Ted's Take

The Blogging Site of Ted Leonsis

Archive for November 20th, 2008

What are They Thinking?

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

My family uses AIG as an insurance company on our homes and personal effects.

We received in the mail today a huge Tiffany box with two champagne glasses within as a thank you for our business and for good cheer this holiday season.

Arrgghhh! Are you kidding me?

Please! Save the money and keep some people employed. Give the money to charity. Take less money from the taxpayers. Why do I need two more champagne glasses? Dumbest thing I have seen this week. This holiday season, my family has decided to do the following: We will donate monies to a local charity instead of giving gifts to friends and associates and let them know we have given cash to help the needy in their name. Last year, we did something similar in that we purchased two PlayPumps in our children’s names from PlayPumps International instead of personal gifts.
We don’t need any more stuff and people out there need some basics and help. Don’t exchange these kinds of gifts this holiday season. Please help where it is really needed.

Top 10 Duos to Watch

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

I agree. Wow - what a compliment. Enjoy.

I Said Wish Us Luck

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

We played a great game for being so short handed. Anaheim has a great team. They are big, fast and tough with two Hall of Fame D men on the roster.

To score six goals is amazing in their barn to boot. It was great to get two points on the toughest of road trips.

But we don’t have good health. Losing Mike Green is problematic on top of not having Fedorov, Semin and Morrisonn as well.

We will just have to tough it out and hope Mike’s injury isn’t serious. Stay tuned for details later today or tomorrow.

Hard to believe we play again tonight in LA. We are in the heart of the season, 15 games in 30 days with nine on the road. Last night’s win was a great way to kick off the road trip but we are short handed and need some reinforcements ASAP.

For Me, Health and Luck are Biggest Risks and Unknowns

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Alchemy - creating a winning team is all about developing talent; team chemistry; coaching; character; personality meshing; infrastructure; depth; luck and health. Mashing that all up in a unique way is what defines a winning team.

I certainly believe our team now has a lot of the key ingredients to be successful short, mid and long term. We have lots of talent with more waiting in the wings. We have a made to order system and a coach the team believes in. We like each other. We have great infrastructure and great chemistry. We display high levels of grit, character and heart as a unit.

We don’t know yet whether we can stay healthy. We are certainly banged up right now with many key players missing or hurt. And we don’t know if we will get some lucky bounces like we did last Saturday with Alex scoring with one second left in regulation.

That great unknown and how will the story end is what is so exciting about developing and owning a team. We are all so hyper competitive. We all want to win. We all want to be great alchemists but a little luck and some good fortune health wise would sure go a long way to help us get to our ultimate goal. Wish us luck along the way. Go Caps!