Sgraham wrote:JPFair wrote:DEHog wrote:As critical as I've been of Dan Snyder I just can't see him namimg a HC who didn't have some input as to who the OC and DC were. So all indictions point to Fassel...even I don't think Synder is that stupid....please tell me I'm not wrong!!
DE, I hate to tell you, but you're wrong. Dan Snyder IS that stupid!!!
How can you call Snyder stupid? Do you know him?
No, thankfully, I dont' know him. But, for the purpose of this discussion, I'll regress. I'll concede your point, and admit that perhaps he is NOT stupid.
Now, what I was trying to say, albeit with apparently inadequate language, is that Snyder is absolutely clueless when it comes to owning and running a professional football team. Rather than bore you with the evidence, all you have to do is look at his track record since taking over ownership of the Washington Redskins. The ONLY thing he's done that was smart was to hire Joe Gibbs back in '04. And, even that wasn't based on his ability to run a team, rather, it was based on his admiration and love for Joe Gibbs.
EVERY other move, without exception, has been an unmitigated disaster for Snyder. Everything from firing a head coach while the team still had a mathematical chance for a playoff berth to spending unworldly like money to hire a college football coach who had no NFL experience and eventually proved to be an embarrasment, has shown that Snyder lacks the knowledge (I used the word stupid) and intelligence to produce a stable, championship caliber team. While some may argue that Snyder has succeeded inasmuch as the Redskins are consistently in the top 2 of most profitable sports franchises, but Snyder did not solely purchase the Redskins as a business venture. Granted, and rightfully so, that he wants to make the Redskins a profitable venture, but the driving force behind Snyders purchase of the Redskins and his ongoing running of the team is the fact that he is a Redskins fan and wants to win a Super Bowl. In many ways, it would be no different from You, Me, or any other fan purchasing the team based on our love for the Redskins and trying to turn it into a Super Bowl team. There are people whose profession it is to work in the football business side of things, and THOSE are the people that should be running it, NOT a fan like Snyder. History shows that Snyder has bungled every single thing he has done in attempting to bring a Super Bowl to the Redskins. The list is long and astounding: Spurrier, Bruce Smith, Mark Carrier, Jeff George, firing a coach before the end of the season when they're still in with a chance, and the list goes on and on. It's NOT a pretty picture. Snyder has never shown one solitary piece of credible intelligence in terms of how to produce a championship team. He's failed at every thing he's done with the Redskins, with the possible exception of bringing in revenue. And even that is at the expense of the fans...raised ticket prices for a lackluster game day experience, raised parking rates, tried to force fans to use a specific bank to buy tickets, raised concession prices, and on and on and on. Sure, as a business investment, the Redskins are paying huge dividends for Mr. Snyder. But, it's important to note that his investment is NOT paying dividends to the fans, who want to see a consistent winning team that is NOT the laughing stock of the NFL. To that end, yes, he has failed and failed miserably.
And his handling of finding a replacement for Joe Gibbs is deja vu all over again. No other team in sports would or should handle a situation in the way Snyder is handling it. There is no evidence, historical or otherwise, to suggest that the fans should have confidence in what Snyder is doing as far as finding a coach goes.
So, although I may have overspoken vis-a-vis Snyder being "stupid", I think the more appropriate terminology would be "incompetent". Snyder is the most incompetent owner in professional sports, and his actions, and more importantly the results he has received from those actions, prove that he should leave the football side of things to the football people. He should sit back and attend all his league meetings, host private parties in his suite with Tom Cruise and puff cigars all day long, but he should NOT, in anyway at all, have any say whatsoever in how the day to day operations of the Redskins are handled. Snyders first move should have been to hire a GM, and for whatever reason, stubborness, pride, whatever, he adamantly refuses to do so. It is that stubborn, self-righteous manner that prevents this organization from becoming the type of team that the fans want, and that I'm sure even Snyder envisions. But, until he overcomes this self-serving stubborness and wanting to run things his way (i.e. front office structure...GM, etc..) Snyder will never achieve what we all know he wants to achieve. Snyder will eventually cave in and do things in a more conventional fashion, hire a GM, and run things in the mold that other franchises follow, but at what cost? At the expense of years of frustration, heartache, ineptitude, and a dwindling perception of a once storied franchise? Is that right? Is it right for Snyder to use the Redskins as his own personal little project, while fans suffer endlessly for years on end with no hope in sight...all because Snyder wants to play with his new toy? He's the owner, and he can do things his way as a matter of right, but is it morally proper for him to do it the way he's doing it?
Instead, he professes that his system of running things is the right way of doing things. As Clara Peller once so eloquently put it...."WHERE'S THE BEEF"? Snyder tries to assure us that his way is the right way? He tells the fans that he doesn't need a GM?
All evidence to the contrary!
