There's a lockdown in the Washington suburbs. Don't worry, it is not a matter of national security, except for Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins. After firing head coach Mike Shanahan and with no local papers to sue, Snyder had his version of the Plumbers flex the organizational muscle to the press in a display Richard Nixon would have surely loved.
Kent Babb of the Washington Post is reporting from the front lines.
Skins make media peer thru pull-down curtains, Shanny calls franchise NFL's "best," Alfred Morris can't talk bc he's gotta hit Chick-fil-A..
— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) December 30, 2013
Reporters now told they can't look thru windows or go outside. It's not a PR matter now, I was told, it's a security issue. WHAT???
— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) December 30, 2013
There are guards in the parking lot patrolling like Secret Service. 2 interns, filling as security for some reason, carrying walkie-talkies.
— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) December 30, 2013
A curtain, ahem, came detached while we starving beasts were confined to the room. PR/security resolved this with many strips of Scotch tape
— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) December 30, 2013
And what's the security issue?
Security supposedly to prevent a media rush of Shanahan's exiting car. Shanahan, who already met w/media. Absolutely no one cared about car.
— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) December 30, 2013
I don't care what you guys say, Dan Snyder has done a masterful job of making today's events smooth and free of unnecessary attention.
— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) December 30, 2013
Why is a man already ambivalent toward the First Amendment and racist nicknames really doing this? After watching the team's PR office comb the corners of reservations throughout the West in search of Native Americans not offended by the team's name why would you be surprised?
Babb sums it all up rather nicely with a tweet that applies in Cleveland as well as it does in Washington and places in between:
These are the days that reveal the true, unfettered, undeniable silliness of some NFL teams.
— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) December 30, 2013
No word on whether or not RGIII was allowed to enter the building.
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