Abe Pollin

There was no way that last shot could go in. No way the Washington Wizards could lose their first game without the only owner the franchise had known through 46 seasons. Louis Williams' three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out, giving the Wizards an emotional 108-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, hours after the death of owner Abe Pollin. "I guess Mr. P, he probably contested that last shot better than anybody," Wizards Coach Flip Saunders said. Down the hall, the opposing coach -- who worked for Pollin until last season -- uttered the same thought.

Can lightning strike again, not quite a year later? Let's just say there is a 2.3% chance of such an event unfolding for the Clippers on Tuesday night in the NBA draft lottery at Secaucus, N.J. Frankly, team President Andy Roeser's lucky jacket can work only so many miracles. Should the Clippers hit the lottery jackpot for the second time in as many years, getting the No. 1 draft pick again, there probably would be a movie made about the feat: "The Brotherhood of the Traveling Jacket."

There goes a great Bullet, er, Wizard. Even if the whole world abandoned Gilbert Arenas, who had the misfortune to become perfectly inconvenient and vulnerable at the same time, there was one man who would have remembered all he meant to the Washington Wizards and the "legacy of Abe Pollin" the late owner's family keeps talking about. That man, of course, was Abe Pollin. If Pollin was different, it wasn't for being wildly successful as an NBA owner, because he wasn't.

University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert was named the NCAA's new chief executive on Tuesday. He succeeds Myles Brand , who died last September from pancreatic cancer. Brand was the first ex-university president to lead college sports' largest governing body and the first chief executive to die in office. Jim Isch has served as interim president since Sept. 22 and will continue to do so for the next several months. Emmert will begin his duties Nov. 1. NCAA officials said he was given a five-year contract.

President Reagan announced the appointment Friday of Irene Pollin, wife of Washington Bullets basketball team owner Abe Pollin, as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board. She is a psychiatric social worker and executive director of the Medical Crisis Counseling Center in Washington.

Abe Pollin plans to sell the NHL's Washington Capitals and his minority interests in the NBA's Washington Wizards and the MCI Center to an executive of America Online. "I want to stress here and now that I am not retiring," Pollin, 75, said Wednesday at a news conference in Washington. AOL executive Ted Leonsis, along with partners Jonathan Ledecky and Capital president Dick Patrick, are investing about $200 million in the sale.

Bonfire of the Wizards Day 27 of Gilbert Held Hostage . . . . With sentencing put off until March, the prosecutors got what they needed, insisting Gilbert Arenas plead guilty to a felony, not a misdemeanor, recommending only six months in jail. That must be the difference between getting busted in the District of Columbia and the suburbs, like Cleveland's Delonte West . West was charged with four misdemeanors for carrying two loaded handguns and a loaded shotgun on his motorcycle, may beat jail with his bipolar history and is playing, amid no controversy.

There's hope for the rest of us In the good news for Gilbert Arenas , at least they didn't send him to Alcatraz to bunk with Al Capone . Actually, Alcatraz is part of a national park, Capone is dead and the big guy wouldn't have taken anyone who was in for not licensing unloaded pistols seriously, anyway. The judge set aside a request for three months in jail by the crusading D.A. — who let teammate Javaris Crittenton off with a misdemeanor — instead suspending Arenas' sentence with 30 days in a halfway house.

University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert was named the NCAA's new chief executive on Tuesday. He succeeds Myles Brand , who died last September from pancreatic cancer. Brand was the first ex-university president to lead college sports' largest governing body and the first chief executive to die in office. Jim Isch has served as interim president since Sept. 22 and will continue to do so for the next several months. Emmert will begin his duties Nov. 1. NCAA officials said he was given a five-year contract.

Can lightning strike again, not quite a year later? Let's just say there is a 2.3% chance of such an event unfolding for the Clippers on Tuesday night in the NBA draft lottery at Secaucus, N.J. Frankly, team President Andy Roeser's lucky jacket can work only so many miracles. Should the Clippers hit the lottery jackpot for the second time in as many years, getting the No. 1 draft pick again, there probably would be a movie made about the feat: "The Brotherhood of the Traveling Jacket."

There's hope for the rest of us In the good news for Gilbert Arenas , at least they didn't send him to Alcatraz to bunk with Al Capone . Actually, Alcatraz is part of a national park, Capone is dead and the big guy wouldn't have taken anyone who was in for not licensing unloaded pistols seriously, anyway. The judge set aside a request for three months in jail by the crusading D.A. — who let teammate Javaris Crittenton off with a misdemeanor — instead suspending Arenas' sentence with 30 days in a halfway house.

There goes a great Bullet, er, Wizard. Even if the whole world abandoned Gilbert Arenas, who had the misfortune to become perfectly inconvenient and vulnerable at the same time, there was one man who would have remembered all he meant to the Washington Wizards and the "legacy of Abe Pollin" the late owner's family keeps talking about. That man, of course, was Abe Pollin. If Pollin was different, it wasn't for being wildly successful as an NBA owner, because he wasn't.

Bonfire of the Wizards Day 27 of Gilbert Held Hostage . . . . With sentencing put off until March, the prosecutors got what they needed, insisting Gilbert Arenas plead guilty to a felony, not a misdemeanor, recommending only six months in jail. That must be the difference between getting busted in the District of Columbia and the suburbs, like Cleveland's Delonte West . West was charged with four misdemeanors for carrying two loaded handguns and a loaded shotgun on his motorcycle, may beat jail with his bipolar history and is playing, amid no controversy.

There was no way that last shot could go in. No way the Washington Wizards could lose their first game without the only owner the franchise had known through 46 seasons. Louis Williams' three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out, giving the Wizards an emotional 108-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, hours after the death of owner Abe Pollin. "I guess Mr. P, he probably contested that last shot better than anybody," Wizards Coach Flip Saunders said. Down the hall, the opposing coach -- who worked for Pollin until last season -- uttered the same thought.

Abe Pollin plans to sell the NHL's Washington Capitals and his minority interests in the NBA's Washington Wizards and the MCI Center to an executive of America Online. "I want to stress here and now that I am not retiring," Pollin, 75, said Wednesday at a news conference in Washington. AOL executive Ted Leonsis, along with partners Jonathan Ledecky and Capital president Dick Patrick, are investing about $200 million in the sale.

President Reagan announced the appointment Friday of Irene Pollin, wife of Washington Bullets basketball team owner Abe Pollin, as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board. She is a psychiatric social worker and executive director of the Medical Crisis Counseling Center in Washington.

Houston Rocket star center Hakeem Olajuwon and teammates Kevin Willis and Mario Elie were suspended on Monday for one game for their part in a fight between Olajuwon and Phoenix Sun forward Antonio McDyess. Olajuwon was suspended and fined $10,000 for initiating the brawl Saturday by throwing a punch at McDyess. McDyess was suspended and fined for retaliating by throwing punches at Olajuwon. Olajuwon, Willis and Elie sat out the Rockets' game at Utah Monday night.

Representatives of the Washington Bullets and disgruntled forward John Williams met with NBA arbitrator Daniel Collins, but it will be at least another week before Williams learns if he will receive the $426,000 he claims the team owes him. Williams claimed the Bullets promised to pay him all the money they owed him after he returned from his December 1989 knee injury.