Now that the playoffs are in full swing and I watch the Capitals as they battle their way through (great win last night!),  I am feeling the same old feelings of up and down, up and down, up and down.

Let me tell you; it is tough!   When my husband Abe and I owned the teams, I used to feel like I was on a roller coaster.  There is so much build up before the season, before each game, and certainly before the playoffs.

Superstition seems to always play a part in games.  Some years ago our president of the Bullets used to carry a certain number of M&M’s in his pants pocket.   No more, no less;  it had to be the exact amount (It’s a wonder they didn’t get squashed!).   Abe used to wear the same tie and jacket until the playoffs were over.   I just chewed on tranquilizers (now that’s a sign of times)!

 When the game was over and we won, it was a great ride in the car going home.  When the game was over and we lost, we drove straight to the Frozen Custard shop near our house to drown our sorrows. Well, we needed something to pick us up!

Obviously, the conversation in the car followed the mood and believe me, it is no fun to sit in silence for the forty minute ride home.  The frozen custard did help for a while but then we began a new ritual; when we won we still stopped to get our chocolate frozen custard fix.  But, this time, it was to celebrate! Either way we still got our treat!  And, of course, we always looked to Lady Luck to help!

 But, I can tell you that luck can only take you so far.  It is really lots of hard and tough work to win a game and then a series of games.  “Wins” are extremely valuable.  Until I was a part of the sports world, I had no appreciation of what it takes to win a game.    The process is long, going way back to when all the players were scouted as kids and the years of training and playing that finally brings them to the NBA.   Once they are in the NBA, it’s dealing with injuries, traveling, being traded, hoping to get selected, etc.   All of this is part of the “behind the scenes” in professional sports.

And, often for some of the players, dealing with celebrity becomes a part of their lives.  It is something that some players handle very well and others… not so well. Some thrive on it, some are very uncomfortable.

But, there it is!  Professional sports!

What a great upcoming week for Ice Hockey in Washington! 

After an up-and-down season, the Caps finally pulled it off and clinched the playoffs this year, and they’re only going forward.  The DC Fans are up for whatever comes.   I remember back when Abe and I were in Montreal fighting to get an expansion team for Washington and all the competing potential owners were saying hockey would never make it here in Washington – the town was too Southern!  Well, our argument was that they didn’t know Washington.  Washington may be in the South but the people who lived here were from everywhere including all the Embassies from Northern Europe.

And, our fans are among the most loyal in the league.  And, they are also the most polite.  How many times did fans in cities like Philadelphia act extremely inappropriately towards Abe and I when we went to games there?

It was fun from getting to know the players and their families – we always had a family lounge for our players to meet their families after games.  Some players had very young families, sometimes even two or three kids under the age of five years old.   I fondly remember our players coming up to see their excited kids after playing a long game.  Their daddy would show up at the family lounge to pick the kids up and sometimes forget to put in his false teeth!  The children always laughed at that.  Back then, with less protective headgear, it was very common for hockey players to be missing teeth given the kind of contact they encounter at each game! 

 My husband always said when we got the team that he didn’t know anything about ice hockey but we loved going to games and he was a great study!

 So now it’s my turn to congratulate Ted Leonsis on making it even more exciting and having people on the waiting list for tickets!  Keep it up!  Onward and upward in the playoffs!

 Sports, like life, is never boring!

As some of you may know, my husband Abe and I built two sports arenas during our careers.  The first, Capital Centre, was opened in 1973 and was a wonderful, state-of-the-art building in its time.  Once Capital Centre began showing its age, it was time to find a new place for our teams – the Capitals and the Bullets (now Wizards) – to play as well as host the hundreds of concerts and events that were held at the arena each year. We made the difficult decision to once again build a state-of-the-art arena, this time in the heart of Washington, D.C.  Verizon Center was born.
 
What’s it like to build and own a place like the Verizon Center? What’s it like to build and own a place like the Capital Centre?  What’s it like to sell a place like the Verizon Center?
 
These are huge buildings, places where 20,000 people come regularly to games and other huge events. As I write this, I still can’t believe that my husband and I did this; it is huge! Where did we get the guts to do these huge things?  Now, I ask myself these questions; questions I never asked when we did them. But we did and what a thrill to plan and execute the projects. And the thrill of completing them and then enjoying all of the activities that took place in them as well as the thrill of knowing that there were no buildings like that in Washington before them.
 
Planning for the Capital Centre was so much fun because everything was new to the Washington Community. Now for the first time, there would be Inaugural Galas and other events around the Inauguration, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Bush and Obama.
 
We learned so much from doing these events for twenty-five years so that by the time we designed and built the Verizon Center, which would now be in the city, we added features which could accommodate such major events. For example, the private elevator that could take the President straight up to our private suite
 
I also always got a kick out of watching the “turnover” from hockey, ice floor, to basketball floor in a couple of hours.  It’s truly an amazing transformation.
 
But, the best part…and still is:  the staff that made all this happen without a hitch; working all night sometimes.
 
And now, though I no longer own the Verizon Center, if I ever feel like I may need some hugs, I know where I can count on getting lots of them!  Recently, when I have gone there for games, I can’t walk ten feet without someone hugging me or grabbing my hand.  The staff has always been a wonderful group of people.  They really became a part of our family!
 
What a thrill for me and how proud I am of my husband putting together a “team” to make all this come together so millions of people can come there and enjoy the events never realizing the effort it takes.