2020 Football Team: A Capital Scandal

edoug

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I found the NFL statement a little disappointing

"The NFL said in the statement,

“Everyone in the NFL has the right to work in an environment free from any and all forms of harassment ... We will meet with the attorneys upon the conclusion of their investigation and take any action based on the findings,”

While I should not damn an independent in-house investigation before it takes place, if the NFL can spend a seeming eternity and millions of dollars on an independent investigation of cold footballs it seems even in the midst of a pandemic, it could run its own investigation of a decade long scandal, rather than rely upon an in-house investigation of the house.

i don't see Snyder being forced out on what we've heard so far. He'll probably get fined the max for lack of institutional control, and maybe get whacked draft choices and be subject to oversite in the adoption and implementation of corrective measures the investigation reccomends and the NFL rubber stamps.

View: https://twitter.com/john_keim/status/1284079663187468291/photo/1
The NFL's "investigations" usually always turn out the way they want them to. Giving Snyder a good spanking may be in their best interest.

The NFL has no sense of humor. So satire is out the window.
 
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bankshot1

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The NFL's "investigations" usually always turn out the way they want them to. Giving Snyder a good spanking may be in their best interest.

The NFL has no sense of humor.
Yup. Barring some earth-shattering finding, Snyder will get spanked. That the NFL isn't running the investigation and has implied it would comply with the findings was telling.

Conflicts of interests? Not a one-as all the interests are aligned.
 

Harry Hooper

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IIRC, the NFL did an investigation of the Panthers for the harassment complaints. The NFL statement suggests they will rely on Washington's own investigation this time around.
 

richgedman'sghost

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IIRC, the NFL did an investigation of the Panthers for the harassment complaints. The NFL statement suggests they will rely on Washington's own investigation this time around.
If I remember correctly, the NFL dragged its feet long enough for the sale of the Panthers to go through and never released a public report of its findings.
Ps. I want to apologize to @Hildy for my bad posting on this board. In the past, I have made several bad posts. Please accept my apology
 

bankshot1

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I haven't seen mention of this, but have any of the women accusing the DC football team of sexual harrassment and a hostile work environment, sued DCFT for damages? Or are there circumstances (SOL, or an agreement to arbitrate, or?) where they can not?
 

pedro1918

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Baptism by fire for sure but I'm guessing he's going to have a whole lot to say about the rebuild of not just the team but the organization. ATM he seems to be the face of the franchise both on the field and off. Do they even have a GM/president of football operations? He could come out of this a hero.
Sure, there is an opportunity there to come out smelling like roses, but he is not the first, nor most accomplished, person to be given this opportunity. Schottenheimer, Shanahan, Coach Gibbs, Spurrier.

I get that there are only so many jobs and all but I would be surprised if he hasn't at least had a “WTF is with this organization?” moment.
 

Harry Hooper

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Sure, there is an opportunity there to come out smelling like roses, but he is not the first, nor most accomplished, person to be given this opportunity. Schottenheimer, Shanahan, Coach Gibbs, Spurrier.

I get that there are only so many jobs and all but I would be surprised if he hasn't at least had a “WTF is with this organization?” moment.
When Earl Weaver came out of retirement to manage the flailing Orioles again for EBW, he said something along the lines of "There's this huge pile of shit, but underneath that shit is a lot of money."
 

YTF

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Sure, there is an opportunity there to come out smelling like roses, but he is not the first, nor most accomplished, person to be given this opportunity. Schottenheimer, Shanahan, Coach Gibbs, Spurrier.

I get that there are only so many jobs and all but I would be surprised if he hasn't at least had a “WTF is with this organization?” moment.
I'm sure he's has multiples. As for others being given the opportunity, this feels different. There seems to be little if any front office structure, and the franchise is in the midst of a major PR makeover. Snyder might finally realize the shit show that he's created and the fact that he's not the guy to fix it. Now I don't know if Rivera's the guy to right the ship, but I'm thinking Snyder allows him every bit of latitude to be that guy.
 

pedro1918

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I'm not a fan of Snyder's team. As a matter of fact, as a local, my active dislike of the team predates Mr. Snyder's ownership. So take the following for what it's worth. Shanahan felt different. Gruden even felt different. Bruce Allen felt different. The only one that actually was different was Schottenheimer and he was so different Danny kicked him out after a single year.
 

cornwalls@6

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Saw one of the Washington 15 interviewed on ESPN this morning(came in slightly late, and didn't get her name). Said she used to drive home in tears from work every night due to the combination of verbal abuse about her supposed incompetence, and sexual advances she had to endure. Was almost insinuated Bruce Allen was the culprit. Very credible and sympathetic. It was sad and sickening to hear her relate her experiences. Burn. Snyder. down. He either knew and didn't give a shit, or was grossly negligent in the management of his part of the cartel.
 

Awesome Fossum

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Well, we don't really know what it will look like going forward. Through last year, Bruce Allen was truly the Team President and reported directly to Snyder. Snyder was very involved, but one of Allen's supposed strengths was managing up.

Rivera has been fully empowered to run football operations, and he's already been taking on non-football responsibilities. It's not clear where that ends or who is in charge of the business side with Allen gone. Between the name, the hostile workplace stuff, the cratering season ticker holder base, and the stadium, it's a big job.

It's also not clear how long involved Snyder will really be. It was a long time ago now, but he reacted to Schottenheimer shutting him out by firing him. I expect it will be a lot more like Gibbs, who had full control but kept Synder very much in the loop. But we'll just have to see. Until Rivera's authority is tested -- when he wants to draft Player A and Snyder is in love with Player B -- we don't really know how legitimate it is. Or once he goes 5-11 in back to back seasons. But on paper, he's one of the most empowered coaches in the league.
 

Awesome Fossum

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They just hired someone to run the business side. Apparently a longtime Snyder associate who has worked for the team in the past.

Washington has hired Terry Bateman to oversee their business operations. He will have the title of executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Gives them someone in charge of business; allows Ron Rivera to focus on the football side.
View: https://twitter.com/john_keim/status/1285228004227112967
 

mauf

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This is a good article from July 4 about that. tl;dr it's been even more chaotic than before since Bruce Allen was fired Dec. 30.
Thank you. This article is well worth reading.

It would appear that most of the problems with the organization in recent years can be traced to Snyder’s misplaced confidence in Allen. Which is an indictment of Snyder’s stewardship overall, but does tend to support his contention that he was unaware of the organization’s pervasive problem with sexual harassment.

There’s ample evidence that Snyder sucks at life, so it’s not encouraging that he has been overseeing the off-field operation himself in haphazard fashion since Allen’s departure, with Rivera stepping in to fill some gaps. Hopefully the league office can convince Snyder to install a credible person to oversee off-field operations with authority comparable to what Rivera enjoys on the on-field side.
 

Dogman

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The rush to "make things right" begins. She has been around DC for quite some time, well qualified I guess. Not quite sure what her job will be, hopefully she picks someone good for the radio calls.
Can you expand on what what you mean by making things right? Her qualifications and experience align perfectly with the position and her title and job duties are clearly explained in the tweet and article. What are you not so sure about?
 

Winger 03

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Can you expand on what what you mean by making things right? Her qualifications and experience align perfectly with the position and her title and job duties are clearly explained in the tweet and article. What are you not so sure about?
\

Sure - being in DC I have seen Snyder make similar moves (and I never once said she was unqualified). There is an issue (name, minorities in the FO, etc) and within an extremely short period of time we get a new hire, a new policy, a new program. Seems a little too convenient that he becomes quite aware just as something negative breaks. I think she is well qualified - as I noted she has been in DC for quite some time. What remains ot be seen a (and is the source of my skepticism) is will she be able to do her job in the manner she sees fit as a high level member of the organization or will she get ground down like so many others in the organization have.

No malice toward her on my part - apologies if it read that way. Heck, I never really liked Larry Michael (the guy she replaces I think - I do not know if their titles and job description are identical) so a different radio announcer is a welcome change.
 

loshjott

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Another (unrelated) disturbing thing about the Washington FT is that DC Jack Del Rio appears to be a full blown covid truther. This is a screenshot of him retweeting that bogus doctor. It's not the first time he's been tweeting similar things.

32906
 

joe dokes

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Sure - being in DC I have seen Snyder make similar moves (and I never once said she was unqualified). There is an issue (name, minorities in the FO, etc) and within an extremely short period of time we get a new hire, a new policy, a new program. Seems a little too convenient that he becomes quite aware just as something negative breaks. I think she is well qualified - as I noted she has been in DC for quite some time. What remains ot be seen a (and is the source of my skepticism) is will she be able to do her job in the manner she sees fit as a high level member of the organization or will she get ground down like so many others in the organization have.

No malice toward her on my part - apologies if it read that way. Heck, I never really liked Larry Michael (the guy she replaces I think - I do not know if their titles and job description are identical) so a different radio announcer is a welcome change.
Slight aside....is Larry Michael related to the late George Michael, who had a run of success on DC TV and had one of those team house organ shows.
 

Hildy

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If I remember correctly, the NFL dragged its feet long enough for the sale of the Panthers to go through and never released a public report of its findings.
Ps. I want to apologize to @Hildy for my bad posting on this board. In the past, I have made several bad posts. Please accept my apology
I just saw this, @richgedman'sghost. All good—not very good on my part to make a big long post and then disappear....
 

Marciano490

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So they actually did shine in this case. You can't exactly pin the behavior of a single player on the organization unless they condone it.
I wonder if the Kansas City football team will look to sign him.
 

loshjott

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I don't know who changed the thread name but one of my pet peeves is the misuse of "Capitol" (vs. Capital) which only refers to the building, not the city or region, etc.

In unrelated news, Schefter tweeting that "Washington Football Team announces there will be no fans at home games in 2020." The NFL.com article paints it as a team decision.
 

loshjott

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I feel bad putting this in the scandal thread but Washington HC Ron Rivera has been diagnosed with cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, which can be of the skin or of the head and neck. He says he'll continue to coach while undergoing treatment.

Best of luck to Riverboat Ron. He's the only adult in the room over there and seems like a genuinely good guy.
 

soxhop411

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Snyder needs to be forced to sell. Having him “investigate himself” isn’t going to cut it.
 

Kliq

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Came here to post the same excerpt. As bad as the Richardson stuff was, this seems much, much worse. Snyder is less inclined to sell than Richardson for sure, but it seems hard for him to survive this. Unfortunately the NFL has surprised us all before.
 

dcdrew10

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Yeah, the latest instances of harassment are a complete non-shocker. About 5-6 years ago I would go to at least one game a year at FedEx in the luxury boxes with a friend who's company had one of the largest boxes aside from Snyder and FedEx. There were cheerleaders who were sent to spend time in the luxury boxes with the fans and were encouraged to take pictures with people in the box. It was clear they were coached/encouraged to sit in men's laps and allow fans to put their arms around their shoulders or waists and pull them close for pictures. There wasn't any groping (that I saw), but I have to say if it was my gf/wife/daughter I would not be a fan of the amount of contact and lack of personal space.
 

Marciano490

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Big Succession vibes from Snyder on this. I forget if the NFL is in a care about women cycle right now. No, correct? No players have been punished for domestic violence in long enough they don’t need the pink gloves and promos, right?