Ted Leonsis is very fond of his late friend Brandon Tartikoff’s description of television/American drama:

Act 1 – Young kid comes out of nowhere, shocks the experts and wins. A happy story.

Act 2 – Young kid as winner has a very public and humiliating fall. Humility and lessons learned.

Act 3 – Redemption and comeback. America loves a comeback.

Leonsis has sited this many times in his book and his blog. It was not too hard to see parallels between that narrative and the Washington Capitals under Leonsis ownership —

Act 1 – Internet wiz kid buys local team, acquires best player on the planet (Jaomir Jagr)

Act 2 – Best player on planet goes all emo and falls just like Internet wiz kid’s company

Act 3 – Internet whiz kid reinvents himself and team becomes good again behind the best player on the planet (Alex Ovechkin)

That is the way we hope it is playing out, but in his constant tweaking of The Post and other “legacy media” I wonder if we’ve had it all wrong. Is Leonsis actually closing out Act 1 and heading into Act 2? Between the Caps playoff flameouts, rising ticket prices and concerns about Ovechkin, the Leonsis legacy is going through a period of uncertainty.

Now, I’m a Leonsis guy, I think his accessible stewardship of the franchise is a wonderful model for others to follow. He’s easily the best team owner in this town and would be in most others. Going after The Post for being right is needlessly petty and as both Mr. Irrelevant and DC Sports Bog pointed out, coverage of his teams from The Post has never been more extensive or better.

You are not living up the your own standards, Ted.