The Washington Football Team has again come under fire from fans for a wholly unnecessary and regrettable decision.
On Thursday, Washington made what should have been a joyous announcement, a chance to celebrate the life of Sean Taylor, which was tragically cut short when Taylor was murdered at just 24 years old in Nov. 2007. Washington will honor Taylor's memory on Sunday with a pre-game ceremony that will include Taylor's family and the retirement of his jersey number, 21, before the team's game against the Chiefs at FedEx Field.
It's a move Washington fans have long clamored for and would have loved to attend -- with pride and in droves -- to celebrate such a beloved figure. Had they only been given more the three days' notice. The question of why the organization waited so long to announce the Taylor tribute is what every fan wants answer now, casting a negative pall over what should have been a great moment.
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Some have naturally wondered whether the organization sprung the announcement on fans to distract from a string of negative controversies over the past week or so. That negative press has including a DEA raid of the team's practice facility and its head trainer going on administrative leave, and an email leak showing correspondence between former team president Bruce Allen and Jon Gruden that was so damaging, it led to Gruden resigning this week as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Washington has since apologized to fans for not giving more notice, insisting it will continue to celebrate Taylor's legacy over the course of the next month, giving fans more opportunities to share in the festivities. The organization also acknowledged it had been planning Sunday's tribute for months.
JP Finlay had a visceral reaction to the bungled announcement Thursday afternoon on 106.7 The Fan's 'BMitch & Finlay.'
"Here's the worst part of this, Brian," Finlay said to co-host Brian Mitchell. "At best... at best, this is just incredibly poor management and decision making. And that's the best-case scenario. People would pack this thing. It would be packed! You give people three days' notice?"
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"You're dead-last in attendance by a wide margin," he said. "The games suck! The stadium sucks! There's no... I'm really close to cursing. The damn smoke machine that the players run out of is a hindrance to the players! Jon Allen told the media that he just closes his eyes and prays, and just hopes he doesn't run anybody over! It fogs up the stadium for the whole first quarter! It's incredibly stupid!
"This is something people would celebrate and attend! And you're gonna announce it and give them three days' notice?!?!"
"At BEST it's terrible management," he said. "At BEST! And I don't even like thinking about the deflection and the PR. I mean all the other stuff this could be is terrible, and you'd like to think that decent people don't act like that. At BEST, it's gross mismanagement."
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"I mean, of course they announced this to deflect," Jim Mullins, the show's producer, said when asked for his opinion. "That's of course what happened. I mean I don't, I guess they are very incompetent people, so there's like maybe a five to 10 percent chance that they're just too incompetent, and only announced it with three days' notice or whatever."
"But of course they just did this to deflect from everything that's going on," he said. "From the team being awful, from the Bruce Allen emails. Yeah, that's absolutely what happened. It's a cover-up."
