Every once in a while, observations about wildly disparate topics intersect.
From yesterday’s Corner post, discussing potentially dangerous research on viruses in dictatorships: “Autocratic regimes cannot tolerate any admission of any mistake in institutions they run or oversee; any concession of fallibility could trigger the ruled public to ask why they put up with an autocrat if the autocrat can’t even deliver competence alongside the oppression.”
From a week ago, writing about the potential sale of the Washington Commanders: “If you don’t live in the D.C. area, you may not grasp the degree to which Washington Redskins-turned-Commanders owner Dan Snyder is detested by the team’s fanbase and most locals. It makes progressives’ attitudes toward Donald Trump look calm, rational, and mild.”
This week, the National Football League Players Association issued report cards for the facilities and management of every team. The verdict on the Commanders is scathing:
The Washington Commanders are ranked 32nd (last) in our team guide. Besides the strength coaches who received great feedback and grades as one of the best groups in the league, the rest of the club’s operations and facilities were rated by player respondents at the bottom of every single category.
The locker room does not have confidence that club owner Dan Snyder is willing to invest to upgrade the facilities, as player responses rank him 31st in this category.
Players had significantly more concerns with each area of the facility than the player respondents on any other team. For example, they were the team most consistently identified as having an understaffed training room.
Somehow, the Commanders scored grades of “F-” – not an F, an F-minus! — on their locker room and team travel.
Now, no one would dispute that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is a larger-than-life personality, with his own massive ego, his own impulse to meddle in coaching decisions, his own controversies and traits that strike others as insufferably arrogant. And yet, at least in the eyes of the players, the Dallas Cowboys organization is well-run and values them as people: “The Dallas Cowboys are ranked 5th best in the team guide. As you would expect for a team that is ranked this high, most of what was reviewed – facilities, equipment, staff and general support of players – was top notch.”
A lot of billionaires have big egos, and quite a few surround themselves with yes-men, reflexively reject criticism, fire anyone who seems insufficiently loyal, and run their organizations like tyrants. But everyone who’s watching the Commanders is wondering why Dan Snyder can’t deliver competence alongside the oppression.