A lot of sports today: a Wizards-Bulls basketball game and a Nats-Mets game.

The fun kicked off at 3:00 pm (though we got to MCI Center at the end of the first quarter having taken our time getting downtown), and the Wizards opened up a decent lead over the Bulls, who had won the first two games. sprite and I bought a soda (even more expensive than at RFK, which is crazy), and found our seats in section 408. The slope of the upper sections of MCI center is insane, and they give you precious little room to wiggle into your seats – a bit daunting when, like us, your seats are in the middle of the row.

We watched the rest of the game, which was really pathetic. These teams are the 4 and 5 seeds in the NBA’s Eastern Division (Wizards are 5, Bulls 4), yet they play CBA-quality basketball. Even though the NBA has allowed zone defenses for the past four seasons, neither team seemed to understand that a good defense will win you a game.

That’s doubly the case when your players can’t hit the broad side of a battleship. The only reason that the Wizards won the game is that they attempted more shots than the Bulls. Their field goal percentage was fairly low compared to the days of Bird, Thomas, Jordan, Malone, Stockton, Jabbar and Johnson. And most of these players couldn’t hit free throws, which is insane: it’s the only shot in basketball that is foolproof, with no random element. A pro-level player should hit over ninety percent of his free throws, no excuses. Yet these guys were throwing up bricks: no arc, no backspin, no real aim for the hoop. A hint: use the backboard, guys – it’s there for a reason, and you have a much larger margin of error.

That said, the only player who played a high-quality game was Gilbert Arenas of the Wizards. He finished with close to 30 points, hit all of his free throws, played defense, didn’t whine at the overly-reactive officials, and was a pro.

The fans were also terrible. During the customary playing of Gary Glitter’s “Rock & Roll Part 2,” after the shout of “HEY,” the MCI Center fans added “you suck” to the refrain. Why in god’s name do they do that? Is it called for? No!

And this points to the big conclusion that has driven me from being a fan of the NBA (even though I used to be a season ticket holder in Utah): the fans, much like the players, are turning into streetball thugs. Fewer and fewer players graduate from college, the coaches don’t discipline their troops and keep ’em in line, and the fans are looking for highlight-reel showboating rather than quality basketball. Any team from the 1980s or early-1990s could wipe the floors with the two squads that played today.

(My prediction for the NBA finals: Phoenix vs. Detroit, with Detroit winning in 6.)

After the basketball game, we hit the Metro to RFK Stadium for the Nationals game. This time, however, we were rooting for the away team, the New York Mets. The game featured two of the most inept pitchers in the major leagues: Victor Zambrano for the Mets, and Tomo Ohka for the Nationals. We’ve seen Ohka pitch twice before, and each time his performance was awful: lots of pitches high and inside, with a smattering of hittable fastballs mixed in to cause the Nats’ defense many fits. We expected the worst from both hurlers today.

What we got was a decent offensive performance from the Nationals, and a woeful performance from the Mets. The only bright spot for the Mets was Cliff Floyd, who kept up his hitting streak with a 3 RBI double in the 7th to bring the Mets within two runs of the Nats, who were leading 5 to 3.

Throughout the game, the rain fell off and on. This didn’t matter much to us, as our seats are under the press boxes. But the rains occasionally came down hard, and the game was stopped once in the 6th inning, with the grounds crew called out to deploy the tarp. This is the first game at RFK where the crew was called into duty, and they did well.

Fast forward to the 8th inning, when the skies opened up again and with more vigor. The field was soaked: puddles in the basepaths, mud everywhere, umpires and players soaked. The umpires eventually called for time at the start of the bottom of the 8th, and the tarp was rolled out again.

This time, however, the rain was really coming down, and the neophyte crew was having a touch time working the tarp as it accumulated water and stuck to the ground (wet tarps suck onto grass with a lot of strength). They’d get a running start, get going well, and then stop dead in their tracks as the partially-unfurled tarp would adhere to the grass.

The crew called in reinforcements, first from other grounds crew members, then members of the “Nat Pack” pep squad. A couple of fans (most of whom had left) jumped onto the field to help. While the grounds crew was fine with this, RFK security was not. One of the fans left gracefully (wearing a Piazza jersey), while the other one, after trying to make a break from the guards, was nabbed by the guards and D.C. police. The crowd chanted “let him go,” but he did break the rules, put up a fight, and was likely whisked off to jail.

After many attempts and getting the tarp deployed, RFK management brought out more reinforcements (including some big, burly folks who must’ve been security detail for the Mets), nearly doubling the original crew. Almost 30 minutes after starting their tarp deployment, the tarp made ist way into position. The remaining spectators – including members of the Nats, in their dugout – gave the crew a well-deserved standing ovation.

The game was called after that, the Mets not being given a chance to come back in the top of the 9th. We made our way down to the Mets’ dugout, where David Wright was signing autographs until RFK security (remember them?) made everybody leave.

Celebrity sightings: at both games, Tim Russert and James Carville were in attendance.

Let’s hope it’s dry for tomorrow night’s game – we’ll be there!