The Slowcook at Spydog Farm The Slowcook at Spydog Farm

Super Sunday Resolution: Boycott the Redskins

February 6th, 2011 · 4 Comments · Posted in Blog

Do not give your dollars to Dan Snyder

Ernie Banks celebrated his 80th birthday recently. For those of you unfamiliar, this is significant because Banks was known as “Mr. Cub”–as in the Chicago Cubs–so beloved was he as a perfect sportsman, a man who quietly went about his business fielding ground balls and hitting home runs, a man who, as an athlete, put his team and his sport above personal considerations. That was in the days before free agency, when, as boys, my friends and I would idle away entire afternoons playing Monopoly and listening to Jack Brickhouse call the Cubs game over the radio.

This was before they installed lights at Wrigley Field. All the Cubs games were day games when I grew up. Guys like Ernie Banks were more than summer entertainment–they were our rocks.

There have been a few sports figures in that mold here in the D.C. area. Cal Ripkin comes to mind. So do Redskins Art Monk and Darrell Green, and before them Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgenson–all players who put the team ahead of themselves and remind us by their example why the current Redskins owner–Dan Snyder–is so repugnant to everything we hold dear about sports.

Snyder has been nothing but bad news for the Redskins, but his bullying of the Washington City Paper over articles unflattering to him has crossed a line. Snyder is no longer just a bad football owner. With his threat to put the City Paper out of business via a law suit, Snyder has graduated from corporate crackpot into public menace. No mere buffoon any longer, Snyder has emerged as a genuine threat to the community.

It’s heartening to see that Snyder’s attempt to muzzle the press has raised a hue and cry from so many different quarters. Gene Weingarten’s take-down in The Post earlier in the week is still listed “most popular” at the paper’s website. There’s this piece in The Nation,  another in U.S. News, and even coverage at Huffington Post. The sports director at WUSA-TV, Brent Haber, delivered a special commentary to lead off the news on Thursday. Noting that he himself is Jewish, Haber specifically rebutted Snyder’s outrageous claim that the City Paper coverage has been somehow anti-semitic.

 “Baloney,” Haber says.

Now it comes time to decide what we, as individuals, should do in the face of a local team owner like Dan Snyder. As a resident of the District of Columbia for more than 30 years, I feel I have no choice but to find other pursuits on Sunday. I will no longer be watching the Redskins and I urge my fellow Washingtonians to do likewise and boycott the team.

In the past, I have taken similar steps against the Baltimore Orioles because of owner Peter Angelos, whose management I find similarly offensive. I can report that my boycott of the Orioles, though little noted, has been 100 percent effective: I have not attended a game or watched one on television in years.

I will miss the Redskins. Sunday with the burgundy and gold has been a tradition around our house for decades. But until Snyder leaves (it can’t be too soon), I guess I’ll just have to start cheering for the Ravens.

Note: The Washington City Paper has set up a legal defense fund site where you can contribute, or express your support. And now there’s a Facebook page, “Dan Snyder Must Go!”.

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  • Paul Perrot

    I pretty much lost interest in the Redskins altogether when they sent Brian Mitchell to Philadelphia. That guy had so much heart he kind of took my heart with him and I began to favor the Eagles over the Redskins! That’s about all I have to say about the Redskins.

  • Kai

    That sums up how I feel. After 25 seasons, I’m done with the Redskins as long as Snyder pursues this idiotic lawsuit. What the hell is wrong with him? Why isn’t there more coverage about this?

  • The Wife

    If the Egyptians can get rid of Mubarak why can’t we get rid of Snyder!

  • jc

    born in dallas tx in 1952 been a skin since 1958 wont ever change