nick Wass - AP) So DeShawn, who named it the "I Can't Feel My Face?" "I named it, but Tony Yayo does it." Yeah yeah. But DeShawn, why is it called the "I Can't Feel My Face?" "Because you do it over your face. And I can't feel it...

By Dan Steinberg | December 18, 2007; 04:17 PM ET | Comments (8)

I Can't Feel My Face Interpretations

Getty Images. With DeShawn Stevenson suddenly the biggest offensive star in D.C. (sorry Todd), the DeShawn "I Can't Feel My Face" waggle has earned some recent media attention. As in this AP photo caption, kindly provided by Reader Michael S., which describes DeShawn thus: "Washington Wizards' DeShawn Stevenson waves...

By Dan Steinberg | December 18, 2007; 10:46 AM ET | Comments (13)

Darius Songaila Is: Borat

Totally fake image courtesy A. Strindberg. So remember that unicorn bit with Songaila from the other day? Well, believe it or not, that wasn't even the best part of our interview, which is rendered below as No. 9 in our series of Bog Bios. I actually feared that this...

By Dan Steinberg | December 13, 2007; 12:13 PM ET | Comments (12)

Nick Young's Nickname

As I've mentioned several times, Nick Young's nicknames are both varied and yet unsticky. Bean Burrito? The City? Skywalker? Young Hollywood? Little Zero? Which is it? The Wizards have their own, undisclosed name for NY, but it has yet to be disclosed to the public. In the meantime, we...

By Dan Steinberg | December 12, 2007; 09:17 AM ET | Comments (2)

12 More Zany Wizards Facts

We're all living in the District of Caron, people. The Wizards have won 10 of their last 15. That's just one game behind what Detroit and Orlando have done over their past 15, and better than every other team in the East besides Boston. And that's mostly without Gil....

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2007; 04:21 PM ET | Comments (24)

DeShawn Posterizes Jefferson

(AP Photo) So many post-game notes, this will have to be Part I. 1) Bullets Forever beat me to this by a few minutes, but that DeShawn Stevenson dunk last night was pretty disgusting. Or putrid. Or nasty-filthy. Or sickening. Or nauseating. Or whatever "bad-in-a-good-way" word is currently en...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2007; 11:55 AM ET | Comments (11)

More Gilbert Stand-Up

The Barbosa. I'm attempting to write a story about GilTV, and so I briefly chatted with Gilbert about his comedic influences, and he told me that he practices in the locker room. "I play like I'm a stand-up comedian sometimes in front of the team," he said. "I'll come...

By Dan Steinberg | December 10, 2007; 11:11 AM ET | Comments (4)

Giant Presidents and Gil's Constipation

This is Sway the Irishman, the winner of last year's Nick Rimando hunt. He was the game last night, with a mohawk. Much of this was written while in a car with Mike Wise, on our way to FedEx Field last night for the beginning of Washington's glorious march...

By Dan Steinberg | December 7, 2007; 09:17 AM ET | Comments (11)

Dominic McGuire's Wiz Impersonations

I just lost an extremely long post. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ha. I love you, Internets. Well, just watch Domi.Nick's latest, complete with McGuire's Team Wiz impersonations. He does a very good Antonio Daniels....

By Dan Steinberg | December 6, 2007; 03:41 PM ET | Comments (8)

Watch Nick Young Dance, Again

Here's the Nick Young Bog Bio. To see the full collection of past Bog Bios, go here. In today's installment, Nick compares himself to Michael Jordan, discusses his gift for the dunk, is made fun of by Dominic McGuire and, at the end, most valuably, demonstrates some dance moves. Fast...

By Dan Steinberg | December 6, 2007; 01:29 PM ET | Comments (9)

Geico Caveman and Caron

My e-mail and phone machine blew up last night with the tragic (for me) news that a Geico Caveman had showed up at the Wizards game, coupled with the tragic (for me) news that I had not shown up for that Wizards game. Luckily, the well-manicured and tireless folks from...

By Dan Steinberg | December 6, 2007; 12:37 PM ET | Comments (12)

Eight Outstanding Wizards Facts

Dominic McGuire and Nick Young were taping their newest Domi.Nick vlog today. I was allowed inside the taping. At one point, apropos of nothing, Young busted out with this: "Man, this is a crazy team." And McGuire followed up with this: "I love this team, though." In 11 words,...

By Dan Steinberg | December 4, 2007; 04:56 PM ET | Comments (14)

Pech vs. Dave Hopla

Hopla would beat Gilbert in a shooting contest. For reals. (Katherine Frey - TWP) Dave Hopla, as you might recall, is the Wizards' shooting savant, an assistant coach who can apparently shoot the basketball better than any human, and who once made 14 million consecutive free throws. Oleksiy Pecherov,...

By Dan Steinberg | December 4, 2007; 03:29 PM ET | Comments (7)

Today is Abe Pollin Day

Adrian Fenty said so. Cake for everyone! From the official press release [the proclamation has too many whereas clauses to be feasibly excerpted]: Mayor Adrian M. Fenty proclaimed December 3, 2007 "Abe Pollin Day" in the District of Columbia in honor of Abe Pollin's 84th birthday and all of his...

By Dan Steinberg | December 3, 2007; 01:29 PM ET | Comments (8)

This Blog Might Not Come Back

Not the best way to go into Thanksgiving. Jeez. Three months???? Someone call the talking lobster. We'll spend the next few days deciding whether or not to just kill this blog now. UPDATE: Gil has blogged. There's a lot in there, so you'd better read for yourself. The executive...

By Dan Steinberg | November 21, 2007; 05:24 PM ET | Comments (16)

DeShawn Can Now Feel His Face

Celebratory suggestion. (Joel Richardson - for the Post) Two pieces of breaking DeShawn news. 1) Reader Andy somehow noticed that when DeShawn Stevenson made a three-pointer with 1:07 remaining in the second quarter last night, it was wrongly credited to Antonio Daniels on the official play-by-play. Thus, the box...

By Dan Steinberg | November 21, 2007; 12:31 PM ET | Comments (1)

Andray Blatche is Keepin' it Real

(Warning: Long. But it's the day before Thanksgiving, you have nothing better to do, and the Wizards are winning again.) (Preview of why you should keep reading this: Brendan Haywood suggested that Blatche was "punking" the media members last night. If you casually read the AP version of this...

By Dan Steinberg | November 21, 2007; 11:50 AM ET | Comments (2)

'Dre and Pesh's Rap Group: Dalmations

Dre announces his Ukrainian-tinged musical group on the day he fronts the game program. The D.C. metro area sportswriters club has never been accused of particular hipness. Still, I'm proud to report that at least one scribe thought Dre Blatche's upcoming Vlog, first discussed last night, would be titled...

By Dan Steinberg | November 21, 2007; 07:49 AM ET | Comments (8)

GilTV is Launched: Everybody Wants to Be Gil

D.C. Pro Sports Report got the videos first, but then they were taken down. Wizznutzz then busted this party wide open. Just know this: GilTV is out on Wednesday, and it's mind-altering. Like, he spends most of his time talking to a giant lobster. I wanted to ask Gil whether...

By Dan Steinberg | November 20, 2007; 10:28 PM ET | Comments (13)

Operation Gilbert Arenas: Success!

Amanda shows off the prized jersey. (All photos courtesy Julie Walker) I first met the Operation Gilbert Arenas crew last April, as the Wizards' season was falling apart. To recap, three female NBA fans from Iowa had become enamored with Gilbert when he high-fived one of their daughters at...

By Dan Steinberg | November 20, 2007; 04:30 PM ET | Comments (3)

Ryan Boschetti vs. Gilbert/Final Boss

Trust me, these kids would destroy Boschetti. So Mike Wise, being the instigator he is, goes up to Skins D-lineman Ryan Boschetti in the locker room on Wednesday. Boschetti is playing online chess at the time. Wise asks him if he plays Halo. "Do I play Halo?" Boschetti asks...

By Dan Steinberg | November 16, 2007; 01:29 PM ET | Comments (10)

BogBio: Caron is MEAN

Captain Tuff Juice explains why it's spelled T-U-F-F, how he'll follow-up on being an All-Star, and whether he's actually mean. I think this takes us halfway through the roster. By January, we'll be speaking with the ball boys. By February, Wiz PR guys Zack Bolno, Brian Sereno and Daren Jenkins....

By Dan Steinberg | November 16, 2007; 10:44 AM ET | Comments (3)

BogBio: DeShawn Discusses Teen Wolf

DeShawn Stevenson discusses his beard, his bet, how he can't feel his face, and who's weirder between him and Gilbert. Sadly, I wasn't taping when he was discussing the level of his handsomeness and his Colgate smile....

By Dan Steinberg | November 15, 2007; 12:44 PM ET | Comments (3)

Domi.Nick Vlog: Special Guest Andre Blooch

Andray Blatche mispronounces his own first name. Nick Young says the Hawks game was the first DNP of his life. The rookies boss around the younger vet. While Nick Young is discussing Southern Cal, 'Dre touts South Kent Prep. Then at 3:20 or so, Blooch and Young display some sort...

By Dan Steinberg | November 14, 2007; 02:25 PM ET | Comments (4)

Another Gilbert Fan Story

This one comes from noted Wizard hater and possible Satan worshiper Bill Simmons, who, in a Miyagi-over-Kreese upset, received an e-mail from a buddy not named J-Bug, Sal or Hench. The e-mail concerned Gilbert Arenas. This tale would merit perhaps a B- in the pantheon of Gilbert Arenas Fan Interaction...

By Dan Steinberg | November 14, 2007; 10:44 AM ET | Comments (6)

Beard Challenge '07: Drew Gooden Responds

More beard. I've encouraged every out-of-town NBA reporter I know (a group that boasts about three members) to help provide the world with the most extensive beard-growing coverage possible. Luckily, SLAM's Lang Whitaker has already stepped up by getting an e-mailed comment from Drew Gooden, concerning his challenge with...

By Dan Steinberg | November 14, 2007; 09:45 AM ET | Comments (6)

DeShawn's Beard-Growing Contest

Pech, from half-court. With Gilbert having snuck off the Verizon Center court before practice was opened to the media today, his Wizards teammates were forced to pick up his blog-filling slack. So, for example, look yonder! Oleksiy Pecherov is insisting to Brendan Haywood and Director of Player Development Ed...

By Dan Steinberg | November 13, 2007; 04:06 PM ET | Comments (8)

Today in Ivan Carter and Mike Wise

Official Wizards Beat Writer Ivan Carter would like to send this message to his Wizards Insider minions: a fat Atlanta fan knocked his computer off the press table at the Hawks game and crushed it into a million pieces. Or, at least, made it non-operational. The laptop is day-to-day and...

By Dan Steinberg | November 13, 2007; 12:28 PM ET | Comments (3)

Young and McGuire in Furs: The Video

Nick Young, unable to say much more than "My Man." But there's nice video of Young dunking off the shot clock. And they wear fur throughout. Combined minu