Tag Archives: The Washington Post

Numbers Speak for Themselves

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Alex has the stats and the numbers to claim his third consecutive MVP.

He is now our Captain.

Our team leads the NHL in points.

And most offensive oriented categories.

He has the best plus/minus rating in the NHL and the Capitals have the best goals scored differential in the NHL as well.

But Alex has told me that all he wants to win now is a shared goal and trophy and that is the Stanley Cup. Individual awards are wonderful but the collective sharing of a trophy with his team mates and the community is what he is all about now.

Alex Ovechkin is a once in a generation player, he is gifted and special. We have built as promised a wonderfully productive and talented team around him.

It is the best of times. Enjoy it and know that Alex is about team not about numbers. I believe he is worthy of consideration for yet another MVP Award and am appreciative of this straight forward Washington Post article. Click here to read it today. Go Caps.

Our Fans are Too Cool

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I received two really wise and great emails yesterday from some of our fans.

One basically said–” Living well is the best revenge”.

The second stated–” Don’t feed the trolls”.

Pitch perfect. Thank you.

So while there is a lot of noise out there, let us focus on some signal.

We won last night 7 to 3. We are now 8 and 2 (I count the game in Chicago) without our Captain in the lineup. May we put to rest that we are a one man band now?

We have 103 points and we lead the NHL in points by 7 points. We lead the conference by 16 points. We lead the division by 34 points. Thank you.

We have scored 277 goals; we have a goal differential of plus 79 both far and away the best in the NHL.

We closed out our renewals from season ticket holders on Friday of last week. We are almost at a 97 percent renewal, which means that every single game next season will be a complete and total sell out. We sell out every single game as it is.

We were just nominated as “Best professional sports franchise” by Sports Business Journal.

Things are going pretty well here in DC. We are focused on the signal and we are trying to do well by doing good. Never lose sight of the big picture. We have miles to go before we sleep.

And one more thing… Try to be happy. I know some of you can do it.

Mystics Add Katie Smith

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A great free agent signing for us. A vet leader, a great scorer, and a proven winner. Perhaps the biggest and best free agent signing in our history.

I am pleased with the progress we are making at the Washington Mystics. We qualified for the playoffs last season. We hope to improve this season and of course go deeper into the playoffs. We want to build a model WNBA franchise that can compete and win a championship. That is our collective goal. Thanks to so many Mystics fans for turning out to the press event yesterday it means a lot to us and it was good to see you all.

Redundant-Redundant

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We played well. Carolina was focused and they deserved the point but we got two points with an OT win.

We have been juggling the line ups. Giving lots of different players lots of minutes. We are experimenting with line combos and we have been resting some players as well.

We have lost a bit of cohesion in search of the perfect playoff line up. We have so much depth and so many options. Coach has his hands full.

But that is a good thing.

We gained two standings points again. We are quite efficient in this category.

We now have 99 points. We have 15 games left to play.

If we were to play at a 500 level the rest of the season we would end the season with 114 points. Our best season in franchise history.

If we win on Friday I believe we can clinch our SE division. I believe we have already qualified for the playoffs.

Enjoy the ride and try to be happy. We have a pretty good team. We are not a perfect team which is what some folks demand but we are pretty good. Best in NHL in terms of points but we have miles to go before we sleep. We “get the joke”.

A Good Offense is a Good Defense

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Thanks Dan. It is always interesting to let facts get in the way of other’s opinions.

The goal of the game is to score more goals than the other guy.

I agree with this thesis about having a world class offense. A world class power play is a very good thing.

If we get average to good defense and goal tending we will be situated well. Read this one. Thank you…Go Caps.

A Human Touch

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Thank you. A sensitive article regarding Jose Theodore.

Jose is a great team mate. He is also a great family man and a wonderful husband to his wife.

He is only human even though we see players as robots sometimes. Just a spec on a TV screen performing for our pleasure, being easily criticized or loved. They are real people with real human issues.

Thank you for publishing such a true to life piece. Such an honest look at a family tragedy and how they are responding and how they are giving back to our community.

Embrace this family. Read this article. Thank you again.

Forgive my Typing and Spelling

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I do these online chats myself. I read the questions and try to respond to as many as I can in an hour time frame. I type the answers out myself. There are tons of mistakes and typos so forgive me.

I tried to answer as many questions as I could.

I was surprised at how many questions were generated by fans from other cities this session. I had some truly weird questions thrown my way this session, most of which I ignored.

I think in the future when I do such a session I will ask that people introduce themselves, offer up their name and where they live and try to pierce the cloak of secrecy that some people hide behind on the internet. We should all be friend’s here. You know who I am and what I stand for. Perhaps we are owed the same courtesy back?

I also received about a dozen emails post the session. Some that were nice, some that were weird, and one that was name a calling- cuss word which is par for the course.

That is a small price to pay though for the opportunity to hear what is on your mind and for me to try and remain interactive and connected to the community.

I just ask that some folks try to maintain a bit of decorum. I believe that mingling and listening and talking to everyone is the right course of action for an owner. I won’t be chased away by the few of you that for whatever reason take the opportunity to try to push me away from interactivity. It won’t work. Be nice. Try to be happy. You can do it!

Three Act Dramas

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Brandon Tartikoff was once head of NBC. He was a great man and a great friend.

He told me all dramas have 3 acts.

1. Young kid comes out of nowhere and captures everyone’s attention and heart and is a big winner.

2. Young winner loses and has a gigantic public fall from grace.

3. The comeback- big sweet victory. We all love fallen heroes that pick themselves up and get back at it and win.

NBC is positioned in this 3 act drama now with the Canada men’s hockey team at the Olympics.

Read this article.

This tournament has a long way to go. It will have multiple story lines with lots of twists and turns and lots of drama.

New heroes will be born and some heroes will fall only to reinvent themselves in a different venue.

Olympic hockey is fantastic. I am hopeful that NBC can embrace these moments and do great work in communicating the power of sports on a nation’s psyche. And capture how individuals and teams cope with adversity and how great the state of play of this game is. These games are like All Star games with so much on the line.

We all so look forward to the next week of hockey and never count out the Canadian men’s team nor Russia, Sweden or USA. What a great tournament. What a great ongoing drama. NBC make us proud.

Social Media- We Get It

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Thanks, to the Washington Post for this article on social media and new media marketing at the Washington Capitals.

The more bloggers we have following us, the more successful we have become.

The more interactive we become, the crisper our messaging and our rollout of new services.

The more transparency we provide, the more people “get it” and believe in us.

Even when the answers aren’t the ones people are looking for, answering every email is the right thing to do.

Social media is good business. It makes sense to follow our customers who more and more live their life on the net.

TV’s and computers are merging and the definition of networks will change. We need to in the middle of this transformation. We are honored to be considered pioneers and leaders in this field.