When Washington Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis trumpeted to the media that he was giving out his personal email address to fans, I thought that was pretty damn smart. It was a great public relations ploy to get fans thinking they had a responsive owner.
(Leonsis doesn’t appreciate your emails, implants)
And OF COURSE Leonsis would never check it anyway, since any dumbass knows the kind of responses Leonsis was sure to troll up.
Well Ted, I’d like to apologize for calling you a dumbass.
From Leonsis’ blog, TED’S TAKE:
I have made myself incredibly accessible to our fans and I mostly enjoy the interaction but it is becoming apparent that some fans abuse me and have gotten into the habit of just firing off hurtful missives about me personally or about our team; certain players on our team; or our fan base.
To be direct, we don’t deserve it and the abuse is probably the reason that most professional sports team owners don’t open their mailbox to fans.Without more restraint from some of you, I will be forced to shut down my email access. It is making the process of listening to our fan base too noisy and, frankly, it isn’t much fun.
I think it’s safe to say that Leonsis is one of the better owners in the NHL. He’s been honest with Caps fans over the years and has made a consistent effort to make the club a Stanley Cup contender.
But as one of the founders of AOL, you would’ve though he’d have been smart enough not to make his email public. One more reason I suppose that AOL is in the shape it’s in (I know, he’s long gone from the company but it shows an astonishing lack of internet savvy.)
2:52 pm on October 20th, 2008
Honestly, who didn't see this coming?
2:52 pm on October 20th, 2008
he does have a public facebook page, which he does respond to…
2:53 pm on October 20th, 2008
The NHL is still around? Didn't that league fold a couple of years ago?
2:57 pm on October 20th, 2008
At least Leonsis is making attempts to reach out to his fan base, however small and pitiful it may be.
But of course if you leak out your supposed personal email, no doubt it'll be used and abused.
2:58 pm on October 20th, 2008
Just think of all the penile enlargement and university diploma offers Ted must have received.
3:00 pm on October 20th, 2008
Teri Hatcher's not looking so hot, is she?
3:09 pm on October 20th, 2008
That's because you're looking at the wrong place, Sour. Little Teddy's got the right idea.
3:10 pm on October 20th, 2008
Is the Teri Hatcher photo supposed to imply that Leonsis is desperate for attention?
3:14 pm on October 20th, 2008
She certainly has my attention.
3:15 pm on October 20th, 2008
The guy offers up his email & his facebook page - what more do Capitals fans want?
3:17 pm on October 20th, 2008
Man USA:
Har de har har. No, the NHL is doing just fine, thank you. There's still 30 teams, there's still players and fans showing up.
3:19 pm on October 20th, 2008
Think I'll go buddy up with Ted on Facebook right now. Sounds like he could use a few friends, online or otherwise.
3:22 pm on October 20th, 2008
Wonder what Sean Avery's Facebook account looks like. I'm guessing zero friends.
3:27 pm on October 20th, 2008
Don't mind Teri, she's just gotten up - from my bed! OHHH!
3:29 pm on October 20th, 2008
Sean Avery's so mean, even Tom wouldn't friend him on MySpace.
4:07 pm on October 20th, 2008
This doesn't surprise me in the least bit. When you publicly publish your email, especially as the owner of a pro team, of course you're gonna get slammed with a lot of insulting emails. Whole lot of trolls & morons out there.
4:32 pm on October 20th, 2008
He's making it very easy to do business with him. He's a great business man in 2008.
6:59 pm on October 20th, 2008
Funny photoshopped photo.
7:09 pm on October 20th, 2008
If only the NHL were still on ESPN. Then Ted Leonsis could set up his own blog & comments section on the network's server, and let the ESPN IT folks filter out the bad stuff.
1:42 pm on October 21st, 2008
The thing about gossip is that many times it's based on exaggeration or misinterpretation. If you've been a Caps fan, you know Uncle Ted always had a public email address and never discouraged fans writing to him, besides the junk by a small, but annoying, number of hockey fans. Unlike other public email addresses (ex. president@whitehouse.gove), he actually reads and responds to this email address. He's actually mentioned this before on his blog, but I don't see you actually doing any research and just going for the shock value.
Thanks for proving how reliable gossip is, and how quickly we love to jump on it.
2:36 pm on October 21st, 2008
Apparently you can't read. He did not say he WAS shutting it down. He was requesting some restraint and that if that was not possible, he would have to shut it down. Our owner listens to the fans. Our owner takes the time to let us have his ear for a few minutes out of his day. He even responds. Thank you Mr. Leonsis.
3:38 pm on October 21st, 2008
This is the kind of junk that our owner does not want on his email. Please do your research and read EVERYTHING and not the one blog post you want to. On top of that you say he's shutting it down and then the actual comment you underline is opposite of what you're saying. Please get a clue. Also you thank Ted for driving all of us Caps fans over here and even reading your e-garbage…..keep up the not so good work!
6:16 pm on October 21st, 2008
Guess SbB won't be invited to the Verizon Center anytime soon.
7:45 pm on October 21st, 2008
Hello, WTH? Shame on you!!!You clearly aren't a Caps fan and never have emailed Ted yourself because if you did you'd know he replies within 24 hours! (how many of you out there can say that you respond to ALL your emails within 24 hours!). Not to mention the fact that IF you were a Caps fan you would know that he hasn't disabled his email account! Ted Leonsis is THE BEST OWNER in sports IMO and this entire post on your blog is complete misinformation and trash! Do a little research before you go criticising someone will ya? and if haven't heard this before….
LET'S GO CAPS!!!!
8:08 pm on October 21st, 2008
Wow, now I see what Leonsis was talking about it!