Hail to the Redskin Chief

WASHINGTON —  Every so often the pro football network television cameras become fixated.

For a while, they were in love with the smoldering intensity of Chicago Bear linebacker Mike Singletary’s eyes. Then they moved on to the plow of a jaw on Pittsburgh Steeler Coach Bill Cowher. These days, they follow every expression on the cherubic face of Washington Redskin owner Daniel Snyder.

The Redskins turn the ball over. Cut to Snyder in the owner’s box. He doesn’t look happy.

The Redskins score a touchdown. Ready Snyder-cam . . . and take it! He’s pumping his fists and high-fiving everyone within reach.

His reactions should come as no surprise; what else would you expect him to do? But there’s such an utter fascination with him because he goes against the grain of the stodgy old boys’ club of NFL ownership. The 35-year-old Snyder has been so candid and so obsessed with immediate gratification that everyone wants to know what he’s going to do next.

“Everything I do is going to be scrutinized,” he said. “I think the fact that I’m young and successful makes me a pretty good target.”

It’s not just that--although that’s a pretty good place to start. Snyder is 12 years younger than Redskin Coach Norv Turner. He’s younger than three of the players--cornerback Darrell Green, 39, wide receiver Irving Fryar, 37, and center Dan Turk, 37.

And he’s fabulously wealthy thanks to Snyder Communications, his Bethesda, Md., marketing company that brings in $1 billion a year in revenue.

So you take this rich kid, whose sole football experience consisted of rooting for the Redskins, give him his own franchise, and he violates all kinds of NFL protocol.

Owners are supposed to be seen, not make scenes.

He axed 25 employees shortly after the NFL approved his group’s $800-million bid for the franchise in July. Then he cut loose General Manager Charley Casserly. He put Turner on notice, telling him he would be out of a job if the Redskins didn’t make the playoffs.

In October, he had it out with Turner in the trainer’s room after a loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Then he went around--or over or behind--Turner and held a meeting with several veterans before a game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Snyder drew criticism. Even former Washington quarterback Joe Theismann told a Washington Post reporter in December, “Right now, he is not serving the Redskins well.”

Oh, yeah? The results are in: a 10-6 record and the NFC East championship. The Redskins host the Detroit Lions in a first-round playoff game today at FedEx Field. Snyder did things his way. And his way is working.

“Everything I do, it’s one style,” he said. “It’s a very passionate and intense and aggressive style. That’s me.”

That’s cool. Anything that differs from what the greedy, stubborn, uncreative status quo majority of NFL owners thinks is good.

Snyder is even beating them at their own game: making money. He has turned the Redskins into a huge ATM, generating $60 million in revenue.

It’s really just a logical procession. Snyder’s role models weren’t Paul Brown and George Halas. Who was the most innovative and successful owner of the 1990s? That rascally oil-driller, Jerry Jones. Snyder is the picture of things to come in the next decade.

Not everything Snyder does is right. Previous owner John Kent Cooke--who could have used the extra money--decided not to sell naming rights to the stadium his father built with his own funds but didn’t live quite long enough to see open. He called it Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.

Snyder sold the rights to Federal Express for $207 million, a slap in the face to Cooke’s legacy.

But there have been some nice touches. When Redskin fans prepared to camp out overnight for playoff tickets, Snyder opened the stadium’s luxurious club level lounges for them.

“That was big, right there,” Redskin offensive lineman Tre Johnson said. “Most [owners] would have put them out, have them tentin’ it in the parking lot.”

Snyder appears to be more of a trendsetter than a follower. Wellington Mara, the 83-year-old owner of the New York Giants who is as old school as they get, followed Snyder’s lead and did something he had not done in more than a quarter-century. He addressed his players directly in the days before the season finale against the Cowboys.

All of a sudden, when Mara does something like this, it’s seen as a great, inspirational gesture.

Listen to how one of his players, Corey Widmer, described it:

“It’s not like some of these owners who made it in computer companies and stuff like that, the closest they’ve ever come to playing football was playing Nintendo when they were some little geeky guy in college. Wellington Mara’s the consummate owner.”

Mara is also the owner of a team that didn’t make the playoffs. The Redskins hadn’t been to the playoffs since 1991. They needed something--and someone--different.

“He’s an exciting guy to work for,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing more motivating than being embarrassed. Especially if you’re called out.”

Cornerback Mark McMillian, who played for the man many used to consider the model owner, Ed DeBartolo in San Francisco, says the similarity is, both spent a lot of time around the players.

“[DeBartolo] was like one of the guys,” McMillian said. “Snyder’s the same way. He’s out there in the cold with us [at practice]. He’s feeling everything we’re feeling.”

Right now, they’re all feeling pretty good.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.