The civil war of the Washington Redskins is getting nasty.
Fans are no longer taking sides on coach Jim Zorn or vice president Vinny Cerrato. Their remaining supporters have disappeared.
No, it’s now all about owner Dan Snyder. And, it’s getting personal.
The anti-Snyder movement has steadily grown over the last month. Whether it’s a new protest group that wants to fire the owner, make him sell or banish Snyder to Outer Mongolia, he has become the city’s biggest villain since Richard Nixon claimed he wasn’t a crook.
But John Riggins recklessly raised the debate over Snyder by making it personal. Riggins said Snyder’s heart was dark, meaning he’s the son of Satan or something.
Riggo, you’re wrong to say such things. And, it’s time for everyone to take a breath. Bashing Snyder for being a bad owner is fine. Calling him Lord Voldemort is not. As my aunts would say, “Language, young man. Language.”
Fans have always confused players with their performance. Many times I’ve heard someone say the player was a jerk. When I asked why, they cited some poor play. Like that has anything to do with the athlete as a person. The problem is fans, even in today’s wired world, still don’t know players as people. They just want to hate on them for losing.
It’s time to stop. Sports is supposed to be fun for fans. Instead, the new sport has become hating on the team. What a strange turnaround from 1992 when one million people lined the parade route after the Redskins won their third Super Bowl in nine years. Now you’d get one million people to line Pennsylvania Avenue only if it was Snyder’s exodus out of town.
Riggins claims he was saying Snyder and Cerrato have ruined the franchise. No argument from me there. They have absolutely destroyed the team and are now working their way through the fan base. This no-signs policy to avoid public dissent was flat-out stupid.
The team’s 43-years of sellouts will probably end next year unless Snyder’s accountants play games. No way they’re selling 60,000 season tickets (the expanded 10,000 seats after the stadium’s opening and premium seats don’t count towards blackouts). The love affair has ended.
It’s all Snyder’s fault. He can hire a big-name coach in the offseason, even get a real GM and fans will be very slow to return. Once they stop protesting over the next two months, the public will move on to something else and not return.
But saying Snyder has a dark heart is too much. Then again, why is anyone taking anything Riggo says seriously? He doesn’t. No one ever has since his playing days when lying drunk under the table and telling Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to loosen up.
Repeat the line, Riggo. Just make it, “Loosen up, Washington, baby.”
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
