Notes: Heckling begins before Jordan hits court
Robin Ficker, a tireless heckler who for most of the 1980s and 1990s sat behind the visitor's bench at Washington Bullets games, said he has no interest in watching the 38-year-old Jordan's comeback.
"He's old now," Ficker said in a telephone interview. "He's going to get pounded."
Ficker's good-natured antics, such as reading aloud from the critical book "The Jordan Rules" when the former Chicago Bulls star was on the bench, helped him to befriend some of the NBA's top players. He stopped going to games in 1997 when the Wizards moved to the MCI Arena.
Jordan, a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player who was a minority owner in the Wizards and the team's president of basketball operations, said in a statement Tuesday that he was returning because it was the best way to help his team's young players improve.
Eleven of 17 players on the Wizards' roster have less than three years experience, including Kwame Brown, whom Jordan took first overall in the June draft directly out of high school.
"I like the guy personally," Ficker said of Jordan. "He was always very nice to me."
Ficker, a trial lawyer, stopped going to NBA games because the Wizards, formerly the Bullets, wouldn't give him the same seat.
He gained national attention for his heckling, particularly of Charles Barkley. The Sacramento Kings once flew Ficker in for a home game so he could taunt Barkley, who dumped popcorn over his head after the game.
Many fans don't share Ficker's analysis of Jordan. Rumors of a Jordan return helped the Wizards sell about 12,500 season tickets, 3,000 more than last season when the team was 19-63.
The Wizards also have become one of the biggest attractions around the league.
Individual-game tickets won't go on sale until next month, but Sonics fans have been buying four-game ticket packages that include the March 15 Wizards game.
A Sonics spokeswoman said that the team sold about 400 packages yesterday, compared to about 100 in an average day previously.
To get the four-game package, buyers must be an existing season-ticket or ticket-package holder or purchase a six-game plan to qualify for the four-game add-on.
At MCI Center, people who thought they never would pay money to watch the Wizards play also lined up for seats.
"Did you think I was going to buy tickets to see (Kwame) Brown and (Richard) Hamilton play? No way," lawyer I. Hope Umana said yesterday. "I just want anything that will get me into the building."
Notes
• Russian rookie Andrei Kirilenko, a first-round choice in 1999, signed a contract with the Utah Jazz.
The 20-year-old forward will receive a three-year deal worth $2.68 million, with a team option for a fourth season.
• Commissioner David Stern has a new title: chairman of the board of trustees of Columbia University. Stern, 59, is a graduate of Rutgers University and of Columbia Law School.
Compiled from Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, The Associated Press and Seattle Times staff.