Michael Wilbon can KMA

Has anyone seen this nonsense?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2012/10/03/michael-wilbon-trashes-d-c-as-a-sports-town/

“It doesn’t compare,” Wilbon says of Washington. “No, it’s terrible. It’s not even close to New York, Philly, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, LA. It’s last….It’s because people don’t call this home, really. They still call somewhere else home. I’ve been here 32 years, and I still barely call it home….

“Beyond [the Redskins]? Politics makes sports here No. 2. I’m from Chicago, the place that produced the most recent president of the United States. Sports is still No. 1 there. They’ll never, ever make the mistake of thinking that politics or something else is No. 1….Only on Monday mornings, 16 times a year, is sports the No. 1 conversation [in Washington]….

“If you’re going to really look at the DC sports scene, what’s more important than the Wizards and Capitals to people are Maryland and Georgetown. But think about this: When’s the last time you’ve seen anything that happened in DC lead SportsCenter? RG3 is the first time that’s happened in years. So DC, the center of the sports universe? Never, never.”

I'm not going to sit here and say that we are the best sports town in America, but when you have to put up with **** teams that haven't won anything important in 20+ years it makes it just a little tough to stick by your team.

And oh yeah, when watching Yankee highlights on ESPN I saw thousands of empty seats in their stadium.

He tried to back off today but I'd prefer if he just moved his ass back to Chicago and never came back.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2012/10/04/wilbon-reverses-himself-says-washington-is-a-pretty-good-sports-town/

Yeah, I'm mad :mad:

I agree with him, to an extent. He was on 980 yesterday and clarified some of what he said.

D.C. is a good sports town. It's not great. It's not New York, Boston, Chicago, or Philly. I think we're better than LA and on par with cities like Detroit and Dallas.

Combination of lot of transients, mostly losing history with our franchises, and politics always being #1.

Wilbon has got a good point.

Let's just remember that success will change everything, including his opinion.

In the words of Saul Goodman, "It's the way of the world, kid. Stick with the winner."

Yeah I mean, on the surface, he's not far off. Politics is #1 in this town unless the Skins happen to be doing well (or really poorly). So many people move here that the population is mixed; there are many competing loyalties. Fans are more diehard in blue collar places like Philly, Cleveland, Detroit, etc. because they grow up there and never leave, there isn't as much going on so sports mean more, etc.

Blue collar places dump on DC as a sports town, we turn around and dump on glamor places like LA and Miami, where they care even less. Hell, if I lived in Miami and it was sunny with 1,000 women in bikinis outside my door each day, I might be a little bit more distracted from football myself.

Didn't this area that he doesn't call home make his career? the guy is a joke.

Please, Michael, do us a favor. Catch on with the Chicago Tribune or WGN or the Skokie Times-Picayune. Then we don't have to consider you a Washinton sports reporter any longer.

I’ve been here 32 years, and I still barely call it home….

I've been here a total of just 5 years and I call it home.

I've been here a total of just 5 years and I call it home.

:allhail:

He's right, kind of, but you are right too SP. When the teams have been losing for so long, it's really hard to cheer for them. Let's take Cleveland for example, yeah they got the Browns and the dawg pound, but everybody cheers for their Football team. Nobody cares about the Cavs and the Indians when they are not winning. So yes, we do have a lot of transplants, but I just sat in traffic for an hour and a half after the Nats game yesterday. When your teams are losing nobody cars, but when those wins start rolling in, it is on.

I seriously doubt Wilbon mingles with real fans in DC. Seriously, the only time he isn't in a studio is when he's at a game. How can he claim to have the pulse of the average DC fan?

He has a point. There are so many transplants from other areas in the region that its hard for a sports team to really take over the area, outside of the Skins of course.

Can DC become a good sports town? Sure winning will definitely help that. But I don't think sports will be the #1 thing ever talked about here unfortunately.

DC hasn't had a winning sports team in so long it's impossible to judge. And even if he had a point, **** Wilbon.

Remember this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/27/AR2007112702680.html

Here's a response to Wilbon from Bram Weinstein. http://metalkathlete.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-response.html

i remember reading wilbons columns when i was in high school. he couldnt write a column that didnt contain some kind of 'race' angle.

i thought he was a douche then. i'm not sure anythings changed.

i'm convinced he either has an axe to grind with DC (and has since he's been here) or he just purposefully writes crap that he knows will get attention. honestly, i believe he believes what he writes.

of course DC isnt the sports town that some other places are. nothing new there. his justifications for some of his comments, though. are questionable, to say the least.

If there's anything Wilbon likes above all else, it's people talking about him.

Do you think Wilbon knows that DC extends beyond NW?

If this town wasn't a sports town why is ESPN currently employing so many people from DC's sports media? I imagine it would be difficult to gain any sort of recognition talking about sports in a town where no one is interested in listening because they are too worried about politics to care. Wilbon himself made his name writing about sports in DC.

That brings us to point number 2, Wilbon has happily made a name for himself in DC for over 30 years but still feels like an outsider here. That's horrible. I think that given his tremendous success that it is time for him to go back to Chicago, I'm sure they'll give him a heroes welcome being that he's now a larger than life sports figure himself. No one should feel like a stranger for so long, enjoy the incorrectly made pizza Wilbon, I'm sure someone in this town will miss him other than Tony K, though I'd prefer not to be pressed for a name right now.

Wilbon's argument doesn't even make a lot of sense when you consider his inclusion of LA. He claims that sports isn't number 1 here because of politics and yet is it number 1 in LA? I doubt that sports trumps Hollywood in the most superficial city in America.

I think what really is going on here is that Wilbon wants to be cool. DC sports were bad for a long time and Wilbon took the cowards route and trashed him city in order to distance him from the sports failures. Well sadly for Wilbon RG3 looks legit, that Caps are good enough to be relevant, and the Nats have the best record in baseball. He's said too many things to pretend to be a fan now... so might as well trash the town itself now that the teams aren't such easy targets. Wilbon would be better served getting a tailor, a personal trainer, and someone to help him with his often hunched over posture.

Washington may have a lot of out of town temporary residents and be smaller than the monster media markets. We do manage to support a football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer team though despite not being terribly large in population. I'm happy with that.

He's right, kind of, but you are right too SP. When the teams have been losing for so long, it's really hard to cheer for them. Let's take Cleveland for example, yeah they got the Browns and the dawg pound, but everybody cheers for their Football team. Nobody cares about the Cavs and the Indians when they are winning. So yes, we do have a lot of transplants, but I just sat in traffic for an hour and a half after the Nats game yesterday. When your teams are losing nobody cars, but when those wins start rolling in, it is on.

455. That's how many times in a row The Jake was sold out consecutively from 95 to 2001. And three of those seasons every home game was already sold out before Opening Day.

455. That's how many times in a row The Jake was sold out consecutively from 95 to 2001. And three of those seasons every home game was already sold out before Opening Day.

Weren't the Indians good around that time? I see you stopped in 01'... How have the sells been in the last 10 years? And I see you didn't say anything about The Q

---------- Post added October-4th-2012 at 01:53 PM ----------

If this town wasn't a sports town why is ESPN currently employing so many people from DC's sports media?

Man it was at one point where it seemed like the stole somebody from around here like once a month

Weren't the Indians good around that time? I see you stopped in 01'... How have the sells been in the last 10 years?

I think you had a typo and said nobody cares about them when they are winning. Did you mean when they aren't winning?

And yeah I stopped at 01 that's when the streak ended.

I think you had a typo and said nobody cares about them when they are winning. Did you mean when they aren't winning?

And yeah I stopped at 01 that's when the streak ended.

Yeah I read that like five times and just noticed it. :doh:

i remember reading wilbons columns when i was in high school. he couldnt write a column that didnt contain some kind of 'race' angle.

i thought he was a douche then. i'm not sure anythings changed.

i'm convinced he either has an axe to grind with DC (and has since he's been here) or he just purposefully writes crap that he knows will get attention. honestly, i believe he believes what he writes.

of course DC isnt the sports town that some other places are. nothing new there. his justifications for some of his comments, though. are questionable, to say the least.

thats not true.

Back in the 90s, Wilbon was actually a great columnist. He deserved the praise he got and when appropriate, he would point out BS in race but it was never overbearing. Ever since PTI started, he became Hollywood Wilbon. He is a joke now, and that Sean Taylor article confirmed it.

in saying that, DC is a front running sports town outside of the Redskins. He isnt that far off on that point, tbh. I really get upset about that when going to Nats games and Wizards games. I guess its just the transient nature of this area.

in saying that, DC is a front running sports town outside of the Redskins. He isnt that far off on that point, tbh. I really get upset about that when going to Nats games and Wizards games. I guess its just the transient nature of this area.

But it's not just this area... it's everywhere. People are not spending their money on losers, especially if it isn't the NFL.

Bram Weinstein is a beast. The ending of that response article was perfect....

Washington DC is not Chicago. It also isn't substandard to it. The love we have is the same. If Michael Wilbon grew up in the Washington area, he'd know. But he didn't grow up in the Washington area. He just lived here, wrote about sports and never fully appreciated the passion that exists in the region. It's a shame. He missed out.

:wavetowel

So then, if DC sucks as a sports town, why did he decide to write for the Post?

He does NOT have a point. The issue is he is a basketball fan. Period. He LOVES Basketball and DC SUCKS as a basketball town (In fact -Im not looking it up right now, but I remember years ago he argued that DC was on the verge of being a basketball town..its not).

So - You can not deny DC loves the Redskins, and he admits that. But then he compares it ONLY on Basketball. He completely ignores baseball (He asks when was the last time DC was top story on ESPN? Um - Strasburg, Harper?). He dismisses hockey, and says Football is only 16 games.

So basically he says DC is not a basketball town...TRUE.

Destino, dropping the counter-argument devastation.