Does Ted Leonsis Have Thin Skin? Actually...Yes

By GTOG Staff

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It's no secret that we, like many others, take great delight in poking the orange bear that is Ted Leonsis.  We just never realized he was paying such close attention.  Not even two hours after we tweaked him about the brutal Verizon Center sound system, he's already responded to our post on his blog.  There are only two explanations for this: Either Ted Leonsis is sitting in his office googling himself, or he came to listen to our Bachelorette Hometowns Raw Emotion Podcast.

"Can't wait for the Raw Emotion Podcast!"

We could do a word-for-word breakdown of Ted's response, but let's start with the greatest source of Ted's delight -- pointing out that a picture of Alex Semin that says "Alex Semin" is not a picture of Boyd Gordon.  Great catch, Ted!  We hadn't noticed.  All we can say for certain is that the picture of Semin was probably not from the playoffs.  But this one is:

Good luck finding a picture of Boyd Gordon scoring a goal.

Ted clarifies for us that that the new sound system is not intended to make the arena louder.  Thank God, because that would be like making Ted more sensitive.  He also humblebrags about the Dalai Lama's recent appearance at the Verizon Center, an appearance which is best remembered by GTOG as having made it really crowded outside my gym (where, incidentally, I've never seen Ted).

Our position on Ted is clear: we think he is a smart person who owns a very successful professional sports team .... and the Wizards.  He's done great things for the Caps, and if he were the owner of my favorite team, I'd be happy.  But I'd also be embarrassed.  He can't let anything go.  He responds to every slight, engages every blogger (Thanks, Ted!), and lets the media antagonize him even when they aren't trying to.  He preaches accountability, but owns a trademark for the phrase, "No excuses, but..."

If you're looking for an example, you don't even have to go back a year.  Last July, we did a post about a fantastic ESPN report exposing the sports arenas with the most health-code violations.  Guess who was #1?  Ted, with 100% of the vendors at Verizon in violation of the D.C. Health Code.  Ted, of course, had to respond in a post that was actually titled "Most Deserved, But..."  I'm not making that up.  Ted "accepted" responsibility, and then immediately blamed ESPN for doing the report in the first place to fill up a slow news day.  He also blamed the D.C. laws for being stricter than in other cities, which is like getting a bad sunburn in Hawaii and then blaming Hawaii for having sun that's too strong.  We could cite infinite examples, but we're at work right now.

Could never be mad at the sun with a tint like that.

Ted, pull up a chair and have a chat with GTOG.  You are exorbitantly wealthy.  You own two professional sports franchises.  You own Groupon and some other stuff that I'm not looking up right now.  It's charming that you're so accessible to the fans, but while we're not saying you should climb up to Mt. Pious, maybe it's best if you hover a little bit above the fray for a while?

On second thought, nah.  We like you better this way.

P.S. Living Social > Groupon.  Discuss.