People often think that Abe and I are these “big” visionaries; that we had this dream of “bringing life” to a part of the city, Washington, DC, that was long burnt out and neglected for almost thirty years. Well, since I was part of the decision to build the Verizon Center, in that location, let me tell you how it really happened.

I know that parts of the story are out there but the whole story is simple and good.  Simply put, we wanted to create a large entertainment center, like the Capital Centre, but newer, better, bigger in the city of Washington. In fact, that is where we hoped to build twenty nine years earlier but the city couldn’t manage it.  So the Cap Centre was built, but on the periphery of Washington.

Still, for the first time in D.C. history, we had a building that could house four professional sports team and a host of major events for the first time including inaugural events. The longing remained, however, to be in D.C. and we never gave up.

Finally, when the D.C. government was amenable and accessible, the time was right. All that was left was to find the right location.

The key word here is “location.” Since we had always been in the business of finding top locations for the buildings we constructed, we searched for several years for what this building would require. By now, after twenty five years of experience at the Cap Centre — we knew what that was. We knew what we needed to do both internally and externally; for the fans’ experience inside the building and for the fans arriving and leaving the building.

Particularly important was just getting there. Then once inside, we wanted to provide the best entertainment and comfort in the industry. And, what fun it was to do this again, but better!

But, the best story for me to tell about choosing that location is one about a visit that my son, Robert, made to Washington asking us to show him where we wanted to build. It was mid-day and we drove him downtown to what would later become the site of Verizon Center. As we pulled up to the area and parked, he suggested that we get out of the car and walk around to get a better sense of the neighborhood. Are you kidding?
Abe and I both said at the same time: “You don’t get out of the car and walk around in this neighborhood.”
“Even in the middle of the day?” he asked. We both replied emphatically, “Yes!”
But, Robert is quite persuasive; “Oh, c’mon, Mom and Dad,” so we did with a lot of trepidation. But, as we did, I noticed the National Gallery a few blocks away, the Smithsonian, just behind us. We then realized what a marvelous location this was and it was also on top of the Metro. That trip out of the car settled the location. How good it was!
Abe and I were extremely proud every time we drove to the game to see the lights, the people….the cars! And, with so many people taking public transportation — when we left the game, we didn’t have to fight traffic waiting to come out of the parking lot.

How good it is! We never dreamed of the major impact choosing this location would have. Is it visionary? Or is it experience?
Either way, it did bring life to the city.

How rare it is! Winning a championship! Winning a major prize.

I watched this weekend’s Belmont Stakes, the third and final leg of the Triple Crown.  Seeing American Pharoah pull away from the pack, knowing for the briefest moment that he was going to win, is something that I have experienced twice in my life.

Once, when our team, the Washington Bullets won the final game in Seattle in 1978, and once, when I represented the Wizards in the NBA Lottery in 2010.
At the Belmont, yes, it was exciting for the 90,000 fans screaming their heads off.  But those fans — as excited as they were — hadn’t gone through the years and years of high hopes and disappointments. American Pharoah trainer Bob Baffert, jockey Victor Espinoza, and owner Ahmed Zayat all have been there many times without winning.

And so have I.

So, let me describe the feeling just before the final moment; when the ultimate is about to happen.

You don’t believe it will !  In your mind, you replay all the times when you were in this position before and you expect the same result. One more disappointment, as usual.  Time expands and you relax because it can’t happen.

And then, suddenly, it does!

And time and your heart stop! Oh, my God, you’re befuddled!

Is it really true? Again, all the moments in the past come forward until you realize, wait, this is different! The emotions are powerful; you need time to let this knowledge sink in.

But, by now, everyone around you is hugging, kissing, crying.

It’s really true: you won!

Man plans and God laughs.  This is a Yiddish expression that, as a child,  I heard my Grandmother Shifra use whenever anything unexpected happened in our family.

Well, my recently completed memoir is about an “unexpected life” but….guess what?  There are always more unexpected experiences, and I just had one.

So, I am feeling great!  Completing my book, looking forward to some exciting opportunities based on my Sister to Sister Foundation work; looking forward to the next couple of months, planning and expecting of very good things.

Life is good.

And when you least expect it….you guessed it!  The unexpected happens.

I break a metatarsal bone — one of the bones of the foot — bending down to place a book on a table in front of me. Currently I am sitting here with my foot in a boot and elevated.  Not much physical pain, but the challenge ahead will be mental!

Here we go again, Irene!  How do I get through this?

I know one way I have always used; humor.  The first person I called after this accident is a friend who is recuperating from a car accident and coming to dinner tonight.  She walks with a ‘walker’ and I couldn’t wait to tell her that I would be greeting her at my front door…..with my walker!

I’m sure not everybody could find this funny….

Some time ago I promised that I would talk about what it’s like to write a memoir.  Well, since it is practically complete, I can now tell more about the experience:  what it’s like, and what I learned.  Whether I enjoyed doing it or found it difficult.

As you can see, there are a lot of feelings, positive and negative.

One of the most interesting things I learned is how many different worlds I was part of and how each connected– or didn’t. Beginning with the world of building, construction, and design — which is what I did for over twenty years.  Abe and I left the family business and went on our own to build.  We loved it and were part of this city’s post war growth.  We were partners and I loved choosing locations and designing buildings and houses for the growing DC population.

Then a major tragedy hit our family.  My daughter Linda, died, after major heart surgery.  Abe and I were devastated, and simply sat and held hands for a year.

Then, one day a call came offering us an opportunity to buy the Baltimore Bullets basketball team.  I wasn’t thrilled at the time, but Abe thought it might help us overcome some of the sadness.  I agreed and we spent the next 46 years in the world of sports and entertainment.

There are lots of stories to tell about that change and the differences between those “lives,” but I will save them for future blogs.  It’s been quite an adventure; full of surprises.

Sometimes sad, sometimes happy, but mostly gratifying.

I shared my thoughts about local sports reporting in a letter to the editor today.

You can read the letter here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/owners-and-athletes-even-of-losing-teams-want-to-win/2015/05/18/4160bb6e-fb48-11e4-a47c-e56f4db884ed_story.html

Recently I noticed a photo of Carl Ray on the cover of a D.C. magazine, and the publication described him  as “the First Lady’s image maker.”  Nothing unusual at first; then as I continued to look at it, it struck me as really odd.

Why does the First lady need a professional image maker?  What was wrong with the way she was?  What does she have to change and why?

My family and I had a wonderful opportunity to spend private time with her at the Verizon Center one evening in our private conference room soon after they were in office.   She arrived, wearing her J. Crew outfit and she was wonderful.   She was warm, delightful, and fun; we were all pleased to have this “down to earth” woman as our new First Lady.

Then what?  Where did she go?  Why?

Now, Hillary Clinton has had many more image makers over the years.   I also met her when she was warm, delightful, and fun.    Now, as her campaign moves forward, and there is not one Hillary — there are many.

I am wondering when I go to vote, which one should I be voting for?

A few nights ago, I had the privilege of sitting next to a former Ambassador to the U.S. from an Eastern European country.   He now lives in the U.S. with his wife and family.  Beginning with some small talk about music, he began to reveal his basic love for everything American from early childhood while living in a censored society.   He talked about his love for Rock and Roll born from hours of secretly listening to Radio Free Europe, his dreams of eventually coming here, and all of his imaginings of what life would be like here as opposed to his experience.

As I listened to him, I was reminded of my experience growing up in a completely different society, free to speak and listen to whatever and whoever.  And, how I understood the difference between freedom and censorship after my first contact with such a society.

My parents came from a pleasant town in Russia, called Zaslav. My mother came with her family but my father came later (he was madly in love with her and followed her even spending a year in Cuba!).   Doing so, he left his Mother and Sister behind. His Mother did eventually come to the U.S., but he never saw his sister again.

He stayed in touch with them through regular correspondence and when he died in 1963, my mother picked up with the correspondence until she died, six months later.  Knowing how important this relationship was, I immediately found a translator and began writing.

Now I am getting to the point of my story.  Because of my own total naiveté and insatiable curiosity, I began asking what life was like for them — in detail.  Several letters were exchanged without any answers and then they stopped coming.   At first, I thought they were just too preoccupied with everyday life and I continued to write and continued to probe.

But there were no more letters.

After a period of time, I finally guessed what had happened;   I realized what I had inadvertently done.  I was pressing them for information that they knew would be read by the censors and they were unwilling to take any chances.

They were not willing to get into trouble because of the stupidity of their American relative.

I simply could not conceive of living with that kind of fear, having grown up in the U.S.

Fast forward to 1989.  We now have a hockey team; we travelled with the team to Russia for exhibition games.   But I had more on my mind than hockey.   I was still searching for my Aunt and her family.

Then I found her.  She was in Zlobin.   We excitedly went to visit her and when she saw me, she hugged me, and with tears running down her face, called me, “Irinichka! Irinichka!”

I had finally closed the loop that I had left dangling twenty-two years earlier.   And by this time I had traveled in the 70’s to Communist China and Russia.

I now understood her fears that had kept her from writing to me.

Listening to my dinner partner the other night, I understood completely what he was telling me about his childhood dream of living in a free society, his joy of having his children enjoy a freedom that he had dreamed about…. as he was secretly listening to American Rock and Roll.

Last week I had a wonderful “coming together” experience at a Wizards basketball game.   It is something that for many years I never thought would happen and then it did.

Since 1974, when I became a professional psychotherapist, counseling patients coping with chronic illnesses, I had always thought there was a complete separation from my daytime work life and my nighttime “going to games” life.   I always felt as though I functioned in two separate and distinct worlds and never the twain shall meet.   Somehow, I never imagined that my patients or the doctors went to games.

Well, only recently, have I realized how narrow my thinking was, even ridiculous. Maybe, it was my need to keep the two worlds separate.

However, this past week, I had the opportunity to bring the two worlds together.  For me, that was extremely gratifying.  Two of my guests at a game were two wonderful doctors (that I have been working with for years) and their families.

They know more about the game than I do.

But, for me, having them there beside me; sharing the experience, made my life come together.

Making it whole, not separated.

People, after all, are not just single entities.  We have multiple “parts” and we’re complicated.

After all, isn’t that what makes us human beings so interesting?

For any rabid sports fan whose fantasy is to someday own a professional team, let me tell you that it isn’t all fun and excitement. Yes, a lot of it IS fun and excitement — I don’t want to be a spoil-sport. It is definitely thrilling to watch your team take the court or the ice or the field – the team that you have spent months building and worried over for months (sometimes years!).
Watching the players come together in a winning game is a real high. Getting into the playoffs is even more thrilling. And, of course, a championship is beyond words.
But, there are the games that also tear your heart out (well, that is a bit strong). There are definitely the games that you need to win that will make a difference toward the end of the season; the ones you need to get into the playoffs and the ones that position you in the playoffs. By this time, you are dreaming of going the “whole way.”
And, no matter how realistic you try to be, your mind is taking you there. And the media and league are beginning to pay attention and put you on national television, even on a Sunday afternoon. This is big!
So now you are past worrying about the injuries and downtimes – all you want to do is win, win big and win with flair. You want to show the world how great you are!
And then…what? After forty-six years in this business, I can still say “what?” Who knows what will happen? Of course, all the experts will seek answers but there are so many variables, so many possibilities, and so many theories. And which is the right one?
Now, I’ve told you the reason so many people love sports world wide. It is the fact of not knowing; not being able to predict the result. It’s the surprise that gives it the thrills.
What fun would it be to know the result before you start? It’s the anticipation at the beginning of each game and the surprise ending that makes sports forever exciting.
However, there is a price.
And that can be a miserable, gut-wrenching loss. And as an owner, you never get over it.
Ouch!

Up until last week, when Ted Leonsis reminded me in an e-mail, that I was the only person in the area with a championship ring, I hadn’t really thought of myself in this way.

Did that make me special….or the ring?

I think it’s the ring.

Of course, I am lucky to have it for many reasons.

One reason: the memories it brings to mind.  Particularly, memories of the season leading up to the final game.  Everything had to come together perfectly, and it did in 1978.  We peaked at the right time and we were fairly healthy coming into the Finals.  And, as we found out during other seasons, at any moment, things can fall apart, especially with injuries.

But, really there is a lot of magic involved and we had several examples of “magic” that year: the “Fat Lady” that Dick Motta introduced, who stuck by us all the way; Abe’s lucky tie that I guarded with my life — no cleaners allowed to touch it.  And General Manager Jerry Sachs’ life was in danger if he forgot the M&M’s!  As for me, I wouldn’t have one hair cut off of my head until the final buzzer of that Championship game.

Did we think we would really do it? Practically, all of us almost stopped breathing; from game to game as the season moved along. We almost stopped speaking to each other for fear of saying the wrong word. We all just continued to move from game to game like robots; turning off our feelings as much as possible.

I would say the ring had our number on it that year. Everything went right for the first time in fifteen years, an almost impossible situation.

Abe never took that ring off of his finger from that moment on (even though it was too big for his hand.)   Still, when Ted Leonsis invited me to represent the Wizards at the 2010 NBA Lottery, I took that ring out of the drawer and wore it to the ceremony.

And it still generated magic….we have John Wall to prove it!