Oct
30
Bog of the Burgundy Revolution: Dan Steinberg provides a voice and an agenda
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Dan Steinberg has become the voice of the Burgundy Revolution.
The Washington Post blogger’s D.C. Sports Bog has become the Revolution’s biggest online presence, even bigger than the fan revolutionaries themselves. Fan Web sites and blogs, from Hatetheowner.com to SELL THE TEAM DAN to SnyderSucks.org, have gathered large followings in their own right and served as a rallying cry for an angry fan base, whether they wanted to boycott, petition the owner or simply vent their frustrations. But Steinberg’s plugs and links, both on his blog and his Twitter, pushed the cause into the mainstream media spotlight.
He actually coined the term “Burgundy Revolution” in the first place, to describe the attitude of the comments, e-mails and pictures sent by his readership and that he found through his own online searches, which allowed disparate groups to unite under a single theme. And he has continued to pursue the movement with gusto and liberal linking, so the D.C. Sports Bog still serves as a center of the Burgundy Revolution community. His posts on the subject — 21 just this week– reach an already established audience, making his readership aware of the issues and providing his own opinions on the happenings. Leading revolutionaries can connect with others. People without means or motivation to start their own blogs, or even to search for such sites, can click on and appreciate Steinberg’s finds.
His blog serves as a front page for the Burgundy Revolution, bringing together in one place news that would otherwise remain fragmented among different sites and groups. For example, this week he reported on the banning of signs at FedEx Field. The blogosphere would have been abuzz without him, but the power of the story would have been diluted over cyber space. But Steinberg dug through the stadium’s trash to take pictures of abandoned signs, he solicited his readers for their pictures and stories, and he even found an old phone book to research the team’s past sign policies. The story eventually reached the national level and even became a topic of debate on ESPN’s Around the Horn on Wednesday thanks to Steinberg. He not only breathed life into the Burgundy Revolution but sets the agenda for the movement.
Here are some of the best links Steinberg found this week from myriad Bog posts:
- “A Sign of the Times,” by Dan Daly of The Washington Times, a wonderful story on Dan Snyder’s attempt to control the team’s public image.
- A photo and video showing ESPN personality Bill Simmons’ thoughts on Redskins owner Dan Snyder, from a book signing in D.C. on Monday.
- A plea to Snyder from Redskins fan and former Philadelphia 76ers president Billy King.
- And my personal favorite, a hilarious cartoon showing the team’s troubles. Enjoy!
Oct
29
The Redskins tight end suffered a fractured tibia while running a passing route in Monday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. You know a team’s season is going badly when a Pro Bowl player injures himself while running, without an opponent in sight. But luckily for the Skins, after Wednesday’s ankle surgery what appeared at first to be a season-ending injury will in fact only keep Cooley out about four weeks.
And even better for all you Chris Cooley’s Shorts fans out there, Cooley’s shorts, and this blog, will not be sidelined for even one game. Go ahead, breathe a sigh of relief. Also, check out these screenshots from Chris Cooley’s blog.
Yes, this is Cooley’s post-surgery X-ray, showing off the three screws inserted into the fracture in his lower tibia. And here is Cooley himself, showing off his boot and the, ahem, vibrant new hair color he debuted on Monday.
Oct
23
Message to Dan Snyder: Respect the Burgundy Revolution
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Two weeks ago, I addressed the seeds of the Burgundy Revolution, a term coined by Washington Post blogger Dan Steinberg and widely adopted by disgruntled and disillusioned Redskins fans to name their movement against Redskins owner Dan Snyder. But while I said then that none of the fan-run Web sites and Twitter accounts was close to threatening Snyder’s hold on the franchise, I might need to rethink that assessment.
Criticism of Snyder is reaching a fevered pitch since last Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and the subsequent decision to relieve coach Jim Zorn of his play-calling responsibilities. The online “home” of the 
Burgundy Revolution, now at Hatetheowner.com, began the Black Monday movement, calling for fans attending the team’s Monday Night Football home game against the Philadelphia Eagles to dress in black and boycott all stadium vendors. Last week, when the site asked fans to participate in Black Sunday, 20 percent participated, the Washington Examiner’s Rick Snider estimated. And this week, with a national audience on ESPN, the black-bedecked turnout should swell.
The revolution is gaining momentum on Twitter, led by the site’s own @BoycottSnyder, as well as @SelltheTeamDan, @SavetheSkins, @LetsBuytheSkins, @Regionalceleb, Dan Steinberg’s @dcsportsbog and more. And the tags #BlackMonday1026 and #Burgundy Revolution are gaining widespread usage among tweeting Redskins fans.
The Burgundy Revolution is also imploring fans to ditch their season tickets at season’s end and instead buy tickets from non-Snyder-connected sites such as eBay and Craigslist, and even has a list of Snyder-owned entities to boycott. FanExodus.com asks fans to boycott the team too, providing a pledge to sign and a list of demands for Snyder. HogsHaven.com takes a less hostile approach, not asking Snyder to sell the Skins but pleading for action, an apology and cooperation with fans. A letter on the Web site from “The Revolution” to Snyder said, “You are lucky to have us, Mr. Snyder. Make us lucky to have you.” Most are less forgiving, including a fundraising effort for 10 ads on sides of D.C. Metro Buses reading “Sell OUR Team Danny Boy.” And here, there is even a petition from D.C. diamond dealer Mervis Diamond Importers for owner Ronnie Mervis to buy the team and an open letter to Snyder. All of this is on top of all the sites I linked to last time, and still more are out there.
In just a few short weeks, the Burgundy Revolution has grown from the ranting and venting of individual fans into a solid coalition of protesters thanks to the World Wide Web. No, the team is not for sale. But as the Revolution gets more organized, the bigger an impact it will have, on Snyder’s pocketbook and the local and national media. Though the fans may not get Snyder to sell the team, or even acquiesce to the majority of their demands, they have proved that they will not back down. Soon enough, Snyder will have to respond to this growing faction of the Redskins fan base.
Oct
15
Redskins Hall of Famer John Riggins slams team leaders on YouTube
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John Riggins posted linked to this video on his Twitter account, @riggo44, on Wednesday, writing, “How do ya clean up the train wreck that is the Washington professional f-ball team? here’s step 1 from the cyber GM….” As the Redskins’ season has gone downhill, many fans have become increasingly discontent with the team and especially the ownership, inspiring many to take their frustrations to the blogosphere. (See my last post.) But as you can see, it’s not only regular fans who have joined in the fray.
The Redskins Hall of Famer and Super Bowl XVII MVP – who doesn’t love the Riggins run? – has decided to take his own stand against current Redskins leadership. His YouTube account has been up since Aug. 31, but the first video post on the Skins came just one week ago after the team’s sloppy win against Tampa Bay. Since then, three more posts giving the notoriously outspoken Riggo’s take on the team’s woes.
As you can see, no one is safe. The delivery might not be nasty or mean-spirited. But when one of the top players in the history of your organization tells coach Jim Zorn, “Jim, you too are not a head football coach in the NFL. High school? Definitely,” and “I do wish you luck … but you are gone,” that hurts more than the most profanity-laced fan diatribe. And it can do more damage. Fan blogs and online petitions are one thing, as it is near impossible to gather the grassroots support necessary to take on a multimillion-dollar franchise even with the power of the Internet on your side. But with one of the faces of the team signed on, generating tweets, videos, and a famous face to grab media attention and rally fans… Well, it’s still a tough mission, but Dan Snyder’s getting uncomfortable.
Oct
9
The Washington Redskins have taken a lot of hits in the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, they lost to the Detroit Lions, a team that had been on an 18-game losing streak. The other three games haven’t been much better. And fans and many in the media have laid the blame at the feet of owner Dan Snyder.
This week, a 16-13 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought the team to 2-2 and should have helped Snyder’s cause. Instead, the team hired Sherman Lewis as an offensive consultant, spurring still more criticism. Snyder’s right-hand man and executive vice president of football operations, Vinny Cerrato, said the NFL assistant and offensive coordinator who last coached in 2004 will provide the struggling offense with “a fresh set of eyes,” but in the main meda and the blogosphere it is being decried as yet another poor decision by the owner.
New blogs quickly popped up for the sole purpose of blasting Snyder and his decisions. A group of fans created the Web site SELL THE TEAM DAN just yesterday. They wore SELL THE TEAM DAN shirts to the Buccaneers game last Sunday, and the shirts were so popular among other fans and this week’s incident so infuriati
ng that the group rushed to put up a Web site, writing, “In order to respond to demand as quickly as possible, we’ve thrown together is VERY RUDIMENTARY page for SELL THE TEAM DAN. We’ll have something else up soon.” Providing T-shirts and a community for Snyder critics, the site shows no signs of slowing down.
Another blog, Snyder Sucks, actually started in August, but the writer had only posted once until Wednesday, the same day Lewis started working. There have been seven posts since then, and this blog too is already selling T-shirts.
Still more sites started the week before, after the 19-14 loss to the Lions, and have been gaining steam. Boycott the Redskins has only one post from the day after the game, but has been linked to by Dan Steinberg’s D.C. Sports Bog and other Web sites. Buy Out Snyder also began after Lions game and has 66 entries on a petition for fans to buy out the team. The Burgundy Revolution started Oct. 1 and now has its own Twitter account, @boycottsnyder.
Someone even joined Twitter yesterday with the username @extraeyes, pretending to be Lewis and providing biting satire of the state of the Redskins, with 19 tweets so far.
While Snyder keeps pushing the company line and hoping fans will ignore the bad press, the Internet is allowing fans to take their disgust and run with it, publicly bashing and banding together against the owner. Though none of these sites is close to seriously threatening the multimillion dollar franchise, Snyder needs to realize that he cannot control public opinion and acknowledge the power and worth of fans and the blogosphere.
But the damage might already be done. The blogs of few disgruntled fans have already started building a coalition against Snyder, proving the World Wide Web’s power as a tool for dissent. I leave you with Redskins legend John Riggins, MVP of Super Bowl XVII. He’s not wearing a Snyder Sucks T-shirt yet, but if he’s on the fans’ side, Dan Snyder should watch out.
