RIP Ken Olsen

Ken was a true pioneer of the computer age.

The evangelist of mini computers and the founder of Digital Equipment Corp. during the 70′s and 80′s DEC was the hot and important company along Route 128 outside of Boston.

Ken was a very nice man. I met him in several meetings in 1978 and he once recruited me to the company. I didn’t do it. He founded DEC in 1957. He was a giant and a visionary although a man that didn’t really buy into personal computing and the net! He was born in 1926 and may be the longest living tech executive around. He positively touched literally hundreds of thousands of employees and people in New England. They were all better for having known Ken and having worked for DEC.

RIP Ken. You will be missed.

How Many People Have Heard Me Encourage…

Folks to go to the National Archives right here in our own city?

And see the Declaration of Independence?

And look at the unedited phrase “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”? The Archives is truly a national treasure. I fell over when I saw a letter to the President asking for a dollar from a Cuban teenager, none other than Fidel Castro!

I am proud that the San Jose Sharks took the tour. This is such a great way to enjoy a road trip.

Todd McLellan is a good man. Recently the Sharks were in Philly and they went to the UPenn gym – named after a good friend David Pottruck – to work out. My son was in the gym lifting; met the coach; and they had a very nice chat about hockey and the league and our teams.

Read this story. Well done Washington Post. Thank you!

I Am Hopeful – D League

One day I am hopeful that we can develop players in the D league as well as we develop players and have a partnership like the Caps do with the Hershey Bears.

Our Caps head coach and one main assistant coach were in Hershey where they both won championships as a head coach.

Many of the players in our lineup started in or played in the AHL and in Hershey. Many were developed and won championships in the AHL as young players. We care very much about our partnership with Hershey.

The players on two way deals come up and go back to Hershey often and are welcomed and are very productive for the Caps. Proximity is good.We try to teach a similar system and style. And we use similar vocabulary. And we schedule in a similar format.

We think development and retention of our teams and our players in an integrated fashion.

While today the rules are different between the AHL and the D league and our professional teams, I am hopeful that the D league can be developed and utilized to become an essential part of the overall program of success and excellence for our NBA team. We need to leverage all of the tools at our disposal in our rebuild.

Here is a story about the adventures of one of our draft picks who got to spend a month in North Dakota. Long Johns Hamady! Click here to review.