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WSJ: A Round of Boos for Snyder's Suit

  • Thread starter Lanky Livingston
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Lanky Livingston

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The Washington Redskins were not in the Super Bowl this year, as you probably recall. They weren’t in the playoffs, either, and were, for the sixth season since 2000, under .500. There’s plenty of work to be done in D.C., but the way in which the team began its offseason was almost certainly not what Skins fans had in mind. Last week, in response to an epic-scale, full-spectrum takedown of Snyder’s tenure as team owner from veteran D.C. sportswriter Dave McKenna, Redskins owner Dan Snyder sent a letter to the Washington City Paper accusing the publication of “character assassination” and threatening a costly lawsuit. That Wednesday, Snyder filed suit against the paper in New York.

It’s tough to know what Redskins fans abhor most about the lawsuit. For some, it’s the bullying tone of the letter from Snyder’s attorney – which threatens that the cost of litigation would “presumably quickly outstrip the asset value of the Washington City Paper.”

“No matter what turns this story may take from here on out, that particular line will forever color the public image of Snyder,” TBD’s Andrew Beaujon and Erik Wemple (former City Paper employees both, if that matters) write in a nice overview of the suit. “The corporate bullying of the City Paper will forever attest to the pettiness of a cigar-chomping billionaire.”

For others, the suit’s low point is the way that the letter frequently refers to Dave McKenna as “Dan McKenna.” For still others, it’s the allegation that the defaced picture of Snyder that ran on the cover of the November 19, 2010 issue of City Paper – an illustration that has much in common with the desecration to which movie posters are subjected in New York’s subways – was anti-Semitic. “This is almost unbearably stupid,” The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg sighs. “The image isn’t anti-Semitic, at least not to anyone who has ever gone to grade school and/or has scrawled on a magazine.”

The person who seems most unembarrassed by the lawsuit, it seems, is Snyder himself. “What’s baffling is Snyder’s apparent inability to recognize that the very existence of the lawsuit buttresses the theme of the article,” Susan Milligan writes in U.S. News and World Report. “Snyder is a wealthy man. Can he not afford a public relations consultant? He’s becoming the Christine O’Donnell of the professional sports world. (No Redskins officials could be reached for comment on this or other criticisms heaved at the team. We’ll update if we hear from them.)

In the New York Times, David Carr writes that Snyder’s high-handedness was probably not a strong legal tactic, and objectionable in other ways besides. In the Washington Post, the estimable Gene Weingarten puts his back into a combination mockery/condemnation of Snyder so searing that he seems to be angling for a fight of his own. It’s safe to say that the early reviews for Snyder’s gambit have not been glowing.

This is true most of all for Redskins fans, whose offseason is not off to an especially inspiring start. “The Redskins used to win Super Bowls,” Tablet’s Marc Tracy writes. “Instead of picking fights with small alternative newspapers and a gadfly sportswriter, maybe Snyder should be devoting more of his time to figuring out how to get back in the winning-Super-Bowls business.”

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Click link for the rest of the article.
 
My favorite quotes:

“What’s baffling is Snyder’s apparent inability to recognize that the very existence of the lawsuit buttresses the theme of the article,” Susan Milligan writes in U.S. News and World Report.

“The Redskins used to win Super Bowls,” Tablet’s Marc Tracy writes. “Instead of picking fights with small alternative newspapers and a gadfly sportswriter, maybe Snyder should be devoting more of his time to figuring out how to get back in the winning-Super-Bowls business.”
 
Count me as one who hopes the lawsuit bankrupts the paper, and puts McDouche in the unemployment line.
 
Count me as one who hopes the lawsuit bankrupts the paper, and puts McDouche in the unemployment line.

I think you're in the vast minority...most people see this as more of the same from Snyder. The worst part is - this article had disappeared from view; now its the 3rd article that comes up on a google search of "Dan Snyder." He's brought more attention to the article with this ridiculous lawsuit than it would have EVER gotten on its own.

Not to mention Milligan's point - the lawsuit itself makes the article's point even stronger.
 
I think you're in the vast minority...most people see this as more of the same from Snyder. The worst part is - this article had disappeared from view; now its the 3rd article that comes up on a google search of "Dan Snyder." He's brought more attention to the article with this ridiculous lawsuit than it would have EVER gotten on its own.

Not to mention Milligan's point - the lawsuit itself makes the article's point even stronger.
Gee! Writers taking sides with other writers? Shocking!

Fans, convinced Snyder was the second shooter on the grassy knoll, agree? Even more shocking!

Jack Kent Cooke used the lawsuit tactic because of his financial advantage on many occasions too.
However, the team won, the local media was in his pocket, and nobody gave a damn.
 
“The Redskins used to win Super Bowls,” Tablet’s Marc Tracy writes. “Instead of picking fights with small alternative newspapers and a gadfly sportswriter, maybe Snyder should be devoting more of his time to figuring out how to get back in the winning-Super-Bowls business.”

Tell Marc Tracy to STFU!!! Snyder does not need to figure anything else out. He has turned the reigns over to Allen and Shanahan! Let it stay that way! Let Dan concentrate on lawsuits or charities or whatever else it is that he needs to concentrate on and to stay out of the day to day operations of the on-field product!
 
Tell Marc Tracy to STFU!!! Snyder does not need to figure anything else out. He has turned the reigns over to Allen and Shanahan! Let it stay that way! Let Dan concentrate on lawsuits or charities or whatever else it is that he needs to concentrate on and to stay out of the day to day operations of the on-field product!
Hear Here!!!
 
Apparently Wylie has come out and said the suit was his idea, and that it is a "PR fiasco." No ****, Tony. To me, this wreaks of Snyder using him as a fall-guy, but who knows. Maybe Wylie did convince him to sue. I can't imagine anyone even slightly good at PR recommending this lawsuit - they're not fooling anyone.
 
Apparently Wylie has come out and said the suit was his idea, and that it is a "PR fiasco." No ****, Tony. To me, this wreaks of Snyder using him as a fall-guy, but who knows. Maybe Wylie did convince him to sue. I can't imagine anyone even slightly good at PR recommending this lawsuit - they're not fooling anyone.


Just add Wylie to the long list of Snyder scapegoats. The man never takes full responsibility for anything he does. He's like a snail, that leaves a trail of slime behind him wherever he goes.
 
A reporter defending an alleged reporter. Yeah, that wasn't surprising.

As a lurker from the very early days and then a member of the other site, I can remember the encounters that each mod (past and present) had with McKenna. Not one of these people care to defend this low life "journalist". Not one. I know why and watched a lot of it unfold over the years.

I am hoping that this will destroy the WCP and McKenna. Rarely do I wish such a fate for anyone, but it is totally justified in this case. I'm not going to speak for any mod - perhaps any one of them can shed more light on the subject(s). However, my memory is long and I can't forget some of the things that have happened.
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-i-am-suing-washington-city-paper/2011/04/25/AFYQC1kE_story.html

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I'm no Mckenna fan, but this is danny the douche being danny the douche. This must be what he does when he isn't playing fantasy football

I am not thin-skinned about personal criticism

No, not at all. That's why you had the Gestapo ban signs in FedEx.

I consider myself very fortunate to own the Redskins.

You must be the only one danny


I understand the anger people feel toward me when the Redskins have a losing season or when we sign a veteran player who does not meet expectations

I don't think you do danny

I honor vigorous free expression in the media.

Just not at FedEx

Simply put, this lawsuit is about the truth — and the need to correct the record, even when you are a public figure, when your character and integrity are falsely and recklessly attacked. This is the case whether you are a public figure or a private citizen. Nothing more and nothing less.


Would this be the same "truth" that you wrote in your letter to the employees at Redskins Park, when you bought the team, assuring them they all still had jobs?

http://bgobsession.com/showthread.php?t=6829



Like I said, I have no real use for the City Paper. But I have even less use for dan snyder
 
I like that I still live in a country of laws. Slander continues to exist. We just deal with it differently nowadays.

Back in the old west, Snyder might have eventually hired a gun to shoot McKenna's kneecaps off. And whether they "liked" Snyder or not, the townspeople would have nodded in quiet ascent. As ye sow, so shall ye reap and all that.

Not so much today. I'm amazed at how many people don't care that what Snyder is suing over is slander. When did that happen? And why? Is it because he overspent for Jeff George and Deion Sanders? Replaced our old friend Sarge's Mom along with much of the old Redskins staff when he, you know, bought the company? Presided over a down era in a football team's history?

We're still a country of laws. Even people we despise for personal reasons are supposed to get the benefits thereof. That's why we're all here.

To my mind, McKenna and the "paper" he writes for are far worse than the supermarket tabloids. Why? Because for some reason, a lot of people seem to actually believe that the three-headed alien baby crap they sell is real.

So there.
 
You tryin' to say BatBoy doesn't exist?

I feel absolutely no pity for the danny. He's a miserable little bastard that deserves every **** people send his way
 
You can hate a guy personally and still support his right to defend his name, brother.

It's the 21st century. We're evolved now. :)
 
I'm no Mckenna fan, but this is danny the douche being danny the douche. This must be what he does when he isn't playing fantasy football



No, not at all. That's why you had the Gestapo ban signs in FedEx.



You must be the only one danny




I don't think you do danny



Just not at FedEx




Would this be the same "truth" that you wrote in your letter to the employees at Redskins Park, when you bought the team, assuring them they all still had jobs?

http://bgobsession.com/showthread.php?t=6829



Like I said, I have no real use for the City Paper. But I have even less use for dan snyder
Thank you, Sarge. Very nice breakdown.

I agree with you 100%.
 
I guess after he gets done here he'll go back to suing the grannies of the area
 
Can I root for both losing?
WCP closes down and Snyder is forced to be a non-entity of the Skins for the next 10 years.

Haven't read much of WCP over the years (don't read what I don't like, that includes Sally Jenkins as well) but the times I've read WCP and McKenna it seems that the whole point is to write articles that feed off the fans frustration and to get hits with people who are angry already with the team/franchise/owner or to generate hits by offending those who aren't.

Then reading the flame wars on the site btw. the author with various fans from ES (some now here at BGO) and the Dead Trees were just unbelievable. The email battles btw Art and McKenna were memorable.
 

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