Abe Pollin, 1923-2009

A little over an hour ago, the news broke that Abe Pollin, longtime owner of Washington Sports And Entertainment, which included Verizon Center, the NBA’s Washignton Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, and the old Capital Centre/USAir Arena (now an outdoor shopping center), is dead. Pollin died earlier this afternoon in his suburban Washington, DC home. He was 85.

I admittedly poked fun at him because of the Wiz and their performance in recent years by calling him “Dishonest Abe”, but he was a great man who did a lot for the Washington, DC area. He and his wife Irene were very active in the community and did a lot of charity work, and Pollin is in the B’nai Brith Hall Of Fame (I think that’s what it’s called), which recognizes outstanding contributions from Jewish-Americans. I have very fond memories of Capital Centre, attending many Capitals games as a child with my father (great times those were) and one Wizards game back when they were the Bullets, as well as other events. I only have been to one event at Verizon Center (a Georgetown baketball game years ago) but it really set off an amazing revitalization of downtown Washington in and around the Chinatown section of the city. And although I didn’t always agree with his decisions running the Wizards, I still admired his dedication, he wanted to own the team until they won another NBA Championship (their last and only one to date was in 1978). He also was very active with Abe’s Kitchen, his charity that helped provide meals and other services to the needy in the city.

The Wizards will host Philadelphia and old coach Eddie Jordan tonight, it’ll be the first time in a very long time, if not ever, that Pollin won’t own the team or probably be there to watch…a testament to the legacy of a great man. He will be very greatly missed.

Thanks for many great memories and for all you did for us and the area, Abe. We’ll always be very grateful. R.I.P. and God Bless…

UPDATE: The funeral will be Friday (November 27) in Washington. A public service is planned for December 8 in Washington, possibly at Verizon Center, the arena that essentially was his life’s lottery ticket. He gambled everything he had on it, paying for it completely out of his own pocket, in the hopes it would revitalize downtown DC like it did. As for the Wizards and Washington Sports & Entertainment, ownership is TBA but it’s likely going to wind up with Caps owner Ted Leonsis, who has/had right of first refusal aka first chance to buy the Wizards when Pollin died or retired.

Rant: Sports Must Stop Selling Out To Madison Avenue

The past week-plus has really made me sick. Not just physically (as usual) but mentally, and especially with what’s been happening in the NBA, NHL, and more recently MMA. It seems to me that, at least during the postseason, sports isn’t doing what is in the best interest of the fans, but more like the ad execs who annoy us to death because of all the commercials, among other things. And I can’t stand that. Time to rant.

My Thoughts On The Week In Sports, 5/12-5/18

Once again instead of doing a week in baseball post there’s a lot happening elsewhere in sports that I wanted to offer my take on. Here we go…

My Thoughts On The Week In Sports, 5/5-5/11

Normally I’d do a post like this on mainly baseball, but there’s a bit elsewhere happening this past week I wanted to offer my thoughts on. Click below to read on.

If The NBA’s LA Lakers Need A New Laker Girl…

Or “Further Proof I Spend WAY Too Much Time Browsing cagepotato.com During The Day”. Although I’d seen this pic elsewhere, and it’s a nice one, it’s a good audition for a future Laker Girl assuming UFC would let her do it.

The Big 5K, Diesel-Style

Just A Few More Bricks...

There is little doubt among those in the NBA and NBA fans, myself included,  that Shaquille O’Neal is among the greatest centers to ever play the game, if not the greatest. He’s done it all-All-Star appearances, MVPs, NBA Championships, you name it, he’s done it. Except for one thing…free throws. John Hollinger of ESPN.com notes that, with just 9 more misses, Shaq will hit The Big 5K-he will become only the 2nd player in NBA history to miss 5,000 free throws in his career. The first? Some past-era jock named Wilt Chamberlain with 5805. In fact, Shaq and Wilt are the only players to miss more than 3401 shots (that’s how many #3 on the list-Karl Malone-missed). Will Shaq actually catch Wilt on the all-time list of most misses? If he actually keeps his word and retires after the 2009-2010 season, possibly. He’s only a 52.1% career FT shooter, but he’s all the way up to 58.7% this year. And given the constant employment of the “Hack-A-Shaq” strategy late in games, especially later in the season, he’s got a good shot. But interestingly, by percentage Shaq is far from the worst-ever, at least among active players. That would be Ben Wallace-41.9% to date. And think about this fun stat-Shaq is 10th all-time in scoring. Had he made just 60% of his career FTs, he’d be 5th. And another fun one ESPN came up with-if you combine all the missed FTs by the Top 12 shooters in NBA/ABA history, Shaq’s just about missed more. Those 12 missed only 4995 combined.

And how long might this record last? Do some number crunching, calculations, and MMAth, and my estimate comes out to…9 years. That’s when, if this trend continues, a then-32-year-old Dwight Howard will catch and pass Shaq. It’s still a pretty cool stat and maybe something fun that Shaq can do a bad rap later on. I wonder what Kobe would think?

(And for those curious since I mentioned the worst FT-shooter ever, the best-ever by percentage? Mark Price. At 90.4%, he’s the only player to have a career mark of 90% or better)