Monthly Archives: August 2010

If It Doesn’t Kill You It Makes You Stronger

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We didn’t play very well last night. We were down 9 points in a blink of the eye. We were down 15 points twice. We closed the gap to 2 points but couldn’t contain Atlanta when it counted and lost playoff game 1 at home.

Onward to Friday on the road. If we win, we come back home on Sunday and play at 4:00 pm.

Our team is resilient and has heart. I am planning my Sunday accordingly. Hope to see you at at Verizon Center. Thanks for a great turnout last night.

8.5 Minutes of Kevin Seraphin

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Thank you for posting this video. It is a good one and I think you will all enjoy it. Scroll down and watch. Kevin is a big man with good hands and strength on the block. Good fundamentals and good foot work.

Last night there was a pick-up game played at Verizon Center on our practice court. There were many NBA players in attendance and a few NBA All-Stars played as well. I stumbled into watching purely by accident.

Gilbert Arenas played last night. It was a very good evening of basketball. Gil – our All-Star - matched up against another NBA All-Star. It was quite a show and quite a display of talent.

I won’t comment yet on Gilbert or who was in the gym last night but suffice to say Gilbert looked trim, fit and explosive. His shot was sweet and he did one left handed dunk that was something to see. It had everyone talking. I was impressed and am happy.

Talk About Some Quasi Intellectual Who Doesn’t Get It!

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Here you go.

This proposition is just what we don’t need taught at our business schools.

The University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business should be ashamed. I thought this article was circa 2007!

Pursuit of a double bottom line for companies makes sense because the new consumer demands it. They want to buy from companies they respect and trust. Employees are more productive knowing they are working for a company with a higher calling and shareholders hold CEOs to a very tough standard of “doing the right things the right way.”

Goodness and happiness are not a tax. They are a mandatory deliverable to deliver great services from motivated employees; profits follow; not the other way around.

I have run public companies and private companies. I am on the board of public companies and private companies. If anyone came to me with this case - the case against social responsibility - I would terminate them on the spot. Yuck.

Paint

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It is a little thing.

You will see many changes at Verizon Center and around our teams this coming season.

My goal is 101 visible signs of change in 101 days. Big changes and small changes. I hope they add up to a combined set of nice improvements for our fans. Most of the changes – which we will communicate to you in a formal way soon - were generated via ideas to me from you, our fans.

Yes, there is some new paint on some of the stairs. See this article.

Yes, the garage has been painted. It looks more open, brighter and cleaner now.

We pressure cleaned outside of the arena yesterday and we cleaned some more of the windows. Our staff is dedicated and professional and they care about you and our city!

Every day we are pouring energy, passion and hard work into making Verizon Center a world class facility; safe; secure; clean and modern. Mr. Pollin believed in the community. He wanted the building to be a great modern public space. The building is world class. It is our goal to keep it updated and maintained and to make you all proud.

A Fan Noted a “Nice Little Trifecta”

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I received a nice and compelling email from a fan of all things sports related in DC. It had a unique perspective on things.

The fan said, “You are on a nice little roll but don’t get too cocky. The Bears, the Caps and the Mystics have all won their respective Eastern Conference titles in the same year. Too bad you can’t win three championships in the same year. NOW that would be an accomplishment. Good luck to you with the Mystics in the playoffs. Make it two titles out of three! And replace the Mystics attendance banners with a real banner this summer!”

It is sobering and thrilling to say that we now have three teams in our orbit that each won the Eastern Conference title in the same year.

So far only one ring - with our Hershey affiliate - but we certainly are building a winning culture and trying to create exciting teams that get results and compile terrific records. It is better than the alternative I guess. I am hopeful the Mystics learn from the Capitals’ mistakes and take this first round of the playoffs quite seriously.

But give credit where credit is due: Three Eastern Conference championships in the same year with teams we all work on regarding player acquisition; development; strategy and execution.

We have work to do but we are making progress. Thanks for making my day with that nice email.