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

[Barrister]

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?

That's the thing - they were trying to force them to pay for the tickets regardless.

[alfred russel]

That's the thing - they were trying to force them to pay for the tickets regardless.

Sort of like a restaurant trying to charge me for a meal when I cancel reservations?

[sbr]

That's the thing - they were trying to force them to pay for the tickets regardless.

Sort of like a restaurant trying to charge me for a meal when I cancel reservations?

I think it was season ticket packages, and if so there is usually a contract involved.  Not that that excuses Synder from being an ass to his team's fans.

[CountDeMoney]

I think it was season ticket packages, and if so there is usually a contract involved. 

All teams' season ticket packages involve a contract, but the Foreskins are the only ones that sue their fans for breach.  All the other teams simply release the tickets for resale.

[Neil]

I think it was season ticket packages, and if so there is usually a contract involved. 

All teams' season ticket packages involve a contract, but the Foreskins are the only ones that sue their fans for breach.  All the other teams simply release the tickets for resale.

Well, the Redskins aren't the most profitable team in the league for nothing.

It's Snyder and owners like him who are going to help destroy the league in the 2011 lockout.

[CountDeMoney]

It's Snyder and owners like him who are going to help destroy the league in the 2011 lockout.

Hopefully, the Old Guard owners will give him the wrong address to the ownership meetings.

Modell's in retirement, Mara is dead.  I fear for the league in 2011.

[CountDeMoney]

2009 was the Washington Redskins' worst season in decades

By Michael Richman
Sunday, January 3, 2010; B01

The Redskins' game Sunday against the San Diego Chargers not only marks the end of the 2009 season for the burgundy and gold, but the culmination of a long, arduous year for misery-stricken Redskins fans, including me. There's no need to sugarcoat it: This has been the team's worst season in nearly half a century.

Oh, sure, the Redskins have endured seasons with lower winning percentages, but whether this squad finishes 4-12 or 5-11 is pretty much irrelevant. I've followed the team closely for four decades now and have researched its full history, and I've never seen such fan disenchantment. When you combine the ineptitude on the field with the turbulence and acrimony off it, it is clear that Washington's premier sports franchise has become dysfunctional. Our beloved Redskins have fallen far and fast.

Looking back at the season's results tells part of the story. The Redskins opened 2-4, losing to two featherweights -- including a Lions team that snapped a 19-game losing streak against us -- and barely beating two other doormats. They blew four fourth-quarter leads and found ways to lose games they were in position to win, most notably the bizarre 33-30 loss to the Saints on Dec. 6. And they were outclassed by and went 0-6 against their division rivals -- the Giants, the Eagles and the Cowboys -- making this the first time since 1994 they were winless in the NFC East.

Their only convincing victory was against the Raiders, a team that may be in greater disarray than the Redskins. They failed to show up mentally at times and tried one of the most ridiculous plays I've ever seen in pro football: a botched fake field goal attempt that turned amateur hour against the Giants on Dec. 21. If you want respect, that's not the way to earn it.

Of course, a non-playoff season is nothing new around here; Washington fans are used to watching other teams compete for the championship. The last time the Redskins went to the Super Bowl was nearly two decades ago, during the glorious Joe Gibbs era of the 1980s and early 1990s, when they won three championships and were the class of the league. Since Gibbs's departure after the 1992 season, the Redskins have gone 118-157-1 (.429), posting two wins in three playoff appearances and registering some demoralizing seasons: 4-12 in 1993, 3-13 in 1994, 5-11 in 2003 and 2006.

Even so, Redskins enthusiasts have a right to feel tormented about this season; you must go back half a century to find such a low point in the team's history. The Redskins won only five games from 1959 to 1961 and lost 23 straight between the 1960 and 1961 seasons. Their 1-12-1 record in 1961 stands as the franchise's all-time worst for winning percentage (.107). Now that was rock bottom.

Here are some memorable stats from 1961: The Redskins were the only team in the league to score fewer than 200 points, with 174, suffering three shutouts and posting single digits five times. Kicker John Aveni was the team's leading scorer, with 42 points, and made only five of 28 field goals (Where's Shaun Suisham -- cut this season after converting 18 of 21 field goals -- when you need him?) By dire comparison, the expansion Vikings won three games and scored 285 points, 111 more than the Redskins, and the Cowboys won four games in their second year of existence. Only a closing-day win over Dallas averted a winless season for Washington.

That pitiful showing came during the Redskins' ignominious quarter-century between 1946 and 1970: four winning seasons, zero playoff appearances and a 119-185-15 record (.397). The architect of the calamity was the iron-fisted George Preston Marshall, the Washington business wiz who founded the team in 1932, placed it in Boston and then moved it to the capital in 1937.

Marshall was a meddlesome owner who employed a revolving door of coaches and refused to integrate his lily-white squad when racial barriers fell in the NFL after World War II. His Redskins were long the league's southernmost team, and Marshall felt that signing black players would alienate his fan base.

With the Kennedy administration threatening that he integrate or lose his lease to play at D.C. Stadium (now RFK Stadium), which opened in 1961, and with Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich mocking his racist policy, Marshall acquiesced and signed several black players after the 1961 season, including future Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell. But by then his intransigence had crippled the franchise. Longtime Redskins radio analyst and Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff told me that while playing for the Giants from 1956 to 1963, he'd mark games against the Redskins as sure wins. (Just for the record, the Giants beat Washington 53-0 in 1961, a margin 20 points greater than the humiliating 45-12 loss to the Giants two weeks ago.)

Though 1961 was worse statistically than 2009, this season has been more of an eyesore. While nobody believed that the 1961 squad would amount to much of anything, the 2009 team was seen to possess at least wild-card playoff potential. An aging offensive line that lacked depth was expected to be a problem, but a defense ranked No. 4 last season on an 8-8 squad and upgraded by the addition of mammoth defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth looked like it could carry the Redskins into the postseason.

Instead, we've witnessed an abysmal season exacerbated by an off-field soap opera that has further distracted the team. Fans staging a "Burgundy Revolution" have relentlessly criticized owner Dan Snyder and his top executive, Vinny Cerrato, who eventually resigned; Redskins alumni with Super Bowl rings have voiced disgust with their team like never before; lame-duck coach Jim Zorn was undermined with the hiring of a bingo-caller who was promoted to a play-caller; an assistant coach reportedly interviewed for Zorn's job not long ago; Redskins management temporarily banned signs critical of the team at home games; and members of one of the NFL's most loyal fan bases have boycotted games at FedEx Field, which hasn't been emptier in years.

What will it take for the Redskins to return to prominence? How do they rise to the level of excellence shown in recent years by such teams as the Steelers, the Patriots and the Colts? For that matter, how do they at least become a legitimate playoff contender each year, like the Eagles, the Giants and the Ravens?

First and foremost, Snyder must transform his philosophy of running the team. That means divorcing himself from personnel decisions and delegating that responsibility to people much more experienced in the game. Heck, why doesn't he model himself after his predecessor, Jack Kent Cooke? Cooke demanded success but didn't meddle with the decisions made by Gibbs and general manager Bobby Beathard during the Redskins' glory years. That strategy worked magnificently -- why not give it another shot?

Snyder took a solid first step with his recent removal of Cerrato, who had a hand in a series of pathetic personnel moves and often seemed out of touch with the Redskins' most pressing needs. Snyder's decision to hire Bruce Allen, the team's first general manager by title since Charley Casserly in 1999, was also a promising move. Allen, son of Hall of Fame Redskins coach George Allen, is a former NFL executive of the year and has worked for Oakland and Tampa Bay, which won a total of five division championships during his tenure. Can Snyder, whose hands-on approach has mirrored that of Marshall, relinquish full control? Has he had an epiphany? We'll know soon.

I commend Snyder for transforming the Redskins into one of the richest sports franchises in the world, and there's no doubt that he yearns to also win big on the field. He'll reach the pinnacle if he embraces patience and long-term planning, both critical for success in the NFL.

The impetuous owner must stop trying to win the offseason Super Bowl by signing the biggest marquee free agent. This season's key find, Haynesworth, has missed three games, including two against division opponents, because of a sprained ankle and has appeared out of shape. He also publicly questioned the team's leadership and his role on the field, and was disciplined because he apparently showed up late for a meeting. Is that what you want from a $100 million player? When you're guaranteed $41 million, what's the incentive to put up when the going gets tough? Our superstars should mostly be homegrown players plucked from the draft, the key to building a winning team in the NFL.

It's inevitable that Snyder will fire Zorn -- who started off 6-2 in 2008 but has since shown signs that he's not ready to be an NFL head coach -- and hire a new coach/team president. Two-time Super Bowl winner Mike Shanahan appears to be the front-runner, but I wouldn't mind seeing Redskins legend and longtime NFL assistant Russ Grimm, a charter member of the "Hogs" offensive line, get a shot.

It doesn't matter who the new coach is, however, if the owner doesn't give him freedom and time to stabilize the team, together with Allen. If that's the case, the misery will endure. The aim of these front-office moves should be to change the culture of the franchise, restore its dignity and return it to elite status.

Is the future now, to play on the famous phrase uttered by George Allen when he began coaching the Redskins in 1971? Some perspective is needed here, however sobering. The Eagles, one of the most successful teams in the past decade, haven't won an NFL title since 1960. The Cowboys -- those guys with the mystique and the revered star on their helmets -- haven't won a playoff game since 1996. And 15 teams have never won a Super Bowl, period.

So, considering how long it takes to build a real contender, judging from the way the Redskins collapsed this season, and knowing the monumental personnel changes they must make to regain their footing, it may take some time before Redskins Nation can again root for a team that is expected to win.

The future may not be now, but hopefully not too far from now, we'll once again cheer with confidence: Hail to the Redskins!

[Valmy]

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

Did Joe Gibbs piss in your cheerios or something?

[Valmy]

Our beloved Redskins have fallen far and fast.

Hate to break it to this dude but the Redskins have been pretty mediocre for 18 years.  They didn't have far to fall.

[CountDeMoney]

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

Did Joe Gibbs piss in your cheerios or something?

No, the NFL did.  By forcing Foreskins coverage into the Baltimore market for 12 years, suffering the worst ratings for any team beamed to a non-NFL TV market.
And Jack Kent Cooke didn't help.  I hope he's roasting in the pits of Hell for what he did to cockblock my city. 

So fuck him, and fuck your team.  Enjoy your 25 years of Snyder.

[Caliga]

Wait, Washington still has an NFL team? 

[Barrister]

Wait, Washington still has an NFL team? 

What happened to the Seahawks?   

[Caliga]

What happened to the Seahawks?   

I'm talking about Washington, not Warshington.

[CountDeMoney]

LULZ BUMP TO THE FAILSKINS

Haynesworth is also currently facing charges in Virginia for allegedly punching a man during a road-rage assault. His trial is scheduled for May. At one point last summer, he was also involved in lawsuits from a bank, an exotic dancer, a man injured in an automobile accident and complaints from his ex-wife that he wasn't paying for her health insurance or their children's bills.

[CountDeMoney]

Redskins and owner Daniel Snyder generate strong feelings in Washington area, poll shows
By Dan Steinberg and Scott Clement, Updated: Sunday, September 18, 12:01 AM

Once again, on the things that matter most, Washington is a city divided.

Twenty seasons after the Redskins won their last Super Bowl, just more than half of area sports fans say they view the team favorably. But more than a third have negative feelings about the hometown football team, according to a new Washington Post poll, and fans hold even stronger negative views about its owner, Daniel Snyder.

The Redskins, the most established sports franchise in Washington, generate more negative views than the city's less-storied baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer teams. Fewer than half of the area's football fans — many of whom, to be sure, moved to Washington from other regions of the country — pick the Redskins as their favorite National Football League team.

Still, 55 percent of fans view the Redskins at least somewhat favorably, with longtime residents particularly supportive. "It's more than just a football team. It's part of the whole community,' said Jim Hoebel, 45, a lifelong fan from Northern Virginia. "That's why I still feel very strongly about it, and why I choose to still be a fan."

The survey was conducted during the NFL preseason and before the Redskins opened their second regular season under Coach Mike Shanahan with an impressive 28-14 win over the New York Giants. In forums such as sports-talk radio and Internet message boards, many fans are expressing an optimism about the team's direction not felt in recent years, and oddsmakers favor the Redskins to win their second straight game when they host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon.

Among all area sports fans, 34 percent express unfavorable views about the Redskins, compared with 26 percent for the Wizards, 12 percent for the Nationals and low single digits for the Capitals and D.C. United. Among avid sports fans, 14 percent have a "strongly" unfavorable view toward the Redskins. Among the other teams, only the Wizards, at 10 percent, have a strongly unfavorable score in double-digits.

More than two-thirds of fans who grew up in D.C., Maryland or Virginia hold favorable views of the Redskins; it's barely four in 10 among those who grew up elsewhere. Newcomers, younger fans and upscale residents are far more enthused about the Capitals and Nationals.

Several newcomers interviewed for this story say they would like to see the Redskins succeed as a way to increase civic pride, but that the team must first improve its results.

"It's the one team here where I feel like cheering for them is really a native D.C. thing," said Zach Cockrum, a 25-year old from Indianapolis who described the Redskins as his second-favorite NFL team. "That's definitely part of it, fitting in and cheering for the team in my adopted city."

D.C. fans direct considerable ire toward the man who owns the team. A majority of all D.C. area sports fans hold unfavorable views of Snyder, with more than one in three having "strongly" negative impressions, according to the poll. The owners of the other major teams, Ted Leonsis and Ted Lerner, are far less-known than Snyder but generate dramatically fewer negative reviews. Just 3 percent express strongly negative views toward Lerner; less than 1 percent express this view toward Leonsis.

Fans cite a variety of complaints about the Redskins owner, from his recent lawsuit filed against the Washington City Paper to a perception of impatience and meddling. Snyder dropped the suit against the paper on Sept. 10.

"He needs to change his persona and his actions to have a better standing in this town," Hoebel said.

The Redskins declined to comment for this story. When asked earlier in the week about the direction of the franchise, though, Snyder expressed optimism.

"I think the fans, like me, feel that we're in good hands with Bruce Allen, Mike Shanahan," Snyder said. "They see the leadership of the players and I think they're excited about the future, as we all are. I'm just looking forward to this Sunday. I take them one at a time." Allen is the Redskins' general manager.

Washington sports fans — those who cheer for the Redskins and those who root for other NFL teams — interviewed for this story identified the same reasons for having unfavorable opinions toward the club: two decades without playoff success, annual feelings of unmet expectations and a sense that the front office lacked a consistent plan.

"It just seems like there's no long-range planning, that there's sort of a knee-jerk reaction to managing a team," said Jeff Riggs, a 32-year old native of Hartford, Conn., who has lived in the Washington area for five years. "People want them to be a good team, people want them to be a success and they've wanted it for a long time, but they're frustrated."

"It's just kind of been miserable," said Shelby Oakley, a Western Pennsylvania native who is married to a die-hard Redskins fan and has lived in Northern Virginia for a decade. "I just feel like they have just been losing for so long, and I feel like they never give anything a chance to work before pulling the plug or trying to buy someone else."

Other fans say that nothing could sever their relationship with the franchise.

"I don't even know that I could come up with a scenario that bad, other than them moving or changing their name," said Will Oakley, Shelby's husband, who has spent tens of thousands of dollars on hundreds of items for his Redskins collection. "If they're wearing burgundy and gold, buddy, I'm all in."

The poll was conducted by telephone and online July 29 to Aug. 29, among a sample of 1,010 Washington area adults whose addresses were selected at random from a U.S. Postal Service database. The results from the full survey have a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points and five points for the 806 sports fans surveyed.