A great move, a last chance for Snyder

The multimillion-dollar question wafting over the euphoria in the Washington region is whether Dan Snyder is prepared to leave the football end of the Redskins to Joe Gibbs.

His intentions, no doubt, are to do just that.

No one likes being vilified from coast-to-coast, and Snyder in particular has bristled under the assault of negative portrayals in the national press in recent seasons.

Aside from being brusque and meddlesome, he mostly is one of the losers in the NFL, which is the unforgivable transgression among sports fans.

You can be far worse things than heavy-handed in sports as long as you are perceived to be a winner. You can be a druggie or a town drunk or a gun-toting low-life with a rap sheet. Yet no one objects too strenuously as long as the product on the field or in the arena is worthy.

Snyder, for all his past faults, is in a position to claim this city. He can be the owner he undoubtedly aspires to be instead of an easy target.

Gibbs II is his chance, perhaps the best one he ever will have to step out of his pedestrian box. This move is too good, too perfect. If Snyder gets it wrong this time, he may have to resurrect Vince Lombardi from the grave on the next go-around.

A nonsensical idea has persisted in the minds of Snyder’s spin doctors that he has been victimized in the press because of his money and relative youth.

If America was in the habit of resenting those who acquire vast wealth before middle age, the Hollywood crowd would be out of business. There would be no supermodels. Most important, there would be no interest in securing marital advice from Britney Spears.

Besides, Washington, in brimming with the powerful and wealthy, hardly has the time and energy to be resentful of the income-tax return and birth certificate of one person.

There is a big world out there, tugging on us all.

The animosity directed toward Snyder always has been about his management of the football operations. It is this simple: The Snyder-led Redskins have fallen appreciably from their previously high perch in the NFL.

Yes, Snyder likes to fire people. He apparently fires people by the thousand, which perhaps is his way of doing them a favor. He also fired people long before he purchased the Redskins.

Did anyone care other than those involved in his previous ventures? Did anyone notice? Did any of it merit a headline in the daily newspapers or a 15-minute segment on a talk show?

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