ESPN has blown the lid off mouse poop at the Verizon Center, and the public is outraged. Outraged, I tell you.

A sample of the public/media commentary, outraged or not:

Georgetown Voice‘s Vox Populi: “Although Vox trusts Leonsis—after all, the guy promised to ‘literally clean up after [the] fans,’—we doubt we’ll be eating much food in the Verizon Center anytime soon.”

ExtremeSkins forum: “If you’re dumb enough to pay $5 for a hot dog, or $6 for a beer, then you deserve a singing cockroach and mold on your meal.”

Pro Hockey Talk: “For some NHL fans, and Washington Capitals fans in particular, you might want to grab that beer and food somewhere else before or after the game instead.”

WUSA hasshed more light on Verizon’s woes: “DC Health officials say at least two vendors were shut down immediately, but were allowed to re-open after those violations were addressed. A spokesperson for the city’s department of health says DC has some of the toughest codes in the country, including a policy of conducting inspections while food and drink are being served which often leads to more violations.”

The Fairfax Underground forum: “Yes, people go to Wizards games. There are also alot of rodents in attendance.”

D.C. Sports Bog: “I’m sure this is just terrible, though I’d probably keep eating all the same foods I ate before. Though can you imagine the sort of stuff I’d write if the Nats had a 100 percent mouse dropping policy, or, heaven forbid, the Redskins? My head would definitely explode.”

RealGM basketball forum: “Remy the Rat is the main chef at Verizon Center. Those “mice droppings” are actually his very own secret seasoning pellets.”

Wiz/Caps/Verizon owner Ted Leonsis has his own response: “The past couple of weeks I have talked about my plan to walk a mile in our employees’ footsteps and participate in the cleaning process. I now will step up those efforts and make this a top priority. I will personally get involved in the process and the solutions. We are on it; we’ve already started. We will move this issue from one that appears shocking to one that is a source of pride. I promise.”

Photo by izik via Flickr Creative Commons, Attribution License