Problems With the Redskins Community

and I think it is a major distraction for the players.

Brian Mitchell is a clown these days. I actually like the guy and have met him a few times randomly out places and he was great, but he goes to such great lengths to put Shannahan down. I stopped taking him serious after the Bears game when they were doing the comcast post game report and he named fuggin Haynesworth his MVP of the game. Uhhh did you see the game bro? Those 4 picks + a TD from Hall don’t do anything for you? Not a big deal that his jersey went into the hall of fame or anything…

Point is, Mitchell just wanted to say AH to put Shannahan down some more. I remember him saying something like, “Hall makes none of those INTs if AH isn’t in the game. And this team would have 2 more wins if Shanny played Albert more”. This coming from the same dude who was calling for credibility at ‘Skins park 2 months earlier. I appreciate his bluntness (is that a word?) but sometimes it’s just way too over the top. Same with Lavar and Dukes after we cut Larry Johnson and they said “we were a bigger mess this year than last year”. Uhh not really dude, the year before we would have held onto LJ all year instead of just cutting our loses.

At the same time, however, Shanny definitely deserves some of the blame here. I think he really underestimated the DC media and wasn’t ready for it after his tenure in Denver. He handled quite a few things poorly and I think he knows it. I really believe he will be 10x better this year with that stuff (although it will make him look like an even bigger prick). I love what Shanny did with the draft, selecting team captains. I think we will probably sign a free agent or two as well that might force us fans to do the whole “8-8 this year, buttttttt if things go our way, maybe 9-7 and a wild card!!!”. Haha, whatever, I love it, love my ’Skins, and for some reason I am actually excited to watch Beck or Grossman and the backfield of Torain, Helu, Williams, Royster. I must be insane.

I must say that I agree for the most part with Park Smith’s article. I now live near Indianapolis so I get alot of the Colts news and it seems to me that from the GM on down, the organization is pretty classy. Okay like Dan, I think that the owner of the Colts is a little on the weird side…but for the most part, he knows when to say out of the fray.

As far as the present coaching staff, I must respectfuly disagree with Mr. Smith. I never wanted Shanahan. I really thought that Bill Cowher would be a better fit. If Mike is to be successful in DC he needs to put the team first. Find an offensive coordinator, not named Shanahan. Give Hasslett another year to get the defense above the NFL’s 31st defensive ranking and a decent kicker for the special teams.
 If Shanahan can get these things done great, if not I believe that we skins fans won’t have to worry about his coaching style for long because he will be back in Colorado watching the games in TV.

What do people expect? Snyder’s martinet ways have alienated so many Redskins staffers that it’s not surprise that leaks happen…just like in politics, it’s done to embarrass the leader. Our Napoleonic owner has made too many enemies and is now paying the price.

Another problem is that Snyder’s eyes are filled with dollar signs. That’s why this team has spent so much on free agents and ignore their character problems. These guys don’t have the character that the guys in Denver had under Shanny.

One to shit, and one to shovel it (unless you are shoveling your own). That is to say, if this team would stop producing rumor garbage from the top down, then there would be less to shovel.

The Redskins need to stop producing this crap, and the recent infusion of hardworking stand-up youth is a great step in that direction. I just hope Shanny doesn’t become another casualty of Danny’s impatience. We’re only going into year two of this overhaul.

But yes, I agree with your message Parks. If the local media and Redskins alumni don’t want to support their football team, they need to shut up. This team is trying to make a comeback, and they aren’t helping one bit.

1: I think the media scrutiny in DC for football rivals just about any city’s. We have multiple papers (including ones not in DC) covering the team, as well as two radio stations, a TV station, and a number of connections to ESPN.

2. There is such a disparity between our football coverage and all the other sports combined. Yes I understand the NFL is more popular, but come on. We hang on every word of every Redskin, coach or personnel guy, because the Post has like 7 reporters covering the team. Now at times that can be good, but it also leads to 600 Haynesworth missing OTA stories (how many stories was the Boston Globe writing about Tom freaking Brady skipping OTA’s). Or the 6,000 stories on the McNabb benching and agent squabble.

3. I think too often the media plays favorites. They had no issue roasting Zorn, Campbell, Haynesworth, Snyder, Portis, Shanhans’ McNabb benching…but they give papel decree to bringing in Shannahan (it was a good move, but really lets not lay down the palm branches), McNabb trade (for all the dozens of professional media outlets, not a single one really questioned the trade, from a fit standpoint, a value standpoint, etc.), the signing of numerous over the hill FA’s last year (you saw little criticism for signing all these washed up D-linemen, RB’s, WR’s and such). And compare how the media took Jim Zorn and company to school for every bad offensive performance, but allows Mike Shanahan a pass???

There’s no consistency in reporting and I think that is really a shame, and leads us to the ‘he said, she said’ stories.

4. I think it is the way this organization is run is the biggest reason these stories happen and stay in the news (or blow up so big).

There are way too many egos on this team.and while it started up top with Dan Snyder and Vinny, we have it in players, coaches as well. Greg Blatche refusing to speak to the media…The Haynesworth saga…dude might be a prick but that got nearly as much coverage as the Royal wedding, the McNabb benching…then resigning him to an overpriced deal…then benching him again. I mean some of these egos need to be checked at the door, and they have to realize that they need to handle things better.

there are too many leaks, too much gossip. It’s almost certainly not coming from Snyder or Snyders’s staff – he is almost always the victim. There’s no basis for calling him a martinet or having a Napoleonic complex – that stuff is the result of the very gossip and leaks Parks correctly decries. Some of the gossip might come from somebody around Shanahan, partly because Shanahan himself seems to like playing the press. It seems to me that someone associated with Shanahan was leaking Mike’s version of things in both the Haynesworth and McNabb cases. The Redskins aren’t alone – leakers, people with an ax to grind, infest government, too.
   On the wristband – probably the usual – a small grain of truth mixed with malignant garbage. It’s quite possible Shanahan suggested a wristband and Donovan was reluctant. But the alleged events at a meeting with Shanahan, Allen, Smith and Snyder present (now actually reported on Yahoo) never happened – they are organizationally and managerially impossible – you would have to think Snyder was a complete idiot to talk as the article alleged. There’s no way Snyder would even comment on the wristband thing, much less criticize Shanahan. There is one possibility that could lend a grain of truth to the incident – that Snyder was joking – obvious to everybody that he was joking – everybody would laugh. And as to the Snyder comment itself – who could have seen it happen? Even if it happened, who observed the dinner conversation? A waiter? Would Shanahan, Snyder or Allen leaked it? Or Smith? Not likely, because it hurt them all.

Our school has a program where we intern at an organization in February for two weeks. We contacted him because he was on the list of previous internships. He said that although he didn’t think that it had worked out well last time and he wasn’t doing it again, he would be happy to let me sit with him in the press box at the Tampa Bay Redskins game. I met him outside the stadium, went to the Press Box, met guys like Jason Reid and Matt Terl, who were all very nice like Steinberg. Then, I sat next to Tom Boswell and he would always tell me this play or that play happened because of X or Y. It was so interesting. Steinberg was gracious and even mentioned me in one of his blog posts. So I don’t know about how he treats DC teams, but he certainly is a great guy.

the bernard hopkins comment was a worse report. that was just a racist remark with no bearing to football other than referencing mcnabb. it’s a real turn off that makes me wonder why i stop by.

it depends what this site wants to represent and stand for. if it is all skins all the time. well, then the useless crap gets mixed in the fold and ur good work is diluted and u are less respected. does that translate to more page views? i dont know. because u arent selective, i plug this site into a reader so i can screen out the crap. so i dont see the ads. so it does not translate to more money from me.

personally, i would prefer this site were more selective. it’s one thing to ponder a what if scenario. and rumors are fine. but it is another to report falsely on someone without anything substantive to support it. SO it is the negative rumors that i think is pond scum reporting. why imply mcnabb is an idiot because he has to wear an arm band to remember the plays. he is not a good qb imho, but he is probably not an idiot. i think the good analysis you do here is excellent. but because u dont filter yourself and report negative rumors on people, i really think alot gets lost in the mix. and you devalue your work and come across as amateur reporters. which is a shame because there is more than enough good work to garner serious respect.. so i hope u can take a stand and stop the negative rumors. the skins provide plenty of negative reports all on their own!

We all know the franchise is a wreck. Of course that’s the problem. It’s poorly operated from top to bottom. The emphasis isn’t on running a business “the right way”. The emphasis is on making money and winning football games. The organization certainly doesn’t win a lot of games and I am quite skeptical regarding this teams P&L.

Unfortunately, the organization needs to be built around certain values necessary in all businesses before it can truly achieve success. Leadership must lead – respecting and valuing employees, customers, partners, and the community. Transparency is part of that. The only reason you have these rumors is because the organization tries to hide all of its blemishes – which are vast. Take away the curtain and the rumors disappear. That takes guts because once you’re organization is transparent, reporters and bloggers can really focus on analysis. They’re no longer digging for scoops. Rather, they are weighing all of the information and presenting their own opinions on how to move forward. That can be dangerous for this organization, but it is a penance they must go through in order to come out better in the end.

So, yes. The issue is with the Redskins organization. It’s a poorly run business regardless of its income statement. Its product is a mess and they’ve only recently begun to place any value on their customers. Anyone who has any type of study in organizational behavior, theory, or design could tell you Dan Snyder flunked out of business school. That’s not an attack on Snyder, per se. But it is readily apparent the basic concepts of how to build a strong, successful organization are alien to Redskins leadership.

As for this whole wrist band business, who cares? The team stinks. The team doesn’t stink because McNabb didn’t wear plays on his wrist. The team stinks because the organization stinks. If the organization didn’t stink, the team would be stable and the wrist band is of no consequence at all. It’s all so tiresome.

Considering Lavar and his opinions – I’m not a huge fan. Lavar strikes me as someone who tends to think he’s just a little bit smarter than he actually is. I find most of his “insightful” analyses to be shallow at best. But this was his home. This is the team that drafted him. This is the community in which he has chosen to make his home. He has every right to “love” the Redskins, whether he played during an era of management boobery or not. So for once, I will defend Lavar. That said, I’d much rather listen to Brian Mitchell speak on the radio – someone whose analysis really does contain depth and insight.

I remember this.

I make allowances. They have a lot of time to fill, and are mainly commentators – they’re being paid for having opinions, so have to take sides. They are not reporters or journalists, aren’t really trained to get the facts, verify, etc. You just can’t believe everything they say.

I am so glad someone else feels this way . First let me say a lot of the heat this organization has taken they earned.
But this thing with these statements from unnamed sources, and the coverage by former players has worn out it’s welcome. And I wonder if there isn’t some connection between the two sometimes.
The two mentioned in this article Lavar & B-Mitch are two players I have nothing but respect for as former players but the tenures as talk radio host have been ugly to say the least IMHO. They both proclaim to love & respect the Redskin organization. But in my opinion the organizations the now are affiliated with are pimping them out.

The radio stations have taken two of the players they know earned the respect of a lot of fans who left the organization under some effed up circumstances and given them an open forum on the Redskins…And they love the results…a disgruntled fan base & two disgruntled former players “a perfect marriage” for talk radio

I agree that there exits where handled poorly at best by the Redskins…. But it’s time to let it go….The circumstances under which they left the organization was not exclusive to them it happens all the time in all organizations it may not be fair but what is ?

Honestly if and when this team becomes a winner again how long do you think Lavar and Mitchell will last if they remain the same. Changes have been made..Snyder for what it’s worth took ownership of the responsibility for the mistakes and Allen took the first step torward bringing former players back into the fold. It’s time to move on…