With all due respect to the pitching duel between Chris Carpenter and John Lannan in St. Louis, the vast majority of last night’s action — and hence, the vast majority of this post’s content — was the result of some friendly ping-pong balls falling the right way and an announcement made by people in suits in a television studio in New Jersey. The Wizards, after several documented years of draft lottery futility, overcame close to 1-in-10 odds to win the right to select John Wall with the first pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. (Take that, Russian gazillionaires and hip-hop moguls!) Yeah, Washington could also take a guy like national player of the year Evan Turner, but let’s get real here — they’re taking Wall or I’ll eat my hat. Plus: I’m sure that Turner’s nickname would be tougher to conjure up.) Wall already has the talking heads eating out of his palm and he sure looks like a solid bet. For what it’s worth, Wall seems happy with heading to D.C.

The prospect of which, of course, had Wizards fans and reporters — who spent most of the last nine months bemoaning and documenting likely the most difficult season the team has ever had — over the moon. Check out selected elation after the jump.