Great job, Wizards fans!
As the coronavirus pandemic gradually heads toward the rear view mirror, one of the tougher things people are experiencing is behaving normally in public venues again. Unfortunately, we have seen some incidents between fans and players in the last year and a half.
Even the Washington Wizards aren’t immune since then-starting point guard Russell Westbrook was involved in a confrontation after a Philadelphia 76ers fan dumped popcorn on him after a playoff game last May. Wizards fans have also misbehaved, like this one guy who streaked the court in Game 4 of the same playoff series.
While these incidents have been increasing, the Wizards and their fanbase have generally been doing better than average.
According to a survey of 2,000 NBA fans in January 2022 by onlinecasino.ca, fans were asked which team’s fanbase was the rudest. Fifty percent of the respondents said that Boston Celtics fans were the rudest, followed by the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets.
Fans were also asked about the bad behaviors they experienced seeing and the behaviors they carried out. Here are the results league-wide:
- Physical aggression (50 percent experienced, 23 percent carried out)
- Throwing objects (48 percent experienced, 41 percent carried out)
- Profanity (47 percent experienced, 36 percent carried out)
- Spitting (35 percent experienced, 32 percent carried out)
For Wizards fans, the results are a bit more optimistic based on the behaviors they admitted to carrying out:
- Physical aggression (10 percent carried out)
- Throwing objects (20 percent carried out)
- Profanity (17 percent carried out)
- Spitting (24 percent carried out)
Because of that, I am proud to announce that Washington Wizards fans were considered to be the least disruptive and worst behaved fanbase in the NBA! Based on the full data set, only TWO percent of the respondents believed the Wizards had the worst behaved and most disruptive fans.
Anecdotally, this survey is good news. When I go to Wizards games, I don’t see very much bad behavior of any kind. People aren’t spitting on the floor left and right, there aren’t too many f-bombs except when a referee makes a bad call or if there’s just a bad play somewhere, and I have yet to see any physical altercations or people throwing objects.
Great job Wizards fans!