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As if being a Capital's fan wasn't bad enough...

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Capitals' Owner Clashes With Fan at Game



By Jason La Canfora
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 27, 2004; Page A01

Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was involved in a physical altercation with a season ticket holder at MCI Center on Sunday night after being taunted and jeered by fans during the team's loss to Philadelphia, the Capitals' first home game since Leonsis traded all-star winger Jaromir Jagr to the New York Rangers.

The fan, Jason Hammer, 20, a resident of the District, said Leonsis grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground after he had led a mocking chant of Leonsis during the game and hoisted a sign chiding him. Some witnesses explained the confrontation differently, offering varying accounts of the severity of the clash.

Even so, Leonsis called Hammer yesterday to apologize for putting his hands on him and invited Hammer to join him in his owner's suite for the team's next home game. Leonsis declined to comment publicly on the matter. Hammer said he would not press charges against Leonsis.

"Ted called me personally to apologize and was very honest and gentleman-like, and I appreciated the call," Hammer said. "I think both he and I are going to drop it and continue on and have it be like that."

The incident is out of character for Leonsis, 48, a gregarious team owner who routinely speaks with fans during games and responds to hundreds of e-mails from Capitals' followers -- many of them critical -- each day. But Leonsis has been under increasing pressure, on and off the ice, this season as the Capitals have skated to the second-worst record in the National Hockey League and are projecting losses of close to $30 million. He traded Jagr on Friday largely to partially ease the burden of his $11 million annual salary.

Hammer sits across the ice from Leonsis's box at MCI Center and Sunday night carried a sign to the arena saying, "Caps Hockey; AOL Stock -- See a Pattern?" to the game. Leonsis is vice chairman of America Online, whose stock value has dropped precipitously since Leonsis bought the Capitals in 1999.

Hammer was also among those in his section chanting at Leonsis through the game, cheering, "Thank you, Ted, Thank you, Ted, You Suck," to voice their displeasure over the Jagr trade.

"I will admit we were jeering him," Hammer said in a telephone interview. "But it wasn't just me, I'll put it to you like that."

Various fans who said they were seated in the lower bowl at MCI Center said they saw Leonsis respond to their chants by standing and waving them over, as if inviting Hammer into his box to talk.

"I thought it was kind of a gesture like, 'Bring it on,' " said Elliot Golden, a college student who said he witnessed the taunting as well as the confrontation between Leonsis and Hammer.

Hammer said he did not intend to venture over to Leonsis's box and did not think much of the situation, and left the game with his father and some friends. As he walked through the concourse Hammer said he was holding his sign above his head, but not chanting at Leonsis. He said Leonsis then approached him.

"The next thing I know we're near the owner's box exit [to leave the arena] and Ted comes running up," Hammer said. "I didn't even know he was on me until his hands were strangling me. He was saying he was going to 'kick my [butt].' . . . The security guards came and broke it up, and pulled me away to the side, but Ted was still trying to come at me again."

Capitals sources offered a different version. They said Leonsis was outside his box talking to fans and signing autographs when Hammer thrust his sign near Leonsis's face and derided him. Leonsis then shoved Hammer aside, the sources said.

MCI Center security personnel and spokesmen said they were aware of an incident between Leonsis and a fan after the Capitals' 4-1 loss, but declined to comment further. Frank Brown, an NHL spokesman, said he was unaware of the incident and declined to comment.

Richard Hayden, a 20-year season ticket holder and area attorney, said he saw the incident from the onset and recalled that the scuffle ensued after Leonsis tried to take Hammer's sign. "Ted tried to grab the sign out of [Hammer's] hands and at one point the security guards had to pull him off," Hayden said. "Ted was livid like you wouldn't believe; he was like a bulldog. He really went after him. Ted was really, really agitated."
Golden, who said he has never met Hammer before, said that Leonsis pushed his friend, Cyrus Tavaria, aside to get to Hammer.

"Ted grabbed [Hammer] and threw him across the concourse," Golden said in a telephone interview. "He grabbed him, it looked like around the collar, and had him by his jersey and drove him backwards and pushed him down. . . . That guy wasn't trying to hit Ted at all, and the security people came in and the victim was saying, 'I didn't hit him, he pushed me, he pushed me.' Ted made at least a half-dozen lunges at the guy and was escorted back to his suite."

In a separate telephone interview, Tavaria said: "I didn't catch what they were saying, but Ted and this guy [Hammer] started going back and forth [verbally]. They were pretty close to each other -- within 10 or 15 feet -- and the guy showed Ted his sign and then all of a sudden Ted shoves me aside -- he didn't shove me hard but he moved me aside -- and then he went at the guy.

"The thing I remember most is they were pushing and shoving back and forth trying to knock each other over and the guy got shoved back into the wall. There were a whole bunch of security guards and it took about three of them to restrain Ted. They really had to hold him back."

Tavaria said Leonsis never put his hands on Hammer's neck. "I definitely would remember if I had seen that," he said.

Hammer said he explained to security personnel that he did not instigate the contact and that he was allowed to leave after deciding not to press charges. Hammer said he has a cut on face and a bruise on his knee, which Hammer said he used to break his fall.

Sources close to Leonsis said they expect the Capitals' owner will significantly alter his relations with fans in the wake of the incident and anticipate there will be more security personnel outside his box during games.