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The Blogging Site of Ted Leonsis

Archive for December, 2009

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A First…In a Long Time

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

I just went to my Washington Capitals email account. I don’t have a single email of complaint regarding the team. Not a single “trade this player or bench that player or fire this coach or that GM.” I can’t remember the last time that happened to me and for that I say “thank you.” Must be good holiday cheer or that we have beaten both Buffalo and NJ in a convincing fashion back to back.

I did have some emails complaining about StubHub or lack of availability of tickets to Caps games or “Why is Semin becoming a free agent?” or about the length of lines for hot dogs at last night’s game. I even had a few about ambient noise filters on Comcast SportsNet broadcasts but, all in all, a happy fan base and a clean bill of health in my inbound email box. Thanks again. You made my day.

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Posted in Hockey | 15 Comments »

Thank You

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Thank you for turning out in record numbers last night. Thanks for cheering and screaming and watching us beat a fantastic team and moving back into first place in the NHL in regards to points.

Thank you for applauding a great goaltending exhibition by our goaltender.

Thank you for supporting the highest scoring offense in the NHL.

That was a big game last night and it had a playoff like feel to it. And it was a sea of red so thanks for that, too. Go Caps! Thank you.

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Posted in Hockey | 1 Comment »

A Nice Mention of Caps’ New Look

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

We are grateful. We are happy with our re-branding efforts. We are happy with our professionals internally who handled this change over with style and aplomb and efficiency.

Rock the Red! Make it so.

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Posted in Sports | 4 Comments »

RIP George Michael

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

He will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go to his family and the tight knit community that he loved and supported.

George Michael was a giant, a lion, an innovator and a king. He was a great mentor and a great boss. There was no one like him in DC media. He was bigger than the medium he served. He loved the Caps and I believe always gave us our due.

And boy was he tough! We would go at it at times all in a good natured way. I was asked if George was mad at us over the last few years and all I can recount is the following:

” The Caps ain’t making the playoffs and Alex Ovechkin ain’t no MVP!” A few fans reminded him of that comment and boy did he get mad at me in return and you never wanted George Michael mad at you that is for sure. He always growled at me when he would see me at charity events or press events.

“Look, if you tear down this team the fans will think you quit on them. I will think you quit on me as a season ticket holder. If you blow the team up and cut payroll, I will cancel my season tickets. I will never go to a Caps game again. Don’t do it. Listen to me, don’t do it. You are dreaming if you think you can improve the team by getting bad to get good. Won’t work - ever!” This was what George Michael told me as a mentor when I ran the rebuild program by him before we actually implemented the program. Sure enough, he canceled his season tickets. He was very angry with us for our announced plan to “get bad to get good.” I was very nervous that he so disagreed with our plan. Why? Because I respected him and his opinion. He was smart, savvy and knew the business inside and out.

One of my favorite moments ever was being on his NBC news show at 6:30 pm. He was grilling me and making me feel uncomfortable in a fun way. I looked at him, pointed to his tie and then ran my finger up his tie and tweaked his nose. He pushed my hand away laughing. Jim Vance couldn’t stop chuckling and said, “George, - That was the best TV moment ever! Ted, I got your back if George tries to get even for that one!”

I was a big George Michael fan. He was cantankerous. He was brilliant. He challenged you. He was “da man” in town. They broke the mold. George Michael will truly be missed. RIP. “Nice tie, George.”

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Posted in In Memoriam | 1 Comment »

My Reading List

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Here are some of the books I have just read or are about to read this holiday season on my mini vacation.

Accelerated Disruption by Eric Lefkofsky
Eric is a friend. He is also a serial entrepreneur and is co- founder of MediaBank and Groupon, two companies that I am involved with and sit on their board of directors. Eric has written a crisp and smart book about innovation; speed to market; and the focus on execution and platforms to wring out ever last molecule of efficiency. Eric is very successful. Read this book to learn his methodologies and formulae for success. I enjoyed it very much.

SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Wow. What a great read! Fast, laugh-out-loud funny, a perfect follow up to Freakonomics. This is a perfect beachside reading book. I read it in two days and loved every word on every page. As I have noted in my blog, “Don’t believe the experts or conventional wisdom” and “Figures never lie but liars can figure.” I truly believe in the law of “unintended consequences” and this new book is destined to be a classic read.

This Time is Different by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff
This is the definitive book about the financial crisis and how we never learn from history. It reminds me of The Black Swan, another great book I recommended to you all. This one is a fast and simple read and is scary in its outline of why we think things will turn out different and they never do! I am halfway through the book. I recommend it highly to you all.

The Education of an American Dreamer by Peter G. Peterson
This is an autobiography of Pete Peterson, one of our great business leaders and founder of the Blackstone Group. He is also a neighbor of mine in Vero Beach and he grew up the son of a Greek immigrant. I relate very much to his story. He has lived quite a life and has served on Wall Street; in government; and is one of our country’s great philanthropists. This book is a very good tour of the American business climate from the 60’s to today. 

The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons
The NBA according to the Sports Guy. A friend gave me this book. It has become a bestseller. I can’t wait to dig in. Who can write 700 plus pages on hoops anyway?

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Posted in Books | 4 Comments »

A Lot to be Grateful for - A Lot to Mourn and Miss

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

It is the heart of the holiday season, the festive week of Christmas to New Year’s. It is time to reflect and be grateful for what we have and not miss what we don’t have.

Last year this time we all were feeling doom and gloom. The market was down. There were no loans to be had. People were losing jobs left and right and the aura and psychology of the market and the overall economy was really bad.

As we close on 2009, I must confess that the year was one of goodness and counter intuitive wins mixed with sadness.

I am most grateful for the health of my family and friends.

And the Washington Capitals had a magnificent twelve months on the ice and off the ice. We had a really great record. We finished last year strong and won our first playoff series in 10 years and we are now well positioned for this next year. We also sell out all of our games. We have a backlog of people awaiting season tickets. We were able to raise our prices and we have very happy customer satisfaction levels. Who would have thought we could be that successful in this economy? I am very grateful to you all.

The Washington Mystics also grew quite fast and became one of the best performing teams in the WNBA and turned their on court performance around as well as we qualified for the playoffs.

Revolution Money grew fast; built out its platform; and - as was reported in November - was acquired by American Express at a healthy return to investors. We await final approval by the government but I believe this deal will close sometime in Q1 of 2010. This was the third largest acquisition of a new media payments platform ever behind PayPal and Bill Me Later (both by eBay) so it was a big win for us all and I am very excited about helping the American Express Company in the future as we roll out this platform into a new series of great consumer beneficial products and services.

(more…)

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Posted in General Interests | 3 Comments »

Don’t Look Back - Someone Might be Gaining on You

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

I thought the Washington Capitals played a great game last night. The house was packed. We beat our budget and the crowed was rocking.

We are neck and neck for the best record in the NHL again.

Buffalo is a very talented team and they have great goaltending so scoring five goals feels wonderful.

We now play our next game against NJ. Then we play Carolina and then head out west to play two of the best teams in San Jose and LA. What a tough schedule to end the calendar year. And the decade. 

Speaking of the decade, here is a piece by Comcast SportsNet on local sports teams in DC and our history. I think it pays a few compliments to us and is fairly accurate in its review of our team. We love and support our partners at Comcast but as long as we are offering up retrospectives and critiques, here is mine back to Comcast:

  1. Get the issues between DirecTV and VERSUS channel fixed ASAP. This is an issue to our viewers and fans. It must get fixed in 2010.
  2. Get more HD as promised. Why isn’t every Capitals game shot and broadcast in HD?
  3. Fix the quality of CSN Plus. The picture shouldn’t look like 1970’s circa production value.
  4. Iron out all issues with Verizon FiOS. I am tired of answering those questions about rebroadcast from our fans.
  5. Promote the games on other channels/outlets. Promoting the games on Comcast SportsNet is preaching to the choir. Invest in broadening our collective reach.
  6. Invest more in your website and portal. Comcast SportsNet.com is not very contemporary right now.

Thanks for being so supportive last night. The fans really Rocked the Red. Go Caps! Happy holidays.

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Posted in Hockey | 10 Comments »

A Really Great NBA Blog

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Check this one out.

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Posted in Blogs | 3 Comments »

Patience is a Virtue

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Here is a nice article on OFB about some of our young players.

I must admit that other than Alex Ovechkin, we do not have a single player on our roster that a fan hasn’t demanded that we trade, cut or put on waivers via an email to me. :-)

Our coaches, scouts and GM know the players best. They see them play up close and personal at every game. They watch how they practice; how they study; how they take care of themselves; and they see how they develop statistically and emotionally. They gauge their upside.

We believe in young players as the core of our team. We believe in having upside in their development and maturity. We think we will improve as a team as our young players get more experience and more comfort playing in the NHL. They know the system, their teammates and they know what is expected of them.

We have many young players waiting to make their way into our lineup as well. The future is still bright.

We have patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day. We believe in our youth movement and it is certainly paying off. Just review our core of young players and then review the other great or up and coming teams in the NHL. For the most part, they are being built around young drafted and developed players.

This is a good blog post. Thank you.

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Posted in Hockey | 8 Comments »

What a Thrill

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Leonard Maltin is now available to all on indieWIRE!

His Movie Crazy blog is really terrific and we are honored to host him on indieWIRE. Check out his review of Avatar here. IndieWIRE is really booming and I believe Leonard Maltin is the most respected of all film critics. He has a consumer populist sensibility. We hope to do Leonard Maltin proud.

My family and I went to see Avatar last night. We all thought it was epic. Certainly the money spent - in excess of $150 million for the film itself - shows up on the screen. I thought the story and filmmaking were fantastic and that the computer generated segments were the best ever created by Hollywood. I usually am not a fan of big CGI based films but Avatar was special, one-of-a-kind and a “must see.” Jim Cameron is a certified genius. This film was written and directed by him and his touch and POV is seen in every single frame of this film. We really enjoyed it although we all thought it could have been 20 minutes shorter.

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Posted in Films | 1 Comment »

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