Always a good sport, Brotman laughed alongside friends over funny stories and funnier gifts. Photo by Mike Greenhill.

Charlie Brotman is one of the all-around good guys in Washington, so it wasn’t surprising to see so many sports and media luminaries show up to celebrate his 80th birthday Tuesday night at Les Halles.

What was surprising was to find that Andy Ockershausen, the longtime head of WMAL radio and now a top exec at Comcast Sportsnet, can be as funny and cutting at the microphone as he is in private. When Brotman’s buddy Henry “Shipwreck” Saks approached the microphone to dish on his pal Charlie, Ockershausen said he and Brotman were so close they bought their rugs at the same place.

Then Mark Russell went right for the hair, or lack of it. Russell harkened back to the early days of major league baseball at RFK Stadium, where Brotman was the public address announcer, and how there’s never been artificial turf there.

“A claim Charlie can’t make,” he said.

Photos by Liz Gorman

Want to see more photos from Washington events and parties? Click here for Washingtonian.com's photo slideshow page. 

Capitol Hill staffers, lobbyists, techies, and media folks braved the weather Thursday night to celebrate Google’s official arrival in Washington, a moment marked by the presence of Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The event, the swankiest “office” party Washington has seen in years, included test tubes filled with vodka and cranberry juice (nicknamed YouTubes), copious snacks—from coconut shrimp to mini-burgers to miniature ice-cream cones—and an open bar complete with glowing Google-themed glasses. A game room, including foosball and Guitar Hero, entertained guests while a giant Lite-Brite-like wall in the main room gave the party a clublike atmosphere.

Google’s new space—31,000 square feet on the second floor of a new office building north of Metro Center on New York Avenue—is obviously meant for growth: Only a score of Googlers currently occupy the offices. Behind-the-scenes tours showed off the new workspace, where yoga balls sat beside every desk and giant bowls and shelves of snacks and candy awaited the workday.

Unfortunately for guests, the new Capitol Hill gift rules ruined the party’s swag factor: On their way out, attendees were offered “nominal value” mementos—a business-card holder or a Google baseball hat.

One clear sign of the company’s emerging power in Washington? Washington Post Company CEO Donald Graham—not exactly a regular at these types of events—worked the room for a good while.

What: The inaugural BET Honors Awards, an evening of all-star performances and recognition of black achievement in business, entertainment, social justice, and philanthropy. The event will be televised on Friday, February 22, at 8 PM during Black History Month.

Dr. Cornel West was honored in the inspirational category.

Where: DC’s historic Warner Theatre, with an after-party across the street at the Ronald Reagan Building. BET has “done a number of significant shows in other cities,” explained Debra Lee, the network’s chair and CEO. “But what better place to honor these individuals than in our home city of Washington, DC?”

When: Saturday, January 12, 7 PM.

Actress Kerry Washington introduced Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Who: The Warner had a capacity crowd, its front rows filled with the 30 or so stars who graced the red carpet prior to the show. The evening revolved around award winners in six categories: singer Alicia Keys (entertainment), talk-show host Tyra Banks (media), author Cornel West (inspirational/education), Time Warner chair Richard Parsons (corporate), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (government) and ACT-1 CEO Janice Bryant Howroyd (entrepreneur). The event was hosted by a very patient Cedric the Entertainer, who began the show three different times due to technical difficulties. The comedian was assisted in introducing the nominees by actors Hill Harper, Idris Elba, Vivica A. Fox, Blair Underwood, Danny Glover, and Kerry Washington. Musical performers were Raheem DeVaughn, Jill Scott, Wyclef Jean, Brian McKnight, Stevie Wonder (he performed “As” twice—did someone forget to turn the camera on?), John Legend, and Gladys Knight. Apparently, Michael Jackson was scheduled to make a surprise performance, but alas, the superstar was nowhere to be seen. Instead, 25-year-old Ne-Yo gave a less-than-thriller-quality but very good closing performance.

Other guests included R&B singer-songwriter Keyshia Cole, whose slinky dress revealed no fewer than four tattoos, and actor Mario Van Peebles, who wore a shiny black shirt and glittery black pants vaguely reminiscent of pajama bottoms. Hip-hop artist Chingy dressed up his casual brown leather jacket and tennis shoes with a gigantic star-shaped rhinestone ring, while DC mayor Adrian Fenty and wife Michelle opted for more traditional formalwear.

Photograph by Matthew Worden.

As an eighth-grader playing basketball in Silver Spring, Roy Hibbert was something of a liability for his team. The then-six-foot-eight player kept racking up technical fouls for dunking, which CYO rules forbid. But when the hoop is that close, what’s a kid to do?

These days, when he’s center for the Georgetown Hoyas, no one minds Hibbert’s dunking. Last season he averaged 13 points a game, sometimes offering the performances of which high NBA draft picks are made.

“He has great hands and passing ability, good footwork, and great timing,” says Alonzo Mourning, another star center who played for Georgetown and who is now with the Miami Heat.

Hibbert submitted his name for the draft in mid-April alongside fellow junior Jeff Green but pulled it back a few weeks later, deciding to finish his final year at Georgetown. Green was the number-five pick in the draft and went to the Seattle SuperSonics.

“The opportunity will hopefully be there for me next year,” says Hibbert. “I’m committed to Georgetown and getting my degree.”

That degree will be in government. His interest in politics explains why one former teammate took to calling him “governor”—as in a future governor of Maryland. “Hopefully that’s down the line after a basketball career,” says Hibbert.

The Adelphi native has been playing on the Hilltop since he was a freshman at Georgetown Prep, scrimmaging with college players. “The older guys knocked me around,” Hibbert says. But he kept going back, and those matchups helped improve his coordination and low-post skills enough to earn the attention of Georgetown recruiters.

The NBA waits while Hibbert is enjoying his time being a college senior: getting up for morning classes, playing Xbox, and experiencing the celebrity afforded a Big East champion. Hibbert says he doesn’t relish the spotlight.

“People will come up to me and give me high-fives, but I’m just a guy that’s real quiet,” he says. “I don’t like to be the center of attention.”