In the print edition of this week’s Washington City Paper, Dave McKenna provides an encyclopedic tour of the various perfidies of Dan Snyder, who’s owned the Washington Redskins for a miserable decade of losses by overpaid veterans. We had actually planned to run that story next week, but after the Philadelphia Eagles demolished the team on national television, we moved it up—in hopes it might serve as a balm for the ire fans around the region are feeling.
It turns out the team’s on-field performance wasn’t the only disgusting thing out at FedEx Field on Monday night, though. A member of the media who covered the game sent in this photo of the pre-game “meal” provided for working press—most teams serve something that more closely resembles food, since the reporters, producers, photographers, and other journalists at the game are only there doing their jobs.
“There were buns off to the side, no napkins, warm water, and maybe one bottle of a condiment,” writes our tipster. “Embarrassing.”
Add that to the list for the next volume of the Snyder guide.
UPDATE: The Redskins PR operation has roused itself to a righteous fury over Frankfurtergate. “This story is not true,” team official Tony Wyllie says in the comments. A post on the team’s official blog says the actual spread for the press was much nicer, and included “some ingenious miniature chicken cordon bleu things and a nacho bar.” “I was there,” says blogger Matt Terl (who I actually knew in high school in Rockville—long time no see, Matt).
Having never eaten any of Snyder’s chicken cordon bleu—because I’ve never covered an NFL game as a reporter—all I know is that we believe our source, who encountered these hot dogs at FedEx Field on Monday night. We can’t identify the source, because we promised them anonymity, but they’re in a position to know what they’re talking about. There were multiple food stations set up Monday, including a field-level one as well as the buffet in the press box; maybe our tipster was simply unlucky in which one they happened on.
But as a lifelong Redskins fan, I’d love it if the team’s brass spent as much energy on on-field personnel decisions as they do spinning photos of hot dogs.