The Lost Decade

    I used to think that the Redskins were the only team with ownership problems. And now that Washington's braintrust is showing signs of grasping their role more effectively, I've been able to take the blinders off in respect to the rest of the league. Myopia strikes most harshly when the homefront is under siege.
    The last 10 years of Snyder Rules in D.C. probably shouldn't be such a surprise to the fan base. Hindsight is always picture-perfect and this is no different since Danny Boy made his millions (billions?) in a rush, as the dotcom phenomenon created many of his ilk. After his purchase of the Redskins, how else did anyone expect him to run the show? With patience? Snyder wouldn't be where he is if he was an adherent to the concept of delayed gratification. So, in a way, we Washingtonians, as a community, should have seen the mess coming. Think Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Dan Wilkinson.
    I'll try not to criticize other team owners, but there are teams out there with similar problems.
     Take Dallas ( I said I'd try!), for example. See any correlations? Yes, they have gobs of talent at the skill positions...and a paucity of depth at the non-flambouyant ones. This is a common pitfall for owners who get too involved in the workings of their team. It's one thing to have a game plan week to week. It's an entirely different set of factors in the game plan for a team's health over time. Time...the eroder of dreams...the exposer of hubris. Rather than my listing the owners who know how to keep their respective teams competitive year after year, decade after decade, it would save ink to simply say that the list is probably those owners who you never hear about...until they're dead. Rooney, Kraft and Green Bay Packers, Inc. come to mind.      
    Before Washington fell into the evil empire's hands, they had another owner who, though flashy, exhibited these needed fatherly traits. Jack Kent Cooke. And when he died and his heirs were unable or unmotivated enough to carry on his legacy, the city was at the mercy of kismet. And his name is Dan Snyder.
    We as fans will be focused on each week's clash between the participants on the field, but it's the owners who are really playing this game. They either study it and follow tried and true methods entrusting the day-to-day workings of their team to proven and talented professionals, or they are mavericks whose meddling amounts to sheer gambling. Can they afford that? Maybe...but we fans end up being the pawns who just get shoved around the board hoping the Grand Master knows what he's doing.