Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis famously said last summer that "the rebuild was over." On the ice, this was true: The Capitals, Hart Trophy winner Alexander Ovechkin and Jack Adams winner Bruce Boudreau won the Southeast Division.

Off the ice and in the arena, the team is still building something rather tangible: Atmosphere. During the Capitals' playoff push, fans "rocked the red" and packed the stands, creating what forward Sergei Fedorov called one the best home crowds he'd ever heard. The fun factor had increased, too: More interaction with fans, and everything from free burritos to T-shirts filtering throughout the crowd.

Next up: An in-house game hostess and the introduction of the Washington Capitals Spirit Squad, who are described as "people who will represent the Washington Capitals in a fun, high-spirited manner." Whoever they are, they'll certainly top Carolina's squad:

Just jokes, people. Carolina has a rather easy-on-the-eyes "Storm Squad." In fact, the Capitals are the only team in the Southeast without some sort of in-game entertainment eye candy: Tampa Bay, Florida, and Atlanta each have rather lovely squads, crews and girls to help get a rise out of the crowd. (A quick word about Thrashers "Blue Crew" member Briana: "goodness.")

On Saturday, the folks at On Frozen Blog posted the Capitals' advertisement for their Spirit Squad auditions; the next 24 hours may have produced the swiftest negative reaction to a Capitals decision since Scott Stevens skated away to St. Louis.

Visions of buxom beauties undulating in the lower bowl didn't sit well with many Washington fans. Indifference was the kindest flattery the team received during a now 18-page thread on the Capitals' official message boards. Many of the reactions read like this one, on the first post: "I always feared this. I wish it would never happen. Now, it seems it will. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH What were they thinking????????"

While not unprecedented for his blog, the fact that Leonsis himself decided to defend the decision was rather startling.

Do you care if your franchise employs a "Spirit Squad" or hockey cheerleaders? I spoke with "Pucksandbooks," a Capitals fan and a blogger at On Frozen Blog, about why Caps fans seemed so outraged by their team's spiritual conversion.

Here is Leonsis's initial reaction to the Spirit Squad controversy, which has also been picked up by Canwest News Services:

We have started a new Washington Capitals Spirit Squad. Sponsors have asked us to do this for many years.

We need the revenues to pay for the huge increase in player payroll. We will develop this team in the best manner possible and we will not offend anyone. This effort is one that is fairly consistent across the league and across sports.

But when you grow a payroll like we have, a team must develop all available sources of income. It is the nature of the business. I am hopeful that people will give it a chance but we are moving forward with this effort. I am a family man with a wife and a daughter. I promise we will not offend anyone with the Capital Spirit team.

The spin has continued from the team. After OFB broke the story, the Capitals communications staff sent over a "point by point clarification" of the intent of the Spirit Squad, specifically dealing with their sex appeal. From OFB:

No wonder Washington is consistently regarded as a sex-appeal-less city.

In reality, though, all the NHL is doing is catching up - modestly, I might add - with football's spirited sidelines. Or Fox News. In a culture of seriously foxy FoxNews, is this really anything to get all that worked up about?

But by late yesterday we'd received pointed clarification from the Capitals on the matter: "The squad won't be ice girls in the traditional sense . . . It's also not a dance squad, a la the NBA. It's more of an evolution of the entertainment team we have had in the past" [the one that most in the stands thought was remarkably annoying -- I'm all for evolving that].

Pucksandbooks said the issue is that the Capitals didn't have the goals of their "Spirit Squad" thought through.

"I'm not sure they had a vision for this thing. That's why they back-tracked: ‘OK, this is what they're going to wear now, they're going to look like your grandmother.' It just wasn't thought through all the way. They let the wagon get out in front of the horse," he said.

The blogger believes that the team is in "damage control over nothing. By fanning the flames of this thing, they're just going to give it more life."

And it still has life, apparently. Leonsis himself used his blog again today to further clarify the team's approach to the "Spirit Squad" and to calm the fears of offended Capitals fans:

Many of the emails I have received and the comments I have read online are jumping to conclusions about the squad that need clarification. This is not a dance team; these will not be "ice girls."  I'm hopeful that we are able to attract candidates who will help us improve the overall quality of our game presentation our outreach into the community. Our squad would meet and greet fans at Verizon Center, assist with Kids Club events, attend various community and corporate partner functions and in general enhance the overall awareness, marketing and promotion of our organization.

Contrary to some of the email I have received, we most certainly will continue with our popular Mites on Ice and our Ice Kids programs. Both of these youth hockey initiatives have been extremely well received and will remain an integral part of our games. The Spirit Squad - just like its predecessor, the entertainment team - will be a complement to those and other game presentation activities.

The squad's appearance will be stylish and first rate as they will represent the Washington Capitals at many events. This is a group designed to help us continue to Rock the Red year-round.

Pucksandbooks wonders if the team needs an in-house entertainment team at all.

"The building was filled on Tuesday and Thursday nights, even with the Southeast teams. The atmosphere was decidedly 'hockey.' When you've got fannies in the seats to the rafters, you don't need to market in-house. There's nothing to be done," he said. "Maybe you're fixing something that isn't broken. Although we don't know what October and November are going to look like."

The fallout from this story continues: Pucksandbooks has been invited to a sit-down with team management today to further discuss the issue. In light of the team's clarifications, he said the reaction from Capitals fans has been rather overzealous. "It's an overreaction from the fans. And it's not just female fans -- it's these hen-pecked men who are exercising this P.C., knee-jerk stuff."

When it comes to good taste, he trusts that the Capitals owner won't allow the Verizon Center to resemble the Hooters two blocks over.

"Look, it's Ted Leonsis. This is not a guy who has pimped out his arena. I don't see anything sinister about this," he said. "They're going to be good-looking. But what's the problem with that?"

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