Jamie Mottram's Sports Blog - www.misterirrelevant.com

Very few scenes in sports are more saddening than Gilbert Arenas, hobbled yet fashionable, sitting behind the bench and cheering mildly for his teammates as they get beaten by a beatable opponent ... only to be left hanging by Cal Booth as the reserve big man takes a seat. Cal's not really made for playing, and Gil's almost certainly not made for cheerleading. He's funny and likeable and brilliant, but a towel waver he is not.

So it went as inspired efforts from Antawn Jamison (32 points per game in the series) and Antonio Daniels (12 assists per game) were for naught with Washington blown from the postseason with relative ease by Queen James and the Cavs. These are my scenes and stories from Games 3 and 4 spent at the Verizon Center ...

Gil Leaves the Floor for the Last Time (Agent Steinz in Foreground!)

· The high point of both games may have been the Game 3 intros. Caron came out as the hype man imploring DC to "stand up!", then the staring lineup was announced followed by the emergence of Agent Zero, who proceeded to limp across the court. Inspiring and depressing all at once.

· Caron needs Gil's stylist. Arenas made it work in a blazer, tie, untucked shirt and jeans. Caron did not in a double-breasted suit.

· Upon arrival Monday night for Game 4 I saw Ted Leonsis and his son Zach, who interned with AOL last summer. So I go up to say hey before seeing who they're talking to ... it's David Stern! Honestly, my knees buckled in the presence of commissioner Stern. It was like a deity was in the room. You know, if I were religous.

· The press area featured a Murderer's Row of Washington Posties: Wilbon! Boswell! Wise! Solomon (he likes spunk)!

· I counted a weak grand total of six different Wizards/Bullets player jerseys in the crowd Monday night. The Big Three (Arenas, Butler and Jamison), MJ, Unseld and ... wait for it ... Steve Blake!

· Since Gil and Butler went down I've fallen in love with Jamison and AD, who played their hearts out just to keep things close. You could tell during the post-series press conference that Eddie Jordan was impressed, saying something to the effect of, "Antawn was scoring from the outside, in the post, off the dribble ... he took it back to the Golden State days."

· LeBron gets all the calls and cries over those he doesn't. (Does that make any sense? I loathe LeBron.)

· DeShawn Stevenson, who calls himself Mr. 50 for shooting 50% from the field, came close to being Mr. 15 in the playoffs. He was 9-for-46 in the series, which is 19.6%, although he did break out the 'I Can't Feel My Face' move after making a layup on Saturday.

· BTH = DNP. Haywood didn't get one minute of run in what was almost certainly his final game as a Wizard. Dude left the building like it was on fire once the game was over.

· I went up to NBA TV play-by-play guy Ian Eagle after the game because Steinberg had forwarded me an email from him saying that he liked Blog Show. He couldn't have been nicer, and right in the middle of our conversation Gheorge Muresan saunters over. Before I know it, Eagle, Muresan and I are talking -- Gheorgie has at least two feet on Ian, by the way -- and Eagle's telling a story about the two of them seeing a James Bond film together with Muresan purposefully sitting in front of people so they can't see the screen. Five minutes later Eagle introduces me to his broadcast partner Bill "Onions!" Raftery, who I love, and I was literally on cloud nine. I'm also such a geek.

· After the Eagle-Muresan-Raftery conversations I cross paths with Zach Braff. Crazy night at the VC. Now, I admire Braff for what he did with Garden State and lurk in his general vicinity thinking about what I can talk to the guy about without annoying him. He may have sensed my unwelcome presence, because he, his perfectly tousled hair and entourage left the area without me having a clue what they were doing there in the first place. I really need to work on my lurking.

· One final note on these games and this season, and it's in tribute to Unsilent Majority, who took me to a couple of Wiz games in his courtside seats. As previously noted, the guy's a world-class heckler. Case in point, he was having a back-and-forth with referee Steve Javie early on in Game 3 when Eric Snow idled over. Of course, Unsilent took the opportunity to call Snow a "milk dud" and was nearly escorted out of the building. Seriously. 

Unsilent Majority's Verizon Center-Issued Warning Card

I thank UM for the endless entertainment and kindness, and I thank these Wizards for the most engrossing season of professional basketball around these parts that I can recall. It's with great expectations that I await the Big Three (and hopefully a big man) coming back strong in November.

A Mouse, A Wizznut and the End [DC Sports Bog]
At Least They're Not the Heat [DC Optimist]
Cavaliers 97, Wizards 90 [Bullets Forever]
Proud [Ted's Take]
End of Season Denial Day One [Wizznutzz]

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