Sixers coach Brett Brown revels at visiting the nation's capital

WASHINGTON - Having lived in Australia for many years and coached in International championships and Olympics, there are few places around the globe that Brett Brown hasn't seen. Still, it's the city that sits only a couple of hours' south of Philadelphia that gets Brown's always running motor even more revved.

An avid runner, Brown say running along the Potomac River in Washington is one of his favorite spots, and acknowledges that, now he is older and wiser, everything about our nation's capital piques his interest.

"I've always been remotely interested," Brown said. "I think that when (Barack) Obama burst on to the scene, I felt like it was historical. I felt like I was living in a period of time that the first African-American president was about to be named. I thought his ability to talk to the public was jaw dropping. I felt like it was clear before he was elected - forget what party you're most afiliated with - you just sensed that something historical was taking place. So it went into overdrive for me then. It coincided with my times with Pop (Gregg Popovich), who is very, very interested in all of this. I think living overseas for 17 years, you look backwards and you look at the United States differently than when I was raised here. There is a global perspective and a global feel you have on how the world works and the collision of Obama and 17 years overseas and just getting older and a little bit more curious is the reason."

Last season, the Sixers were able to make a trip to the White House. Thursday, they were supposed to visit the Pentagon, but that plan was scratched because of delays getting out of Philadelphia.

"We were very disappointed to not go to the Pentagon," Brown said. "We had a trip organized through the White House and the NBA. As our plane was delayed in Philadelphia, you kept looking at your watch wondering at what point do we have to cancel this very cool trip. When you start studying who really is in the Pentagon - the branches of our military, the archives of information that is stored there - nobody really knows how many floors there are. There is evidently 17 1/2 miles of a circumference of the fence. There is telephone wiring that would go around the circumference of the earth 4 1/2 times. All the secrecy and the privacy and the United States security is housed there. And we were going to go visit, and we missed that opportunity because of some technical difficulties of an airplane. I like sharing that type of experience with my players, old or young. We were disappointed not to be able to do that."

Brown loves talking current events with his team. He enjoys watching his young players learn about the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. or Nelson Mandela and the hardships they faced. It's more than basketball with Brown. It's life lessons.

Brett Brown has often talked about what a big fan he is of Bruce Springteen. He talks of how the aging rocker has taken such good care of himself through the years, still puts on long and energetic shows and has an ability to relate with fans of a much younger age.

Friday, Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at the Wells Fargo Center, and Brown, his wife and three kids will see "The Boss" for the first time.

"I've had the kids watching some of his live shows to get them ready," said Brown, who said he knows The River album, which is featured on this tour, "inside and out."

Rookie Richaun Holmes sat out Friday's game and probably will miss Saturday's with a sprained ankle suffered during workouts on Thursday. Holmes did not travel with the team to Washington. Brown said that there was no ligament damage but that it was a pretty good sprain.

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