Dear Mr. Wilbon,
As a kid, I loved listening to you and watching your show when I got home from school. I loved hearing what you had to say. However, as I have gotten older and have started to go into the sports journalism industry myself I have come to realize your show is nothing but clickbait for the ears. It is not just your show, and I recognize the industry is changing, but there’s a difference between analysis and hot takes.
On Tuesday, May 8 you called my hometown a “minor league sports town” for celebrating advancing to the Conference Finals for the first time in 20 years. A lifetime for some, like myself, or half of their life for others. A couple of weeks later, more than 11,000 of us watched a Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals together at the arena where the game wasn’t happening.
Now, just a few days later, 12,448 people watched game one of the Stanley Cup Final together at the arena where the game wasn’t happening. If you went to a sports bar in the DC area, I guarantee you it was a sea of red. It certainly was where my friend and I went.
Two days later, while trailing in the series, there was once again a viewing party at Capital One Arena. It would be reasonable for even a die hard city to perhaps have a few hundred less people show up to a viewing party with the home team trailing and the novelty wearing off. Instead, the numbers increased to 14,485.
Now, lets look at the celebrations for tying a series.
https://twitter.com/slarimer/status/1002026587678822405
Minor league sports town my ass pic.twitter.com/9HpL29yILA
— Bram Weinstein (@RealBramW) May 31, 2018
DC!! SEE YOU SATURDAY!! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/9FZ41Tt40g
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 31, 2018
Do I need to continue? If we were a minor league sports town, then we wouldn’t be able to fill up the lower bowl of the arena for a viewing party. Much less, have event staff have to open up the 200 and then the 400 levels. We wouldn’t be celebrating in the streets until the last Metro train leaves.
Top 10 markets for Monday’s Stanley Cup Final Game 1 on NBC:
1 Las Vegas 28.08
2 Wash, DC 16.02
3 Pittsburgh 10.31
4 Baltimore 9.07
5 Buffalo 8.84
6 Richmond 6.92
7 Minn-St. Paul 6.58
8 St. Louis 5.22
9 Denver 5.11
10 Ft. Myers 4.71— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) May 29, 2018
If we were a minor league sports town, we would hardly be paying attention.
Sincerely,
Washington, D.C.
