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Capitals owner Ted Leonsis impersonated at game

Ted Leonsis

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2007, file photo, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis speaks during an interview in Washington. Leonsis says he offered “one of the highest prices ever paid for an NBA team” for the Washington Wizards--but that wasn’t enough to satisfy the family of late owner Abe Pollin. The former AOL executive wrote on his blog Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010, that he’s “very confident” he will be the next owner of the Wizards, even though there’s a disagreement over how the sale process works. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

AP

There are worse people you can imitate than Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis (pictured to the right). After all, he’s super-rich and an owner known for being media savvy (he has a blog!). So perhaps it shouldn’t be that surprising that someone decided to do just that; Marty Siegel pretended to be the owner during a recent Capitals game and fans just couldn’t help but fall over themselves to take pictures with the pseudo-owner. Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Blog has the bizarre story.

Marty Siegel, of course, is not technically Ted Leonsis, but he’s got more than enough hockey cred. He’s an original Caps season ticket holder, and has stories of sneaking his son into the Cap Centre on his shoulders. He still skates, running an old-timers team in Ashburn. His sons play hockey, too. At 64, he’s 11 years older than Leonsis, but his sons are always telling him how much he looks like the owner.

So he promised them that for this playoff run, he’d grow out the goatee, put on some red, and make a real go of it, calling himself Fred Leonsis if anyone asked. The night started at a local watering hole, where fans were all over him, thanking him for delivering a rare bit of sporting excellence to our win-starved little hamlet. And it continued inside the arena, where he eventually stopped walking and just stood in front of an entrance, soaking in the adulation.

“They have no idea,” Evan shouted into his cellphone a few feet from his dad. “They think it’s him. I’m not exaggerating.”

Apparently Leonsis-imitation isn’t just a sincere form of flattery, though, it’s also an unoriginal ode. Of course, Siegel can at least say that his likeness was a lot closer to the ... other one.

Will the “real” Leonsis (featured in this story’s photo, you can see fake Leonsis here) please stand up? I’ll leave you with a response from the genuine Ted Leonsis - not “Fred” - from his blog Ted’s Take.

Not sure how I am supposed to react so I won’t other than to say, please email him after the loss last night. He was responsible for this rebuild and for the poor playoff performance and he deserves all of the angst and rage. Thank you.

(H/T to Deadspin.)