Hey Valmy, this thread is for you: Hail to the Foreskins!

[The Brain]

My objection to signs would be more on the basis that I'd hate to be sitting behind some dick with a sign. No matter its content.

That would actually be a legitimate complaint about a sign.  But that is not what this is about.

It's about this, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96jFtzVa80A

[Admiral Yi]

I wouldn't be all that thrilled about sitting behind some dude with a giant foam hand either.  Or Viking horns.

[CountDeMoney]

lulz

[Valmy]

 

Best facepalm ever.  I think that is what Jason Campbell's helmet should have on it.

[CountDeMoney]

A Sign of the Times
Dan Snyder continues to battle outside forces - this time the fans - instead of doing what's necessary to help struggling Redskins
Dan Daly
Washington Post

If you're looking for something to be glad about this morning, Redskins rooters - impossible as that might sound - just be glad Dan Snyder isn't the director of homeland security. After hearing about what happened at FedEx Field on Monday night, about fans having their signs confiscated as they shuffled through the gates, I'd hate to see how Dan would enforce the Patriot Act.

It doesn't matter what silly spin the organization wants to put on this. It still comes across as censorship, the stifling of dissent, when some of the signs taken away voice displeasure with the owner and the man who does his bidding, Vinny Cerrato. It's one thing if the sign uses foul language or blocks the view of an entire section; it's another when it merely exercises the fan's First Amendment rights.

This is the price you pay, Dan, when you buy a franchise with a large and passionate following. Your customers are going to have a strong emotional attachment to the team - to the point of wearing pig snouts and painting their faces burgundy and gold. And when things go horribly wrong, as they have this season, these same customers will vent - on message boards, on radio call-in shows and, yes, even on signs they brandish at ballgames. As a businessman, would you want it any other way?

This is a spigot you never want to turn off. This is the key to the league's - and the Redskins' - phenomenal success, this bond that has been built up over the decades between clubs and their fans. Mess with that, suspend the fans' Bill of Rights because they might say something mean about you on a sign and you risk losing them... forever.

But then, this isn't the first time Snyder has displayed a curious interpretation of the First Amendment. In his early days as an owner, he cut back on the number of press box seats allotted to this newspaper because he felt it was being too critical of him. Back then, a lot of fans were excited by Dan because he was young and brash and threw money around like he was playing Monopoly. Over time, though, Redskins Nation came to see what we at The Washington Times saw right away - that youth, brashness and profligacy don't get you to the Super Bowl.

Freedom of the press is such a frightening concept to Snyder that he felt the need to buy a string of radio stations. This, he figured, would enable him to get the club's "message" out unfiltered. Then there's RedskinsTV and Redskins.com - all part of his propaganda machine. The thing is, much of the streaming video on the Web site is just footage of the media - the dreaded media - interviewing players and staff. (Still, it gives me a warm feeling to know I help provide Dan with programming.)

More recently, Snyder has been warring with The Washington Post, perhaps his biggest booster in the beginning. He took hundreds of season tickets away from the paper a while back, claiming it wasn't fair that a single entity hogged so many seats when so many fans were stuck on the waiting list. Later, in a lovely bit of irony, the Post broke a story about the team funneling tickets to ticket agencies - and it was discovered that one agency got more tickets than the Post ever did.

Snyder, of course, was said to be "livid" when he found out about it. What isn't clear, because he almost never speaks publicly anymore, is whether he was "livid" that his ticket office would operate that way or "livid" that somebody found out about it.

With Snyder, there always has to be a Them, it seems - as in "Us vs." It's what drives him, keeps his juices percolating. When he was high school, Them might been the cool kids who cruised by him in the hallway without so much as a nod. After he dropped out of college, Them might have been the venture capitalists who didn't share his vision, wouldn't front him money for his business brainstorms. Once he got Snyder Communications going, Them was his competition in the kill-or-get-taken-over marketing field. And since he bought the Redskins, Them has been the Cowboys, the Giants, the Eagles and the media (the unofficial fifth member of his Personal NFC East).

But now Dan appears preoccupied with a different Them: the fans. He's taken legal action against some who, in these tough financial times, couldn't afford to pay for the premium seats they had contracted for. And this season he invented some ridiculous pretense (spectator safety?) for banning signs from FedEx Field, an all-too-transparent attempt to quash customer complaints.

And yet, Cerrato tells us his boss is taking the Redskins' 2-5 start hard and is "disappointed for the fans." Snyder can't tell us this himself because he's off to France this week, presumably searching for his next coaching consultant among the croupiers and roulette-wheel spinners. This is what's known in the NFL as "getting out of Dodge."

"Oh my, it's time to sue another fan!"

Gotta love the Danny;  the only NFL owner that wears his franchise's apparel, other than that other model of stellar stewardship, Al "Hmm, which Raiders tracksuit should I wear today: the Black, White, or Silver" Davis.

[Valmy]

in these tough financial times, couldn't afford to pay for the premium seats they had contracted for.

A friend of my uncle's is a real old time Redskins season ticket holder...and he finally had to give them up after 40 years when Snyder raised the price to $10,000.00 dollars.  I mean holy crap 10 grand for 8 home games?  8 Jason Campbell QB'ed home games?

[Barrister]

in these tough financial times, couldn't afford to pay for the premium seats they had contracted for.

A friend of my uncle's is a real old time Redskins season ticket holder...and he finally had to give them up after 40 years when Snyder raised the price to $10,000.00 dollars.  I mean holy crap 10 grand for 8 home games?  8 Jason Campbell QB'ed home games?

10 grand?  WTF?

[CountDeMoney]

The bridge that was connecting Mike Holmgren to the Washington Redskins head coaching job, should it come open, might have been blown up on Monday. And Holmgren was the one holding the gasoline can in one hand and a burned match in the other.

Holmgren was asked by Chicago ESPN 1000 radio hosts, Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman, what he thought about the Redskins removing the play-calling duties from head coach Jim Zorn, who was Holmgren's quarterbacks coach in Seattle.

"I thought it was very unfair to put him in the position. The position they put Jim in, it shouldn't happen," Holmgren said. "You can be upset with me as a play-caller or how the team's going, (then) fire me. But don't do that. Don't pull the rug out from under me, tie my hands, make me look foolish ... take away what I came there for to do in the first place. Don't do that."

It has been rumored that the Redskins were on Holmgren's short list of teams he would like to coach should he come out of retirement in 2010, an idea he has been publicly pushing for months. He has said on at least one occasion that he would love to coach on the East Coast after long stints in the Midwest with Green Bay and the West Coast in Seattle.

Time will tell if he has eliminated himself from the Redskins job after his strong comments on Monday, or if Holmgren was eliminating himself after witnessing the team's treatment of a good friend.

"That bothered me a lot," Holmgren said. "Jim Zorn is one of the nice people. I'm a nice guy, but I'm not that nice. Jim Zorn is really a nice man. What they did, I did not like it at all."

[Valmy]

Yeah this is exactly what I have been telling people: Snyder treating his coaches like this is going to make it tough for him to hire somebody who has a choice on who to work for.

[CountDeMoney]

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder made some rare in-season comments about his team Tuesday, telling fans at a charity function in Clinton: "We feel frustration and are disappointed for our fans. Obviously, our performance to date is not what we expected, and we hope to turn that around."

Afterward, Snyder, whose team is 2-5, elaborated to reporters - although only in general terms. In a question that referenced two recent controversies surrounding the team - the suing of fans who couldn't pay for their premium tickets, and a total ban on fans carrying signs and banners into the stadium - Snyder addressed neither issue.

"I feel bad for the fans," he said. "I feel sorry for the fans, and we're very, very appreciative of our loyal fan base," he said. "We just feel terrible. We're disappointed. We're embarrassed. ... It really hurts."

[CountDeMoney]

Sources: 'Skins to fire Zorn on Monday
Washington plans to dismiss coach one day after final game of season, league official says

ASHBURN, Va. - The Washington Redskins plan to fire coach Jim Zorn on Monday, an official within the NFL told The Associated Press.

The Redskins planned to make the move on the day after the end of a disappointing regular season. Washington struggled early despite a weak schedule and was 4-11 going into Sunday's finale against the San Diego Chargers.

The official spoke to the AP on Sunday on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement has been made.

Zorn's dismissal has been expected for months. The front office stripped him of his play-calling duties in late October, and owner Dan Snyder has interviewed assistant coach Jerry Gray for the job, according to the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which monitors minority hiring in the NFL.

Gray's interview was an effort to comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires that teams consider a minority candidate for the head coaching position. With the Rooney Rule satisfied, the Redskins are free to act quickly to hire a replacement for Zorn. Former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan is considered the favorite.

Zorn's replacement will be Washington's seventh coach since Snyder bought the team in 1999. Playing a substantial part in the decision will be Bruce Allen, who was hired as the general manager last month.

Zorn started 6-2 as a rookie head coach last season, but the team struggled over the second half and finished 8-8. This year's team has been hurt by numerous injuries, a lack of depth and tons of off-the-field distractions, but also by an inability of Zorn's West Coast offense to consistently find the end zone.

The Redskins failed to score more than 17 points in their first eight games, prompting the front office to bring longtime NFL assistant coach Sherm Lewis out of retirement as an offensive consultant and play-caller.

Zorn wasn't even on Snyder's list of candidates when Joe Gibbs retired at the end of the 2007 season. Zorn become a last-minute option when other contenders either showed no interest, dropped out or were deemed unsatisfactory. Snyder initially hired Zorn to be the offensive coordinator, then promoted him to head coach two weeks later after an extensive interview.

Zorn, who had never previously been a coordinator in the NFL, at times seemed overwhelmed by the head coaching job, but his strong start and quirky stories made him an early sensation last season. The front office soured on him in 2009, and executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato announced in October that Zorn would finish the season after a week of internal discussions on the matter. Cerrato has since resigned and was essentially replaced by Allen.

[katmai]

I laugh at whatever schmuck takes the job with Snyder as Owner

[CountDeMoney]

I laugh at whatever schmuck takes the job with Snyder as Owner

All signs point to Shanahan who, according to Chris Mortensen, has been working the phones from home in Colorado the last couple weeks to assemble a coaching staff.
Man, won't Snyder be disappointed when Shanahan shows up, and John Elway isn't there 


Foreskins fans, you deserve all of this.  And you're going to get it for the next 25 years.

[Neil]

I'm surprised Snyder didn't fire him during the game, given the way he's been doing his utmost to humiliate Jim Zorn for the last half of the season.

Quite frankly, I think it's Shanahan that deserves what's about to happen to him.  Anyone with an ego that big needs to be taken down a peg or two, and the total failure vortex that is Snyder will defeat anything Shanahan tries.

[alfred russel]

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder made some rare in-season comments about his team Tuesday, telling fans at a charity function in Clinton: "We feel frustration and are disappointed for our fans. Obviously, our performance to date is not what we expected, and we hope to turn that around."

Afterward, Snyder, whose team is 2-5, elaborated to reporters - although only in general terms. In a question that referenced two recent controversies surrounding the team - the suing of fans who couldn't pay for their premium tickets, and a total ban on fans carrying signs and banners into the stadium - Snyder addressed neither issue.

"I feel bad for the fans," he said. "I feel sorry for the fans, and we're very, very appreciative of our loyal fan base," he said. "We just feel terrible. We're disappointed. We're embarrassed. ... It really hurts."

I don't understand--why are they suing fans that can't pay for their tickets? Why not just deny them the tickets?