A new day is on the horizon in Washington, and it has nothing to do with Bryce Harper’s first game against the Nationals as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night. The Wizards fired longtime president Ernie Grunfeld on Tuesday afternoon, a move that marked the end of a frustrating era for fans in D.C.
Grunfeld oversaw things in the nation’s capital for 16 seasons. During his time, Washington never made it past the Eastern Conference semifinals while compiling a 568-724 record. It was the sort of thing that frustrated a ton of Wizards fans, to the point that some refused to attend games while Grunfeld was still in charge.
How do we know this? Alan Pyke of Think Progress had previously told a team ticket rep that he wouldn’t attend a game as long as Grunfeld was in charge.
https://twitter.com/PykeA/status/1096161675101773825
Well as it turns out, now that Washington has moved on from its longtime executive, that same ticket rep reached out to gauge Pyke’s interest in going to a future game.
lmfao she remembered and called me and now i'm going to the Spurs game on Friday. FUCK ERNIE! https://t.co/7uG4r1XAg4
— @pyke.bsky.social (@PykeA) April 2, 2019
“This is the least [the Wizards] could do,” Pyke told the Washington Post. He went on to say that this has been a “roller coaster” for his friends from Washington, and that he wants everyone to “celebrate at the bar tonight.”
This is a wonderful way to get people out to games, but obviously, this could just be a Twitter joke, right? Well, if it is, it’s awfully suspicious that another Twitter user, Sam Kussin-Shoptaw, made the same joke regarding their brother getting an email because he’s said the exact same thing in the past.
https://twitter.com/sshoptaw/status/1113157472825544704
https://twitter.com/sshoptaw/status/1113157767462838273
https://twitter.com/sshoptaw/status/1113157880641978369
https://twitter.com/sshoptaw/status/1113158277750304768
Give the Wizards credit: It’s awfully hard to undo years of fan resentment from keeping around an unpopular executive, but this is one heck of a positive step forward.
