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We've been told a New Dan Snyder walks among us. The line that's been in heavy rotation out of Redskins Park (and Snyder's wholly-owned media empire) all season holds that he's letting football people run the football team. His wife, Tanya Snyder, is out selling the transformation, too. Last week she went on local TV to tell an interviewer that he is now surrounded by "better people," and that he's "grown and he's evolved."
Well, maybe his wife can find evidence of Snyder's growth and evolution. I can't. Sure, some names have changed—Jeff George and Bruce Smith are now Donovan McNabb and Albert Haynesworth—but the ages and the bonuses have a familiar ring. So do the results: The epic humiliation of the Redskins on national television Monday night, coming mere hours after McNabb signed a mega-publicized deal with a dubious dollar value, recalls so many pages in the old Snyder's scrapbook.
So before we welcome the New Dan Snyder, let's look back at the one we know. That's the Dan Snyder who left his mark, or stain, on more than just a football team. That's the Dan Snyder who got caught forging names as a telemarketer with Snyder Communications, made a great view of the Potomac River for himself by going all Agent Orange on federally protected lands, and lost over $121 million of Bill Gates' money while selling an "official mattress" while in charge of Six Flags. That's the Dan Snyder I've found to be the most fascinating and consistent man on the planet, responsible for the hilarious and/or heinous deeds outlined in the following pages.
If he's really gone, I'm gonna miss that guy.
8-3: Record Marty Schottenheimer posted in the last 11 games of the 2001 season, his first as head coach of the Washington Redskins. Snyder fired him anyway.
$10: Amount Snyder charged fans for admission to the team's workouts during the 2000 training camp at Redskins Park in Ashburn. He also charged another $10 to park, thereby becoming the first owner in NFL history to use team practice as a gouging mechanism.
$20: Price Snyder affixed to "Redskins Mania," the first Redskins scratch lottery ticket in 2009, making it as expensive as any scratcher ever offered by the Virginia Lottery. The campaign flopped.
$25: Price Snyder charged for a special group of standing-room-only tickets at FedExField in 2008. The cheap tickets were linked to the high-priced suites; lobbying watchdogs said Snyder was merely attempting to skirt congressional gift limits. Damning evidence: A team brochure for instructing ticket sales personnel to explain lobbying loopholes to suite customers. Snyder denied the charge. SRO tickets now sell for $152.50, with no mention of lobbying in the sales pitch.
$30: Price Snyder charges for a doll of Fox Sports' Cleatus the Robot in Redskins colors. Same doll is available on Fox's website for $23.96.
31-36: Record Joe Gibbs had as coach with Dan Snyder as owner; Gibbs went 140-65 without Snyder as owner.
700 Pages: Length of the playbook brought to Redskins Park in 2006 by Al Saunders, who Snyder hired to call plays for Gibbs. In pre-Snyder era, Gibbs' comparatively simple offensive schemes revolutionized the game and brought the Redskins three Super Bowls.
"A Long Time": Thirteen weeks, in Snyder-speak. During training camp in 2000, ESPN asked Snyder how long Norv Turner, who had just coached the Redskins to an NFC East title, would be in his employ. "A long time," Snyder said. He fired Turner with three games left in the season, despite the Redskins' winning record.
American Enterprise Institute: Conservative thinktank that summed up Snyder's football operation as a "leading exemplar of this tendency toward irrationality" in a 2006 report. Kevin Hassett, director of economic policy studies at AEI, cited Snyder for running a "seriously mismanaged" operation. "I used the Redskins because they're the most frightening example of a team that hadn't thought through the simple economics of pro football," Hassett said at the time. "The problems of running a pro football team are right out of the textbooks: With the salary cap, everybody's got the same amount of money to spend, so let's see what you're going to do with your money. The big signing is counter to the economics of pro football. Over time, [Snyder is] spending the same amount of money as everybody else, but he's spending it irrationally. I think they're years away from correcting the mistakes they've made."
Andyman: Fake name widely believed to be used by top Redskins officials to post anti-media rants on fan message boards. In 2005, Washington City Paper reported that Karl Swanson, Snyder's longtime PR chief, had registered on sportsjournalists.com, a website where Andyman often sniped at The Washington Post. Andyman, which could be Pig Latin for Danny M (Snyder's first name, middle initial) all but disappeared after the report.
Bankrupt Airline Peanuts: What Snyder was selling to fans at FedExField. During the 2006 season, vendors offered shelled nuts in royal blue and white 5 oz. bags adorned with the Independence Air logo. Problem: The airline had gone under about a year earlier. The supplier told Washington City Paper that it stopped shipping the airline's nuts "before Independence Air went out of business." A spokesman for the Peanut Council told City Paper that to prevent rancidity, the recommended shelf life of a foil bag of out-of-shell peanuts was "about three months."
Casserly, Charley: Redskins general manager who played a lead role in assembling the 1991 Super Bowl championship team. Snyder fired him in 1999 to clear space for Vinny Cerrato, who played lead role in 1994 feature film Kindergarten Ninja.
Conflict of Interest: What Snyder created by employing members of the D.C. media to work for Redskins Broadcast Network, wholly owned by the team. Among the many journalists who worked for Snyder while also reporting on his Redskins for major news outlets: George Michael, Michael Wilbon, Dan Hellie, Wally Bruckner, Andy Pollin, Lindsay Czarniak, Brett Haber.
Dan-Jazeera: How Al Koken, a former employee of Snyder-owned sports station WTEM, describes the Redskins owner's media operation.
Dumb and Dumber: Nickname fans gave Snyder and longtime racquetball/Six Flags investment partner Vinny Cerrato in 2009 season.
Diageo: World's largest liquor company and a business partner of Snyder's. They paired up in a massive 2002 sponsorship deal that placed liquor advertising inside FedExField in the sight lines of network cameras, as well as local TV commercials during Redskins games. George Hacker of the Alcohol Policies Project, a program of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, was among the anti-drinking advocates who called the pact an attempted end-run by Snyder and Diageo around longstanding prohibitions on booze advertising. "Airing ads for Smirnoff Ice and Captain Morgan's Gold during Redskin telecasts trumpets liquor brands and enables Diageo to sidestep the networks' voluntary ban on hard liquor ads," Hacker wrote. Snyder and Diageo remain partners.
"Emulate Charlie Chan": What Asian actors trying out for a mascot job at Snyder-run Six Flags were allegedly told during 2008 auditions. After the 2006 firing of Mr. Six, the longtime mascot Snyder deemed "creepy," the theme park chain's marketing team hired a Japanese actor to scream "More flags! More fun!" in a vaguely Asian accent in TV commercials. The Chicago chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, which publicized the "Charlie Chan" angle, was among the advocacy groups critical of the effort. The campaign was canceled very shortly after its debut.
Entertainment Tax: Ten percent fee Prince George's County collects as part of the deal that put the stadium there. The fee, like all assorted tariffs, had historically been included in the ticket price. After buying the Redskins, Snyder removed those charges from the printed price, moving them to the invoice. The move coincided with the biggest ticket price hike in team history. The biggest losers in Snyder's removal of fees were street sellers, since "face value" of a ticket was no longer its actual retail price.
"Ewwwww!": How Barbara Hyde, spokeswoman for the American Society for Microbiology, reacted to last year's news that Snyder's vendors were selling beer in the bathrooms. Fans had been alleging that the Redskins were hawking lager in the loo long before a YouTube video surfaced in October 2009. Hyde said that because microbiological bad actors like E. coli hang out in the men's room, beer vendors shouldn't.
Fan Appreciation Day: Gimmick used in 2006 by Snyder to draw people to FedExField, where he charged $25 to park to watch the team scrimmage and hear an address from Vinny Cerrato. The parking charge was not mentioned in the advertisements the team produced for the event.
Flat-Screen TV: What Snyder said he'd deliver to Laveranues Coles in the 2005 preseason. The gift was part of a threat from the owner to keep the receiver out of football if he didn't agree to give up a $5 million bonus called for by his contract so that Snyder could trade him. "He said he would send a flat-screen television to my home because I'd be better off watching the games there," Coles told Sports Illustrated in 2005. "That was his way of saying I'd be sitting for the next couple years until they cut me."
Gates, Bill: Formerly world's richest man. But he's not as rich as he would be had he not done business with Snyder. One of Six Flags' biggest stockholders, Gates had 10,210,600 shares worth about $122 million in early 2006, when Snyder began putting his marketing team in place. They were worth $0—zilch, zip, nada—by the time Snyder was tossed off the board last year. "Bill Gates gives away more money than anybody, and his main cause is malaria," said a representative of Resilient Capital Management, a hedge fund and Six Flags investor, which sued to have Snyder removed from the company for fiduciary irresponsibility. "That was money that could have gone to save kids from malaria."
GEICO: Insurance company and major Redskins sponsor. Snyder allowed GEICO to hand out promotional signs at FedExField last season at the same time the team had instructed stadium security to take away home-made signage, much of it involving derogatory comments about Snyder and Cerrato. David Donovan, Snyder's attorney, said the sign ban was for "safety."
George, Jeff: Quarterback and one of many Snyder-era free agent busts. Snyder brought George to D.C. on the advice of friend and former Redskins star Sonny Jurgensen. Terry Bradshaw pooh-poohed the George signing on the FOX pregame show: "Both Jurgensen and George have one thing in common—they've never won anything," said the four-time Super Bowl winner.
Guest House: Dwelling on Snyder's Potomac estate where prospective employees stay overnight during job interviews.
Helicopter: Favored method of transportation Snyder used to drop into Redskins practices in 1999 in Frostburg, Md., after taking control of the team.
Herzog, Frank: Beloved former Redskins play-by-play announcer. Herzog was best known for signature call, "Touchdown, Washington Redskins!" He was replaced in Snyder's Redskins Broadcasting booth in 2004 by Larry Michael, best known for saying "Brought to you by Subway! If you love bacon come into Subway! Eat fresh!"
Hill, Pat: Down-on-her-luck 73-year-old grandmother—and five-decade Redskins season-ticketholder—who was sued by the Redskins in 2009 because she could not afford to keep up payments on the 10-year, $50,000-plus club seats contract she'd signed.
Hurricane Katrina: Storm that Snyder used as an excuse to get out of the 75-year lease Six Flags had with the city of New Orleans. Snyder took over the company shortly after the storm inundated much of the city; he immediately let it be known he wouldn't be coming back. "If any company is trying to figure out an exit strategy, they are," New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said of Snyder's abandonment. Six Flags never reopened. Snyder rented the park to the Department of Homeland Security. Last year, the city fined Six Flags $3 million for breaking the lease and took over the property.
Inside the Red Zone With Vinny Cerrato: WTEM radio show featuring top Snyder aide that debuted early in the 2008 season, shortly after Snyder had bought what was then D.C.'s only sports-radio station. Because of abuse from Skins fans, Cerrato quickly stopped taking calls. He later stopped showing up at all on Mondays after Skins' losses. The show didn't return for the 2009 season.
Johnson, Brad: Quarterback who in 1999 led the Redskins to their only division title of the last 20 seasons. Benched in favor of Snyder favorite Jeff George a year later. "I think that decision's made from up top," Johnson said as George took his place. "I think it's obvious."
Junk: How the bond rating service Moody's rated the notes Snyder sold in a cash-raising scheme in August 2010 for his Dick Clark Productions. The Wall Street Journal reported the lousy rating came from Snyder selling "$165 million in notes in a deal that originally was supposed to be $150 million."
Kennedy, Robert F.: Namesake for the former Redskins stadium—and current "party deck" at FedExField. Tickets to this standing-room only section cost $152.50 and include access to a cigar bar and a Hooters, among other come-ons. Snyder dropped "RFK" from the marketing pitch after Kennedy family announced its displeasure in Washington City Paper.
Knott, Rene: D.C. sportscaster who in 2000 was forced to do live reports from the Redskins Park parking lot while peers filmed inside the practice facility. Knott's employer, WJLA-TV, was the only local network affiliate that did not pay Snyder to become a "media partner" of the team.
Labor Laws: Something Snyder has had trouble with. In 2006, Snyder was sued by a former nanny, Juliette Mendonca, who told a Montgomery County court that when she pointed out she was being shortchanged and asked for proper recompense, Snyder screamed, "I pay you more than my Redskins Park people! I can't afford to pay you like this!" The court ordered Snyder to pay Mendonca $44,880. In 2008, Snyder faced a lawsuit from a group of FedExField ticket office employees who weren't being paid for extra hours. The team argued that the Redskins ticket office wasn't covered by standard overtime laws, citing a 1932 exemption for "amusement and recreation employees" in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The exemption, however, was meant to cover lifeguards and greenskeepers, not office employees. Snyder settled the suit with the employees earlier this year. James Rubin, a Montgomery County attorney who represented the ticket sellers, says that he was shocked to learn during the case that Snyder now requires all employees to sign a document waiving their right to sue him "as a condition of employment."
Losing Record: What every head coach Snyder has hired since buying the team has posted. Only Norv Turner, who Snyder inherited as coach in 1999, put up a winning mark in the Snyder Era, going 17-12 in less than two seasons under the new owner.
Maryland Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007: Statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. The law prompted regulators to order Club Macanudo, a cigar bar on FedExField's Club Level, to either stop selling drinks and food or stop allowing smoking. Snyder stopped food and drink sales for one season. But the establishment reopened as the Montecristo Club in 2009, with the team explaining that the new facility was no longer a bar, but a tobacco shop, and therefore not required to comply with the state code. Unfortunately, a promo film for the tobacco shop posted on the Redskins website featured a bartender pouring a Bud Light from a tap, a clear violation of the law.
Market Segments: How Snyder viewed cancer patients and diabetics during his marketing days. In a 2000 interview for a PBS show called CEO Exchange, Snyder told host Jeff Greenfield that his business depended on coming up with "$5 million niches" that he could sell goods and services to. Asked for examples of his methodology, Snyder said, "We were looking at trend lines. We saw that the aging baby boomer demographics were coming on strong. That meant there's going to be a lot more diabetic patients, a lot more cancer patients, etc. How do we capture those market segments?"
Mitchell, Brian: Redskins fan favorite and the NFL's all-time leading kick returner. Mitchell was cut in 2000 to make room for Dallas Cowboys star Deion Sanders.
"More than 200,000": Number of names that Snyder claims are on the waiting list for Redskins season tickets. So why were the Redskins reduced to putting ads on the sides of Metrobuses this season?
Nepotism: Plague that has run rampant at Redskins Park since Snyder took over. Other than Jim Zorn, every head coach he's hired has put family members on the payroll. Examples: Marty, Brian and Kurt Schottenheimer; Steve Spurrier senior and junior.; Joe and Coy Gibbs; Mike and Kyle Shanahan. Coordinators got in the mix, too: For the 2006-2007 seasons, Offensive Coordinator Al Saunders got son Bob a job, while Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams brought in son Blake. Conversely, the team cut both punter Matt Turk and long snapper/brother Dan Turk after Dan made a bad snap on a field goal attempt in a 1999 playoff game.
NFL's Digital Media Committee: What Snyder was named to head in 2008, despite his bizarre refusal to install a hi-def screen for replays. For years, fans had mocked the video screens at FedExField as "MiniTrons" and "Lite Brites." But Snyder spokesman Karl Swanson maintained that the team couldn't give them what they wanted because FedExField "was wired for analog" and therefore couldn't accommodate digital screens. In 2009, Paul McCartney and U2 both performed concerts at stadium, bringing their hi-def screens that somehow worked when plugged in. As of this year, FedExField has its own hi-def system.
Official Mattress of Six Flags: Anatomic Global. Over time, Snyder had shown his sponsorship mania by inking deals that gave Six Flags an official mayonnaise and the Redskins an official carpet installer. In June 2009, weeks after the theme park chain filed for bankruptcy, Snyder signed a deal for an official mattress. In the few months before his removal from the board, Snyder actually started selling the mattresses at his theme parks ($1,299 for a queen size).
Pentagon Flag Hat: A Redskins cap sold for profit by Snyder to "commemorate September 11" in time for the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Ads boasted that the $23.99 caps, really just black Redskins hats with a red, white, and blue Pentagon sewn on the side, were "expected to be worn by the Redskins coaches." No other NFL team put 9/11 commemorative products for sale during the 2006 season, for profit or otherwise. Snyder had previously added a $4 "security surcharge" to the ticket prices soon after the attacks.
Redskins Extra Points MasterCard: The only credit card Snyder told fans he'd accept for season ticket payments for the 2005 season. He withdrew the demand following a threatened ticketholder revolt and after MasterCard told the Redskins to drop it.
Redskins Unfiltered: Feature on Redskins.com designed to "offer fans an a la carte menu of information," as Snyder told The New York Times in 2006. In practice, Unfiltered was mainly used to rebut everything written about the team by The Washington Post. Immediately after the Post ran a story that mentioned players eating "fast food" at Redskins Park, for example, Snyder staffer Larry Michael produced a long video in which team employees testified that Baja Fresh was NOT fast food. Unfiltered came back to haunt management when players used its video as evidence in a union grievance over "contact drills" during voluntary workouts. "You know how we caught them?" said NFLPA chief Gene Upshaw. "We saw it on their Web site."
"Ringing Endorsement": What Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen gave ex-Broncos coach Mike Shanahan during private conversations with Snyder last year. Bowlen had fired Shanahan after the 2008 season with three years remaining on a massive contract. With Bowlen's blessing, Snyder hired Shanahan, thereby taking Bowlen off the hook for about $7 million of the money that was still owed on his contract.
Rodgers, Pepper: FedEx official whom Snyder almost made Redskins head coach. Snyder knew he wanted to fire Norv Turner in the middle of the 2000 season, but he didn't have anybody to put in charge. So he contemplated Rodgers, 69, who had never coached in the NFL and whose last coaching stint was with the Memphis Mad Dogs of the CFL. Rodgers' main qualification for the Redskins job was that, after FedEx became a Redskins sponsor, he watched games with Snyder in the owner's box and told stories about coaching John Riggins at the University of Kansas.
Robiskie, Terry: Early Snyder Yes Man. After taking over for Norv Turner as head coach in the middle of the 2000 season, Robiskie confessed he would play Jeff George over Brad Johnson just because that's what the owner wanted. "Mr. Snyder owns the football team," Robiskie declared after his first practice as head coach. "If I wanted to change my desk, I'm going to call him and say I want to change my desk. If I want to change quarterbacks, I'm going to call him and say, 'What do you think of me changing quarterbacks?' It's his football team."
Safety: Bogus excuse used to get a ban on pedestrian traffic into FedExField on game days in 2000. After a class action lawsuit alleged that the ban was really intended to increase parking revenues at the stadium, the ban was overturned. In 2007, Snyder again cited safety to get offsite parking banned by the town council in Agawam, Mass., home of Six Flags New England. Parking rates at the theme park tripled after his 2005 takeover of Six Flags. When the Agawam council learned about the earlier pedestrian-safety controversy at FedEx, it undid the ban.
Sanders, Deion: Crown jewel of the fantasy football team Snyder put together during his first offseason as owner, which also included Bruce Smith, Mark Carrier, Jeff George and Adrian Murrell. Snyder signed Sanders to a seven-year, $56 million contract with an $8 million signing bonus. After a debacle of a 2000 season for the team and himself, Sanders refused to report to the Redskins in 2001—but declined to return any of his bonus money.
"Several Million Dollars": Amount Snyder was paid by StubHub as part of the Redskins' 2008 deal with the online ticket clearinghouse, according to StubHub spokesman Sean Pate. At the time, Snyder had been taking tickets away from season ticketholders for violating team's policy against reselling tickets. The Washington Times reported that the team even repossessed six tickets from the Braloves, a D.C. family that had had them "since the 1940s," after Redskins detectives found that they'd put some tickets up for sale on eBay.
Slamming: The illegal practice of switching a customer's telephone service without authorization. Florida authorities fined Snyder's pre-Redskins outfit, Snyder Communications, $3.1 million in 2001 after investigators uncovered more slamming in its offices than you'd find stagefront at a Limp Bizkit show.
Smear Job: Action that Marvin Demoff, agent for Gregg Williams, accused Redskins of taking to pre-empt fan unhappiness over Snyder's decision not to hire Williams. A four-year employee of Snyder's, Williams was a fan favorite. But the owner reportedly wanted to hire veteran coach Jim Fassel instead. Demoff pointed out that three D.C. media operations reported at about the same time that "team sources" were saying Williams wasn't fit to be head coach because he had been "disrespectful" to retiring coach Joe Gibbs. The alleged slight occurred when Williams unilaterally called the "Missing Man Formation" as a tribute to Sean Taylor after his death. Outcry prevented the team from hiring Fassel, though Williams didn't get the job, either.
Smith, Bruce, Rear End Of: The only thing fans who bought the first run of Snyder's Dream Seats had a great look at. Before the 2000 season, Snyder installed 1,488 field level seats at FedExField. To that point in football history, the front rows were regarded as the worst vantage point in a stadium, since the players on the sideline block the view, and were priced accordingly. Snyder charged $3,000 per Dream Seat.
Sponsored Sponsors: A technique created by the Redskins Broadcast Network in the Snyder era to cram in all the advertising sold on Redskins radio broadcasts. No segment of a Skins game goes unsponsored, leading to fabulous listening moments such as: "The GMRI scoreboard brought to you by McDonald's."
"Sports Jerk of the Year": Award conferred upon Snyder in 2001 in cartoon strip "Tank McNamara."
Unobstructed View: What Snyder wanted of the Potomac River from the back of his Montgomery County home. To accomplish this, he cut down trees protected by the National Park Service. The episode marked one of the rare times Snyder got crisis PR help. He retained Mike Sitrick, who helped with damage control for the Michael Jackson family after the pop star's death and Paris Hilton after one of her arrests.
Vanilla: Flavor of ice cream that Snyder left to thaw in defensive coordinator Mike Nolan's office TWICE in one season to let the coach know the owner felt his schemes were simplistic, or vanilla. John Feinstein wrote that Snyder's second delivery, after a loss to Dallas, consisted of "three giant canisters of melting 31 Flavors ice cream" and a note that said "I do not like vanilla."
Weasel Stew: Menu item at the Princess Restaurant in Frostburg, Md., conceived in 2000 after the Redskins broke their training-camp lease with the local college. Jack Kent Cooke and Maryland lawmakers had worked out a 10-year, $331,000-per-year deal, designed to bring tourist dollars to western Maryland, as part of the agreement that brought the Redskins to Prince George's County. Shortly after buying the team, Snyder defaulted on the deal so he could hold training camp at Redskins Park, where he charged $10 admission and $10 parking. In 2001, Snyder paid the school $750,000 to settle the matter. The school used the money to establish an endowment named for Cooke.
Zorn: Verb meaning to humiliate an employee into quitting so the employer can avoid paying severance. The word was brought into the lexicon early in the 2009 season, after Snyder engineered a public emasculation of head coach Jim Zorn. Zorn's play-calling duties were handed to consultant Sherm Lewis, who was working as a bingo caller at retirement communities in Michigan when Snyder hired him. At the time, Zorn had a year and $2.4 million remaining on his contract. He didn't quit.
Our Readers Say
Our article pages are dated to match the date on the paper, which is the Friday of the week it comes out. But you can pick up a paper copy around D.C. any time from tomorrow on.
That's in here:
"Hill, Pat: Down-on-her-luck 73-year-old grandmother—and five-decade Redskins season-ticketholder—who was sued by the Redskins in 2009 because she could not afford to keep up payments on the 10-year, $50,000-plus club seats contract she'd signed."
Is Danny still involved with Dick Clark Productions? Wondering if there's correlation between his involvement and this:
Fantastic article. $20 scratch tickets... priceless.
much needed after that (which was the second worse day of my redskin fandom life) monday night massacre!
What a total douche.
And doesn't even fully delve into how awful the team has been *on the field*. 24th best record in the NFL since Snyder bought the team.
Not sure the internet has enough room for that kind of exposé.
I-ay on't-day ink-thay ooo-yay ave-hay ay-ay ooo-clay ut-whay ig-Pay atin-Lay even-ay is-ay, ooo-day ooo-yay?
Speaking of the Pack, I wanted to point out that Sherman Lewis, who was a "bingo caller" when he took over playcalling duties for Jim Zorn, is/was a highly regarded offensive coordinator who ran the Packers offense during the Superbowl seasons (he was with Bill Walsh's 49ers, too). So he wasn't just some Snyder crony. Still, bringing Lewis in was totally classless.
Best article ever...even inlcuding James Grimaldi's piece last year on sueing customers, selling tickets out the back door, and forcing customers to buy "packages" including Touchdown Club in order to get a season ticket.
The players know what kind of people they work for, and this team will NEVER win under this ownership. Mark my words. NEVER, because they get screwed over every day, but they can't talk about it for fear of being black-balled.
My only correction, Matt Turk asked to be released after the team cut Dan the day after his botched snap.
Thank you again for brightening my day!
Despite being 2-7, it could be worse: I could be a Redskins fan.
Your team and its fans deserve so much better than this guy. I'd contend Snyder killed much of the Dallas/Washington rivalry due to the apathy he has instilled in his fan-base.
$ can't buy pride.
1) post 9/11 he handed out American flags for people to wave at the game. The flags had a sticker on them: "made in china"
2) post-Katrina he had employees collect money out front of the stadium in buckets. The buckets were labeled :"redskins relief fund" no mention of Katrina.
3) he didnt consult with pg county before expanding to 91,000 seats. Since the infrastructure was not designed to have that capacity. He was reprimanded by the county. See 10/6/04 article in wapost.
4) fan patdowns post 9/11 that remain, likely to keep people from bringing in food. No other local sports team does this.
5) no straws or lids for sodas at fedex field
6) cash parking at remote lots with bus service to stadium
And if he still flies his helicopter to the games and elsewhere, I know a guy who has a friend whose cousin lives next door to a guy who has a connection for Stinger missles :D
1. Verbally abusing John Feinstein in a public restaurant, during which he claimed that he should not be criticized at all. Check out JF's blog at: http://www.feinsteinonthebrink.com/index.php?categories=Dan%20Snyder and http://www.masnsports.com/the_sports_junkies/2010/10/the-whole-picture.html
2. Snyder fired most of the Redskins' office staff when he took over in 1999…after guaranteeing them in writing that he would do no such thing.
3. Snyder cannot take criticism of any sort. He took away most of the Washington Post's press passes after they continually bashed him for his mis-management.
4. Snyder and his wife fired their child's nanny and didn't pay her a dime, so she sued them in court for unpaid wages and won. Nice guy, huh?
5. Snyder made millions by targeting the grieving families of cancer victims in hospitals, selling them 'bereavement baskets.'
One thing to add to the item about Snyder charging fans $10 for admission to training camp is that it made it easy for other teams to watch and film the Redskins' practices.
Where's more on that? I'm having a hard time digging up that allegation.
Fire Danny, move back into RFK and raze FedEx.
Your article is great!!
He fucking owns you and only he is smart enough to know it. Dan Snyder only makes money when sheep go to shitty blowouts and buy 10 dollar beer. We only have ourselves to blame for such a transparent asshole. Hw can only charge money for parking when stupid fucks show up to pay it.
Danny Boy also sat down for lunch with Art and turned around and sent Art the bill.
And one of the funniest things he did as a new owner was after being introduced to William Clay Ford, he asked Ford what type of business he operated that allowed him to own the Lions.
You can't make this stuff up.
As a 40+ year Packer fan, I don't much care for the Skins but...well...I'm just sorry for ya havin' to endure that midget.
On behalf of ALL NFL Football fans, we'd understand if you wanna dump your allegiance to them and adopt another team. You folks have earned special dispensation...one free 'allegiance' trade. (Cuz ya KNOW that little sh!t is gonna own 'm for another 40 years.)
1.) Firing long-time loyal employees after buying the team.
2.) Telling Native American activists that he would never change the racist nickname as long as he owned the team.
3.) One of his partners, Drasner, undermined Schottenheimer's authority because Marty was using the "good limo" and wouldn't let Drasner use it for some of his out of town guests. At the end of the season, Drasner pushed Snyder to fire him.
As long as the fans keep buying merchandise and sitting in the rain to watch the worst team in professional sports, Danny will keep finding ways to fuck you. As the Sex Pistols once said, "Ever feel like you've been swindled?"
Hopefully Snyder will grow bored and sell to a competent owner. I just fear that it will be decades from now...
But, I'm sure some of the players have this same arrogant attitude.
Fans boycott him until he can treat you better!!!
But, I'm sure some of the players have this same arrogant attitude.
Fans boycott him until he can treat you better!!!
We can always "Zorn" him until he sells the team!
Snyder's lying. The Packers, who have the most famous waiting list in the NFL, have about 84,000 names on the waiting list. I'm in the 35,000 range after 12 years.
The douche isn't willing to accept that everything he touches with the Redskins turns to dust.
I know it's bad when other teams' fans are on here with condolences, good grief.
Also, as a native Washingtonian and fan of all our teams EXCEPT the Redskins (go Caps, go Bullets!), I didn't think anything could beat last season for Redskin fun. Who knew THIS season would be better. This City Paper article is the perfect chaser for that wonderful game Monday night. :)
Growing up in the shadows of RFK and the glory days, I hope the team will return to both...without that idiot!
Until then, GO CAPS!
Beating up on that little twirp Snyder is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, and certainly more fun. But I must admit, you've done a fine job with this effort.
Keep it up.
Shunning and shaming can go a long way. And I shall not rest in my grave until Snyder is somehow separated from the Redskins?
I really expect there will be a lot of empty seats in a few more years as more season tickets come up for renewal and don't get re-taken. (Of course, remember the article in the news last year that showed the Redskins forged contract renewals/extensions, too)
I am still deciding which team to cheer for: Saints, Packers, Colts?
At least if there is a lockout and no season next year, I won't have to pay for tickets.
Thanks for refreshing my hatred for Danny Boy and his minions. Of course, that last game was a strong reminder, too. Nobody can coach or play for these idiots successfully.
How is it possible for any human being to make Peter Angelos look good?
See above.
But you can't let Snyder win. A European soccer team's fans would never settle for this crap. Organize a "Sell It, Snyder!" campaign. Boycott the television games. Boycott the radio broadcasts. Boycott tickets sales and Redskins gear. If you can, part with your season tickets. If you must go, wear no Redskins gear; instead, wear a non-Redskins color of unity associated with SIS!, such as orange or sky blue. In addition, you cannot buy concessions, and you should start "Sell it, Snyder!" chants as often as possible. SIS! should boycott all sponsors of the team as long as Snyder is the owner and should organize a letter-writing campaign to those sponsors saying so (Busch, Coke, Sprint, FedEx, etc.). Companies should know that they can't sell their products to Redskins fans if they sponsor the Redskins under Snyder's ownership. SIS! should also organize a boycott of anything else Snyder owns (Red Zebra, Dick Clark Productions) and should let the boards of those companies know it.
Take back your team.
Sigh. My prediction in the second season: 7-9 for 30 years almost seems hopeful.
Should also be another citation under: L - Largest Seating Capacity in NFL. Which you get when you push 20,000 seats back up under the second deck, behind pillars, so you can only see 2/3 of the field, and lose sight of the ball if it gets up higher than 20 feet in the air.
And he collects season ticket $ just after super bowl, invests it and then FEDEX tixs just before preseason.
I am not a Redskins fan--wasn't even before Little Danny took over. So it's hard for me to fathom why people still care for this team. After all the jacked-up fees, the revolving door on the head coach's office, the overpaid, over-the-hill free agents and the YEARS of losing we should all be asking: why root for this team? It's not anything like the organization that won 3 Super Bowls. The only thing the current Redskins team has in common with the teams in the glory years is the uniform.
Folks, please stop feeding this feeding this beast. Little Danny Snyder has treated Redskins fans like a drug dealer treats crack addicts when he sucks out every last dollar in their wallet. I feel your pain--it's not fun watching your team drop to the bottom of the league--but root for college teams instead. Or find another NFL team to follow.
inept Cerrato and pathetic Cerrato deserved each other.
Listening to dan snyder prattle about NFL player personnel is comparable to listening to lindsey lohan on the topic of alcohol sobriety.
u ommitted the adam archuletta fiasco....adam thrived in chicago bears secondary who primarliy played a zone defense....the redskins apparently thought he would thrive in their man to man defense even though adam only had marginal speed and could not play man to man defense.
and mark brunnell was going to be cut by jacksonville....yet the skins gave jax a 3rd round draft pick.
and the portis trade from denver for champ bailey...the redskins gave denver a 2nd round draft pick...for what should have been a straight up trade.
and the duckett trade from atlanta...who the redskins never used...and gave atlanta two draft picks for.
2. Another high point in Dan Snyder's treatment of loyal Redskins fans: no more shuttles to and from the Metro. That's a long walk!
I still wonder how Tony Kornheiser manages to work for him, but he does mention everyday that he is no longer a 'real' journalist and is now the 'Uncle Tony' charactor so popular in urban American and elite places everywhere.
Word has it that Snyder was the guy who pressed to get him hired on MNF, and it worked. Tony, however, showed us all that Joe T. is better at tv than he is. That thought alone must have Tonk K. still seeing his shrink after each show. That big paycheck he brags about, of course, coming at the price of his pride and dignity.
Which, of course, is the first thing you give up when you live your own, personal 'Devils Advocate' and work from DS.
Thank goodness I'm a Bears fan. Our owners aren't mean, just dumb. Like Mike Ditka.
Fuck you, you fucking punk. You are a typical asshole.
You are a miracle of evolution. How you made it to this point in time is remarkable. Fortunately, natural selection will run its course and trash like you will fade away. Continue to lead an empty life so you can die sooner and allow the human race to move forward.
On topic: great article -its amazing how much abuse we have taken as Skins fans...
PS: Jake -sorry about the big words like "evolution". "Evolution" means go outside behind your grandaddy's shed and shoot yourself. There. That's much better.
Snyder is a disgusting example of an arrogant little jerk who thinks owning a team is all about marketing. Despite his claims to the contrary, I still think he's heavily involved in team operations. Who doesn't believe he had EVERYTHING to do with the McNabb contract extension and the timing of it? If you believe it was all Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan, you are one of those fools who Danny Boy just loves to fleece. With his philosophy about making a buck, being patient and building a winning tradition will always come in a distant second to Danny Boy. End result is many, many more years of mediocrity (at best) and humiliation (at worst).
And we fans have done NOTHING to deserve this, nothing. We are among the most loyal fanbases in the NFL. And what do we get for our years of loyalty? A conniving, lying, rotten owner named Dan Snyder who could give a flying d*mn about you or me.
By comparison, the most recent McCartney show in Miami featured $25 tickets released the week of the show, and of course, no disproportionate fee.
that said, you dont deserve this. not at all. Im glad Wellington Mara doesnt have to shake hands with this scumbag.
You folks need to seriously organize and boycott. pickett the parking lots. You and all football fans deserve better then this.
The organization never changes - instead of collecting fantasy players he now collect fantasy coaches. What has Mike done since elway retired? Terrible. But Mike was the big "name" out there so napoleon just had to have him.
More Snyder-era player/coach bashing would've been nice. I guess that could be an entire book.
Remember that article in WP about Jason Campbell being the 17th starting quarterback (at the time) since Snyder took over...i loved the starting record/tds/ints...Gus Frerotte, Tony Banks, Heath Shuler...
Why do you idiots continue to support this asshole who repeatedly sticks his hand into your wallet and gives you a horrible fan experience?
Didn't you realize the entire nation was laughing at you rubes for sitting in the cold rain in your $200 seats, after paying $35 to park and then facing a 2 hour drive home?
Stop renewing your season tickets that no one else wants and quit being sheep.
The last straw in giving up the tickets was continuing to pay for parking at the stadium, and having no spaces being left, and having nobody to line up the cars when pulling in, all facing the right way, as was the case in RFK. Snyder is a doosh.
I wonder if the ExtremeSkins politburo have started banning people from linking this article in posts? It wouldn't surprise me. People on there don't want this site to gain extra traffic, because they're afraid that people might learn the truth about their daddy Snyder.
Will Loudoun Larry talk about this article? HIGHLY doubtful.
Snyder needs to understand that paying one or two players 25% of the team payroll only ensures that the team does not have a roster full of capable players from top to bottom. This teeny weeny jackass does not understand that you play fantasy football by drafting players from around the league onto a FANTASY team, not signing has beens to a real team that has to pay massive contracts with millions guaranteed. I will never go to FedEx Field for another game and I truly believe, as much as it pains me to say this, that the Redskins will not win another Super Bowl as long as Tiny Danny Snyder owns the team. The NFL needs to realize that he is a blot on the league and force him to sell the team. Unfortunately Snyder's ego is too big to allow him to see what he has done to the front office, employees, players and fans of a once great organization.
- Don't renew season tickets
- Don't buy tickets to games
- If you've already paid for tickets and feel you must go, avoid spending one red cent while you are there. Take the metro, sneak in beers, eat beforehand. Think about it - if every of the 90,000 people in attendance spends $40 less per game, that would be a loss of $28M/year (90K x $40 x 8 games). It's a start
- Don't buy ANY Redskins merchandise. If you want to support the team buy a generic Burgundy/Gold shirt, but without the Redskins/NFL logo on it.
- If you want to be really aggressive, boycott all sponsors, and most importantly, let them know why you are boycotting them.
As long as he's making money, Danny Boy will own this team and continue to run our storied franchise into the ground.
Remember this one? I searched but couldn't find a reference - there was a game against the Ravens, and Snyder charged the Raven Team Bus - the bus bringing the football players to the stadium - for parking!!! The Ravens refused to pay, slimy greasy Snyder finally caved in and refunded the money because I think it is a league rule that the home team can't charge the visiting team to enter the stadium ROTF. It was the opposing team's bus!
Also: How great would it be for PG County to enact some sort of a new licensing fee for pro sports? Like, if you operate a pro sports franchise, then you have to pay XXX million or you get shut down. Anything to siphon millions from Snyder's deep pockets, and put them toward the county's general fund, schools, cop salaries, etc., would be brilliant.
Followed the skins since I was a kid, but no more. Rooting for the opposition every week!!
I want dumb Danny and inflexible, nepotistic Shanny to LEAVE.
But you now what the scariest thing about our Little Napoleon is? According to the life expectancy tables, he's not gonna croak until 2042. Ouch!
Redskins fans have sunk so low that we have to accept condolences from Eagles, Giants and Cowboy supporters. It's appreciated but Good Grief!
I also cheer for the Chicago Blackhawks who for yaers were mismanaged by a terrible owner, one Bill Wirtz. They just ended a 49 year drought by winning the Stanley Cup last Spring. They went from a totally negative fan experience (ie all local games were blocked out on local TV-- Seasons ticket base of 6,000 fans ) to now having a waiting list of 30,000 and offering a great fan experience at the game. Mr Wirtz died, his son Rocky took over and things went on an upward trajectory from there. I'm not suggesting that one of you locals put a cap in Little Dan's Ass. I'm not one to delegate responsibilities but the Gun Laws in Canada are tough. Just wishful thinking I suppose. LOL
The Redskins right now are like Moses in the desert. Are we doomed to wander for 40 years before our deliverence? According to current life expectancy stats for average American males it would seem so. Barring the Rub Em Out scenerio (and I'm convinced that if the Judge was a 'Skins fan you'd get off with Justifiable Homicide and nothing more than Probation) the only solution I see is this. To vote for Edward Baltimore for Mayor and owner of the Washington Redskins. Based on the previos e-mail our football team could use his clear consise and reasoned opinion As he says himself " I, Edward Baltimore is still running for Mayor " I don't know how he'd do as Mayor but he sure couldn't do any worse as owner of the 'Skins than that little wanker who currently occupies the position now. Thanks for letting me vent.
P.S. This is not the first time that the Redskins have had a terrible owner, do some reading on the history of George Preston Marshall. Another real beauty.
20: Age of Jason Hammer, Caps fan assaulted by Leonsis for criticizing him.
100,000: Amount of fine imposed on Leonsis for criticizing the NBA's salary cap, which denies him the flexibilty of the NHL.
33: Percentage increase in price for Capitals tickets between 2009-10 season
1: Verizon Center ranking among unsanitary pro sports stadiums.
3: Number of months after acquiring the ticketmaster franchise that Leonsis started arresting individuals who were selling tickets in front of the Verizon Center. On his blog, Leonsis complained that he was only making revenue off ticket sales from the box office.
60: Estimated number of DC Special Forces police taken off their beat to arrest ticket resellers.
I feel your pain, Washington.
Maybe that is what is wrong with this team. Why not change the name of the team if it is offensive to a group of people, especially our Native Americans.
Thanks for shedding light on the subject. As Riggins says Dan has a "dark heart". I am beginning to believe that prolific statement.
Currently a Ravens fan, but grew up a Baltimore Colts fan. In the annals of horrible team owners, how quickly people forget the despicable ownership of one Robert Irsay in the 70's and 80's. I guarantee that Baltimore fans of a certain age haven't forgotten.
This drunk spent years shopping Baltimore's landmark NFL franchise around to other cities (Tampa, Jacksonville, Memphis and Phoenix) before finally packing up the Mayflower trucks during a snowstorm and hauling ass to India-noplace in the middle of the night. Irsay lied to the mayor and governor of Maryland, swearing on camera that he wasn't moving the team, and then did it anyway. He traded John Unitas to the San Diego Chargers at the end of the QB's stellar career. Hell, Irsay even called plays from the SIDELINES during one remarkable game in Philly, calling out his coach (Mike McCormick, only a Hall of Fame player and lifelong football guy) in front of his entire squad!! And Irsay's own mother once described him as "the devil himself"! The guy was pathological and certifiable, and an embarrassment to the entire league.
Fans protested and stayed away from the Colts' storied Memorial Stadium in droves during the last years of Irsay's reign of error. The average attendance in the early 80's was something like 14,000 a game. This from a fan base that generated more consecutive sellouts than any other franchise to that time. But in the end all the silent protests and arguing with our wallets and pocketbooks didn't matter -- the team moved anyway.
So, all you denizens of FedEx Field (the world's largest erector set), be careful what you wish for... If all of you DC fans resort to boycotting all things Redskin, you run the risk of having the midget pick up his toy franchise and, like the spoiled brat that he is, go running "home" to a new city (Does the sound of "Los Angeles Redskins" have a nice ring to it??!! I bet it would sound nice to your punk owner and his Hollywood friends!
And btw, should such a threatening scenario come about, don't expect the other NFL owners to lift any of their privileged fingers to stop little Danny Boy. Baltimore had to grovel at the feet of Jack Kent Cooke and his puppet commissioner Paul Taglia-butt to beg for an expansion franchise in the 90's, only to be turned down for Nascar Charlotte and that other thriving southern metropolis, Jacksonville. AT the time JKC and PT argued the hollow contention around the league that Baltimore and DC could not support two NFL franchises within a 40 mile radius, (only something that the cities had been doing successfully for more than three decades!) And how are those attendance figures in Carolina and Jax'ville today? Not so much, eh? Meanwhile, The Ravens came into existence only after Cleveland refused to work with Art Modell to make improvements to that crater in the ground that was Municipal Stadium, the ultimate "mistake by the lake".
Baltimore went 13 years without NFL football, jumping through the NFL's hoops at every demeaning turn, while other cities lent no support. Today, the Baltimore Colts storied history has been usurped under the Indianapolis nameplate. Even the Hall of Fame in Canton presents the stories of Unitas, Berry, Marchetti and all the other Baltimore greats as part of the "Indianapolis" Colts franchise -- ridiculous! The players themselves refuse to acknowledge this arrangement. Meanwhile, Cleveland whined and complained after Modell's Browns moved to Baltimore, and within three years Cleveland had another franchise, along with the Browns name, colors and HISTORY!!
So, If there is such a thing as poetic justice, Baltimore football fans have found it in the Ravens, a perennial playoff team that has great ownership and fan support. Meanwhile our Redskin neighbors to the south suffer with the likes of Snyder, and Carolina and Jacksonville play in front of half-empty stadiums. Cooke must be rolling over in his grave at the way you fans have been treated by Snyder. The NFL has never been able to reign in its own maverick owners, from George P. Marshall to Al Davis, from Irsay to Danny Boy!
So good luck to all of you Redskin fans -- you deserve so much better than what you now have. It's only a sports franchise, but we all know that it's so much more than that. Hey it's almost Thanksgiving, so I'll give thanks for good health, family and friends, a steady job -- and a strong NFL franchise like the Ravens that appreciates its fans, hires great football people and lets them do their jobs, and puts a solid product on the field year after year. 'Skins fans, you have my sympathies.
Redskin fan.......Michael F. Jeffers
It's time someone created a parody of the burgundy-and-gold "Redskins" bumper sticker, same font and size but reading "Fire the Owner." I'd do it and give them away but I don't know how. Any graphics-savvy takers out there? I know the gesture is futile but it might satisfy a metro-wide collective itch -- kind of a "honk if you hate Danny."
So what WOULD drive Lil' Danny to charge loyal fans thousands to stand in obscured view areas eating $10 stale peanuts after having their p.b.&j. sandwiches confiscated along with their non-team-approved posters after being frisked by surly, under-paid, unappreciated employees, having just schlepped from an office park five miles away because they couldn't afford to park AND get a beer - not after paying thousands for ticket packages lest the corporate lawyers come after their elderly parents - to watch a once-proud team bumble its way to yet another sub-.500 season with the play of overpriced wash-out players, without the ability to see replays of their ineptitude or the scores from other, probably more exciting games due to a Stalinesque control of what's shown and heard on the tiny monitors placed on the support posts that block the field in that God-forsaken stadium know as FedEx?
I don't know, but it's not just from being short ;-)
Whatever you do, encase this post in protective glass and never, ever let it disappear from the world wide web.
Shame on Mr Mckenna and the rest of the national media that constantly tries to badmouth Mr. Snyder for doing the right thing to try to win football games. Nobody is more upset about the team's losing record than their kind and generous owner!
(I can't even find any fans left to sell my seats to anymore - Now Danny's screwing me again!!!)
I am not a lawyer but this doesn't sound legal. From reading above, it has a familiar sound. It would be interesting (and time consuming) to see who has suites at Fedex and what business relationships are in place between suite-holders and Danny boy. In the business I am in, renting two suites would be the equivelant of a VERY large envelope being slid, illegally under the table...apparently something DC politicians and their wives are not very good at.
I spent 29 of my 30 years alive as a redskins fan. My first actual memory was a Redskins Super Bowl party my parents threw. I was, however, born in Princeton, NJ. Is it time for me to sell out and become a Jets fan? The stigma involved with selling out your home team make it a tough decision. But from the comments above, it seems the reaction would be apathetic.
Shanahan said on the heels of Rex Grossman's performance that he "understands this game". Maybe it's worth one more season. Doubtful.
All of that is gone, gone, gone. Snyder has taken what used to be an elite organization and turned it into the shit bucket of the NFL. Worse, he has lost a whole generation -- people born 20 years ago -- as fans. They simply don't care, and because they don't, their children won't, either. He reminds me of some fucking Nazi propagandist in 1945, screaming to the people that his glorious troops are advancing on all fronts, when in fact the Red Army is knocking on the gate of Berlin. His flunkies dispense shit-tasting Kool Aid that doesn't begin to mask the taste of defeat and failure, and he spends all his time trying to prevent people from telling the world how bad he sucks. The breaking point for me, after decades of Skins fandom, was when I friended the Skins on my Facebook page. Every week a new spurt of Kool Aid, pretending we hadn't been sodomized the previous week and weren't going to be sodomized again next week. When they tried to put a happy face on the Eagles game -- the most humiliating defeat I ever witnessed in my 38 years on this troubled planet -- I told them to go screw and deleted them from my page.
In closing, Danny, let me say FUCK YOU!!!!! I hope your nuts break out in running sores, you poisonous dwarf!
Skewer that short, stupid clown.
opened up and swallowed him whole. Let's hope for cancer!!!!
I just hope you don't get fired over this, last thing we need is another blogger trying to prey upon a frustrated fan base on the internet and incite the masses. Someone think of the children, for God's sake...
Oh yeah, and he wants author Dave McKenna fired.
Here's the story: http://wapo.st/hM0oJN
He's a shady operator, alright. And an early commenter is right; he'll never change. He brings disgrace to the Washington Redskins.
@lolwow - cause we Skins fans are stupid idiots we continue to fund this a-hole
@Truant - you need to lay off the meth
But what do I know, I'm just a homeless man who once was proud of a great organization but now support the players who wear the Burgundy and Gold colors.
As a lawyer, I am very amused at the threatened lawsuit by Snyder. There has been a lot of rumbling - burt no lawsuit yet. Snyder may be having a problem - getting a lawyer to sign the complaint. The problem Snyder has is that this article - and I read it - appears to have been very carefully "vetted" by a lawyer for City Paper before it was published - and by the looks of it had at least two items of backup verifying every entry. If some of the posters here wonder why their little bits of dirt on Snyder did not make it into the story - it's probably because the lawyers cut it for lack of enough backup to make them feel comfortable. So the first problem Snyder has in chasing this story is that he has to show something false in it - and his lawyers know that they will have a serious problem signing a complaint for libel, defamation or slander if they cannot show after reasonable investigation that something in the article was not true. As an aside, I wonder who had the unenviable task of explaining that to Snyder and saying 'umm well, Mr. Snyder, most/all of it is true."
Worse still Snyder is also stuck with the public figure exception, and given that he has made himself a very public figure, he would have a high burden to surmount to bring a suit. In New York Times v Sullivan, 376 US 254 (1964), the supremes created the carve-out form ordinary libel, defamation and slander that where people that have put themselves in the public spotlight, they have to show that the defendant engaged in actual malice before you can be found liable. The burden of proof is also on the public figure, i.e., Snyder, to prove that the author knew the statement was false, or you acted in reckless disregard of the statement's falsity or truth.
The New York Times standard is very hard to overcome - perhaps unfairly hard in many cases. But even so, this article seems to run into the standard straight on - and if the City Paper lawyers vetted the article properly (and it reads like they did), they made sure that McKenna had some reasonable basis to show them for every painful statement in it. And while McKenna may have regarded the vetting lawyer as a "pain in the ass" at the time, he should buy that guy/gal a beer this weekend for doing a thorough job.
I just wonder - who is the poor legal-schmuck who is going to have the explain this to Snyder.....
I'll gladly tell Snyder to his face that he's a dumbass if he thinks he can survive a suit without getting counter-sued or sanctioned for filing a frivolous suit. Read the comments, more evidence backing the facts reported. It's too funny that Snyder's musing about suing has promoted the article. Snyder is truly someone who can't think 2 minutes into the future.
I do feel sorry for Skin fans though - you guys deserve better.
BTW, thanks for Jason Campbell. He got off to a rusty start but we really like him now.
Redskins owner Dan Snyder seeks dismissal of City Paper writer
It is interesting to see the amount of bs The Danny has been a part of. Many of these items, however, I don't have a problem with. But that doesn't excuse the others.
And I agree, the suing of the fans for borderline illegal season ticket sales was just ridic.
Scathing piece on Danny Boy Snyder - $100
Comments on said piece - $200
Threatening a libel suit and bringing the CP story back from the dead - priceless!
Amen to earlier poster on this. He brought long time season ticket holders from ok upper deck seats and put them in not built yet obstructed view seats on grand lower level promises. They had a small section built on the 50yard line to show you and they were fine. On game day when you showed up, you had pillars, drain pipes and all the fans in the original seats of the stadium to see thru. When you called and said you wanted old seats back, it was to late to move becaouse they sold them , but you could get club seats this week. 2 years later they finally dropped the prices on the seats, I had to pay more to upgrade to these lower level seats, and printed "obstructed view" on the tickets.
My family went from 10 tickets in the 90's to zero now and no one misses them. THe fan experience became so horrible and abusive that there is not much to miss.
Great article, keep up the good reporting on this scam artist called owner. I will be posting this article wherever I can. Love the fact you have actually gotten to him. Love to see him squirm.
D: Davis, Al: Eccentric and erratic owner of the Oakland Raiders, who Dan Snyder is apparently trying to emulate.
A marketing organizations with a football team.
Danny has been very consistant winning the offseason with high priced free agents and we continue to buy it.
Wait till we draft this year. Who would make the biggest "splash" in April. Who could Danny market? Who would create the most hype? Thats right ....Cam Newton. I have no idea what type of QB he will eventually be, but I can tell you this. Danny Boy does not care how good he will be. He only sees $$$$$$$
Until he sells this team, we will never be taken seriously as a threat to win.
I don't blame him for some of the silly stuff, like selling beer in the bathroom, but I do place at his feet the blame for being unable to set the tone for this entire franchise. If he can't do it in ten-plus years, how is he ever going to do it? What's different now than five years ago, when the club was spending draft picks like a drunken sailor?
I question whether winning is the tonic for his redemption. Winning does cure a lot of ills, but ten years of gross misconduct and mismanagement is a lot to overcome. Whether Ms. Pat Hill, for example, was guilty of negligence in signing for her season ticket plan is a question that is lost in the public perception that the Redskins are suing their fans. How do you overcome that?
"Winning" is about more than the Super Bowl. Winning is about being a positive neighbor in the community, which Snyder is not. Each of the entries above, while small in isolation, line up to reveal a pattern of someone who is not a positive force. The NFL is curiously split between being a money-printing machine and wanting to be a force for positive change. Snyder has embreaced half of that dichotomy, but it entirely clueless regarding the other half.
He will not change. The Skins are doomed until he sells the team, or relinqushes control of it. That is the truth.
But once you threaten to sue, it piqued my interest. And it was intersting, you really get a more rounded sense of the 21st century redskins, beyond player/coach personnel decisions. I'm sure Snyder's a more well rounded human than just this, though he obviously loves money quite a bit, and the bits about his nanny & the Labor laws show an objectivist style disregard for other people....
But if you really want to change, Dan, don't sue to cover things up. Keep working on being a good nice person, helping others, making decisions BASED around being a good person instead of the bottom line... in a few years that kind of investment really pays off, in ways you can't understand when you're crunching numbers. Don't try to grow your bank balance into the biggest Dan Snyder mogul-type you can be, just try to manage your assets and be a good steward of your conscience and your heart. Do you really want to end up like Mr Burns on the Simpsons? !!
A landing pad in a residential neighborhood.... He couldn't care less about anyone other than his diminutive self. Maybe if he made it a 911 commemorative landing zone and a critical "no drive no-walk safety issue" it would have been approved... ;-)
The threat of a lawsuit is of course at it's root an economic threat: Snyder can and will gladly pay for more and better lawyers than the City Paper could muster, for as long as he wants. He'll lose in the end, of course, because the article is factual, but since he's a petty short sighted man, it will be enough to him that he costs the paper money it can't afford to spend.
I hope the WCP article and its aftermath put to rest forever that Snyder is a brilliant business success who just doesn't understand football. What he is is an idiot who was in the right place when the Net exploded and happened to get a billion dollars. I would wager that most lottery winners have more intelligence, common sense and scruples.
Can't Snyder make money in some other industry and leave our team and town alone/
I will be the first contributor to the McKenna & CP legal defense fund.
As someone mentioned above, perhaps its time for a fan revolt, time for Skins fans to send a message to this clueless prick? It's tough for force an owner to sell but if you don't show up, perhaps he will be forced to sell. Take your team back.
It is disappointing and deflating to be a Redskins fan these days. I remember growing up in the seventies and being genuinely excited whenever a Redskin would do an autograph session at the local McDonald's, or the scant possibility that my father would use one of his precious season tickets to take me to a game. Those days are fondly set in my memory. Those memories (of guys like Charley Taylor, Pat Fischer, Ron McDole, Billy Kilmer - men who gave everything they had on Sunday to win with honor) are what cause me to still care about the fate of the Redskins every weekend in the 21st century. However, even though I care, even though I scour the box score on Monday, even though I tell all of my friends around the country that I am a Redskins fan - the truth is that time has passed and those days will never come back. Sure, someday the Redskins may win the NFC East, they may win some playoff games. Hell, they may even win another Super Bowl. But the damage has been done. We, the vocal, supportive public have been subjected to too many indignities - too many shameful episodes. We will still go to the games, we will watch them on our high definition flat screen TVs, we will hope and pray that we win beat Dallas twice a year. But the trust that was built up from the late sixties until the late nineties is gone. The Redskins have become just another unfulfilled promise, another barely out of reach love that has grown old and tired and cruel.
If this is how we feel, the fans that "grew up" with the colorful championship teams of the seventies, eighties and nineties, imagine how the players feel. Young men who had dreams of glory, who were successful in high school and college, come here to have their talents wasted by a directionless marketing machine that masquerades as a professional football team. I don't feel sorry for myself - I got to watch 5 Super Bowls that featured the Redskins. I feel sorry for my sons, who will never have that feeling of loyalty and public trust, that emotional investment in your hometown team. I also feel incredibly sorry for the players who are near the end of their careers and will watch their youth and talent fade while they are part of a disingenuous organization. Sure, they make incredible amounts of money, but that doesn't take away the pain of being part of something that is dishonorable. These players succeeded because they were driven to succeed. I do believe that the new coaching staff is a step in the right direction, but I also believe it will be take several years of a disciplined approach to the draft, to trades and to personnel and strategy, before we will see this team win with humility and lose with grace.
Dan Snyder has every right to own the Redskins. I just hope that he can turn over the operation of the team to a group of people who take pride in a job well done - not in inflating the bottom line.
The naming rights being sold to Jack Kent Cooke stadium immediately following the purchase of the team. Why should we memorialize an owner that built a stadium with his own money.....We can thank old Danny for the stadium naming revolution of the 21st century.
Want to skip the "Waiting List"... $40 extra per ticket per game and you got your tickets and a "free" hamburger. BTW... the first year of the tailgate club if you wanted a beer you would pay 8.50 INSIDE the tailgate club... 7.50 in the park. That's right, an extra dollar for the same beer that is 10 feet away inside the park. But I guess they have to make up money on the mystery meat their handing out.
Need to upgrade to lower seats? There's not a lot of room down there... we might be able to squeeze you in if you not only pay for your tickets but sign up for our fabulous tailgate club. Where you not only get cheap crappy food you also see a cheerleader or two... yay!
BTW, even though it wasn't HD, why couldn't they show replays on the old lite bright screen? They had no problem showing Dominoes commercials.
For years I paid to have 10 days of my life each year away from my family, overspending on EVERYTHING and getting gouged at every turn... and I still had to watch commercials at the game!!!
I only go to one or two games a year now... Usually for free because they can't build a team and people can hardly give their tickets away... I turn down an unbelievable amount of free tickets every year because a team that's in the entertainment business is in the gouging their fans business.
A few things strike me about this article and the 1,000 or more posts after it.
1) Not 1 post was pro-Snyder. That is absolutely amazing to me! You will NEVER see an article where there aren't at least a few posts that support the "other" side! This guy must be an absolute dickhead! Not even the slightest mention of someone being near Snyder's side on this, everyone is against him....
2) As a lifelong Cowboys fan, I can see Jerry Jones eventually turning into Al Davis-type figure as he gets older. But one thing is certain, the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry is completely dead and buried. Under Snyder's watch I have been able to completely disregard the Skins as a team that Dallas has to worry about each season. Sure, Washington will win one here and there, but its just far too one-sided to even be called a rivalry any longer....
I never thought I would ever say this, but I feel very sorry for you Skins fans, I never knew how bad it really was with this midget-bastard around.
Hey Dan, ever heard of the Streisand Effect? Now you might get your own bullet point in the Wiki article due to your own stupidity!
After all that Snyder has done, why is Al Davis considered Public Enemy #1 to NFL fans? Seems very clear that Snyder not only doesn't know how to run a winning NFL franchise, he doesn't know how to be a decent human being either.
"GSS" -- the memorial patch for Snyder's father that he wanted players to wear on their uniforms.
I also think that the NFL should move the Raiders into the NFC East; perfect fit with Cowboys and Skins.
Thankfully, the one thing this city has always been good about is standing behind its teams through thick and thin. Wonder how much longer we'll stand behind an idiot like Dan Snyder.
By the way, what ethnicity is "Snyder"?
Then again, this is pretty much consistent with how Snyder runs all of his business operations. I'm not a Redskins fan and could really care less about the team, but Snyder's uncanny ability to repeatedly shoot himself in the foot is nothing if not an endless source of amusement.
Snyders actions speak for themself. "I'm rich, entilted and I do what ever I want. You cross me.... and I'll crush you!"
This man is nothing more then an egomanic with an inferiority complex. He's a drama queen too. He "HAS" to be rich otherwise he's a nobody, no friends, no women, nothing, zero. And tyrants always fail at some point. Self distruction is inevitable. History bares witness over and over.
The problem Snyders attitude is this... You'd better not fail. Cause there's all those people you s-c-r-e-w-e-d over just waiting kicking your @#$. If Snyder thinks the other NFL owners or his rich buddies are going to go down with him, He's a fool. If theres one thing I know about the NFL, It's all about image.
It's so clear that other coaches and owners hate Dan Snyder and Redskins. He's s-c-r-e-w-e-d them too. Why do you think we get pounded by 52+ points when it's clear the game is over. It's cause they hate ya Danny. And we,(the fans) pay for it in humiliation and embarrasment every year.
I firmly believe in karma. I've seen it too many times. The clock is ticking on dan Snyder and the Redskins. It's just about there. Keep alienating everyone Danny you've just about reached the top of the hill.
I love the Washington Redskins Team with all my heart. But this guy is just to much. I refuse to give a dime to this t-u-r-d. The fans have a right to be angry. He's embarrased and destroyed a historic landmark of Washington DC.
It's so painful to watch the Giants and Eagles take the cake every year while they mop the floor with us. Sad thing is I've just given up.
Yes sir.... Dan Snyder's owns of the team and he can do what he wants with it. I'm a consumer and I can do whatever I want with my money. So you have a nice life Mr. Snyder, See ya round!
Hope that mortgage in Potomac is huge one!
In 2009, I was forced to disown the skins. I highly recommend doing the same (primarily for personal and family health and safety concerns).
great article
didnt know dan snyder sucked THAT much
I hope Snyder does sue, then you could prove his shady tactics and general mismanagement.
It would be easier to take over Guyana than unseat little king Danny. To bad, I used to love football and the Redskins. Now Ive learned to love misery.
hey Danny boy. take your bad luck bone outta DC. The only way my skins will ever win is with you gone. boy.
Just think of how many other potential pieces-of-shit never came to be due to abortion rights!
If only Lil Danny Boy's mom had had access to a rusty hanger about 45 or so years ago.....
Dave, great work! Snyder, terrible job!
However, someone ought to do one of these on the late great George Steinbrenner. It would probably resemble a bound dictionary.
Doesn't even mention the lawsuit against financially distressed season ticket holders for defaulting on their long-term contracts, even though the Redskins were able to immediately re-sell those tickets and lose nothing.
Now, the article will blaze up ESPN and sports talk PLUS aggravate the NFL who want everyone to be focused on their Trademarked-Championship-Game this Sunday. Good work! Plus City Paper gets mondo hits, exemplared by "Due to very high traffic on February 2nd, this page is being cached."
Perhaps we, the public, can "Zorn" Snyder into selling the team? It's not as if the team is worth what it was when he bought it - he's done plenty to lower the value.
McKenna - good for you! Don't let Snydies saber-rattling about lawsuits deter you from keeping your readers informed and entertained. This was an excellent piece. One to be bookmarked, shared and referred to after every losing season. Freedom of the press Snydie, now there's something you can't f-up or control. McKenna's reported facts. This article didn't sully your reputation. You're doing a fine job of that on your own. And since you like the Mister salutation, we'll just start referring to you as "Mr. Asshat".
Hey fans - we've still got the Baltimore Ravens, a team the makes the playoffs more than not and treats their fans like they're important. Buy Ravens gear and let's put a hurtin' on Mr. Asshat's wallet. Sadly, that's the only thing that will force this idiot to back-off and let the experts run this team. I still love this team or at least the idea of what it once was. Hope springs eternal...
If it was anatomically possible, I would have your children!
purchase Haynesworth. Looks like they are perfect match!
One day as part of a 'morale' event we were told that a large contingent of the Washington Redskins and their owner were in the parking lot and wanted to thank us for what we were doing. Needless to say I was in a foul mood during that time and spent that lunch with my squad and one of the franchise players and I asked him to tell me stories about the owner. I remember him telling me that the richest sickest thing the owner had done was higher a surrogate to carry his kids for his wife because she did not want to ruin her body!
Bet they are great parents!
Give it up... maybe then the Redskins can have a chance to be a contender in the NFL!
Dave Mckenna you are a HERO!! Don't let this piece push you out of the paper.
standings? Gee, maybe there is a just god!
great story!
but i am starting to feel sorry for all my friends who are skins fans. really.
it's one thing to have a bad team. it's another to have the owner rape and pillage every last nickel from you to watch a bad team.
this isn't the cleveland browns or bengals or lions. it's sad what he's done to this team.
his dad would be rolling over in his grave.
Snyder is, without doubt, absolutely the first-rank; he's the acme, the best owner the Redskins have EVER had. In the history of the NFL, Snyder is right up there with Jerry Jones - maybe even better. I THANK GOD for every year, every day, every minute, every nano-second that Daniel Snyder is the Redskins' Chief. Long may he reign! Hail!
Of course, I am a life-long Eagles fan....
As a Patriots fan we suffered many years of being the most ridiculed fan base in sports because we had a series of owners that were pathetic. If my beloved Pats were to return the the level of mediocrity of the 'Skins, I think the feeling would be worse. If you've never had someone then you don't really know how success feels but when you know what success is and can't find it like your current organization then it's got to feel worse, much worse. Damn that idiot Snyder, he's not just bad for Washington but he's bad for the NFL.
Thanks for dumping 74 years worth of legacy into the toilet.
You are a BUM Dan Snyder. Yes, you are rich, and you are a Redskins fan, but you are a BUM.
The only problem is I'm a Giants fan and anything that keeps the Redskins the doormats of the NFC works for me. Maybe Dan would consider buying the Cowboys too? The Eagles?
Actually, all kidding aside, it's sad to read how the fans have been treated by a franchise that once prided itself on a sense of family and community. As much grief as I get from the Giants (oh, like blowing 21 point leads in 7 minutes) they haven't gone completed fiscal(but let's not get started on those Personal Seat Licenses).
Sounds to me like Snyder is bad for everyone.
Thanks to Dave for giving voice to all the reasons I can no longer be a Redskins fan until he sells the team.
On another matter entirely:
I DO HAVE A COMMENT FOR THE COWARD THAT LEFT A COMMENT WITHOUT IDENTIFYING HIMSELF/HERSELF (COMMENT 6: ENTITLED SNYDER'S HOOK NOSE: YOU ARE AN ANTI-SEMITE AND A COWARD. AS A JEW, I CAN TELL YOU THAT SNYDER'S FAILINGS; SHORTCOMINGS; and CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT HE IS A JEW! YOU ARE A VERY SAD LITTLE PERSON THAT NEED NEVER SPEAK. HOPEFULLY, YOU HAVE NOT REPRODUCED! IT IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU THAT KEEP RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM ALIVE AND WELL. I'LL BET EVERY PENNY I HAVE IN THE WORLD, THAT YOU BULLY YOUR WIFE/HUSBAND, CHILDREN, PETS, FRIENDS, AND PARENTS ( WHERE I SUSPECT YOU PROBABLY LEARNED YOUR VILE BEHAVIOR FROM IN THE FIRST PLACE.) NEXT TIME YOU WANT TO MAKE A COMMENT THAT STUPID, NOT ON POINT, AND/OR IS SIMPLY WHAT IS IT APPEARS ON ITS FACE, ANTI-SEMITIC, LEAVE YOUR NAME, SO THAT THOSE OF US THAT WOULD LIKE TO RESPOND TO YOU DIRECTLY CAN ADDRESS YOU BY NAME, INSTEAD OF HAVING TO RESORT TO: HEY YOU, FUCKING IDIOT.
Otherwise, I truly enjoyed this article.
I wear as a badge the fact that I never wavered in my loyalties. (To be honest, that period actually reinforced my loyalties.) I'm pretty good in defending Jerry Jones' ownership though not so much for his GM work. I usually could refute most criticism about JJ posed by any guy on the street, to the point that they'll admit that their main reason was that they just don't like JJ. I know I can't change their feelings, just expose their true reasons.
It's clear from this article that I would never be able to defend Li'l Danny in the same way if I was ever a 'Skins fan. I am eternally thankful that I am not one!
4) fan patdowns post 9/11 that remain, likely to keep people from bringing in food. No other local sports team does this.
Actually, if I'm not mistaken all the NFL teams do this. I've been to the old Cowboys Stadium as a fan, M&T as a fan, and M&T as a Ravens employee, and we all get patted down.
Reminds me of the late Virginia Senator William L. Scott. Back in 1974, the esteemed Senator called a news conference to denounce some obscure research group's naming him "Dumbest member of Congress", thus a) confirming that he richly deserved the "award" and b) assuring that millions who didn't know of this "award" would learn of it.
Maybe Uncle Al and Danny Boy can go off and form a league of their own somewhere else, and sell their respective interests in the Redskins and Raiders? It could make for a better world!
And to think I was a die hard Dallas fan for 30 years and left because I could not stomach Jery Jones any longer. I even bought Redskins season tics. Synder you are a clone of Jerry Jones. Snyder, it would be nice if your organization would answer my emails sent to your season ticket group. I have sent 5 over the past several months with no response! Oh, no explanation from your employees. YOU have trained them well.
Unfortunately is a terrible owner based on the allegations by Dave McKenna in his news article. If this article is true with clear facts to back it up, why is Snyder trying to get him fired from his jos as a reporter for telling the truth!
Anyone who would waste 122 million dollars of Bill Gates money and subsequently removed from Six Flags Board for fiduciary irresponsibility should not be the owner of The Washington Redskins or any company. Mr. Snyder does not know how to run an NFL franchise and he needs to sell The Redskins before he does anymore harm to the club or the league image. I am shocked that ESPN/OTL (Outside The Lines)has not done a story on his many business misdeeds.
i root for washington, and
i root for washington, and
he has zero class, though he thinks it's for sale.
I have 2 questions:
How does a guy that operates this way, stay on top? (We all know how he got to the top - lying, cheating, conniving and stealing)
Second, who in the NFL did due diligence on this incompetent fraud, before agreeing to let him purchase the team?? Outrageous, and this article outlines how damaging a huckster like Snyder can be to the health and well-being of a team.
Dan Snyder is truly the epitome of JERKY LOSER!
Snyder has ruined my loyal support for my hometown team. I can no longer root for a team owned by this man. If anything, you went easy on him. I could add another dozen instances of detestable behavior by this jerk and his fading NFL franchise.
I hope more Redskins fans will wake up and realize that John Riggins is right...Snyder is just a bad guy.
The City Paper must stand up for Mr. McKenna and his outstanding work.
Eugene, Oregon
2) Verizon/GTE were fined $3.1 million for slamming. Verizon/GTE fingered Snyder Communications for forging thousands of signatures without their knowledge. Verizon/GTE stopped using Snyder, afterwards.
3) The dollar amount Snyder is requesting for defamation is ludicrous considering City Paper's reader base is small. If it weren't for the suit publicity, millions wouldn't have known about this article.
4) That Rabbi playing the anti-semitism card is a laugher to defend the owner of the "Redskins".
5) Tanya Snyder should of kept her mouth shut or said "no comment" when asked about her husband. Instead, she towed the company/family line and made herself a public figure a long time ago.
6) All you dummies still buying Redskins merchandise are no better than Snyder.
Owners like Snyder and Jones will ultimately destroy the entire league. The Maras and Roonys and Halas's sacrificed for the good of the league for generations. They cared for the common good. And they built something.
Can you imagine Snyder sacrificing anything? I suppose we are simply, of a time. The new breed. Look at Dan Rooney's ego and look at our little butterball's ego. What good ending can there possibly be? None, I propose.
My only comment for the esteemed Mr. Snyder: What an unimaginable pussy! And you know it. Heckava job, Brownie(strong resemblance).
I knew I didn't like Dan Snyder. I was a little misinformed. I now know he really is the devil. I hope this new attention he brought upon himself makes him run like the scared little boy he really is.
I read something on yahoo about this article, and it stated that you were accused by Dan, of being anti-semitic. He's an Idiot. Again.
I really don't want to, but I am going to pray for him.
Fed up w Fed Ex!
Hey maybe we can host one though, lol!
to be the damned man
to live in dan land
misprinted lies
But my team
They aren't as empty
As you deem my conscience to be
I have tickets
Many tickets
Profit is business
They're not for free....
Snyder forced out three rows of our group and replaced them with touchdown club members .(Over 40 )
It was the most dispicable thing I ever saw. One of our members hadn't missed a game for 50 years.
I barely go to games anymore- I use them for business and it is still pains me to have to tailgate at FED- UP Stadium-especially in the designated tail gate zones and then have to go inside and pay 8-9 dollars for a cold one.
He is a jerk but what can you do.
The only thing he ever did right in my opinion was when he got rid of Vinny Cerrato and chartered several planes to fly the fans down to Tampa for a playoff game several years ago with a block party included.
Unfortunately he has taken center stage once again and made our team look like crap again
i wish everyone would cancell their season tickets until this little bozo
sells the team - how did he ever make soo much money to buy the team
i know how by being a little typical f###$#@$ j#@#!&$ a#@$#%$
what goes around comes around - i have met and once worked for an F#@# like
him - hit him where it hurts - his wallet - the small little man has nothing
in his very sad life
i wish everyone would cancell their season tickets until this little bozo
sells the team - how did he ever make soo much money to buy the team
i know how by being a little typical f###$#@$ j#@#!&$ a#@$#%$
what goes around comes around - i have met and once worked for an F#@# like
him - hit him where it hurts - his wallet - the small little man has nothing
in his very sad life
And i challenge any and everyone who comes in contact with him to treat him the way he treats others.
We can make it a game. Post how you dissed the Danny!
I never would have thought to say that before the Snyder era..But face it, where else can one to continue to deliver an increasingly poor product while at the same time boasting of record profits year after year. Way to go Danny. You are destroying the franchise you supposedly love out of ignorance and desire for personal gain.
I figure he has 2 choices: 1st SHUT UP or 2nd sell the team to a person that knows how to run a football team and finally allow us true Redskins Fans the opportunity to stand up and say we have a great team.
Im not sure I can remain a fan of the Redskins after readiing this (I probably will). I am 33, and have been a Redskins fan since I watched them win the superbowl in 1982. On one hand I have nothing but love for my beloved Skins, but on the other hand (after reading this) I am begining to dislike how the team has been ran for the last 12 years. Is there anything good that you have found that our ignorant owner has done to be positive. If so, you should probably write " The very short but positive fans guide to Dan Snyder" so you can keep your job and do what you do best, keeping us (the Redskins) relevant. I will most likely remain a Skins fan for years to come, and know that eventually our time will come. I mean come on, atleast he hasn't become Al Davis.
Chris Angell-Asheville NC
Snyder had everything in life handed to him. Without all of that money behind him, he would be a complete nobody. Snyder is a mere by-product of the pathologies of our political and economic system.
Best regards,
Fast forward to 2011. The team has been horrible for a full decade. Ticket, parking, and concession prices have never been higher. Multiple unsuccessful coaches. A slew of overpaid and worthless free agents like Sanders, Haynesworth, Archuleta, B. Smith, just to name a few. Underpaid producers like Fletcher and McIntosh. Absolutely the worst draft picks of any team in the NFL lead by the owner's buddy. The stadium has not personality and is simply one gigantic advertisement.
Dan Snyder - I've gotten to the point that I don't care if the Skins win or lose anymore and neither does my father. As difficult as that is to do, you found a way and that's on you. Even though we don't cheer for the Skins anymore, at least we still have the enjoyment of cheering against you.
Great article, Mr. McKenna. Thanks for writing it.
I think you should get a raise and promotion for this report.
Do rich guys even know how silly they sound when they say they are
"going to get some one fired"??
The best is trying to sell mattresses at theme parks.I know when its time to shop for a mattress I head to Six Flaggs.
I think Dan Snyder should move to Pittsburgh for 5 years and do an internship with the Rooneys of the Steelers and learn how to be an NFL owner.
Paul S
Bottom line: Legally he has no chance. He is a public figure (Hell, he even makes pizza commercials . . . or was that Little Ceasar?) and he'll never prove malice. So he not only loses, but he also highlights the very problems he wished to bury.
He was a loser. Now he is a whinning, bulling one. He need to sell the team, change his name and move to another town.
Greed will kill a franchise, business, faster than anything and it is sadly apparant that Dan snyder cares all too much about the all mighty dollar and not the fan...please tell me that the season ticket holder who was behind on her payments got help from an angel investor...
Hail to the Deadskins... may their suffering (and ours) be over soon.
All it takes is a 1,000,000 Skins fans (I'm sure there are that many) with $1,000 each (average) and we can buy this team back from this worthless fan, that is Snyder. He can than try to buy the Cowboys and run them into the ground, thereby restoring my faith in him being a Skins fan.
My 4 kids ages 26, 22. 20, and 16 love the skins. I had season tickets from 1985
to 2004. RFK was the BEST ..FEDx sucX bad. I had 4 seats and it was under 450$
then to fedx I had 2 seats row 25 , 50 yard line skins side $1000.00 then after
2004 season I gave up because Dan priced me out. I will always be a Redskins fan!
One man will not change me ..I like the players and the fan's. We have a GM and a hall of fame coach. Mark my words 2012 we could be 500 then 2013 still a avgerage team 2014 will be a the playoffs. Dan is Smart and has lost mega bucks
on the skins other NFL GMs and fan's all say the Washington Redskins are a better team and now have RESPECT around the NFL ....Yes it took 15 years of loosing millions but you will see !! Move the team back to DC !!!!!!
My 4 kids ages 26, 22. 20, and 16 love the skins. I had season tickets from 1985
to 2004. RFK was the BEST ..FEDx sucX bad. I had 4 seats and it was under 450$
then to fedx I had 2 seats row 25 , 50 yard line skins side $1000.00 then after
2004 season I gave up because Dan priced me out. I will always be a Redskins fan!
One man will not change me ..I like the players and the fan's. We have a GM and a hall of fame coach. Mark my words 2012 we could be 500 then 2013 still a avgerage team 2014 will be a the playoffs. Dan is Smart and has lost mega bucks
on the skins other NFL GMs and fan's all say the Washington Redskins are a better team and now have RESPECT around the NFL ....Yes it took 15 years of loosing millions but you will see !! Move the team back to DC !!!!!!
When will DC learn the way to liberate the team is to stop going, stop watching and stop buying the Redskins and their products. I have---and my new team, the Steelers---will be working this Sunday--in the Super Bowl.
Screw you, Danny litte rich boy.
When will DC learn the way to liberate the team is to stop going, stop watching and stop buying the Redskins and their products. I have---and my new team, the Steelers---will be working this Sunday--in the Super Bowl.
Screw you, Danny litte rich boy.
If you look closely you can see the 666 the devil branded into his forehead...GREAT ARTICLE!!!!!! Can't wait until you can update it next week.
Hey...stop calling me names...it's not fair!! I'm going to tell my mommy on you or better yet, I'm going to raise parking prices on you jerks. I HATE YOU...You exist only to make me money--money money money---I love money. Especially when it is other peoples' money--AND I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHA...Guess what? I'm sold out for the next ten years so my money is already made--SUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!! I need to go, I'm taking my helicopter to by champagne...keep spending money Suckers!!!!!!
Dan "I never slammed anyone I didn't like" Snyder
The story behind how Snyder made his money is inspiring. Americans love the idea of the entrepreneur, but when you get to know some, you hate the them.
The story behind how Snyder made his money is inspiring. Americans love the idea of the entrepreneur, but when you get to know some, you hate the them.
I say do not settle let him sue, no press is every bad press, what a brilliant way for advertising for the City Paper. BRILLIANT!!!!
Then you have to consider the coaches in the last 10 years; Mary Schottenheimer , Jim Zorn, Steve Spurrier , Joe Gibbs, Terry Robiskie, Norv Turner and now Mike Shanahan.
Is Snyder stupid? not really because he continues to get paid for a team in last place.
Watching the Redskins is hazardous for your health, symptoms are anxiety, stress, irritability, feeling tense and jumpy, sweating, insomnia, tremors and twitches, abrupt yelling/screaming, hitting friends/strangers/family members, and of course frequent urination or diarrhea. As a result of these symptoms you may be a candidate for a heart attack or stroke. Remedies include finding a new team to be a fan of or just give up football all together! (This kids has the right mentally) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLyjcXQmF0
I just feel really awful for the fans. Pittsburgh Pirate fans are at this point an extinct breed, replaced only by suburban families looking for a really cheap (you can get tickets for $7) to enjoy the river and the fireworks. I can only imagine that Redskins fans will become extinct in the next 10 years unless Snyder sells. This is honestly just sad.
Daniel Snyder has ruined everything about this team....The Cooke family must be spinning! I no longer support Washington at all until Snyder leaves, and I know he won't. It's a shame he ruined this team...his own father would be pissed!
Typical corporate guy with no common sense.
Mr. McKenna, I expect you do your level best to expose this fraudulent little man in every way possible. As a born and raised Washingtonian, I think he has earned this city's disgust. He is truly a disgrace. I support you and will continue to boycott; I hope others will join.
Being afraid to risk my marriage by taking my kids to games with our wonderful, classy fanbase
No Super Bowl wins
Only two Super Bowl APPEARANCES
Dog lovers barking at me for wearing the QB's jersey in public
12 years and counting of a mediocre, cheeseburger walrus of a coach who just cannot get the job done even with superior talent
Idiots who think I should root for the Steelers, a true winning team, just because they're also from Pennsylvania...even though FIVE other Super Bowl-winning teams, from the Redskins all the way to the Patriots, are closer to my doorstep
Despite all that, I don't feel so bad about my plight when reading about douchebag Snyder, who is even more useless in DC than Congress.
Thanks, I guess, from the bottom of my heart while I watch the Puppy Bowl this Sunday evening.
You have to take pity on the owner's plight at the upcoming negotiations. The Post article outlines the owner position pretty well. Someone will trot out the inventory of Danny deals: McNabb, Fat Albert, the new Stadium and people should realize pretty quickly that the owner's wounds are self-inflicted. The NFL may have gotten its anti-trust exemption by buying off Congressmen, but the only way they can buy off the fans is by using self restraint and providing reasonable value.
If Danny were measured on performance, he would have fired himself long ago.
Leave is to Snyder to play the Jewish card, what a whimp.
I only wish someone here in the Baltimore media would do something similar on Oriole owner Peter Angelos, a Snyder-clone.
They have fundamentally forgotten that it is good football that counts, not protecting the owner's self-esteem.
Dear Senator/Representative XXXXXXXXXXX,
Please consider revoking the NFL's anti-trust exemption at your earliest convenience. It is clear to see that what is playing out within the league's leadership is symptomatic of organizations that lack meaningful competition in the marketplace.
The leadership that has emerged post exemption is destroying what used to be a national asset – football as a sport. The league may point out that viable competition for watching football exists in many different forums: watching grass grow, going to the zoo, reading a book, tearing your hair out. The reality is that football, the sport, deserves protection from its leadership.
The only apparent protection for the game given the state of the present leaders is to allow for other leagues to form and carry on the tradition of the sport of football.
Remember Tunisia and Cairo….
Mike K
About all they've got is the statement about "forging names," which City Paper can argue is a synonym for slamming. Otherwise, they are going to hit the Sullivan wall, in which the Supreme Court ruled that small factual errors don't count. In Sullivan, for example, the Court held that the fact that the police did not actually "ring" the campus wasn't libelous since police were undoubtedly in the vicinity. That seems to cover the difference between selling mattresses at a theme park and using them in a hotel. It is almost impossible for a public figure to sue for libel anymore, and I doubt Mr. Dan is going to buck that trend.
Every section is either an unquestioned fact (Team/coach records, prices charged for whatever) or is linked to a story, legal decision or article that offers either 1st person interview or direct party information!
Jesus H... The man can't be serious, can he?
Don't slanderous or libelous statements have to be factually untrue and made by a person who knows it for fact, yet makes the statement anyway to willfully hurt the offended party?
Well, since none of the sections fit that bill, he's hoooooooosed, and I hope that the Washington City Paper counter-sues for legal fees and punitive damages to THEIR reputation after this is done.
By filing suit against the paper, danny boy has ensured the article will be read by millions.
Nothing personal Mr. Mckenna.
-Ferrar email@example.com
How can someone whose reputation is terrible possibly sue you for defamation?
I want to applaud you for standing tough against the little Napoleonic bully and protecting the First Amendment, please don't back down.
Dan Snyder is putting The City Paper on the map.
Best Wishes,
Dave (A Former Redskins Season Ticket Holder)
That's right, if you want any water you have to pay for it. They also over sell the parking spaces. So if you have an orange pass for that lot, you better get their early, otherwise there won't
Be a space for you. They overbook the lot just like the airlines do.
That big screen board they put in – while some people like it, I think it is distracting to say the least and takes away from the heart of the game.
It's all about the money and players feel it too. In fact the NFL wants to add 2 more games on for next season, just so the owners can cash in. These owners don't care about the players or the fans and it shows.
The ads are nonstop, even when you are watching the game live and the game is stopped too often for commercials. It just seems to get worse every year.
They need to get back to the basics of the game, but it's doubtful that will happen as long as they hold the golden goose.
the reply by the lawyer (Curtis B Krasik) obtained by WCP parent company.
If it was a football game the score would be 56-0..Snyder cant even hire good lawyers.But in fairness to Mr Donovan THERE IS NO CASE!!
BUT I hope Danny fights this and there is a trial.Then every slimy, moronic,cheesy,embarrassing
illegal corrupt move Snyder has been the mastermind of will come out in open
court!! Now that we will fun!
Nah...weasel-theory seems more likely.
I'll keep my eyes open for that defense fund account.
and I thought what a chessy lame over priced place. NOW it all makes scence.
His parks are not even close to the quality of Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio.
So I guess everything Snyder touchs turns to crap...So how did this douchebag make his money in the first place?? Was it from mommy and daddy?
Is there anyway to remove this guy from ownership? (other than the obvious)
In the mean time, go Terps!!! Sorry Fridge, they did you dirt.
It was great to see Chris Hanburger get nominated to the Hall of Fame. Those were the days.
We SUPPORT you Dave McKenna!! Don't let dumb-Dan intimidate you.. keep up the good work!
I'm glad Dan Snyder sued Washington City Paper. By doing so, thousands will read it (myself included) who otherwise would have never seen it. Can "lawsuit" be added to the Ls?
...an abused 'Skins fan in the Chicago area...
spokeswoman for Breast Cancer Awareness by involving her in a lawsuit that has nothing to do with her? When Tanya's quote, from a tv interview, stated that Dan is hanging with "better people" and he has "evolved" as a person. Which was the only complement in the article?
But what was more demeaning to Tanya was Tony Wiley's statement on CBS radio
that any monetary award would "not benefit the Redskins or Dan Snyder.. it would go towards "charity to benefit the Homeless" Which is a noble cause, but you'd think Dan would be more "evolved" to have Tony state that any monetary award would go to Tanya's NFL Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.
Even if a portion of the City Paper's antecdotes are not factual, I've heard even more stories of how Snyder treated employees at both the Redskins and Snyder Communications heartlessly, if not unethically.
As a fan, I can attest to the fact that the fan experience has deteriorated sharply over the last 11 years. It certainly doesn't come close to that of a Capitals game, Wizards game, Terps outing...
The problem with the Redskins is not that they don't have a healthy offensive line or that the playbook is too long or that Snyder doesn't know how to build an effective front office. I get so tired of all the talk show experts ranting on for hours about the personnel decisions.
Unfortunately for everyone, the problem is much deeper than that. The problem is that if Snyder's reputation as characterized in the article is even partially accurate, no one in the organization trusts him or respects him and that is the stuff that losing teams are made of.
So stop buying his high priced game tickets and paying inflated parking fees and sitting in obstructed view seats and buying throwback jerseys and making him richer. Believe me, the only way to get Snyder's attention is by impacting his wallet.
And now, thanks to Mr. Snyder's lawsuit, you and the Washington City Paper have thousands of new readers!
Snyder sounds not just greedy and an all-around shitty person but a little bit unhinged as well. The thing with suing the old lady who tried to work something out is the worst. Or maybe seeing cancer patients as a demographic to be milked is the worst. Or possibly the 9/11 hat cash grab. So difficult to single out just one!
Is this libel? Do I need an attorney?
First home game of the 2011 Redskins season: Hang up banners in the parking lots that state "FIRE SNYDER. TAKE THE FRANCHISE BACK."
Great one Dave.
The only thing you should be grateful for is that the Redskins are not owned by the McCourts.
February 3, 2011
One-million sperm and he's the one who gets through. LMAO!
I was thinking about the last few years of losing seasons. I know the players don't have a lot of job security but I wonder if they are playing poorly because it's such a bummer to work for this guy? I know JKC wasn't an angel by any means but he had a strong coach and he had great players. They played because they cared as much about the team as he did. This "owner" doesn't care and I think it's reflected by the players.
My father was a huge Redskins fan. I'm glad he's not around to see his beloved team run into the ground the way DS has done.
Dan, I hope you leave this paper alone. Your suit is a nuisance one that is proven by the statement your attorney released implying that the WCP doesn't have the financial resources to make it thru the experience. On the other hand, by the outcry I've seen here, on WUSA9tv.com and facebook, the anti-Dans would help WCP raise enough capitol to manage and I'm sure there are any number of attorneys out here that would even work gratis just to have the opportunity to push your face deeper in the mud and the muck. You know you'd lose and would have a huge fine for the nuisance part and the court costs because you lost. Oh how we'd laugh and laugh!
It is almost like Snyder has decided to take the worst pro-team-owner title away from Donald Sterling (Clippers). Snyder has made the Bidwells look like geniuses, even though they hired Buddy Ryan.
I wouldn't have found this article except for the coverage of Snyder's twisted panties over it. I can't wait for Snyder to decide he's had enough public ridicule and sells the Redskins.
As long as he is the owner, nothing good will come of this team. I would not work for him. What a loser. Wealthy on the backs of many..but a real loser.
Snyder, sorry dude. It's very clear they are criticizing YOU because YOU are a greedy, brash, arrogant, a.h. who is a bad manager worst of all. None of this criticism would even be coming your way if you had been successful in giving us winning seasons. Yeh, I think people might even shut up about the exploitative parking and practice schemes. You abuse the fans, and try to stop them from speakng out about you, crying anti-Semitism? What a joke you are. If I were a Semite myself, I would be none to pleased with you ridiculing the very concept of anti-Semitism with your whiney baby tactics. For shame!
He has single-handedly transformed one of the NFL's premier franchises
into a public laughingstock. A once proud organization is doomed to fail as long as he
remains "at the helm". God help us.
Whether there are one or two possible errors in this story is beside the point. Snyder was given the opportunity to rebut them but has failed to respond. If anyone should be fired , it is Snyder's PR firm and attorneys who have elevated this story beyond the readership of the Washington City Paper. I see no disrespect to Snyder's wife in the article as Snyder claimed yesterday in media interviews. I do believe that if there is no evidence about the "forging" episode , then City Paper should issue a retraction if this allegation cannot be documented.
However, after reading the story for the first time today, I must say that the article rings true. Unfortunately, Mr. Snyder's reputation with Redskin fans is not what it should be. His lawsuit will not improve his reputation with fans but only reenforce the public perception that he is thin skinned and used to having his way .
This is what I felt in my gut about Mr. Snyder since day one!
Great, great article! It just nails it!
You should get an Oscar for this.
You can't hide form the truth Danny boy and when you try, you only make it worse.
You will win any lawsuit upon filing a motion for summary judgment.
Our court system does not need spurious lawsuits preceded by threats to bankrupt the Defendant.
You have exposed Mr. Snyder as the egotistical pious unpricipaled cheat that he is. As an attorney for over 40 years, I applaud your actions
WCP,Stay Strong!
Lets not forget the classless, infintile firing of Mark Suisham and Hunter Smith. Those moves were truly from the chump users manual. Did they really believe that either of those firings would effect a change from the bush-league performances and embarrasing defeats practiced by these stressed and confused players. Just look at how wonderful the team did after they were hung in effigy outside DannyLand. Oh and by the way, isn't Suisham in the Super Bowl tomorrow? And wherever Smith lands I will surely be rooting for him to find his vindication. There truly is a football god but he ain't living at the Fed-X.
Fortunately for me, I have the opportunity to change and this is the straw that has broken my camel's back. Although it will be hard, I will no longer root for the Redskins as long as Snyder is the owner. The rest of the fans should take the opportunity to do the same. Show your dissatisfaction by giving up your season tickets and stop going to the games and paying for an inferior product. Only good things will happen as a result. One potential is that the Redskins will stop paying crazy salaries to players and this will force him to manage the team as a football versus a marketing organization, e.g. giving up Brian Mitchell for an aged Dion Sanders; bringing in Bruce Smith when he was on his last leg; hiring Spurrier because he was the 'got to have coach'. Or perhaps even better, Snyder will go running and sell before the market value is similar to that of Six Flags. If you want to do something good for Washington sports, quit contributing to the bully. It's easy, it will save you money, and in the end Washington will be better for it from a sports fan perspective, an environmental perspective and potentially a humanitarian perspective. Accept the criticism and move on Dan…..please move on.
I know a handful of talented college players through a friend who works in the industry, and I would love to see some of my favorite players wearing burgundy and gold. But when I consider the fact that they would have to work for Little Danny, I change those thoughts. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
People have to stop buying tickets and Redskins gear. Wear what you have — I do — but Little Danny won't change until he gets hit in the pocket. Even then, he probably won't, but it's worth trying, because nothing else has worked.
my only comment to mr. snyder is "wah wah wah--if you can't take the heat of the kitchen..." city paper--keep up the good work and thanks for the guts to print it.
As a former season ticket owner and urban planner in Prince George's County, I must admit that I am very suspicious of any and everything done by the Washington football team. (I try not to refer to them as the Redskins after Snyder's so insulting justification of the name ten years ago as he didn't think it was insulting with no justification and they had no intention of changing the name and any discussion was just silly).
I gave up my tickets after the 2002 season as I was required to pay for the tickets six months before the first game. From his illegally closing a PUBLIC street, to cutting down national parkland trees, to not allowing you to bring water into a stadium where you cannot find a water fountain (check it out-I did!), I realized: why am I coontributing monetarily to a billionaire becoming richer who has no regard for the fans, the community, the law, and the people for which the team's name is based.
"And he's not a compassionate person, not a compassionate person at all from what I understand. And that makes me just want to pummel somebody. You know, you hate to see pride, wearing itself on his forehead and his chest. And to me, arrogance sticks out like a sore thumb when you talk about him. And the lack of compassion for others is a problem. Because it's not that hard to be compassionate; you just choose to" Emmitt Smith on Dan Snyder
OK, after a careful reading of this article and an automated search for the word cancer, I see that Mr. McKenna used the word "cancer" exactly twice: once in introducing Dan Snyder's quote, and once in the quote itself. If Mr. Snyder is uncomfortable with a newspaper feature publishing his own words, perhaps he should stop spouting them. In addition, there is nothing in the introductory sentence that could be construed as pejorative; in, fact, there isn't a single modifier. There is also not a single reference to breast cancer, nor is there any correlation between the word "cancer" and Mr. McKenna's reporting on Ms. Snyder's statement defending her husband. Therefore, Mr. Snyder's assertion that Mr. McKenna "made fun of" Ms. Snyder's breast-cancer-related advocacy is a false claim stated in a widely read publication, communicated to someone other than the person defamed (Mr. McKenna), expressly stated to be factual, and the statement most certainly gives Mr. McKenna a negative image (well, except for the fact that everything that comes out of Mr. Snyder's mouth seems to be widely regarded as self-serving whoppers). I believe Mr. Snyder's statement completely and unequivocally fulfills all of the components of the legal definitions of defamation and libel, as well as slander if he repeated such assertions via any broadcast medium.
Can you say "countersuit"?
Doesn't eBay OWN StubHub?????
If so, like minds think alike. The Crowns who own Aspen Ski Company just fired a 15 year long term employee, one of their ski instructors, for... a pay protest.
But at least not a coward like Rummy. dbm
As fans, we will always forgive mistakes and respect
I don't care about the Redskins that much (being only 20, most of my life has been spent watching them lose) but this guy is a leech on this team's fanbase! I'm surprised he hasn't been thrown in jail yet for some of the stuff listed in this article!
Take back the team!
A. . . Andyman is a jerk too
N. . . never before seen vanity and greed so embraced
S. . . seriously, you should go
N. . . no one ever said owning an NFL team makes someone honorable
Y. . . you should care more about the team than your ego
D. . . don't you think you could have handled everything better?
E. . . everything means everything
R. . . redskins fans deserve better
11900 River Road
Potomac, MD 20854
He denies being a crook (gets all bent out of shape ON NATIONAL MEDIA) but he sold upgrades at his stadium, showed off great seats, then put people behind pillars. See "$30" above. See "E" above(lied about what the % increase of the price of tickets was). See "L" above.
Fed-ex gives him massive discount but he tells season ticket holders that they MUST pay a $25 Fed-ex fee to get their tickets. What happens to the other $15+?
(Fed-ex +/- $25 - $10)
For him to sue a paper because they printed the truth about him is ludicrous.
There is an old axiom in sports that states," You are what your record says you are." Well, Dan Snyder cetainly deserves the horns.
I am willing to send a check to help with the legal battle that you anticipate even though I live on Social Security and pension from the state of Virginia!
Stan Kemp
For me, I will never cheer for this team again as long as Snyder owns them and Donovan runs them. I hope they have lost MILLIONS in the slumping value of the organization when he finally sells it. Until then, GO PACK GO!
He is a weazle!
Ron Smisek
second, i take issue with the assumption that just because li'l danny has done the horrible things over and over and over, he's somehow automatically the worst team owner ever. why, up in baltimore, lord peter angelos has certainly done enough to at least deserve mention. i mean, the orioles have had 13 losing seasons in a row and emptied out their stadium (except when the bosox or yanks come to town). let's not sell angelos short. instead, let's realize how long the odds are that two epic schmucks operate in such proximity. how 'lucky' fans are in the chesapeake region to experience two historical ownership tenures at the same time! and if you wanna get historical, throw in bob short and bob irsay, and the region's fans really deserve purple hears.
i hope one of d.c.'s journalist associations is on this. if the 100 or so journalists currently employed in the nation's top 100 newspapers each sent $10 dave'd have $100,000. add in contributions from smaller papers, and he'd have a decent start-up fund.
if it costs more? so--- we give another $5 or $10 or whatever. each time, the reputation snyder claims he wants to protect will sink deeper in the stink of his own publicity and greed.
if a defense fund for dave mckenna is already active, to whom, where, do i send my check?
If you want the skins to get better get rid of the infection..
Bravo, Mr McKenna.
Thanks again, Dan - one question - As an outsider, what do you think of the human race?
Further, it sad because both of these men are Jewish and clueless about business leadership, ethics or respect.
The entire city has your back on this and we have plenty of money to spend. Watching Danny get publicly humiliated will provide far more entertainment than his pathetic team ever will in the foreseeable future.
I hope you not only kick Snyder's whiny little ass all over the courtroom, I hope you can find some way to counter-sue him for damages in an amount that is substantial enough to force him to sell the freaking team.
First he ruins my team then tries to ruin my favorite paper. No more of my cash for you Napoleon. This is your Waterloo.
The Redskins will suck as long as he is the owner...no matter who the coach and GM are. I'm waiting for my ticket contract to expire, but until then I will go to cheer on whomever they are playing. Poor sport? Yes. Pissed off at what Dan has done to my team? Hell yes! Disappointed it will not get any better until Dan sells? I'm never going to recover from that - I truly hate him, and I don't hate another sole on the planet!
My predicition for 2011 season, if they even have one...Draft Cam Newton for publicity but he's a bust by game 1 and Rex finishes out the losing game. They ban signs complaining about Snyder by Game 3, and start to throw out anybody chanting "Snyder Sucks" or "Sell the Team" by week 5. End the year 4-12. Shanahan resigns citing personal reasons, and Bruce Allen takes job with another team because he has become scapegoat next offseason by Danny. Raise ticket prices again for 2012, and hot dogs go to $9, parking $80.
Bottom line, this team will never win as long as Dan is the owner or Dave Donovan is the COO. Morons - lawyers seldom fix bad situations, and the problem is you!
Just do a little searching through McKenna's archived articles here, and you'll see tons of stories attacking and trying to embarrass Dan Snyder every chance he gets. Many of his articles have crossed the line of good taste, and what should be considered 'fair game' to use when you're attacking a person in print.
McKenna and the City Paper have been out to get Snyder for years, and now that Dan finally fires one single shot back at them (which originally only asked for a simple apology for the errors), McKenna and the City Paper want to act like it was all just a good natured joke, and Dan has no sense of humor. Then they play the helpless victim card, turn it into a David vs Goliath fight, and appeal to everyone to please "donate money to our defense fund." What a joke!
You guys dug up every negative thing you could find on Dan Snyder, then you stretched and spun the truth around A LOT on many of those issues you pointed out, to make them sound worse than they actually were. To try and be funny, entertaining, and of course ... to try and sell more newspapers.
I'm sure your researchers are hard at work, right this very second, trying to figure out how on earth you're going to defend some of the half truths and lies you put in that article.
You constantly berate him for being insensitive to a few people that view the name Redskins as a racial slur. Then when he tries to use the same logic on your drawing a "thick uni-brow, devil horns, and a beard" on a picture of him ... you scoff at the very idea that he might have found it a little racially offensive.
Once again you try to use the defense of; "No, No, it was just a joke .. You know, like teenagers scribble on pictures all the time. It was just supposed to make him look like a devil." Well, I have news for you City Paper ... any God fearing human being on the face of the planet would feel a little religiously attacked if their picture was plastered on the front page of your newspaper, characterized as the devil. Get a clue.
And lastly, for all of the so-called Redskins fans around here that keep getting sucked into the relentless attacks by the D.C. media on Dan Snyder and everything Redskins (Let's see, who needs firing this week .. Is it Jim Zorn, Jason Cambell, Haynesworth, Vinney, Portis, Shanahan, McNabb, Haslett, Cooley, Moss, etc, etc, etc. The blame game list in the D.C. papers just never ends.)
I just hope all the whiners are happy when Snyder finally gets fed up with being blamed for everything and decides to take HIS team, and the Redskins name and all of it's history, and move it all out to the brand new stadium being built in Los Angeles, CA. You know, a new start in a new city, where fans might actually appreciate an owner that opens his wallet up every year, and tries his hardest to put a winning team together.
I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard to turn a nice fat profit by selling off FedEx field and all of that prime DC area land to some real estate developer.
Everybody seems to think that if they scream loud enough Dan will sell the Redskins, and some new owner will magically swoop in here and turn everything around overnight. The fact of the matter is that most sports team owners could care less if their team wins or loses, it's really all about the money. For all of the bumbling things Snyder has done over the years, the one constant positive has been that he's a true Redskins fan, and he's not afraid to spend money to try and help the team. What more could you ask for from an owner?
The DC area media is the real devil around here. They bombard Snyder and the Redskins with constant negative articles, using unidentified sources, and made up stories, all in an attempt to rile up the fan base and increase their sales.
The real reason they all hate Dan Snyder so much is because he got tired of all the negative press a few years ago and basically cut them all off by opening his own media outlets. He bought and built up his own Redskins radio network, and started his own message boards and websites. He stopped giving out free game tickets to all of the local reporters and hired his own reporters. Ever since then, all of the media on the outside of Dan's good graces, have created non stop drama for him and the Redskins by making up negative stories and starting controversy. Even the second coming of Joe Gibbs, who quickly led us back to 2 playoff seasons, wasn't exempt from the negative bashing and embarrassment by the papers.
If Shanahan was smart, he'd get out of D.C. now, while he still has some what of a decent reputation left. Just look around the NFL at all of the ex-Redskins players and coaches that do just fine with other teams after we chase them out of town, screaming for their blood, because of all the negative articles that picked them apart while they were here.
A football team is supposed to bring a city together, not tear it apart. For some crazy reason, the DC media just doesn't understand that.
I for one, will be dancing in the streets when Dan's lawyers win the case against the City Paper, and we can rid the area of another big paper waster ... and constant negative influence ... on our fun sport of football.
Oh well, at least the magazine is getting famous even over here in Europe.
Until then, the classiest owner in the league is just 30 miles north - lucky Baltimore - Go Ravens!
Local Football Fans can also save a lot of 'dough' and see an entire great football season played at the Univ Maryland for Less Than the price of one lousy Redskin's game - Go Terps!
Is there a defense fund for the City Paper to which we can all contribute? Enquiring minds want to know!
Snyder is a joke..Please put the team up for sale.
Redskins will never be successful until he leaves.
Danny, you're acting like a complete "schmuck"! You wants us to think that you have a pair of "baitsim", but we know better. "Bist meshugeh"? A "langer lucksh" would not have reacted like you have to the little piece written by the City Paper. But you had to be just another "piste kayleh". If you feel bad about how the "goyim" treat you, then just go back your "bubbeh" and ask her to make you a nice motzah ball soup.
Shalom, bro!
and for those interested in donating to the defense fund, here's that link.
To me, the scribbling on his picture looks like a depiction of a devil, is Dan implying that Jews look like the devil?
Go home, no body cares what you have to share.
The fact is that the glory days, and great memories of what the Redskins organization was is gone forever and won't come back. Savor the memories. Just a shame.
This is in stark contrast to The Danny, who's all about shaking hands and slapping backs after a victory, but makes a point to give his players the evil-eye when they come up the tunnel after a loss.
Unfortunately, if everyone stops going to the games, Snyder will just pull up stakes and bilk another city's football fans. It's been done in the NFL before - re:Al Davis, Bob Irsay, Bill Bidwill....
Nice job, Snyder, in getting millions to read about your faults.
Can we get the Cooke's back?
For the sake of Free Speech and Freedom of Reporting, please don't settle!!!
And please change the team's damn racist name, will you?
i hear you, this team is well overdue for a name change.
i hear you, this team is well overdue for a name change.
Worst. Sports. Owner. Ever.
What a jerk this guy is.
I've been to games in LA where there were almost as many 'skins fans as there were Rams fans. That's how popular the nation's most watched team used to be.
When the Raiders were in LA you could get away with wearing "skins stuff as there were a ton of 'skins fans there for back-up. Gotta love those Raiders fans - well not really.
I've also been approached out west by native americans and asked (not always nicely) to remove any Redskin stuff. I do think it's about time we addressed the name. We could call then $nyder's demons but I understand the devil is suing to get his horns etc. removed from $nyders image.
When $nyder is gone and the team is renamed maybe I'll come back.
I've been following the Packers lately and wish we could get 800,000 fans to cough up $2,000 each so together we could buy the 'skins.
1 and a half billion dollars - geezz - how are we ever going to get rid of this parasite?
Maybe we can sell rancid peanuts door to door in his neighborhood.
Riggo is just right about this guy and here I thought he'd been exaggerating.
Man, you must be feeling INCREDIBLY STUPID! Your lawsuit drew national attention to a well-cataloged list of all the sleazy ways you have ripped off Redskins fans over the years, mismanaged the franchise, and driven team morale into the ground.
By suing the City Paper, you've succeeded in multiplying the awareness of your selfish, money-grubbing ways and the animosity true football lovers feel against you by a factor of 100.
Face it, there is NO WAY this town will ever like or respect you as the owner of the 'Skins. Do us and yourself a huge favor, put the team up for sale, and GO AWAY.
P.S. I didn't even know you were Jewish until you brought it up. Neither the picture nor the article were anti-semitic, but your behavior is a stain on the Jewish community. Sorry, Dan, but all of the negative things people think and say about you, you brought upon yourself.
How's that law suit working out for ya so far?
Why don't we change places?
Can anyone tell me what happened to Pat Hill? If Synder really wanted to show he was a decent human he would do right by her. I don't think he has which goes to show he is a greedy, selfish, unfeeling jerk.
The truth is he was angry and wanted to hurt the people who were publishing these articles, there's no getting around it. And hurt them bad, that is, forcibly take away their livelihood, which is a typical move for someone that thinks of other people as pawns, diabetics as a "growing market" etc.
And the stuff in the lawsuit that he's repeated all over sports radio about attacking his wife's charity ISNT EVEN THERE in the article. It is simply not present. I've read it 4 times over a week, and its just not there. So either Dan and his lawyers didnt read the article and someone misrepresented its contents to him (bizarre, irresponsible and incompetent) or he's trying to launch a perfidious smear campaign of his own against a tiny city newspaper with a fraction of his own holdings and worth, which belongs in this article under B for bullying or maybe S for Straw man or maybe S for sneaky.
Get a grip on yourselves Dan and Dan's buddies. Who cares what some reporter thinks of you and reports to a tiny readership?
Go have a 5 million dollar barbecue with helicopter demolition derby, enjoy your tree-cleared view of the potomac, take a week vacation, don't read your press (like many atheletes and actors do) and live your life.
And don't bully people with less clout than you. Everybody hates that, even you in your heart of hearts.
@eaglesfan ? the fact that he's suing a paper in an effort to intimidate them into firing someone is a sign that he's not gotten any better at all.
views (and smallest seats) at FEDX, I let'em go. Everything was over priced. The Redskins are now suffering under the worst Owner, management in Sports. and
yes my name is MR. to him ... tks
Hire Josh McDanials, he deserves a chance to screw up another franchise.
"The lesson that, hopefully, Hosni Mubarak and Dan Snyder are learning ..." http://bit.ly/fYPmwv #Egypt #Jan25 #SnyderLibel
Look at the growing comment count. Can you say backfire?
When your kids ask what you do at work, do you say "I file bullshit lawsuits for a spoiled rich guy who thinks his farts don't stink"? I'm sure Snyder spends plenty of money with you, but really -- is this why you went to law school?
I met my wife here. She was born and raised in Washington, and she, and her entire family were Skins fans. When my son was born in 1999 (around when Danny boy bought the team), we were in a good natured competition to see who could form my son's football loyalties. Fortunately, for me, and for him, I won. In his almost 12 years, he's had the good fortune to be fan (very passionate, I might add), of a classy and winning football team, whose team has had 3 SB appearances, 5 conference championship appearances, and classy and competent ownership. Dan Snyder and Dan Rooney are about as opposite as you can get; their first name the only thing they have in common.
The Redskins should be worried, because I'm certain that there are plenty of 11-12 year old boys living in this area, who have similar backgrounds, and are like my son. These boys should be Skins fans, becoming the Skins next generation of fans, but they are being turned off and raised to follow different teams. In short, Danny is mortgaging the Redskins future, while alienating the existing fan base.
I feel bad for Redskins fans, and if you want to follow a good football team, I'd invite all of you to join us in Steelers Nation.
B - Bully the City Paper? Marion Barry never filed a suit, did he?
C - Cowboys own the Skins and it make Danny Boy crazy
D - Danny Boy is the proper salutation, not Mister Snyder
E - Empty club seats at every home game
F - Frostburg is better off without the Skins (ask Dickinson College)
G - Greed is good? Greed has ruined the franchise.
H - Hubris, ignorance, arrogance
I - Insanity is not a defense for filing this frivolous suit
J - Jealous of the Ravens success
K - Kangaroo court will only find in Danny Boy's favor
L - Lost the majority of the fan base.
M - Mismanagement - do I need to elaborate?
N - Negative rating of 100% on TweetFeel
O - Overpriced beers, horrible food
P - Payment received by cagey free agents
Q - Queen Noor sold him his houe
R - Roads closed to pedestrian access the stadium
S - Sell the team, sell the team, sell the team
T - Traffic jams driving to Raljon
U - Upset by the record loss to the Eagles on MNF?
V - Victory will only celebrated when Danny Boy is forced to sell the team.
W - Worst owner in professional sports - yes, worse than Angelos
X - Xenophobic, better than X-Ray
Y - You still think it was a good idea to file suit???
Z - Zero support now - the fans have had enough
You can't buy friends, danny boy, only whores and it makes sense that birds or whores of a feather flock together!
I missed this article in November, but read it after I heard about the lawsuit on WTOP.
I have loved the Skins since I became aware of football as a child. It has been a part of my identity as a DC-native.
This article on The Economist sums it up nicely.
I've spent thousands of $ on tickets, parking, etc. trying to build my Skins ticket position to ensure good seats for my lifetime and for future family generations. I've struggled with knowing the things our owner has done. I've tried to stay focused on the franchise history and its future after Snyder has gone. But this is the cold, hard reality: I can help Snyder sue CP, or I can cancel my season tickets.
Giving even 1/10th of my season ticket bill to the CP legal defense fund is still a very generous donation.
I empathize with the other Redskins fans who have posted here. I feel bad for the players. This owner has done immeasurable damage and I can't pay for another 20+ years of it. I am questioning my NFL identity. I am heartbroken.
It would look smarter if he had just let this story die.
But it doesn't look like this guy does.... never mind.
The City Paper should replace the devil picture with Snyder's face drawn on a douche bag. It is a far more accurate depiction as Snyder is, in fact, a total & complete douche bag. Talk about a moniker with some unused mileage, to wit:
Dan The Douche Bag Snyder
Super Douche Snyder
DANdy Douche
or perhaps rename the Douche Bag, the Dan Bag
If you go to a Redskins game, does the ticket bar you from chanting "Douche Bag Dan"? If so, could they eject 90,000 fans chanting it?
I aim to find out.
It is deplorable that rich people like Snyder should intimidate small publications like Washington City Paper for writing things they don't like about them. I have happily contributed to your defense fund via PayPal and suggest that others do the same.
"Mr. Snyder, can you tell the court about the forgery and fraud that your firm, Snyder Communications, was found guilty of in Florida by regulators?"
2. Dan, offering large signing bonus' to players should be a thing of the past.
3. Dan, your the only NFL team owner who makes a profit off a losing team.
4. Dan, your players are not role models, they are thugs.
5. Dan, Sell the team, and if you don't know why, refer to #1.
The Redskins suck! It makes no difference who Dan gets in here to manage or coach. They need to go back to a simple play book (less than 50 plays), including the "counter tray" up the gut...and make it work. Run the crap out of them until they act like a team, no more of this individual celebration on the field. Oh, and if you haven't totally screwed with your prize QB, you might want to put McNabb back in and surround him with an Offensive line??? Dan, your an idiot and a great embarrassment to this team and to the metro area!!!
Remember the times when Vinny Ceratto would sit in on Larry's terrible 'Redskins Nation' show? It was like Goebbels having Himmler on to talk about the delays on the train tracks - vaht are vee to do?
Its all gone to crap, but this whole thing proves that pride is stronger than anger. We all desparately want them to be good, and will never be angry enough to actually NOT cheer for them. We never will. Don't buy anything anymore, fine. Don't go to Fed-Ex anymore, cool. But what we never want to admit to ourselves, the crux of it all, is that IF they EVER actually win - we don't want to NOT be their fan. Daniel Snyder knows this.
This man is a crook. Napoleon meets 'Office Space' meets 'The Insider.' Has been, will be a crook. A bad human being. One of the worst in this city, and it has more than its share. Manages to offend on multiple levels as a SPORTSTEAM OWNER !! WTEM is his demon spawn.
I never liked this team simply because of its racist moniker - but my late mother-in-law woulda been anything but pleased and that it aint right :-)
I am so glad my team aint owned by someone like Snyder, Jerry Jones, Al Davis or Wayne Weaver, and I dont mean to pity Washington fans ... but DC has one of the top three most dislikable owners in all of sports.
This was a great read. The entre organization and its nature is criminal in my opinion. Snyder's business history shows traits, and there simply is no hope for the Deadskins unless this man dies.
As a Ravens fan I am torn here, iI kinda like the fact a racistly named team sucks perennially ... BUT -
I hope Daniel Snyder expires as fast as his lawsuit. That may be a biiit strong, but this one's for my mom-in-law, god bless her, and Frank Herzog. (Screw WTEM and Andy Pollin. Hed run over Joe Jacoby's Mom to make a buck)
Smooches !
(God I am so glad that aint my team)
If the fans of Liverpool FC in England can revolt against their American owners and basically force the sale of the team, why can't DC fans do the same? Y'all need to organize yourselves and learn from the English.
All we have to do as Skins fans is just STOP. STOP buying merchandise...STOP going to the games....STOP...STOP....STOP
Power to the people!
Parking prices are ridiculous and the busing situation also ridiculous. I have been to 13 other pro stadiums as well as 4 major college stadiums and FedEx is by far the worst. Even parking in downtown Charlotte for a Panthers game is easier, cheaper and more convenient than what Snyder has set up in Landover.
And what I find worse... and UNFORGIVABLE... is the fact that when you go to a home game, there are SO MANY fans of the opposing team EVERYWHERE. Now, that isn't all of Snyder's fault but he is largely to blame. The high season ticket prices almost force many fans to sell some of their tickets on the internet to recoup a percentage of what they have spent. This allows opposing teams fans to purchase tickets and take away a home field advantage like we had every sunday at RFK. RFK is still the greatest stadium I have ever watched a football game in. Nothing can compare. I miss it and realize that FedEx will never even come close. It's a shame because if we still had that atmosphere... I would go to 3-4 games a year like I did in the 80s and 90s, win or lose. It just great to be surrounded by all Redskins fans, screaming our heads off to root on the team. My last game was in 2007 I think- season opener against the Dolphins and I was surrounded by fans of the other team. Told myself it was the last time I would go again. We even won the game but the atmosphere just sucked. I am sure nothing has changed, if not gotten worse.
Send the ownership a message. Stop spending your hard earned money on tickets, parking, $9 beers, overpriced food, etc. Just stop doing it. I did it 4 years ago and I have no regrets. I still root for the team but spend no money that would find it's way into Snyder's pocket at all. It's not hard at all.
I fear we will become the new Raiders with the owner calling plays and bugging Redskins coaches offices...if he don't already
I hope that, somehow, your fortunes can change. Don't see it happening while this prick owns the team though.
I don't sense Dan will do too well with alot of out of area news hounds in his face, since they aren't on his local payroll.
Here's the article:
I live in Colorado now, where people know only a bit about Snyder's idiocy. Folks out here know he's a bad owner, but don't understand what a pathetic, petty, evil little monster he is. Mike Shanahan still has a few fans out here and they ask me if I'm excited about his hiring. "Whatever." I say. "As long as that little fucker Snyder owns the team, we'll suck."
I just mailed a check to the City Paper for their legal defense fund. And with that, I guess it's official: Go Broncos!
To Dave Mckenna- This article was truly a great read. You're an impressive writer. Write some more pieces like these and enough people will really start to gang up on Snyder. I cannot keep the faith but I hope you do.
It's obvious Daniel Snyder has no desire to treat human beings correctly, no own a football team properly.
What will make him quit? I want my team back.
~A 49er fan
I will root for the team's on field success while simultaneously hoping the owner goes broke or gets humiliated into selling the team. I accept the reality that that sweet day will probably never come because despite the fact that fans hate him, Snyder has turned the team into a financial powerhouse.
I think there are many like me. I hope the number is in the tens of thousands.
Ok, so that's not true but no one can prove to me he hasn't done that.
Excellent piece of work! DO NOT SETTLE WITH THIS JERK! The D.C. area will support you and TRUST ME YOU WILL WIN!
Hope the few remaing ticket holders cancel their subscripton-and hope he gets zero purchases.
Cancel the lawsuit and just pretend you won and give the money to the charity that you planned on giving it to. Winnning --doesn't it have a Charlie Sheen narcassitic ring to it. Dan-Dont waste money on legal fees-donate-you will feel better....
Ok, those are the only 3 points that are even remotely defensible, and those are all pretty mild compared to some of the other items on this list. Final verdict - Dan Snyder is almost certainly in the top 10 biggest scumbags in American history.
The real scoop (for me at least) is the conflict of interest with Michael Wilbon, Wally Bruckner, and other sportscasters sucking up and taking Snyder's bribes to be Redskins stooges ("brilliant draft picks, Mr. Snyder!). They should be ashamed and treated with the same contempt as Snyder.
I know, and there's no Santa Claus either and I'm an old fashioned jar head but I was hoping there was some honor left in journalism and something this blatant wouldn't stand. Wilbon, Bruckner, etc. you should be fired.
Now Snyder has his panties in a twist over this article, and is filing a lawsuit? Where's this "changed man" we just read about? Methinks the douchebag doth protest too much.
Now Snyder has his panties in a twist over this article, and is filing a lawsuit? Where's this "changed man" we just read about? Methinks the douchebag doth protest too much.
The thing about Al Davis...he's just old...it's hard to keep your sanity when your 500 hundred years old. However, Al Davis has a true football mind and has the rings to prove it.
Daniel Snyder wishes he could have half of what Al has. Danny is nothing more than a smarmy douchebag, looking to squeeze out an extra buck anyway he can
No one should be surprise by any of this. This is what happens when you're born into Money. Snyder has never had to work for anything. He's just a big kid with a lot of money.
It's time for a Time Out Danny Boy!!!!
I hope that the City Paper wins this suit because a) he has nothing to stand on and b) he should feel the misery that all of us have felt under his terrible running of the Redskins.
Great article, McKenna. Shame the City Paper can't afford a moderator to keep hate speech off its comments.
Judaism is the belief in everybody's inherent value and beauty that has led me to volunteer hundreds of hours tutoring children in a homeless shelter. Judaism is the joy that I feel in being a great substitute teacher instead of making twice the money in the private sector. It's the love that gets me to buy sandwiches for beggars on my credit card when I'm broke, myself.
Daniel Snyder is not Jewish. He just inherited a name from someone who was. If you want to see what a Jewish team owner looks like, look back at Abe Pollin, who hired the second and third African American players in the NHL, and one of the first crop of Soviet defectors. When one of Pollin's players, Chris Simon, was disciplined for making a racist remark against Mike Grier, Pollin's team dropped Simon and hired Grier. As a kid, I could go watch Caps games for the cost of parking at a Skins game. That's an owner who loved people. Then he moved his arena into the center of town where he didn't charge for parking at all, because he knew that it was right to encourage us all to take the metro. That's a Jewish sports owner.
The sooner people forget Dan Snyder's name and the racist name of his racist team--the last in the NFL to hire African American players--the sooner we can get serious about something, anything, that matters. As long as you support that franchise, even by watching it on television so it can sell ads, you are buying into hatred. It's no wonder that the man who would want to own it would be the biggest hater of all.
One of the first recorded uses of Snyder's team's name is on posters to recruit Custer's forces. Get real here. No religious person of any kind could be involved in that nonsense.
Racists have drawn Jewish people with horns for a long time. There are jokes about it in Shakespeare (who was protested by the puritans who founded America for being lewd and offensive). There was a drug-addicted nun in Spain in the time of the inquisition who wrote about her drug trips and how she saw horns on the heads of all the Jewish people--except she somehow didn't mention whether this included Jesus, his mom or his friends. Mel Gibson even made a movie about it. Doesn't make it appropriate.
Now ironically, Dan Snyder has himself become that unifying force. Yup, now just about everybody is united in speaking ill of this villain. A more fitting first name would be 'Darth' instead of 'Dan'!
Dave McKenna: Winning !
Dan Snyder: FAIL !
Here's to hoping that one day this creature wakes up and realizes he's destroying the soul of this franchise.
a dated article, that shows how we pay the 2nd most for the bottom shelf Snyder brew:
if you're strictly a television fan, it's really simple. every commercial is a company you should do your best to avoid.
let's get rid of Snyder by hitting him where it hurt$.
For decades, the Redskins were the ONE thing that brought together a very transient community. And did they ever! People of all races and nationalities united as ONE at RFK and felt they had some type of equity in THEIR team. I moved here in 1987 and can say that it was a beautiful thing to watch for those first years down here.
What this greedy child has done is simply evil. He has destroyed the soul of this region. People should not stand for it.
It's just a game.
If you don't want to be exploited, then don't place yourself in exploitable situations. Football is not a life or death matter.
In case you missed this post by Jersey Patriot on November 19, 2010
"I remember living in DC from 2000-2002. There was good-natured teasing between my friends and I (I'm an Eagles fan). I remember laughing and telling them that the Redskins owner was a creep, and they weren't going to win a thing as long as he was there. I had no idea how much of a creep he was. My heart goes out to Redskins fans.
But you can't let Snyder win. A European soccer team's fans would never settle for this crap. Organize a "Sell It, Snyder!" campaign. Boycott the television games. Boycott the radio broadcasts. Boycott tickets sales and Redskins gear. If you can, part with your season tickets. If you must go, wear no Redskins gear; instead, wear a non-Redskins color of unity associated with SIS!, such as orange or sky blue. In addition, you cannot buy concessions, and you should start "Sell it, Snyder!" chants as often as possible. SIS! should boycott all sponsors of the team as long as Snyder is the owner and should organize a letter-writing campaign to those sponsors saying so (Busch, Coke, Sprint, FedEx, etc.). Companies should know that they can't sell their products to Redskins fans if they sponsor the Redskins under Snyder's ownership. SIS! should also organize a boycott of anything else Snyder owns (Red Zebra, Dick Clark Productions) and should let the boards of those companies know it.
Take back your team."
It's been over ten years now, put up or shut up.
I also recognize, however, that this little turd is bad for the NFL as a whole, and I also recognize that the Skins being competitive is a good thing, so I hope he GsTFO.
In the meantime, I'll enjoy the team's misfortune and the fans' misery since we Cowboy fans are stuck with our own little slice of hell in Jerry Jones.
Does Synder snatch babies from their mothers' arms and eat them?
Is he a necrophiliac - and does he fuck the dead in front of little kids and old people?
Does he roam around the parking lot with a pitchfork and rip the kidneys out of fans he encounters walking alone and sell them to internal organ brokers?
Hey, what the fuck, two out of three ain't bad. You expect everyone who runs a fucking football team to be a fucking Mother Theresa, like the fucking piece of shit who wrote that fucking article, right assholes?
Get fucking cancer, fuckface, and hey, if you've already got it, maybe you'd like to buy a nice comfy mattress to rest on during your convalescence. Email email@example.com for details.
Next, I am going to stop selling Redskins shirts and start licensing their use.
Every day you wear one, I need to be fucking paid. My licensing agents will be deployed all over Maryland and Virginia and I will get fucking paid for every use of my brand, or my guys will rip the shirt off of your back and make you eat it.
You don't like it, you can blow me. In the parking lot a the game. Parking is $30 for the first hour.
Going through the ticket gates, I have seen even kids frisked for "contraband" (bags of peanuts, candy etc) and forced them to throw it out in the bins provided next to the security guards.
I wouldn't be surprised if Snyder resold the confiscated goods somehow.
Seriously, just don't go to games, don't buy merchandise, hell- don't even watch on TV.
Now Leonsis is an owner I can get behind- seriously, I'm finding hockey's a lot more exciting to watch than football anyway!
Oh, and Skins fans? I lived in DC for a number of years and I feel for ya. But as long as you keep showing up, he's going to keep showing up.
The Redskins were once a powerful organization until he bought this team. Now it's like someone playing fantasy football with a team.
Dan, Dan he ain't our man
Please someone toss him in the can.
Though the toilet's to good for a jerk like him
It will have to do for this jack@ss so dim.
Flush him once, flush him twice
He's much, much worse than a case of lice.
His greed is unparallelled, even little old ladies,
Is there anything he won't do, hell his whole life is shady!
Ok, not my best poetry but it will suffice for now. Mrs. Snyder and family, you truly have my condolences because my guess is he is quite abusive if he doesn't get his way.
As a lifetime 'Skins fan, I hate Dan. I hate everything about him and our team has no chance until he goes.
I can only imagine how poor Jack Kent Cooke is rolling in his grave. RIP is not happening for that great man.
Good to see that the law suite has been dropped. It was he reason I found this article.
All you can do is hope that Danny Boy has a Tim Russert. Ya I know bad taste but ya gotta have some hope for change.
It's the American Way.
This guy has absolutely ruined the name of the Washington Redskins. Snyder should be forced to sell the team and and stay out of the NFL.
Here is part of what is said there >>
Public backlash against Snyder
Since Snyder bought the Redskins, the team has had a losing record (91-117 through the end of the 2011 season). They have also gone through seven head coaches in 13 seasons. In October 2009, several articles in Washington area newspapers criticized Snyder, alleging that his managerial style was partly to blame for the Redskins' on-field struggles.[10][11][12] A 24 November 2009 article in the Wall Street Journal also questioned whether Snyder's leadership style had alienated the Redskins fan-base, questioning "Are the Redskins Losing Washington?"[13] The article quotes from a Harris Interactive poll showing that whereas the Redskins in 2003 were the 6th most popular NFL team nationally, by 2009 they had fallen to No. 17.
After a 3-7 start to the 2009 Washington Redskins season, criticism of Snyder and his general manager, Vinny Cerrato, escalated, while sportswriters referred to the pair as "Dumb and Dumber".[14][15] Fans and football analysts have criticized the revolving-door of Redskins head coaches employed since Snyder bought the team, as well as Snyder and Cerrato's pattern of hiring expensive free agents and trading away draft picks for older players instead of recruiting young talent through the NFL draft.[13] Vinny Cerrato resigned on 17 December 2009.
Under Snyder, the Redskins have also sued season ticket holders who were unable to pay during the 2008-2009 U.S. recession. Snyder did this despite his claim that there are over 200,000 people on the season ticket waiting list.[16]
Part way through the 2009 season, Snyder banned all signs from FedEx Field, leading to further fan discontentment.[15][17]
Redskins fans have also expressed discontentment about rising ticket and parking prices, and Snyder's policy of charging fans for tailgates in special areas of the stadium lot.[18]
Snyder is also famous (or infamous) for somewhat questionable free-agent signings, despite their past success (Deion Sanders, Dana Stubblefield, Albert Haynesworth and Adam Archuleta are notable examples), leading to his Redskins being on NFL Top 10's Worst Free-Agent Signings at #1,[19][20] and also prompted Bleacher Report on their YouTube video for 11 Worst Free Agent Signings in NFL History having the description as: "Dan Synder is the best owner ever. At least if you ask prospective NFL free agents. From Albert Haynesworth and his $41 million guaranteed, to Deion Sanders, to Adam Archu-really? The Redskins owner has famously overpaid for free agents time and time again (and that's not even counting Washington's mistake with the Ole Ball Coach)"[21], as well as Bleacher Report's website creating a slideshow called Washington Redskins Free Agency: The 7 Worst Signings of the Dan Snyder Era.[22]
[edit] Libel Suit
Threatening a lawsuit in January 2011, Snyder demanded dismissal of the Washington City Paper's sports writer Dave McKenna, who had meticulously compiled a lengthy article, The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder,[14] documenting the encyclopedia of errors made by Snyder. Other sportswriters have come out in support of McKenna.[23] The lawsuit was filed on February 2, 2011.[15][24][25] On April 26, 2011, Snyder's lawyers added the reporter who wrote the story, Dave McKenna, as a defendant.[26] On September 10th, 2011, Snyder dropped his libel lawsuit against both the Washington City Paper and Dave McKenna.[27]
Secondly, I recommend you all to visit "theredskinssuck.com" for daily updates on Dan Snyder's failures with the Washington Redskins. As a former Redskins fan who has watched them gloriously win in 1982, 1987, and 1991, it truly pains me to see them go down this horrific road. I wish fans could impeach their owners, because I am sure the Redskins fans would protest that asshole Snyder. His business failures should be an omen to all of us of what is to come with Redskins if he continues to "lead" this organization. We are set to become the worst team in the NFL by 2013 because we traded too many good picks for RG3 who is going to be knocked out because his offensive line sucks. Our receivers are shit. This team is a failure under Snyder. I will pursue his resignation as owner, as we all should, by refusing to participate in the Redskins games and purchasing nothing that the asshole Snyder tries to sell his. True Redskins fans, we must REVOLT this pathetic turd before he bankrupts all of us!!!
I don't have alot of love for Snyder as a person, but all I care about is that my favorite team is managed well and is put in a position to win in the future. Snyder has finally learned to put the right people in place and have patience, now it looks like its starting to paying off. So articles like these mean nothing to me now. I'm waiting on the article on how Teddy boy is ruining the Wiz and keeping the Caps off the ice.
The Hall-of-Famer was asked by Cris Collinsworth on whether he thought Snyder was a bad guy. Riggins responded, "Let me put it to you this way, Cris, this person's heart is dark."
Re: Snyder... yea it's been a great year. Looking forward to more drama next year too.