Already suspended by the NBA, and the subject of an attempted disappearing act by the Wizards, Gilbert Arenas has been charged with felony gun possession-carrying a pistol w/o a license. 

The really bad news is that this almost certainly ends Arenas’ year of playing, and probably ends his time as a Wizard.   One has to imagine that once the Wizards get new management and the lawyers get a good look at this they’ll find good cause to tear up what remains the absolute worst $111 million dollar contract ever signed. 

Thankfully, the good news (although still speculation) is that although this charge can get you 5 in the nick, but the charges are being filed in an “information”-which likely means that a plea deal is being worked out.  Personally, I believe Gilbert that the bringing of the guns (and even the waving them in the face of teammates) was without malicious intent and likely in jest-which of course doesn’t excuse the law, but hopefully mitigates the situation enough that he won’t go to jail.

Frankly-this isn’t a huge surprise.  There hasn’t been any effort by Arenas to hide the fact that he did have the guns and so the hammer was going to fall.  If he hadn’t acted like a complete dope the past two weeks, it might have dropped lighter and quieter-heck, he might even still be playing.  Alas, we are well beyond that point.

Any shocking fallout will be updated here.  On another note, enough of these negative, tumultuous sports teams in DC!  I’m going to look into a few Caps posts.

Welcome back DC Sports fans and Happy New Year!  Surely, like me, you all thought we could get through the weekend (or at least until the ‘Skins v Chargers game) before we felt collectively disappointed in a professional athlete that plays for a Washington area sports team.  And yet, we have our very own Agent Zero to thank for the first blog worthy headline of the new year (and decade). 

It appears that Arenas pulled a gun on a fella named Jevaris Crittenden (you can tell how much of the Wiz I’ve seen this year) in the locker room on Christmas Eve.     The dispute (based on a variety of sources) was over money owed resulting from a card game played on the team plane the night before (That’s Christmas Eve Eve).    Funny, I would have thought Gilbert “I’m getting paid $111 million” Arenas to not need to brandish a gun to get paid-but clearly I don’t understand basketball the way he does.  I suppose it was a good thing that Crittenden is alleged to have pulled a gun in the locker room as well-you know, to defend himself…or start a fire fight, who knows? 

Side Notes

* I can’t sneak a can of Coke into the Verizon Center.  How are these guys bringing guns in? 

* Sources all seem to agree the guns were not loaded-which any Washingtonian could have told you because there hasn’t been a Bullet in the Verizon Center since 1997. (ba-dum bum).

* The NBA and the Wizards are both taking the matter seriously and have no further comment.  Thankfully, Gilbert Arenas is neither taking the matter too seriously or keeping quiet.  Follow his twitter for more.

* The one thing that no one seems to be speculating on is whether Arenas will face discipline and how that may/may not affect the team.  Of course at 10-20, even if he is the best player on the team, it seems a foregone conclusion that the Wizards could only be so hurt on the court without him. 

Here’s to the fresh start of 2010 sports fans!

Photo courtesy Wass/AP

As Americans all over will associate this year’s Black Friday with shopping, Wizards fans all over will certainly be a little more somber as Wizard’s owner Abe Pollin is laid to rest. 85 year old Pollin passed away this past Tuesday from  corticobasal degeneration, a rare neurological disease. In response to his passing, the team banded together and won one for Abe in a Tuesday night victory against the Philadelphia 76ers.

For those that will be in The District this today should note that there will be some street closings in NW where the funeral is taking place. According to the DC Police, Macomb Street will be closed to through traffic between Massachusetts and Idaho avenues, and 39th Street NW will be closed between Massachusetts Avenue and Newark Street NW. No parking will be permitted on those streets from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.

In a statement, President Obama had kind words to say noting that, “Abe believed in Washington, D.C., when many others didn’t—putting his own fortune on the line to help revitalize the city he loved,” and that, “he was committed to the teams he guided, generous to those who needed it most, and as loyal to the people of D.C. as they were to him.”

There will be a public memorial service for Abe Pollin at the Verizon Center on December 8th.

In case Patrick’s thinly veiled plea to go see him on Saturday night doesn’t speak to you (or, the far more likely event is that so many of you rush to buy tickets that the show sells out) I’ll throw out another suggestion for Saturday night-The Washington Wizards open their season on Halloween night. 

Maybe its a testament to how scary last year’s basketball season was that the Washington Wizards are opening the Home season on Halloween.  Of course, with the return of Agent Zero Gilbert Arenas to the floor, The Wiz are already 1/19th of the way to matching last years total and are probably “dressing up” for Saturday as the team they used to be-a low seed playoff team and early first round exiter.  Of course, making the playoffs (or just being competitive) will be a huge step up for this team and attendance at basketball games should increase.  They’ve already shown their Western Conference underachieving counter part, the Dallas Mavericks, that they mean business handing them a home opening loss on Wednesday night. 

The Wiz should play a good game Saturday night, and even if they don’t they are encouraging costumes so you’ll be able to hide in shame-unlike certain other franchises that are run as if they are a small Central American dictatorship I could name.

Free Masks, Candy and Schedule Magnets for fans as well as a contest for best costume-which will win you season tickets, so nothing to sneeze at there.  What would be a wining idea for a costume?  I’m thinking a LOT of people will go as a, wait for it, WIZARD so if you go that route make sure yours is killer.  Also, tasteless stuff is probably not going to cut it, even though I’d give you style points, it is a family event. 

My suggestion is to tape a lot of fake money to your shirt and go as the Wizards first round draft choice-CASH.  (If you have a friend, they can be “Cash Considerations.”)

Whatever you do, dont’ be a ceiling fan.  Please.  For me.

But April showers bring the buds of May-and all the bad news of the past month seems to be shaping up nicely for DC Sports fans-Need proof?  Read on:

The Wizards had just finished a dismal 19-63 season-by far the worst team in the East (only the Kings in the West did worse).  No playoffs for the first time in years.  The $100+ million dollar man, Gilbert Arenas, played in a total of  2 games for 31.5 minutes (At over $14 mil for the year, that’s $7 mil a game, or $465,189 per minute).

And now: “Flip” Saunders heads the team-and he has a pedigree of at least getting out of the first round of the playoffs.   Gilbert Arenas looked, well, not awful in his two games and at least seems to be running around-presumably he will be better for next year.  All that losing seems to have paid off too, with the Wizards having the second most chances of getting the top pick in the draft-and can only finish as low as 5th.  In a class heavy on PGs and low on big guys-picking high is more important than ever this year.  

Skins, Nats and Caps after the jump.

The Redskins looked poised to fall victim to another “Dan Snyder is crazy” fit and trade half the damn city to get Mark Sanchez-only weeks after the Campbell/Cutler SNAFU.  Snyder sated his appetite for wasting money by picking up Mike Williams-a relatively young bust OT who hasn’t played for a few years and is listed at 370, but probably is much closer to four-hundo.   (Aside: As a Bills fan,  we wasted the #4 pick on this “stud” in 2005.  After starting 5 games and then getting cut-well, let’s just say I hope I don’t run into him on the metro as I might not be able to control myself).

And Now:  Dan Snyder was, thankfully, tied up and kept away from the phone.  The best move of the day for the Redskins was made by the Jets-because they traded up to get Sanchez.  The Redskins were then forced to do something competent and picked up a handful of good players including (likely) game changer Brian Orakpo, Kevin Barnes to pick up where Shawn Springs left off-and Cody Glenn who has some upside.  Plus, it’s April-and the Skins are always Super Bowl winners in April.

The Capitals looked like choking dogs-again.  All of DC (yes, even you-don’t front) thought the great 8 and company were due for another early exit and another off-season of having to hear why Sid the Kid and the Pens are better than you.  Down 3-1, I couldn’t tell if the Caps were shaping up to be more like McGrady’s Rockets or DC’s Wizards…

And Now: With a little bit of luck and a little bit of effort the Caps pulled off the improbable rattling off three straight against the Rangers-concluding in last nights HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AWESOME 2-1 victory.    The hated Pens start their series with the hometown heroes this Saturday.

The Nationals…well okay the Nats have it backwards-shocking, I know.  Last week they had just won their first (and so far only) back to back games-and a series against the Braves.

and now they are back to usual form, having dropped every game since then.  They are in serious, serious danger of having only 4 wins for the month of April with no relief (even from their relievers) in sight.   Well at least they figured out that one pitcher, Joel “What Lead?” Hanrahan should no longer be allowed to pitch when we have a lead….that’s something, right? Edit: Spoke to soon! The Nats stole one from the Phils last night and Zimmerman is the club’s streak hit leader at 18 and counting.  A bit more good news!

Still, overall, Washington Sports seem much more secure then they did last week.  Here’s hoping it keeps up for a while.

Agent Zero

Perpetual headache/best player on the team Gilbert Arenas is kinda, sorta possibly set to make his return to the Wizards this Saturday, just in time to watch them die at the table.  Like a starlet who married an old fogey for his billions, Arenas is here just in time to show up for the reading of the Wizards will to see if there is anything that was left for him. 

After taking the Wizards $111 million  deal (which the Wizards, in my opinion, were nuts to sign him to) Agent Zero promptly got knee surgery and was going to be back in a month…I mean late December…oh wait, maybe this Saturday.  He’s been running full speed with the team for a month (except on road trips) during practice and the rumor is he’ll make his return against the Pistons this week-but when asked, Arenas answered in only the way he can:

“It’s only true if I play Saturday.”

Hibachi!

More embarrassing Wizards facts after the jump.

Arenas’ absence has devastated a team that just last year was making a trip to the playoffs-after a 1-10 start Head Coach Eddie Jordan was fired, and Arenas was making the point that without him the team would be in a good position to draft high in the 2009 NBA lottery.  So maybe he was ready to play before this weekend, but didn’t want to hurt the chances that the Wizards would have the most ping-pong balls come draft day.

At 16-56 the Wizards are second from the bottom and even if they go on a 10 game winning streak to end the season (ha!) would finish at best as the eight worst team in the league.  A win by either Golden State and Toronto anywhere along the line (highly likely)  keeps them at 6th or worst.  In all likelihood the team will finish in the bottom four and have an excellent (11.9% or better) chance at finishing with the top pick (and a guarantee that they wouldn’t finish any worse than 4th).

We’ll do another post here at Metblogs come lottery day once we know where the Wizards will be picking-until then, scoop up your cheap tickets as the season winds down-you might get to see a Superstar at an incredibly reduced price over the next week or two.