XPost: talk.politics.guns, rec.sport.football.pro, misc.legal   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics, alt.politics.democrats   
   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://sports.yahoo.com/if-the-commanders-leaked-jon-grudens-emails-then-   
   dan-snyders-vengeance-ended-his-nfl-ownership-035029135.html   
      
   Back in October 2021, when the world was digesting the emails of former   
   Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and getting intimately acquainted   
   with the opinions he shared when most people weren’t listening (or   
   reading), conspiracy theories were flying in every direction. Someone had   
   leaked sensitive materials from an NFL investigation — with the clear   
   intent of achieving some goal — and now everyone had a hypothesis.   
      
   Some pointed a finger at NFL Players Association executive director   
   DeMaurice Smith, who had been the subject of one of Gruden’s derogatory   
   screeds sent to then-Washington team president Bruce Allen. Others   
   surmised that it was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell or one of his charges   
   at the league office, looking to make an example of Gruden for a string of   
   racist, homophobic and misogynistic messages to Allen. Still others   
   suggested that it might have been Allen himself, theorizing that he’d been   
   so thoroughly burned by Washington team owner Dan Snyder, he’d sacrifice   
   the reputation of Gruden just to turn the heat up on his former boss.   
      
   Publicly, everyone denied having anything to do with it. Privately, it   
   turns out there was a significant accusation by the NFL, one that appeared   
   to put the onus for the leaks onto the Washington franchise. An allegation   
   that, if true, would mean that the person most responsible for Dan   
   Snyder’s downfall is the person we suspected all along.   
      
   Dan Snyder.   
      
   What is Snyder's connection to the Gruden emails?   
   Thursday’s revelations from a 79-page congressional report did nothing to   
   diminish that belief, with the House Oversight Committee publishing   
   findings that got right to the point in the title of the document:   
   “Conduct Detrimental: How the NFL and the Washington Commanders Covered Up   
   Decades of Sexual Misconduct.” It contained a multitude of allegations   
   that walk the reader right into Snyder’s office and then proceeds to empty   
   all the garbage cans on his desk.   
      
   The report is most appropriately summed up by this paragraph: “The results   
   of the Committee’s investigation, as laid out in this report, are clear:   
   sexual harassment, bullying, and other toxic conduct pervaded the   
   workplace at the Washington Commanders and were perpetuated by a culture   
   of fear instilled by the Team’s owner.”   
      
   One nugget buried on page 42 should be of particular interest. It goes all   
   the way back to those Gruden emails, which can arguably be described as   
   the crack that eventually led to Snyder’s crumbling ownership reign.   
   Because one of the undeniable truths of this entire mess for Snyder was   
   that in the late summer of 2021, he appeared to be on the verge of   
   surviving another investigation and the umpteenth round of intense   
   scrutiny and criticism.   
      
   Then the Gruden emails leaked in October and everything changed.   
      
   Gruden was forced to resign as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.   
   Threats of litigation began to percolate. The NFL and Snyder were forced   
   into yet another internal investigation. Then Congress came through the   
   door, opening up the floor and microphones for anyone and everyone with   
   dirt or allegations against Snyder, the NFL and the Washington franchise.   
      
   You could argue that the person who leaked those emails ultimately took a   
   heated spotlight on Snyder and then dialed it up to an intensity found   
   only on the surface of the sun. It's a reality that made Thursday all the   
   more interesting when the NFL’s opinion on the matter was ultimately aired   
   out. From the report came an exchange with Allen in which he alleges the   
   league did point a finger when it came to the email leak. Specifically,   
   Allen noted something allegedly shared with him by the league’s special   
   counsel for investigations, Lisa Friel, when Allen complained about his   
   emails ending up in the hands of journalists.   
      
   From a portion of Allen’s deposition in the report: “I said, ‘Well, who in   
   the hell is giving my emails to The Wall Street Journal? Why don’t I — I’m   
   the only person that doesn’t have my own emails. Why?’ And she went on to   
   say, ‘We didn’t do it at the league office. It came out of their side.’”   
      
   Asked who Friel was referring to when she said “their side,” Allen   
   replied, “She’s pointing a finger at the team.”   
      
   Two things are worth noting here for a moment. First off, it’s still an   
   allegation from a league office that has repeatedly deflected culpability   
   or blame for multiple things tied to Snyder or investigations into his   
   franchise. Secondly, Commanders co-owner Tanya Snyder denied that she or   
   her husband had anything to do with the leaked emails when she met with   
   Goodell and team owners at a league meeting following the Gruden   
   revelations.   
      
   It’s still just Allen testifying to an allegation that Friel made to him   
   and there is no mention of evidence that was furnished to back it up. That   
   said, it’s one hell of a wild allegation, if only for the fact that it   
   stimulated total legal chaos for Snyder in the aftermath. Should he   
   eventually sell his team, those leaked emails should be remembered as   
   arguably the most significant turning point in the effort to get Snyder   
   out of the league.   
      
   The idea that Snyder’s own franchise might have been behind the leak —   
   which is essentially a tacit suggestion that Snyder himself was a part of   
   it — is remarkable.   
      
   Leaked emails could ultimately lead to Snyder's downfall   
   It would basically paint Dan Snyder in the role of Viktor Tupolev, the   
   Russian naval commander who accidentally sunk his own submarine in the   
   movie "The Hunt for Red October." Tupolev chased down his former mentor,   
   Marko Ramius, and fired a torpedo to send his friend to the bottom of the   
   ocean, only to watch that same torpedo circle back and destroy his   
   submarine as one of his officers pronounced, “You arrogant ass. You’ve   
   killed us.”   
      
   The moment was a classic plot twist of vengeance. And it would be for   
   Snyder, too.   
      
   Is it believable? That’s hard to say. The report itself — not to mention   
   decades of journalistic reporting on Snyder — have certainly suggested   
   that the Washington owner isn’t afraid to engage in fights or score-   
   settling. And in the case of the Gruden emails, there’s no denying that   
   Snyder did try to use them against Allen on at least one occasion long   
   before they popped up in newspapers.   
      
   Lest anyone forget, some of those Gruden emails sent to Allen were   
   exhibits in a defamation case brought by Snyder against a media company   
   based in India. During the course of that litigation, Snyder sought to   
   prove that Allen took part in leaking information to the media. To make   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)