Ted Leonsis only thinks he is a real person.

I just read over at Japers' Rink about the "public release" of Ted Leonsis' blog. I thought I would go over there to check it out. In case you don't know, Leonsis is the owner of the Caps and vice chairman of AOL.

At first, I was kind of impressed by the way he comes off as a normal guy. He wrote a little about the night that he hosted JP and his wife in the owner's box. He has links to Japers' Rink and Eric McErlain's Off Wing Opinion, who was also a guest of Leonsis.

He's written about how he likes the Georgetown Hoyas. He's written about the Superbowl commercials. He's written about what's playing on his iPod. I was impressed with that, by the way. I like that he's into the Dandy Warhols and the Breeders.

So he seems a little bit like a normal guy.

That is, of course, until I clicked on the link about his 101 goals in life. Most of them have something to do with sports. Many of them (far too many) have to do with money, material possessions and world domination. He's a self-proclaimed philanthropist, but only six of those 101 goals have anything to do with helping anyone whose surname isn't Leonsis. Even then, one of his "charity" goals is at least partially self-serving. Goal #39:

Have a building/perpetual memorial named after the family

.

The whole list, to me, reeks of arrogance. Especially the way he checks them off the way a leathery bar whore adds notches to her lipstick case. Maybe he's a really swell guy, but you lose your "normal guy" cred when one of your goals in life is

15 Net worth of one billion dollars, after taxes

Granted, one of his goals is:

38 Give away one hundred million dollars in lifetime

.... but it's much further down the prioritized list than the perfect symbol of decadence:

30 Own a Ferrari

.

When my parents first got married, they made a list of their goals in life. They were really simple goals. "Have two children". "Own a home". "Go to graduate school". Things like that. I've seen their list, and I've seen Ted's. I'm not impressed. What would impress me is if he took "make a billion dollars" off the list, unchecked the "own a Ferrari" thing, unchecked the "own a yacht" thing, unchecked the "own a jet" thing, and was able to check off the "give away one hundred million dollars" thing.

I'd also be impressed if he were to invite me and my friends to his box for a return visit to the MCI center. I don't know if it would change my opinion of him, but if nothing else, I'd love to hear him talk about the Jagr-for-Carter-for-Jared Aulin trade. That's been bugging me for a long time, and anyone who's read this blog for a while has seen me reference it.

Ted Leonsis, normal guy? I don't think so.

EDIT --- February 14: Mr. Leonsis no longer owns the Ferrari. He found it to be an item of sheer decadance, traded it in for a SUV, and used the remainder to fund the construction of two Habitat for Humanity homes. Since he took the time to e-mail me on that point, I figure he can't be all bad.