Every Papa John's franchise in Northeast Ohio sold one-topping pizzas for 23 cents yesterday to atone for the "crybaby" t-shirts given away in Washington last week. And as you'd expect, it was a complete cluster. From the Columbus Dispatch:

The offer, intended to remedy a franchisee's insult to Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James (No. 23), resulted in closed stores, long lines and angry customers after stores became overwhelmed by the demand. Police were called to help control the crowds at some outlets.

"It's total chaos," said Ann Marie Buswell, 33, a social worker who got her pizza at the Hudson Avenue store after waiting an hour and a half.

If you think waiting an hour and a half is bad, consider that some people waited five hours for the free pie. Five freaking hours for a pizza that usually costs $12. But mind you, these people weren't just looking for free food; no sir, they were making a stand:

"I did it for the principle of it. The principle of it is he's not a crybaby and Papa John's should not have gotten into it," Jennie Moore, 54, of University Heights, said as she waited for a pepperoni pizza.

Yesterday in his blog, Gilbert Arenas made it clear that he considered he and teammate Antawn Jamison a package deal:

If Antawn is not back, then there's no point in me coming back because he's part of my success, too. When you're doing pick and roll with a player like him, they can't double you, they can't trap you because you have a pick and pop guy who can shoot the three at your four position. My success is because of him too. If he doesn't come back, I'm not coming back.

During his end of season press conference, GM Ernie Grunfeld indicated he had no problem with Gilbert's ultimatum:

"We're on the same page, then. Because we want to sign Antawn. We want to sign Gilbert," Grunfeld said. "I kind of liked it. He's supportive of his teammate. And he enjoys playing with Antawn. And that's been our plan all along. I'm glad to see everyone in the organization is on the same page."

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. The Sporting Blog: Shoals on the humanization of Kobe Bryant.

2. Hardwood Paroxysm: Forget what I said, David West should actually mouth off more.

3. Gilbert Arenas: If Antawn Jamison isn't in Washington, then Gilbert's not staying either.

4. Supersonicsoul: The Sonics are staying in Seattle!

5. We Rite Goode: Why Chris Paul is smarter than Janeane Garafolo.

6. Basketbawful: Spurs-Hornets summed up in a single photo.

You wanna know how you stop a rogue Papa John's pizza franchise from sullying the good name of LeBron James? You start a mediocre Facebook group, that's what you do (yup, 121 fans of the Cleveland Cavs will never eat the Papa again -- what a strong stand). Or you could start an inaccurate and rudimentary website ("Kiss the Ring" doesn't necessarily apply to Bron just quite yet, you dedicated 186 pizza haters) dedicated to snuffing out disrespecting pizza joints.

But hate not on the quality of Cleveland's protest. It has reached the dough stuffed ears of Mr. Papa John himself, in Kentucky, and corporate has responded, offering to make it up to all the Cleveland fans who were so wronged by this one Washington D.C. version of the pizza store.

To apologize, Papa John's will sell Cleveland residents a large, one-topping pizza for 23 cents on Thursday. The 23 is an homage to James' jersey number. The company also will donate $10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.

Woo! Charities! Cheap pizza! Homage! It's almost enough to get me worked up into the kind of frenzy that inspires shots of garlic sauce before I go back to class.

Okay, not really. I actually think that Cleveland fans should have recruited Domino's or Pizza Hut to respond and am kind of surprised they didn't call the King and lock up the free marketing while it was available. Of course, the geniuses that inspired the Noid and Queen Latifah as spokepeople are probably no longer around, so you can't expect too much. Fortunately for us, the silliness around the Cavs-Wizards series is just about over.

After being eliminated from the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cavaliers for the third straight season, it appears that the Wizards' management just can't get enough, as they're likely to bring their version of the "Big Three" back for another season.

... Caron Butler sounded certain this afternoon, after his exit meeting with Coach Eddie Jordan at Verizon Center, that Washington's Big Three would stay together and try to advance past the first round for the first time in four years.

The thinking is the Wizards' all-stars will be healthier, their youngsters will add muscle and maturity and Grunfeld will find a key acquisition to help Eddie Jordan's cause.

It's not a sexy strategy. It's certainly not going to shake up the league. But in the NBA today, where continuity has helped keep San Antonio, Detroit and Utah alive, it works.

I know that the Wizards feel like they were close to beating Cleveland this year, and that in their minds, if they had a healthy Gilbert Arenas for the entire series (or maybe were without him for all six games) they might have been able to win it. The reality is though, the team's style is simply not geared towards winning playoff games in the NBA.

Continuity isn't the only thing that keeps teams like San Antonio and Detroit in the playoff hunt every year. The fact that those teams play disciplined, defense-oriented team basketball is why they're successful. And after watching the Wizards take way too many poor shots (like three-pointers with 23 seconds remaining on the shot clock) and refuse to defend consistently, it's clear that they'll need a lot more than just a healthy "Big Three" to ever get out of the first round.

... in which a national pizza chain of dubious quality lashes out at an NBA superstar and then faces the wrath of the entire state of Ohio.

D.C. food blog So Good reports t-shirts bearing the number 23, the name "Crybaby" and a Papa John's logo were handed out at Game 6 of Cavs-Wizards in Washington. Yep, that's the 3rd largest pizza chain the United States (according to Wikipedia, at least) making fun of LeBron James, The Global Icon. And hey! there it is on the right!

In the comments at So Good, someone purporting to be a Papa John's GM in northeast Ohio says they've received several calls threatening a boycott. I have no clue why Papa John's would do this, considering (as So Good notes) the chain has a ton of locations in Ohio, and furthermore isn't even based in D.C. Is the chain a Wizards sponsor or something?

Actually, I think Papa John has been framed. The suspect is obvious: it's the Noid!

Look out, Cleveland! Storm is coming through ... and it's runnin' right up on yoooooooouuuu. Sorry. I've been itching to quote the Band ever since the playoffs started. Unfortunately, we're in D.C. tonight, so the song isn't entirely applicable. But with Darius Songaila no longer around, some kind of storm on Cleveland is going to be necessary to keep LeBron James down. Okay, so Songaila isn't that important. It's the jersey poppin' fella above that matters most.

Actually, with Gilbert Arenas now done for the season, and Caron Butler stepping his game up, I think it's somehow more likely that the Wizards send this one back to Cleveland. And I think a lot of people actually agree with that too. Or at least the notion that the Wizards are better off without Gil. Anyway, we'll be doing the live blog thing here tonight, and we want you -- yes, you! -- to come join in the collective FanHouse jersey popping.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Cavaliers-Wizards game tonight.

1. The Agent Elephant In The Room: I understand folks not wanting to talk about it. But, we're going to talk about it. Two Washington wins? 10 minutes and 2 points combined for Gilbert Arenas. Three losses? Close to 85 minutes for Agent Zero. On the surface, it makes pretty simple sense. Injured player, can't effectively perform, drags down the team. However, it's more than that. The Wizards seem to revel in being without their star. Caron Butler was spectacular in Gilbert's first night back ... out. They seem more cohesive, and more importantly, they're winning more often. Even Zero admitted they're better without him right now. This series had the distinct look of a mismatch after Game 4, and all of a sudden, losing their "best" player may end up being exactly what the Wizards need to get over the hump.

2. Oh, THERE's The Wally I Know And Love: Wally Szczerbiak was apparently walking into Quicken Loans Arena when he passed a vehicle. And in the window of this vehicle, he saw a dreadful sight. Himself. And then he remember who he is. And promptly shot 1 of 6 from the field. Szczerbiak is undeniably the inconsistent thread that leavs the Cavaliers hanging in the wind. Sometimes he snaps, sometimes he holds. So you could say that if you want to destroy the Cavaliers, just hold this Wally while you walk away (while you walk away). The Cavs need supporting three-point shooting to win, unless LeBron has one of, you know, those nights.

Well, who is going to allegedly punch or not punch LeBron James now? Darius Songaila is being suspended because his hand hit LeBron's face in Game 5 of the Wizards - Cavaliers series. I use that phrasing because depending on who you listen to, Songaila didn't mean to slap/hit James at all. Of course, usually those people are Wizards fans.

I watched it go down and saw it several times on replay, and I'm willing to concede that it wasn't totally purposeful and that Songaila might have just been wrapped up with LeBron, causing the contact that ensued.

Of course, if I was Darius, I would probably want to know what all of those Celtics were still doing at the [New] Garden for Game 5 of their series. Lesson: Don't harass the King, please.

Caron Butler, taking over on the court. (The game-winner, right down LeBron James's throat, comes at the 1:27 mark.)



Caron Butler, taking over the yapping duties, as reported by Dan Steinberg of The Bog:

"Don't judge this team from comments," he said. "LeBron made a statement saying 'These guys are talkers,' but unless you hear something from the captains--which would be myself and Antawn [Jamison]--don't label that as the team. You know what I'm saying? I'm the voice of this team, 'Twan is the spiritual and emotional leader, and unless you hear it from us, just keep it moving."

And ...

"I just told [LeBron] 'Make the season interesting, let's take it back to D.C.," Caron told us. "And he started laughing. You know, I had to get him back for what he did to Gilbert a couple years ago at the foul line."

If Gilbert Arenas does opt out this summer, it's not necessarily terrible, terrible news for Washington. It'd be bad news, sure; but Tough Juice can be your leader, on the court and off. What a great game from Butler.