Post by The President on Sept 13, 2006 12:17:40 GMT -5
cbs.sportsline.com/columns/story/9657716
Star-struck Snyder can't win Super Bowls, so he collects trophies
Sep. 13, 2006
By Mike Freeman
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist
Tell Mike your opinion!
The little man with the gold bouillon probably could not resist. Tom Cruise was for sale. So what does a billionaire squirt who already owns an NFL team, a theme park, media companies, and a few dozen yes men do next to feel important? He purchases a movie star, of course.
They looked so cute together in the owner's box the other night, didn't they? Cruise with his flaming brunette hairdo, dark sunglasses at night and Army Ranger security force, and Snyder with his bloated, overrated team. It's a match made in megalomaniac, Napoleonic-complex heaven.
When Cruise was blasted from his $10 mil per Paramount Pictures deal, Snyder could not resist. "Ooooh, goody," he probably thought, "another toy for the collection."
It was Monday Night Football, which meant eyeballing cameras, sweaty paparazzi, and a raucous, plucky arena. Snyder rolled out his new man-toy unable to resist the spotlight and jammed his box with other worshipping celebrities including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace (isn't there a war on?).
Then Snyder's team did what it has mostly done since Snyder purchased it and jammed it predominantly with bad free-agent signings and big-name has-beens: it lost.
TomKat's appearance at the Minnesota-Washington game exemplifies why Snyder will never win a championship. Never, ever, never. That is the most stone cold lock of a football guarantee ever made.
Snyder has celebrity deficit disorder. He cares more about the hype and the stars than he does taking the time to patiently grow a successful football franchise. He cares more about squashing his critics in the media (he counterattacks writers through the team's official website) or trying to buy them off (he purchased his own fan website and radio stations). Snyder employees, I believe, pose as fans and blast media members on various message boards.
While Hall of Famers like the Rooney family, the late Wellington Mara or future Hall of Famer Robert Kraft focused on building teams the proper way, Snyder has always cared more about which A-lister is sitting where in his box. The welfare of the league, small markets, salary cap manifestations. Forget it. He's not interested.
The late Mara once told me, when asked if he had ever met Snyder: "Yes, we've met. I wouldn't use the word charming with him, but he's been fine." Mara continued, "I don't agree with a lot of what he has done, and I don't want to get specific about what I don't like. He is entitled to do what he wants because he paid $800 million for the team. A lot of us old fogeys wish we had made as much money as he has at that age. But I wonder if he is the type of person who will only look out for himself, instead of the well-being of the entire league."
Mara made those remarks some time back but they still hold true today.
One of the most stunning stories in football over the past several years is while Snyder has turned his team into a giant ATM off the field, on the field, this once fearsome, hungry franchise has been transformed into a slobbering herbivore.
The league needs Washington to be good the way it needs New York teams or Green Bay to be competent. The franchise is too important to the NFL. When it stinks, the league just is not the same.
If you grow up in D.C., you cherish this team. You dress up in their garb and live and die with them. I still have all of my Washington gear: the gloves, the jacket, the wool hat. It's now somewhere in a box and will emerge again only once Snyder sells the team. Or Cruise wins an Academy Award.
The biggest problem is Washington has not been productive despite all of the money Snyder has sunk into big name player acquisitions. During his tenure as owner Snyder is 54-59 with two playoff appearances. No NFL owner in history has ever sunk as much signing bonus money into a franchise and gotten so little from those investments as Snyder. So Snyder might actually be making suckiness history.
Never thought I would say this, but the Cincinnati Bengals are a better franchise right now than Washington.
It is no shock that the Minnesota Vikings, not a great group, post-Pornoboat scandal and all, embarrassed Snyder's football team in the home opener. Not even Joe Gibbs, football royalty, will be able to rescue my once favorite team, my hometown team, from the fumbling clutches of the man Profootballtalk.com aptly nicknamed SnyderBrenner (a combo of Snyder and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner). Steinbrenner at least has numerous rings and the free agents he signs continue to be All-Stars.
When Snyder signs a Pro Bowler, he becomes a Pro Bowler no more.
SnyderBrenner is not an owner, he's P.T. Barnum. He doesn't care about football. He cares mostly about the stars and the spectacle and the political pundits who show up to play smoochy-face with him. The stars make him feel important, they make him feel taller.
Of course, collecting stars has nothing to do with winning football games. Snyder has signed Deion Sanders and Steve Spurrier to mega-deals and still has as many championships as Bill Bidwill.
One day, when he is done pillaging the bank accounts of Washington football fans (he was after all the first to charge fans for attending training camp practices) it will hit SnyderBrenner. He will notice how the New England Patriots built a dynasty utilizing smart drafting, treating the salary cap with respect and making wise free agent selections based on real needs, not Q-rating. You don't sign Elvis. You sign Elvis Grbac.
We've seen this before. It's the movie Titanic. We know what happens. Cue the iceberg. Cue 9-7, at best, again. And again. And again. High expectations followed by raging mediocrity.
When Cruise lost his $10 million a year deal, the Boston Herald, with the use of salary.com, figured that it would take a housekeeper making $19,934 a year 502 years to earn what Cruise did.
If Snyder were immortal -- and please don't give him any ideas -- it would still take him longer than that to win a Super Bowl.
Star-struck Snyder can't win Super Bowls, so he collects trophies
Sep. 13, 2006
By Mike Freeman
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist
Tell Mike your opinion!
The little man with the gold bouillon probably could not resist. Tom Cruise was for sale. So what does a billionaire squirt who already owns an NFL team, a theme park, media companies, and a few dozen yes men do next to feel important? He purchases a movie star, of course.
They looked so cute together in the owner's box the other night, didn't they? Cruise with his flaming brunette hairdo, dark sunglasses at night and Army Ranger security force, and Snyder with his bloated, overrated team. It's a match made in megalomaniac, Napoleonic-complex heaven.
When Cruise was blasted from his $10 mil per Paramount Pictures deal, Snyder could not resist. "Ooooh, goody," he probably thought, "another toy for the collection."
It was Monday Night Football, which meant eyeballing cameras, sweaty paparazzi, and a raucous, plucky arena. Snyder rolled out his new man-toy unable to resist the spotlight and jammed his box with other worshipping celebrities including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace (isn't there a war on?).
Then Snyder's team did what it has mostly done since Snyder purchased it and jammed it predominantly with bad free-agent signings and big-name has-beens: it lost.
TomKat's appearance at the Minnesota-Washington game exemplifies why Snyder will never win a championship. Never, ever, never. That is the most stone cold lock of a football guarantee ever made.
Snyder has celebrity deficit disorder. He cares more about the hype and the stars than he does taking the time to patiently grow a successful football franchise. He cares more about squashing his critics in the media (he counterattacks writers through the team's official website) or trying to buy them off (he purchased his own fan website and radio stations). Snyder employees, I believe, pose as fans and blast media members on various message boards.
While Hall of Famers like the Rooney family, the late Wellington Mara or future Hall of Famer Robert Kraft focused on building teams the proper way, Snyder has always cared more about which A-lister is sitting where in his box. The welfare of the league, small markets, salary cap manifestations. Forget it. He's not interested.
The late Mara once told me, when asked if he had ever met Snyder: "Yes, we've met. I wouldn't use the word charming with him, but he's been fine." Mara continued, "I don't agree with a lot of what he has done, and I don't want to get specific about what I don't like. He is entitled to do what he wants because he paid $800 million for the team. A lot of us old fogeys wish we had made as much money as he has at that age. But I wonder if he is the type of person who will only look out for himself, instead of the well-being of the entire league."
Mara made those remarks some time back but they still hold true today.
One of the most stunning stories in football over the past several years is while Snyder has turned his team into a giant ATM off the field, on the field, this once fearsome, hungry franchise has been transformed into a slobbering herbivore.
The league needs Washington to be good the way it needs New York teams or Green Bay to be competent. The franchise is too important to the NFL. When it stinks, the league just is not the same.
If you grow up in D.C., you cherish this team. You dress up in their garb and live and die with them. I still have all of my Washington gear: the gloves, the jacket, the wool hat. It's now somewhere in a box and will emerge again only once Snyder sells the team. Or Cruise wins an Academy Award.
The biggest problem is Washington has not been productive despite all of the money Snyder has sunk into big name player acquisitions. During his tenure as owner Snyder is 54-59 with two playoff appearances. No NFL owner in history has ever sunk as much signing bonus money into a franchise and gotten so little from those investments as Snyder. So Snyder might actually be making suckiness history.
Never thought I would say this, but the Cincinnati Bengals are a better franchise right now than Washington.
It is no shock that the Minnesota Vikings, not a great group, post-Pornoboat scandal and all, embarrassed Snyder's football team in the home opener. Not even Joe Gibbs, football royalty, will be able to rescue my once favorite team, my hometown team, from the fumbling clutches of the man Profootballtalk.com aptly nicknamed SnyderBrenner (a combo of Snyder and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner). Steinbrenner at least has numerous rings and the free agents he signs continue to be All-Stars.
When Snyder signs a Pro Bowler, he becomes a Pro Bowler no more.
SnyderBrenner is not an owner, he's P.T. Barnum. He doesn't care about football. He cares mostly about the stars and the spectacle and the political pundits who show up to play smoochy-face with him. The stars make him feel important, they make him feel taller.
Of course, collecting stars has nothing to do with winning football games. Snyder has signed Deion Sanders and Steve Spurrier to mega-deals and still has as many championships as Bill Bidwill.
One day, when he is done pillaging the bank accounts of Washington football fans (he was after all the first to charge fans for attending training camp practices) it will hit SnyderBrenner. He will notice how the New England Patriots built a dynasty utilizing smart drafting, treating the salary cap with respect and making wise free agent selections based on real needs, not Q-rating. You don't sign Elvis. You sign Elvis Grbac.
We've seen this before. It's the movie Titanic. We know what happens. Cue the iceberg. Cue 9-7, at best, again. And again. And again. High expectations followed by raging mediocrity.
When Cruise lost his $10 million a year deal, the Boston Herald, with the use of salary.com, figured that it would take a housekeeper making $19,934 a year 502 years to earn what Cruise did.
If Snyder were immortal -- and please don't give him any ideas -- it would still take him longer than that to win a Super Bowl.