The new Washington DC baseball team

[Kathleen E. Miller]

>
>I seem to remember Pollin making some statement about the
>assassination of Itzak Rabin, whom he described as a good friend.

The Washington Post 11/10/1995

"Washington Bullets owner Abe Pollin announced yesterday that his NBA team
will get a new nickname when it moves into MCI Center in 1997. Pollin said
fans will be invited to submit nominations for the new name and to vote on
the five finalists selected by the team's hand-picked panel. However,
Pollin and his staff retain the right to pick the new name.

"I just came back from Israel, where I attended the funeral of my good
friend, Prime Minister [Yitzhak] Rabin," Pollin said. "My friend was shot
in the back by bullets. The name Bullets for a sports team is no longer
appropriate. This franchise has a history and we'll maintain that history."

They've been known as the Bullets for 33 seasons, since 1963, when they
moved to Baltimore from Chicago, where they were the Packers for a season
and the Zephyrs for a season. They kept the name Bullets even after Pollin
moved them from Baltimore to the Maryland suburbs in 1973."

Kathleen E. Miller
The New York Times