Thanks for Cheering On the Washington Redskins, We'll See You in Court!

Loyal readers, I do my best to defend my beloved Redskins. I mean, I really try. I also try to give Dan Snyder the benefit of doubt. 

Sure, he makes mistakes, but I tell myself he makes these mistakes while trying to make the team better. His intentions are good, they're just stupid.

Today, I find myself unable to defend this team or its hobbit-sized owner. Today, as part of a multi-issue story about tickets, the Washington Post has revealed that since 2005 the Washington Redskins have sued over 125 fans over ticket contracts.

Let me get this out of the way first: not all of the people being sued had any reason to get out of their contract, other than they didn't want to pay anymore. Also, I think it's pretty dumb to enter into a multi-year contract for tickets, especially those that cost upwards of eight grand a season.

Many of these fans being sued, however, have lost their jobs, homes, and businesses because of the bad economy. Needless to say, luxury seats to a football game should be one of those things to go.

Well, if those seats are to a Redskins' game, I'm sorry: you can't. If you try, they'll sue, and because you can't afford a lawyer now that you're jobless and homeless, they'll win.

The lawsuits bother me and make me sick to my stomach, but what really bothers me is that after Danny Boy wins these suits, he then resells the seats!

Let me write that again: after he wins the suits, he resells the seats!

That sink in? Good.

The Redskins' General Counsel, David Donovan, claims that everyone's doing it. Well not quite. 

Only two teams confirmed to the Washington Post that they have ever sued fans.  The teams being the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears.

On the flip side, the Ravens, Bengals, Packers, Texans, Jaguars, Giants, Jets, Seahawks, and Titans have never sued fans over season tickets (the remaining franchises did not comment to the Post).

Also, fellow Washington D.C. teams the Wizards, Nationals, and Capitals have never sued their fans. If a fan can't pay, they revoke the tickets and resell them. What a novel idea.

The Redskins claim to have a waiting list of over 160,000 fans waiting for tickets. I don't know how true this is, but it did take me around five years to get offered my tickets. 

In case you're wondering, I didn't accept. First off, it felt like signing away my soul to the devil, and second, they wanted a non-refundable $100 deposit per seat (I would need at least two) and then they tell you what seats were available.

So theoretically, I pay my $200 and then I'd get my seats, but what if they were ones I couldn't afford. Then that $200 is gone for nothing. I had always thought if my name came up I wouldn't be able to pass it up. Well, I was wrong. It was quite easy to throw that letter in the garbage, and after reading the Post today, I'm glad.

Now, if the waiting list is so long, why the lawsuits? Just sell them to someone else. D.C. is a football town, and if the Caps and the lowly Nats can resell their lost season tickets, I find it hard to believe the Redskins would have a problem.

For those of you still siding with Dan Snyder on this one, let me leave you with this: a season ticket holder in Maryland was declared by the state to be mentally handicapped and not fit to work. He could then not pay for his seats by the declaration of law. 

Guess what? The team tried to sue him too. Luckily, the case was thrown out when neither party showed for the case.