Too Ironic: Email Rants to Me This Thanksgiving Day

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Yep, it was on Thanksgiving Day yesterday and yet three fans decided to send me long rambling rants with complaints of:

  • The team’s treatment of Jakub Klepis;
  • The team’s treatment of Jamie Heward;
  • The team’s treatment of Olie Kolzig (they know because they spoke with Mrs. Kolzig too);
  • Ken Klee and why we didn’t pick him up on waivers;
  • The Red Rockers and their wicked ways;
  • The lack of towel giveaways;
  • And the radio reception post game.

Because of these transgressions against mankind these three fans will never darken our door again; will neither attend a Caps game nor buy a ticket again; and wish us nothing but bad tidings. And a Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. :-)

17 thoughts on “Too Ironic: Email Rants to Me This Thanksgiving Day”

  2. I resolve to attend a minimum of three
    CAPS home-games this season, spending at least twenty bucks on food, refreshment, and merchandise at each :-)

  3. It’s so sad, it’s almost funny. I guess some people don’t realize that hockey, at its root, is a business. And business decisions have to be made with regard to players that some fans won’t like.
    *Klepis hasn’t done much at any level, especially for a first round pick.
    *Heward contributed for a couple of years here but was hardly a standout and the kids coming up through the system will pay far more dividends than a 37 year old journeyman. He wasn’t even in the AHL before coming here…
    *Kolzig was a great player for the Capitals, contributed a lot on and off the ice, and showed great character by sticking around during the rebuild when he could have turned down the extension and left. It would be nice if the situation could have worked out better for him, but the Capitals are in the game to win it, not to struggle. He’s 1-4-1 in TB now with a 3.82 GAA. Jose, even with the Hershey Bears largely making up his D corps ahead of him, is playing better now than Olie was and is the right transitional move for the organization.
    *Ken put in some quality time for the Capitals, but he’s on his sixth team since he was traded five seasons ago, which suggests no one else in the league thinks he’s a key picture. The kids are doing OK in the defensive corps…if we don’t develop them, they will never become big league players.

    The Red Rockers are relatively innocuous. I don’t see any kind of a problem with them.

    Giveaways are giveaways. If that’s what people are coming to games for, then they’re missing out on a heck of a team on the ice.

    And the radio reception isn’t the greatest, but the audience for hockey on radio isn’t the largest, either. With the limited audience comes a limited radio signal. Live with it. Not everyone loves hockey the way we do.

    Things to be thankful for? How about the rebuild is working, the player development system is working, the team is winning, and the fans at the game can afford the tickets in these tough economic time and have enough time to discuss these types of things instead of working 2nd and 3rd jobs to make ends meet. Plus the whole health, happiness, yada yada yada thing.

  4. I do have to say, I do wish for a stronger post game radio signal after I get out of the game. I promise I didn’t speak with Mrs. Kolzig, Mrs. Klepis, Mrs. Heward, or Mrs. Klee regarding this either.

    Also, what was wrong with our treatment of Jamie Heward? I thought we did him a pretty good favor in trading him to a team that might sign him for the upcoming year. Perhaps we can see the text and justification for that rant…

  6. Well, that’s more room for the rest of us …..

    It’s great to see the contributions from the Hershey contingent, though it’s unrealistic to think that it can continue long-term. Likely some among the callups will eventually come back to earth to some extent, so hopefully some of our injured regulars will be back in the lineup before too long. But the organizational depth has been impressive in the short term.

  7. ((these three fans will never darken our door again; will neither attend a Caps game nor buy a ticket again))

    Cool. Thanks guys! :)

    Seriously, with all the good things the Caps have going on right now, its amazing that there are still those who hold on to some self-perceived bitterness from years gone past.

    I mean, come on folks… we’re leading the Division, ranked 3rd in the Conference, and 7th in the entire League. We have TWO players in the top 10 for Points & Goals, unbeaten at home, and Bruce just became the fastest Caps Coach to reach 50 wins (in about ONE YEARS TIME!).. and I’m sure there is much more ‘good stuff’ that alludes me at the moment.

    As far as free giveaways, its obvious that none of those three mor.. err.. ‘email writers’ have been to a game lately, otherwise they would have seen not only the freebies that are frequently handed out at the entrances, but the players tossing warm-up pucks to the fans, the T-shirt Toss, pizza hand-outs, Chipotle burritos, moving fans down to better seats, the ‘Three Stars’ giving out game pucks.. I’ve even seen players give their game sticks to fans as they leave the ice. What more do you ‘email writers’ want?? Blood?? Occasionally the players are willing to give that too! (Right Matt Bradley?!! :) )

    No, the way I see it, this is a GREAT time to be a Caps fan… and if those three ‘email writers’ prefer not to attend a game, so be it… I’d be more then willing to take their place in the stands.

    LETS GO CAPS!!!

  8. Geez louise!!!
    Mr. Ted – I am so proud of you and am constantly amazed by your patience with stoopid behaviour. I’m afraid that I would have completely cut off my email access if I had to deal with such negativity so often! Thanks for being such a great owner. We love, admire and support this team and we believe that your leadership is one of the biggest reasons that the team is doing so well. It starts at the top and trickles down – Keep up the good work and Happy Belated Thanksgiving! :) ))

  10. I just returned home from the Norfolk Admirals – WBS Penguins game here in Norfolk, Va., and let me tell you, having seen Heward play in person tonight, he shouldn’t be on the Caps, in the NHL, or allowed anywhere near anything resembling a hockey rink. I hear he was a nice guy. Be that as it may, he’a pretty terrible defenseman. I’ll make sure to buy three extra tickets to make up for those fools who emailed you.

    God bless you, Mr. Leonsis

  11. Sticks and stones, Ted…sticks and stones..I’m thinking the miserable sods that sent you those emails probably had nothing better to do on Thanksgiving. Which is pretty sad. They were feeling miserable, so they decide to pass along the misery. Wasn’t that really nice of them?! don’t let it bother you.

  13. Mr Leonsis,

    I would like to take quite the opposite stand from the three people who said they would never buy tickets again.

    First let me give you a little background on myself. I have been a hockey fan since I was 9 years old watching the 1980 Olympic team beat the USSR. I fell in love with the sport watching that game and have been a fan ever since, I’m now 37.

    For a long time I was a Boston Bruins fan and then a Caps fan. I was a big fan of Neely, Bourque, Oates and the rest of them. I would only root against the Caps when they played the Bruins.

    About 5 years ago, I gave up on the Bruins. They were becoming the Orioles of the NHL. Peter Angelos would have great prospects and let them walk away once they were free agents. Refusing to pay them what they were worth. I felt like the Bruins were doing the same thing. Trading away great players like Joe Thornton, and letting Bill Guerin sign in Dallas the year after he was the second leading scorer in the league.

    I just couldn’t handle seeing two teams that I cared about go down the drain at the same time

    Then I took a look at what you were putting together, drafting guys like Ovie, Semin, Backstrom, and bringing in guys like Federov. Even though the team struggled the first year Ovie was on board you could tell he was going to be special and just needed some pieces around him. I thought Zubrus would be one of those pieces but you decided to trade him and that worked out well for the Caps.

    Firing Glen Hanlon, I’m sure wasn’t easy for you to do but again, it was the right choice. Giving Bruce his first NHL job was a great decision. The players seem to respect him and play hard for him. I’m sure some of that is they knew him from Hershey so he didn’t have to win them over.

    Letting Kolzig go must have been hard too, after everything he’s done for the organization. Last season I was telling my friends that he needed to be demoted to backup or should retire.

    I’m glad he’s still playing actually, but it was very strange to see him back in DC in a Lightning jersey.

    I saw that one of your favorite sports websites is bleacherreport.com. I write articles on there and have written a couple on the Capitals.

    If you would like to read them the links are:

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/43465-alexander-ovechkin-and-the-washington-capitals-on-the-brink-of-being-elite

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/80082-capitals-lightning-washington-spoil-olaf-kolzigs-return-to-dc

    I will be bringing my 5 and a half year old son to his first game at some point this season. He likes Ovechkin as well.

    Thanks for taking the time to read this and please keep up the good work with Caps. They are definitely heading in the right direction and I can’t wait to see the Cup on display at the Verizon Center soon.

  14. Ted,

    I doubt any of those folks would buy a ticket anyway. Some folks just love to complain and be negative. I learned a long time ago, when I stepped into a management position at work, that complaining is vastly over-rated. Merely complaining solves few problems.

    I wouldn’t even bother to read the really silly negative stuff. If someone has a truly legitimate complaint, this is a different story indeed.

  15. Ted,
    You are a class act. We love you as the owner of the caps! ANYONE bad mouthing you over lame issues abobe aught to be banned from the Verizon Center and only allowed to watch our Caps on a cell phon in the parking lot of what used to be the Cap Center in Landover.

    Do not give them the time of day – you are one of the reasons I am thankful as a Caps fan!

    James

  16. The radio reception one reminds me of the fan who publicly complained at a Redskins banquet to Daniel Snyder about the fact that from his seats the sun got in his eyes. Snyder’s reply?: “Note to self – move Sun”.