Cowboys and Indians

Dan Snyder makes Emmitt Smith just want to pummel somebody
By MJD/Shutdown Corner

Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder has been on his best behavior recently. Everyone else is out there, spasmodically chasing down free agents with bags of cash, but Snyder is sitting back, fighting the urge to give someone $85 million for two injury-plagued seasons and poor practice habits.

None of that stopped Dallas Cowboys great Emmitt Smith from coming out of nowhere and blasting Snyder in SLAM Magazine, though. Slam asked Emmitt which team he enjoyed beating most, and he answered honestly about the Redskins, and then clobbered Snyder.

"I loved defeating the Redskins," said Smith. "I loved it, I loved it, I loved it with a passion. And I loved it more when Daniel Snyder got the team, for a number of reasons. I did. Because here is a guy who thought he could build a football team just because he has the money to buy players. There's more to it than that.

"And he's not a compassionate person, not a compassionate person at all from what I understand. And that makes me just want to pummel somebody. You know, you hate to see pride, wearing itself on his forehead and his chest. And to me, arrogance sticks out like a sore thumb when you talk about him. And the lack of compassion for others is a problem. Because it's not that hard to be compassionate; you just choose to."

I must confess to not knowing what Emmitt's talking about here. I don't think Dan Snyder is a very good owner, but I have no idea of his capacity for compassion. Can he run a franchise into the ground? Yes. Is he evil incarnate? Is he the smoke monster? I don't know.

I know he's an enemy of trees, but besides that, I don't know of any other indication that his heart is as dark as Emmitt Smith would have us believe. If he wants to share a story, though, I'm all ears.

Snyder did respond, though.

"I applaud Emmitt Smith's induction into the NFL Hall of Fame and, from what I understand, he's a heck of a dancer. I think we've only met once briefly at an NFL function in 2000. I will say, however, that I like to think of myself as being a compassionate person, except toward the Dallas Cowboys."

Look at that. It's Dan Snyder taking the high road. It's time to tell us a story, Emmitt Smith.

I think Emmitt's pot may have called the kettle black with this one. I know Dallas won its three Super Bowls with a core of guys they drafted (Aikman, Emmitt, Irvin, Maryland, Moose, Novachek) but I feel like I saw a few hired guns mixed in there (Norton and Haley). Not to mention during the latter years of Emmitt's career his boy Jerry Jones was blowing just as much on the free agent market. The last ten years have been like a fruitless arms race between the Skins and the Boys. Sometimes I think Emmitt just speaks before he thinks. This kind of criticism would be valid from Tiki Barber or Donovan McNabb whose teams built slowly and surely (minus Burress and T.O.) but coming from Emmitt is just sounds stupid.

P.S. - Nice shot about the dancing from Snyder. I'm starting to like this guy.