Mci Center

Who: Flyers (5-3-1) at Washington Capitals (6-2-2) When: 7:05 Where: MCI Center, Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Radio: WIP (610-AM)  

If the arena's name was not displayed so prominently on the basketball court, it would have been easy, and understandable, to forget last night's game was played inside the MCI Center. Once called the Phone Booth by players, the MCI Center lacked a dial tone the last few years. But not last night. Last night, its crowd was as loud, as enthusiastic and as excited as any in the NBA. It was more than opening night. It was Michael Jordan's home debut as a Washington Wizards player, not the team's president of basketball operations, against the defending Eastern Conference champions.

Rod Strickland doesn't like the contract offer from the Washington Wizards. The Wizards like the proposal from David Falk, Strickland's agent, just as little. Anything is possible, but it sounds as if Strickland - the Wizards' point guard - will not be in uniform for Friday night's preseason opener against the 76ers at the First Union Center. Strickland, 32, voiced his displeasure in an open letter to Washington fans distributed through Falk. "The Wizards want to blame my age on their reluctance to provide me with a five-year contract," he wrote, saying he wants to complete his career in Washington.

They're not questioning why, but the Washington Wizards have needed no period of adjustment to their new home. Juwan Howard scored 21 points and Rod Strickland had 13 points and 13 assists as the Wizards remained unbeaten at their new arena with an 88-86 victory over the Utah Jazz last night. The Wizards blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead before recovering for their fifth straight victory at the MCI Center. "We played tough. I think that was the most important thing," Strickland said after Washington snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 8-0 against Western Conference teams.

The scene seemed fitting, especially on a weekend like this. Rasheed Wallace was sitting on one side of the room, Chris Webber on the other. Both were bombarded by fans and reporters, both in a city in which they once played. Meanwhile, Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin and general manager Wes Unseld were nowhere to be found - missing in action on a star-studded weekend in the nation's capital. No Wizards player will represent the franchise in tomorrow's NBA All-Star Game.

The fellows with the whitewash will soon be doing away with the mural of former Washington Wizard Chris Webber that rises six stories high across F Street from the MCI Center. If they're looking for another wizard to replace the recently traded Webber, there's one who wears a goalie's mask that's painted with the jaws of Godzilla, one who is gainfully employed in the MCI Center. He plays for the Washington Capitals, but like any good wizard, he's making teams disappear from the playoffs.

Susan O'Malley set her sights high at an early age, and she didn't allow a skeptical junior high school teacher to get in the way of her goal of one day running a professional sports franchise. Now 40 and operating the Washington Wizards, she is the NBA's only female team president. She runs not only the Wizards but the WNBA's Washington Mystics, the MCI Center, and Ticketmaster Washington-Baltimore for owner Abe Pollin and his company, Washington Sports and Entertainment. It's a good thing that she didn't pay attention to a well-intentioned but off-base female history teacher when she was in junior high.

The Washington Wizards played like the early-season Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers played like the early-season Wizards. The visiting Cavaliers even threw in a futile fourth-quarter rally, just as the Wizards often did during their worst start in franchise history. But the rally fell short, and the Wizards rode a newfound confidence to last night's 95-89 victory, their fifth straight. "We're not going to be satisfied as a team winning five games in a row," point guard Chris Whitney said.

Call it Revenge Standard Time. "It seemed like a week for this game to start" was the way Sixers point guard Allen Iverson described the time between the Sixers' dispirited 74-61 loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday night and their 100-88 victory over the Wizards last night at the MCI Center. With coach Larry Brown in North Carolina at his daughter Kristen's wedding, assistant coach Randy Ayers directed the Sixers to a split of their home-and-home preseason series. "We had to sit and watch that third quarter after the game the other night, and we didn't want to do it again tonight," Iverson said, referring to Brown's punishment of making the players watch the game film immediately after the contest.

Let the record show the Washington Wizards conceded before Al Gore. The MCI Center was their voting booth, and they lost in a landslide. Move over, Atlanta Hawks. Take a seat, Los Angeles Clippers. This was the NBA's version of the best of times and the worst of times. The 76ers, holding the league's best record at 17-5, stuffed the 4-18 Wizards, 102-82. No recount necessary. No rulings by outside forces. A beleaguered fan sitting behind the Sixers bench yelped, "It's hard to get up for these minor league games.

Who: Flyers (5-3-1) at Washington Capitals (6-2-2) When: 7:05 Where: MCI Center, Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Radio: WIP (610-AM)  

It has been nearly four weeks since the 76ers last visited Washington, but it seems like nothing much has changed from then to now. You remember Martin Luther King Day. The Sixers played their worst game of the season in a loss to the Wizards and heard some strange postgame talk, including a brief loud exchange between Chris Webber and coach Maurice Cheeks, and Allen Iverson saying he was unsure of his role on the team. The Sixers have played 12 games since then, some good, some bad. They are 6-6 in those contests, meaning they will enter the MCI Center for today's game against the Wizards at one game under .500, exactly where they were when they left that arena on Jan. 16. On that day, the Sixers suffered their worst loss of the season, 104-76.

Susan O'Malley set her sights high at an early age, and she didn't allow a skeptical junior high school teacher to get in the way of her goal of one day running a professional sports franchise. Now 40 and operating the Washington Wizards, she is the NBA's only female team president. She runs not only the Wizards but the WNBA's Washington Mystics, the MCI Center, and Ticketmaster Washington-Baltimore for owner Abe Pollin and his company, Washington Sports and Entertainment. It's a good thing that she didn't pay attention to a well-intentioned but off-base female history teacher when she was in junior high.

For the first time since Michael Jordan had hired him to be his coach with the Washington Wizards, Doug Collins detected a knot in his own stomach. "I knew how important this game was to Michael," Collins said last night, after it was over. This was the first time in his NBA career that Jordan was playing against the Chicago Bulls instead of for them. Everybody in the MCI Center knew what it meant to Jordan. Jordan had spent part of the day in a sauna, trying to sweat out the congestion in his lungs and in his sinuses.

If the arena's name was not displayed so prominently on the basketball court, it would have been easy, and understandable, to forget last night's game was played inside the MCI Center. Once called the Phone Booth by players, the MCI Center lacked a dial tone the last few years. But not last night. Last night, its crowd was as loud, as enthusiastic and as excited as any in the NBA. It was more than opening night. It was Michael Jordan's home debut as a Washington Wizards player, not the team's president of basketball operations, against the defending Eastern Conference champions.

The 50th anniversary of Topps baseball cards, a milestone in America's sports and collectibles worlds, will receive another high-profile salute this year with a special exhibit in Washington. The National Sports Gallery, adjacent to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and contained within the MCI Center, will honor Topps with a presentation of historic Topps material. The material is coming from sources around the country and will include vintage cards from the Golden Age of Sports Cards, advertising, packaging, uncut sheets and test products.

The scene seemed fitting, especially on a weekend like this. Rasheed Wallace was sitting on one side of the room, Chris Webber on the other. Both were bombarded by fans and reporters, both in a city in which they once played. Meanwhile, Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin and general manager Wes Unseld were nowhere to be found - missing in action on a star-studded weekend in the nation's capital. No Wizards player will represent the franchise in tomorrow's NBA All-Star Game.

The Washington Wizards played like the early-season Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers played like the early-season Wizards. The visiting Cavaliers even threw in a futile fourth-quarter rally, just as the Wizards often did during their worst start in franchise history. But the rally fell short, and the Wizards rode a newfound confidence to last night's 95-89 victory, their fifth straight. "We're not going to be satisfied as a team winning five games in a row," point guard Chris Whitney said.

It wasn't supposed to end this way. The 76ers, matched against one of the most woeful teams in the NBA, were supposed to cruise. Allen Iverson was supposed to provide the excitement. Coach Larry Brown was supposed to orchestrate it all. But it didn't happen that way in the Sixers' 86-82 victory over the Washington Wizards last night at the MCI Center. The hapless Wizards - who seem to be getting worse by the hour - were supposed to provide all the fuel for an annhilation.

Let the record show the Washington Wizards conceded before Al Gore. The MCI Center was their voting booth, and they lost in a landslide. Move over, Atlanta Hawks. Take a seat, Los Angeles Clippers. This was the NBA's version of the best of times and the worst of times. The 76ers, holding the league's best record at 17-5, stuffed the 4-18 Wizards, 102-82. No recount necessary. No rulings by outside forces. A beleaguered fan sitting behind the Sixers bench yelped, "It's hard to get up for these minor league games.