The Redskins Blog

Charitable Foundation Scholar Succeeding

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Last May, Yasmine Arrington, a senior at Benjamin Banneker High School, was in the middle of one of the last math tests that she would take in high school, when she was paged to the office.  Certain that she had heard the announcement wrong, and focused on the test, she tried to concentrate on the problem on the paper.

Then she was paged again.  And again.  So she stood up and walked down to the office.

When she arrived, she was greeted by an office official, who told her: “You’re in big trouble, Missy.”

“I was so scared,” she remembered, with a laugh.  ”I just wanted to graduate on time.”

She continued into the office to the Guidance Suite, where the counselors were all gathered around a desk.  Her principal handed her the phone, and on the other end of the line was Redskins owner, Daniel M. Snyder.

That “trouble” that she was told she was in was Snyder congratulating her for being the recipient of the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation’s $25,000 scholarship. Read more »

Nation’s Greatest Rivalry Coming To D.C.

One week from Saturday, on Dec. 10, the Redskins will welcome one of the oldest and most storied sports rivalries to Washington.  For the first time in it’s 112-game history, the annual Army-Navy game will be played in the Nation’s Capital, at FedExField.

At today’s Army-Navy Press Luncheon, Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder spoke about the privilege of hosting an event with  such prestige and tradition.

“It’s humbling,” Mr. Snyder said.  ”This is a really humbling experience.  To host this game here, with the backdrop of the Pentagon and the Nation’s Capital, for the first time ever, it means so much for us.

“We’re so appreciative to the Naval Academy and West Point to honor us, and to let us honor you by having this great game here.”

Navy Athletic Directior Chet Gladchuk discussed the significance of the game at FedExField, and discussed how impressed he was with the preparation by the Redskins and the Washington community as a whole. Read more »

Redskins Owner Dan Snyder Talks To Sully

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Following another wild Wednesday at Redskins Park, team owner Daniel Snyder accepted an unusual interview request with up-and-coming journalist, Sullivan Carr.

“Sully” happens to be 5th-grader from Leesburg, Va., wearing a No. 72 Dexter Manley jersey.

Carr was here to write a report on a person in his life and what they do for a living.  Why not choose the owner of his favorite sports team?

Let’s just say that there were no softball questions from the young journalist, and there were some very interesting answers from Mr. Snyder.

The interview will air on Redskins Nation tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., and will be featured in a blog entry as well.  Check in for the “Adventures of Sully at Redskins Park” tomorrow!

Tanya & Dan Snyder Distribute Pink Ribbon

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and his wife Tanya, along with hundreds of Zeta Tau Alpha members, helped to distribute thousands of THINK-PINK! ribbon pins to fans coming into the stadium today:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The ribbons are being distributed in conjunction with the team’s health and wellness partners GlaxoSmithKline and CareFirst.  The GW Mammovan, in partnership with The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, will also be on-site through the first quarter to provide educational materials and tours for interested fans.

Inspiring Footage Of NRG Construction

Earlier today, NRG and the Redskins unveiled the brand new green energy initiatives and solar panels at FedExField.

Because we live in a fast-paced news world, you can now watch the entire NRG solar panel construction in 1 minute, 36 seconds:

Redskins owner, Daniel Snyder, also shared some facts with the media during his press conference:

• This is a 10-year deal with NRG, and through the solar panels and the NRG power sources, will provide 100 percent of the energy for FedExField.
• The panels create enough electricity to fuel 300 homes.  By using them as a source of energy, the stadium is effectively giving back 300 homes worth of energy to the grid.
• There will be charging stations at the stadium (and many more are being planned) so that drivers of electric cars can charge their vehicles during the game.

Watch the full media session with Dan Snyder:

Hail To The Redskins Walk: Part 2

As we learned yesterday, there are two new walls in Redskins Nation, each commemorating the rich history of the team.

One thing that’s really cool about this wall is that I had the opportunity to help get it off the ground, when it was still in the concept stage, in March of this year.

I had just come aboard with the team, and this was literally the very first assignment that they asked me to do.  My responsibility was to lend a hand with the research and photos, helping to build the skeleton that would later come to life.

Redskins.com’s Gary Fitzgerald put in a lot of the legwork to flesh out the project, producing most of the copy as well as assembling the photos necessary to create a timeline.  Many hands helped to mold the final product, from team owner Daniel Snyder to general manager Bruce Allen, with help from team executives Larry Michael and Mitch Gershman.

HZDG is the company responsible for creating the final product and it really does look magnificent.  It’s pretty cool to see something that started as a Word document on a 14-inch monitor end up as a 65-foot mural, commemorating a franchise that stretches over eight decades.

But I digress.

Yesterday, we looked at the franchise in its infancy, in the 1930s, and today we’ll look at the 1940s panel.

No man captured the essence of the Redskins in the 1940s more than team quarterback, Slingin’ Sammy Baugh.  Baugh could do it all, and was a hero in all facets of the game.  He finished his career with 13 NFL records as a quarterback, punter, and defensive back.

His indelible mark on the team and this city, is properly  represented in the 1940s panel:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Read more »

Redskins Hand Out Annual P.O.Y. Awards

AP Image

While the Redskins were very much focused on the upcoming 2011 season at today’s “Welcome Home Luncheon,” there was time to reflect on last season’s accomplishments.

Former Redskins great Gary Clark introduced last year’s offensive player of the year, wide receiver Santana Moss.  He said that his daughter describes Moss as “Sexy Cool,” and recalled that people had once compared Moss to him, “except better-looking and a step faster.”

Here was the Moss tribute video:

Read more »

Chris Hanburger Made It To The Super Bowl

Despite his initial concerns, newly-minted Hall of Famer Chris Hanburger wound up getting to the Super Bowl with plenty of time to spare. In case you didn’t see him before the coin toss, here’s Hanburger with owner Daniel Snyder and general manager Bruce Allen at Cowboys Stadium.

Read more »

Daniel Snyder Is Rooting For The Caps

One more note from today’s Big Ol’ DC Sports Owners’ Summit at the Washington Post….

Just after the Caps clinched the Eastern Conference title last year, I linked to a post on Caps owner Ted Leonis’ blog where he mentioned receiving a note from Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. And from that I found myself musing on how nice it was to see the lovey-dovey relationship between the players on the local teams, and how it was even just as cool to see the owners get into the act.

Well, they continued along those lines at the Q&A today. It started early on when Snyder was asked if the owners exchanged any advice about ownerdom in D.C.

“I think it’s not as much advice as that we are all rooting for each other,” Snyder said. “And one of the things that I as a Washingtonian — lifelong — recognize is that the city needs winners. The city needs the Redskins to win, but also this year, we hope Ted wins it this year for us. It really is in need of our teams to perform, and I think it’s important to the community and I’m looking forward to it.”

Leonsis returned the favor a couple of questions later, when the owners as a group were asked what they admired about the other teams represented on the panel. “I think the deep history of the Redskins is one of the assets of the city,” Leonsis said. “There’s not a person you meet that doesn’t have some kind of connective tissue to the team — but it’s really the championships. We can’t forget how hard it is to win a championship. Will [Chang]‘s been associated with a championship with the Giants, and D.C. United’s won championships. The Redskins have won many Super Bowls. Caps have never won a Stanley Cup. Mr. Pollin won an NBA ring. And when you win a championship, it creates a set of lifelong memories. And that’s really the business that we’re in. The metric that we need to measure is this touchpoint for mothers and fathers and children and best friends that they can remember fondly and it’s one of those lifelong memories.”

And the topic came up one more time as the panel wound down. Asked which was the best run team in D.C., Snyder said, “The team that wins.” He continued, “Right now, the Capitals need to win this year for the city, so we’re rooting for them.”

And Leonsis took the idea of unity a step farther, refusing to even compare the various teams. “I don’t play the Redskins,” he said. “Y’know, I’m a season ticket holder. I love the Nationals. I love the Redskins. The rising tide raises all boats. We’re in this together.”

In honor of that, here’s a few of the better Redskins/Capitals crossover moments from recent memory:

Read more »

The Worst Big Money That Daniel Snyder Ever Spent

One of the more interesting questions the owners faced in today’s Washington Post Live “Business Of Sports Q&A” centered on the worst money that they had spent. Will Chang — locally the owner of D.C. United, but also the owner of baseball’s world champion San Francisco Giants — was pretty explicit. “126 million dollars to one of my players that was not even on the playoff roster,” he said, a fairly clear reference to pitcher Barry Zito.

Marla Lerner Tannenbaum and Robert Tannenbaum of the Nationals demurred, saying that their team is young and that they might have a better sense of this with a few years’ perspective. Ted Leonsis pointed to Jaromir Jagr, although he made sure to clarify that he viewed the problems with Jagr as “an organizational failure, not a Jaromir Jagr failure.”

And that brought the question around the panel to Daniel Snyder. “You know, I don’t need to answer this,” Snyder said wryly. “You all know.” The line got a good laugh from the audience, but it’s also not particularly precise.

This is my guess, though:

Read more »