Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post tells the story of the 1978 Washington Bullets championship team that will be honored at halftime of Saturday's game against the Indiana Pacers.
The lede is pretty incredible. Apparently, the championship trophy was stored in the late equipment manager's old house for many years. Ted Leonsis had to go find it and polish it up before bringing it back to Verizon Center.
"They bring it in," Leonsis recalled this week, "and it's got dings in it, it's matted, not shiny. My wife [Lynn] is best friends with the woman who runs Tiffany's in Tysons Corner, so I asked her to look at it, and I said, ‘Look at this - this is what we spend a billion dollars over our lifetime to try to win, and it's been sitting in someone's closet. Can you fix it?' It took about three months, but it came back perfect."
Kind of amazing that's how the trophy was treated for so many years. Kudos to Leonsis and all that were involved in recovering it.