Wat, voorspelbaar volgt, is een onkritische rekening van once-a-year pow-wow van Synder met het perspak. Imagine if Leonsis had installed George McPhee as a puppet GM, as Snyder did with Charlie Casserly and Marty Schottenheimer (not bothering with a nominal GM since) (at this point, who’s left to fool?), and led last-place finishes the past two seasons and agreed to meet with the press once a year. Think WaPost might have something critical to say about that?

In case you hadn’t noticed, the NFL draft is taking place this weekend, and once again, Synder will play a lead role in whom the Skins will select.

Can you imagine if congressional appropriators for NASA thought themselves qualified to guide rockets?

Rhetorical question: does any Skins’ beat reporter in town have the ability to critique CzarDanny, to call him out on his ego-induced Reign of Error?

This weekend, absent an 11th-hour deal, the 5-11 Redskins under GM Snyder have assured themselves one selection of the first 142 football players drafted. In year eight of the Danny, precisely what charted course is the burgandy and gold following?

More importantly, why am I about the only guy in town asking this?

Denver, like Washington, would have to be described as a football-first kind of town. Orange Crush and all. It was that way before John Elway arrived. In January, while returning from business, I had a stopover there and was perusing a Sunday edition of the Denver Post. The Broncos were still playing football, but I was struck at the balance of coverage of competing sports. I found a sizable stand-alone story of the Denver Pioneers’ hockey game from the night before. Another, comparably sized, for the Colorado College Tigers’ hockey team and its result from Saturday night. The Avs had their own file. There was even a fourth file on hockey, penned by the paper’s hockey columnist Terry Frei. By the time I got to that John Denver’s ‘Rocky Mountain High’ was providing an internal soundtrack for my hockey heart.

I was having a close encounter with balanced, professionalism journalism.

Inadvertently, Jason La Canfora yesterday held up a mirror to his news organization’s wildly warped news values. GM Snyder — simultaneously a profiteer and a parody — has run a once-proud franchise into the standings cellar, deigns to convene with the press once a year, and is rarely if ever held accountable by the media here for his mayhem. But on 15th Street the next morning the above-the-fold beat goes on, fawning in its uncritical deference.

Journalistic malignancy.

At least there are warning labels on cigarette packs.

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Posted at 10:27 am. Filed under Media, Morning cup-a-joe, Print, Washington Capitals, Washington Post.
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12 Comments

  1. false_cause wrote:

    Charlie Casserly wasn’t a puppet of Snyder. He had been GM since 1989 and resigned shortly after Snyder ruined the team in 1999. Pardon, bought the team in 1999. Once of Dan’s first, biggest mistakes.

    Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 12:41 pm | Permalink
  2. Gasp wrote:

    I am shocked (shocked!) to hear of stenographers posing as journalists in DC.

    Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 1:09 pm | Permalink
  3. VT Caps Fan wrote:

    Danny boy did apologize to Chucky Cass for firing him instead of Norv.

    What a miserable year to be a DC sports fan. ehh (not a happy camper)

    Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 1:17 pm | Permalink
  4. maruk wrote:

    Without treading on previously covered ground….

    What exactly is LaCanfora supposed to say? He is not a columnist. Your favorite newspaper has a few of those, and they have ripped Danny Boy from time to time.

    But even if those fish were shot in a barrel every day, the Skins wouldn’t be “held accountable”, whatever that means. Because for whatever reason, folks continue to gladly give up more and more of their hard-earned to get slapped in the face and kicked in the pants.

    A fascinating and depressing phenomenon to be sure, but I see no reason to drag LaCanfora into it. He’s got a job to do, and even if he did fight your good fight, he’d soon be a beat reporter with no access. Kinda like a blogger.

    Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 1:24 pm | Permalink
  5. Michael wrote:

    Nah — Gibbs is the GM. Snyder’s input is not very different from Jack Kent Cooke’s, he’s just not a goofy eccentric. The pre-Danny 8 years were identical in terms of record as the Danny 8 years.

    He’s a snotty, humorless guy, but Snyder’s an easy and not entirely accurate target. He’ll do whatever it takes to win — to a fault, as it happens. Rather have the perpetually gunshy Abe Pollin?

    Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 3:24 pm | Permalink
  6. Caps Nut wrote:

    Snyder’s firing of Casserly at the first opportunity was the best move he’s made as Redskins owner. His firing of Norv Turner is behind the rehiring of Gibbs as coach only because it took Snyder two seasons to get rid of Turner.

    Casserly’s lack of success in building the Houston franchise and Turner’s career sub-.500 NFL record is proof positive that Snyder was right in getting rid of those guys.

    Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 4:52 pm | Permalink
  7. b.oor4 wrote:

    Whenever you ask a Post reporter why they give so little attention to hockey, the answer, invariably, is that there’s little public interest in the sport. Foolish me. I always believed the sports page was supposed to be just that, a “sports” page not a Redskin’s page or a whatever the public wants page. The Caps are a legitimate professional sports team, yet in this town they are often treated like a high school team. I know they’ll never be the Redskins, but is it too much to expect that they’d be given the same amount of respect given to the Baltimore Orioles? I read a lot of out-of-town papers and I’d be hard-pressed to name another city where the pro hockey team is so poorly covered, and that includes every other team in the Southeast Division. Thank God for blogs like yours.

    Friday, April 27, 2007 at 10:20 am | Permalink
  8. Roger wrote:

    I love a good rant in a blog. But here’s my problem with it:

    1. As someone already pointed out. Charlie Casserley wasn’t a puppet GM as you say.
    2. I don’t think Marty was a puppet GM. Look at the moves that were made. Marty had to leave town because Danny “wasn’t having any fun” and wanted the reigns again.
    3. Jason La Canfora isn’t a party organ for the Redskins. He has been called out multiple times by the redskins for his critical articles about them. See http://www.redskins.com/includes/display/printArticle.jsp?id=3141 for one example from when he wrote about the obstructed view seats. IIRC the Post had season tickets removed from them after they were too critical.

    Friday, April 27, 2007 at 9:08 pm | Permalink
  9. Victoria Dailey wrote:

    I went public earlier than anybody, as far as I know, that the 2007 Skins could be a Team of Destiny.
    Just one problem — I’m female. But with over 50 years experience as a DC sports observor.
    Wanna read the first few columns and tell me I’m wrong so far?

    Do females get a dog in this fight?
    Thanks for listening. Or not.

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 1:06 am | Permalink
  10. Victoria Dailey wrote:

    Thank you for letting me post. It’s a start.

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 1:07 am | Permalink
  11. Victoria Dailey wrote:

    Sorry. Forgot to mention that I don’t give either side a free pass to be stupid. Read my blog and decide for yourself.

    I skewer everybody I think deserves it.

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 1:15 am | Permalink
  12. Victoria Dailey wrote:

    For a list of some of the relevant blog columns, go to my new, all football site

    kindergentlerskins.com

    It’s not public quite yet, but you can type in the URL and get to it in the meantime.

    The blog lady takes no prisoners on either side.

    I’m done for now. Thanks for letting me post.

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 1:32 am | Permalink

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