Kevin Sheehan: Why does it seem to fans like the media hates Ted Leonsis?

Does the media hate Ted Leonsis?

A listener named Scott sent Kevin Sheehan a message asking why it seems that way, and Kevin wouldn’t use that strong a word, even as Leonsis took a bit of a shot at the media for not noticing Leonsis and Mayor Bowser at the Waldorf.

“It could have been just that nobody recognized that he was sitting there at the Waldorf downtown, but I would start by saying, first of all, to remember that those in media, because of the difference in access and focus of attention on these subjects, the perspective is very often different, and I understand that it's not necessarily super accurate compared to a fan's perspective,” Sheehan said. “But there’s also, in many cases, more communication that gives you a different perspective with Ted. I think it's simple: Caps fans have been okay with him, and Wizards fans, not so much with their performance under Ted.”

The Wizards, right now, are a solid last on the depth chart of DC sports fandom relevance and maybe even the NBA, in Kevin’s eyes, which says a lot in a hoops-heavy town like DC. But, what that team also doesn’t have is competition for most hated owner in sports across the Beltway.

“I think both Ted and the Lerners benefited from Dan Snyder being in town for 24 years, in a meaningful way, and now that he's not here anymore, there's more of a focus on the job they do in owning their teams,” Sheehan said. “Ted owns two of them, so there's double the scrutiny possibly – but with him, what it really comes down to, is that for a guy that hasn't produced much in the way of championship contention for either, he believes he’s the smartest guy in the room and is willing to tell you that over and over again. I think that’s a big part of it, and I think that the contentiousness perhaps with people in the media and Ted as an owner stems a lot from that.”

There are ‘lovable losers’ in sports, and while DC’s owners may not be there, Leonsis is nowhere near Dan Snyder on that spectrum, but he’s not helping himself with the above notion.

“There is no doubt that when you tend to prop up your pedigree as an owner as much as he does over and over again, and you prop up some of the things that really aren't necessarily mainstream to try to cover for the performance of those things that are mainstream, that can be a bit annoying,” Kevin said. “All that said, Ted has produced a terrific live experience. Some of you will say it's so outdated and that's why he wants all this money, and I get that, but I personally have never thought that Capital One Arena, even in recent years, has been so outdated and such a horrible experience compared to other arenas or stadiums. I get it’s not as up-to-date, but overall, Ted coming from a consumer business with a tremendous focus on the user experience, AOL, I think he's been excellent at that as an owner.”

Add in “always erring on the side of being super-loyal,” and yes, Leonsis is nowhere near Snyder, but the bottom line is this: “When you have a basketball team that has been so awful and irrelevant, not just nationally but in the city in which it plays, and it doesn't seem to occur to him to talk about that as much as he talks about other things, that can be a little much to take.”