Saturday evening was not kind to the Washington Wizards, as the team dropped a home game to the Milwaukee Bucks in a match-up that could serve as something of an Eastern Conference Playoff preview. However, it was a sub-optimal situation off the court inside Capital One Arena and Candace Buckner of The Washington Post shed light on a bizarre scene during the game.
The report outlines a scenario in which several fans described “coughing, sneezing and, for some, throat irritation” in one particular section of the arena. It should be noted that an official statement from Monumental Sports & Entertainment indicated that the official cause of the issues, and the distinctive odor emanating from the area, was “not determined” at the time of the report and, frankly, that lends itself to a heightened level of weirdness.
The Washington Post report cited an eyewitness named Marcus Harrington as saying his “fears went crazy” after patrons began coughing and he “thought something had happened.” The full report includes multiple accounts from the scene and, while not all were overly troubled, the plainly bizarre reality that several fans vacated section 104 of the arena as a result of a smell and requisite health concerns is both troubling and alarming.
In response, the full statement from the purveyor of the arena (and the conglomerate that owns the Wizards, Washington Capitals and more) reads as follows:
“Ushers and security personnel responded immediately after an unusual odor was reported that led some patrons to leave the affected section during the fourth quarter of last night’s Wizards game. The source of the odor was not determined, no one in the area reported seeing anything to security either upon their arrival or after they had conducted their investigation and no patrons requested first aid or assistance.”
Further information on this peculiar circumstance could become available in the future but, for now, the available knowledge indicates that patrons were alarmed within the confines of a sporting event and that isn’t ideal.
