Ted Leonsis is a man of lists. He believes in lists.

In fact, his original “list” of 101 things to do in life, which arose from a day of reckoning in 1983 when a plane he was on was forced into a crash landing, actually landed him an appearance on Oprah.

But getting on the media mogul’s show wasn’t the point. Making that original list helped bring direction and focus to Leonsis’ life. He achieved a lot, financially, before making his list, but clearly, through telling his story in his book, The Business of Happiness, he achieved far more value and meaning in his life, over monetary concern, after making the list.

And thus, as a big believer in lists, shortly after taking over the Wizards last June, Leonsis sought input from his team’s community on what he could do to make their basketball experience and relationship with the franchise better. And with that input, he started making another list.

Evidently, that list grew to the point where a simple benchmark of achieving 101 total improvements in the quality of life for Wizards fans (and Capitals fans, and Mystics fans … since the Verizon Center that houses all teams was part of the package Leonsis fully acquired in June) became a list of 101 accomplishments in 101 days, with more likely to come.

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As described in a previous post, the Wizards held tryouts for the position of in-game public address announcer at the Verizon Center on Monday night. Prior, 220 applicants where whittled down to 50 invitees … around 31 showed up. That was narrowed done to 16 hopefuls who were further narrowed down to five. More due diligence was performed, but by the night’s end, the team still had not decided who would serve as pre-game hype man for Gilbert Arenas, John Wall, Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee & Co.

Shortly before 1 pm on Tuesday afternoon it was announced that Ralph Wesley will be the voice of Wizards games — Wesley was my personal favorite after the round of 16 (and the round of five). There were a lot of great voices, but the best, most unique one prevailed. Below you’ll find a recap of the night in photos, followed by video of Wesley’s winning performance at the bottom. Enjoy.

Senior Director of Game Operations Danny Zollars (splendid name BTW) calls out the audition numbers of the 16 who’ve made it to the next round.

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So I was called out by Ted Leonsis this past weekend. I know, not good to be called out by a billionaire … oops, millionaire. But in reality, it was more of a challenge (or question) from Mr. Leonsis, i.e., it wasn’t anything like his emotional “Unemotional Response” or calling me “Simply Uninformed,” as he’s done with others. Different by far, let me explain.

While relaying a good deed performed by Josh Howard (his past record of note has many bad deeds), I poked fun at his outfit, and loosely related something that Brendan Haywood (supposedly) said about Howard. It was joking. It was fun. And that’s what this “blog” thing is all about: writing, analysis, pictures, graphic design, stats, reporting, break-downs, video, opinions, links, and I’ll reiterate, fun.

But, considering Howard’s past bad news and how it’s nice to hear good news associated with him (and because they say the good things are never written about), was it fair for me to poke fun at his outfit (which honestly isn’t that bad, more silly)?

Well, I’m not answering that question. Too bad. Easy way out on my part? Maybe. But my poking fun at Howard’s outfit isn’t the point. Neither is the fact that Leonsis comes to the defense of his players, as their employer. I don’t necessarily see it as Leonsis being “too sensitive,” as I’ve heard others amongst my web social network imply. An employer goes to bat for his or her employees. That’s the way it should be, in most cases. It makes the employees feel appreciated. It creates unity from top down. More than understandable, in my book. (Although, I did giggle when my girlfriend called Mr. Leonsis their “Papa Bear” in a joking manner.)

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The public address announcer sits in the background, yet courtside. He goes relatively unknown, but he’s kind of a big deal. He is what Ron Burgundy is to parties, bringing life to the arena. This is dedicated to the under-appreciated PA announcer guy.

When Ted Leonsis holds open tryouts for the voice that could be bellowing John Wall’s name for the next 10 years, cuing mad cheering and perhaps some tea-kettle dancing, it’s more than worth taking the stroll from work to the Verizon Center to check it out.

Over 200 applied but only 50 were invited to boom their pipes alongside the freshly painted (cured) Georgetown and Wizards basketball floors. As I arrived for the main event, that number had been narrowed done to 16. The mic was then cut on and the sound system turned up. The audition provided a good sample of general game announcements (fouls, scoring plays and PSAs), an ad-lib to Kiss Cam B-roll, and finally, lineup introductions.

The original plan was to pick a single winner from the 16 performances, but it was clearly much too hard to distinguish one voice from the crowd. Five stood out to Leonsis and his decision makers, so they were asked to do the lineup again … but with more energy, more uniqueness. Below you’ll find a brief profile of each, along with video of their final lineup announcement and an interview.

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A D.C. pic and some links …

I probably should have included the above pic of the Monumental Sports banner on the Verizon Center in my post about a similar banner on another building. I guess I was distracted by the dueling plastic drum drummers. You can spot the other one, right?

Otherwise, not much happened Wizards-wise today. Kirk Hinrich did return to Sioux City for a golf benefit, said it was “a little weird” when he had his presser and put on a Wizards jersey. Glad he hit that free-throw.

Young Clutch

With a hotly contested 142-all summer league contest on the line, Nick Young’s killer instinct took over as he hit the buzzer-beating game-winner … over former teammate Shaun Livingston no less. He then smiled a lot in the post-game interview. The video, via Ball Is Life, is embedded below.

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The Washington Wizards organization hosted a draft party Thursday night at the Verizon Center for season ticket holders on their practice court. They handed out t-shirts and mini posters with the new “Wall, Game Changer” marketing slogan. Here are pictures of the festivities.

Here is the party’s reaction when David Stern called John Wall’s name.

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Remember when the Wizards removed Gilbert Arenas’ banner from the facade of the Verizon Center?

Of course you do. It was kind of a big deal.

It was a big deal to Arenas. It was a big deal to the local NBC television camera crew that just ‘happened’ to be there to capture it. It was a big deal to the media … a blog-worthy moment of an infamous instance in franchise history.

Sounds dramatic, huh?

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Two of the three below are gone, the third on this Wizards Mount Rushmore might be gone by President’s Day. And that would make not one, but two banners needing to be removed from the 6th Street facade of the Verizon Center in 2010.

“Character, Commitment, Connection”

-Wizards 2009-2010 Season Motto

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flickr/afagen

Why is Abe Pollin willing to pay the luxury tax?

First and foremost, he wants to win now, not later … the guy doesn’t have much ‘later’ left.

Second, the Wizards are relatively financially stable, ranked 15th in the NBA by Forbes in franchise value, 14th in revenue and 10th in operating income. The rankings could be better considering that D.C. is the 8th largest media market in the U.S. (in 2006). Then again, being in such a large media market helps bring in revenue from other sources.

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Like user ooba on Bullets Forever, I attended the Flip Saunders meet-n-greet with season ticket holders at the Verizon Center on Wednesday night. I didn’t intend on going (nor did I really know about it), but my boy Donte invited me that day, so big thanks to him.

Luckily, I had the room bugged beforehand so I could get some prime quotes from Flip … well, if ‘bugged’ means a small recorder I happened to have with me.

It’s kinda funny, I didn’t mean to be the sneaky blogger recording people’s conversations, or a coach talking to a practice court filled with 200-250 people (not sure if I’m a good crowd estimator or not), but like ooba, I just want to relay interesting team news, notes, and Et ceteras to those who weren’t able to attend.

Of course, one must wonder if Saunders was more candid speaking in front of fans, working under the assumption that no one was ‘covering’ the event, than he would have been with members of the main-stream-media.

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