What began as a value report that the Washington Commanders had secured Bank of America (BofA) Securities to explore “potential transactions” morphed into jubilee as the implication became clear. The hints that Dan and Tanya Snyder are “exploring” selling the franchise have been all but confirmed. Although nothing is set in stone yet — and Snyder denies he intends to sell the team — the events of Wednesday signal that the Snyder era could be near the end.

If Snyder is departing voluntarily, rather than through an ugly league vote of removal, he’ll leave behind a much more distressed asset than the one he bought in 1999. The Commanders were once one of the NFL’s most prestigious franchises. Their brand — back when the team name began with an R — ranked alongside the Steelers, Packers, and Cowboys in the NFL hierarchy. These days, the Washington Snyders haven’t won a playoff game in 17 years and are associated with bottom-dwelling franchises like the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns.

Snyder’s reportedly misogynistic workplace culture, his retention of incompetent personnel like Bruce Allen, meddling in an attempt to mimic Jerry Jones, and his pettiness permeated into every pore of the Commies. When all is said and done, Snyder’s fingerprints on the organization, including the Commanders’ name, should be excised. But if he is memorialized in any way, it should be as the most ruinous owner in the post-merger NFL.

Criminal investigations

Additional context for the Snyders (potential) sale was provided Wednesday evening, when ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. reported that the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia was launching a criminal investigation into allegations of financial improprieties within the Commanders’ organization. This investigation stems from secret testimony given by Washington’s former Vice President of Sales and Customer Service, Jason Friedman.

According to Friedman, Snyder and team executives have been concealing sharable revenue derived through home game ticket sales from the NFL for more than a decade. In April, the House committee laid out its findings in a letter to the Fair Trade Committee, which outlined the specific means through which Snyder would have ticket revenue diverted from NFL to Kenny Chesney concerts and Navy-Notre Dame football games. The documentation Friedman delivered to the House Oversight Committee shifted the original investigation from an examination of the abusive workplace culture into a financial misconduct one as well. Snyder and the team have denied any wrongdoing, and team spokeswoman Jen Medina released the following statement:

“…We are confident that, after these agencies have had a chance to review the documents and complete their work, they will come to the same conclusion as the team’s internal review — that these allegations are simply untrue.”

It also can’t be a coincidence that the announcement of a potential sale came on the heels of the DOJ putting its weight into a criminal investigation. The feds don’t miss and even Snyder is sane enough to know that. Maybe he hopes the DOJ is stacked with Commanders fans and selling the team will prompt them to ease up — and he might have a point. Either way, things are about to get ugly and there are only so many fronts Snyder can battle on.

Turmoil

A lesser organization would have collapsed or relocated from the strain the Snyders have placed. Snyder ran the team less like a successful business and more like an outlet for him to act out his id’s darkest desires. It’s ironic that a criminal investigation spurred by a former henchman in the ticket and sales department is what may eventually bring him down. After the market crashed in 2008, Snyder sued season ticket holders and over the course of the next decade, decimated FedEx Field’s previously impeccable attendance numbers to the point that thousands of seats were removed from the stadium. Snyder nearly moved the franchise into a hard-to-reach nook in Woodbridge, Virginia. The organization also released plans to construct the league’s smallest stadium and following a two-year run as John Does, rebranded the Redskins as the Commanders, which became widely criticized and mocked by Washington fans. The vibes around the organization have grown so toxic that Washington’s home attendance has dwindled to the point that the Commanders annually have one of the worst attendance rates in the entire league. (Also, don’t forget this gem).

In May, the vote within the Virginia state legislature over a stadium bill was thankfully nixed at the 11th hour after public financing was significantly cut, and due to one of the stadium’s leading proponents backing out and delivering a withering rebuke of the Commanders. That initial withdrawal of support was followed by an avalanche of previously supportive state legislators flipping their yes votes.

Resignation

Every step of the way, Snyder has been defiant. He fought the requests to change the team name for years before ultimately caving and has been adamant that he would never sell. At the owner’s meetings two weeks ago, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay finally became the first team owner to call Snyder out as unfit for the position. The Commanders’ tone in their response was more akin to a vow for revenge through a supervillainy threat at legal action towards Irsay than a humbled organization reeling from years of awful headlines.

Snyder appeared to prefer the option of going kicking and screaming rather than quietly, which is why Wednesday’s news came as such a surprise. However, with federal authorities breathing down his neck, fellow owners organizing to boot him, and the team mired in scandal, Snyder appears to have finally acknowledged defeat. He’s taken a slew of those lately, but he won’t leave empty-handed. The Commanders are expected to fetch him and his minority owners upwards of $6 billion. For the first time, Snyder’s loss is Washington’s gain.

If I ever see the gates of heaven, it will be a close second to the day Snyder is permanently removed from his team’s masthead. For 20 years, he’s poisoned the Commanders from the inside out. Snyder has been a pox upon the team since he assumed ownership nearly a quarter-century ago. Think Michael Meyers haunting Laurie and the town of Haddonfield. Eventually, “Halloween Ends,” but not before Snyder’s snuffed out more hopes and dreams than any slasher series could ever depict. 

It still amazes me how quickly a baseball playoff series, especially one of the seven-game variety, can pivot.

Just yesterday, the Houston Astros were being mocked for how their offense had gone to the land of wind and ghosts for a game-and-a-half or so — two full games if you count the back half of Game 1 when after they scored their five runs they went into vapor lock. Ranger Suarez was a lab experiment that couldn’t be solved by any human means, and Dusty Baker’s brain was retreating back down his neck and into his torso.

And then a second look at Aaron Nola, and Christian Javier on the mound, and suddenly the Astros can take a 3-2 lead back to Houston where Framber Valdez will be waiting if they can simply best the Phillies in a bullpen game tonight. Just 24 little hours.

When the calls went out for Baker to use the rainout of Game 3 as an opportunity to skip Lance McCullers Jr. and go to Javier on normal rest, it was because of the discrepancy of stuff between the two and the discrepancy of how the Phillies handle that stuff. The Phils crush breaking balls, and they promptly did so at first asking in Game 3 (Bryce Harper’s homer had an in-flight movie). Javier, on the other hand, throws zippy and impolite fastballs most of the time, and the Phightins are far less effective against heat. Especially high and fast heat. Javier’s average velocity of 94 MPH doesn’t quite reach the smoke point that the Phillies wilt at (95 MPH), but thanks to having one of the highest “rise” marks on his four-seamer, Javier’s fastball plays up beyond what the actual velocity is (we know fastballs don’t actually rise but Javier’s sinks less than just about any other pitcher’s on the way to the plate. It puts up quite the fight with gravity).

We know the Phillies didn’t get a hit all night. Javier threw 70 fastballs out of his 97 pitches. The Phillies put eight of them in play. As you can see, Javier mostly kept them up in the zone, where that “rise” would play even better.

That didn’t change when Baker had to pull Javier after six innings thanks to his pitch count (97). Bryan Abreu threw seven fastballs, none lower than 97 MPH, and didn’t see one put in play. Rafael Montero only offered one non-fastball of his 10 pitches, and was barely touched. Only Ryan Pressley gave the Phillies a look at something else for the most part, and by then it was too late.

It’s just one game, and the Phillies could come prepared to hit a bunch of cheese with Verlander on the mound tonight. Verlander attempted this gameplan in Game 1, except he couldn’t really find the zone with it after the first couple of innings. The map is clear, however.

It also leaves Baker in something of a quandary should this get to a Game 7, because that would mean it’s…yep, McCullers’ turn. Or Javier on three days’ rest? A combination of the two? Everything is in play for a Game 7 of course, but had Baker pushed Javier up to Game 3 he would have him locked and loaded for Game 7 should we get there. Mighty oaks from little acorns, children.

Diaz-ying

A special mention for Baker’s decision to insert Aledmys Diaz into the lineup. Diaz came up in the 10th of Game 1 with the Phillies trailing. It’s important to note that Diaz is hitting .056 in the postseason before Game 4. He got up 3-0, after attempting to lean into a curve to get a free base and being one of like three hitters who gets called for that per season. Again, hitting .067 at this point, Diaz proceeded to swing at a 3-0 pitch and miss it by a good two feet, before grounding out on the next pitch. This was the guy Baker had to have up.

The bottom of the Astros lineup has been a giant sucking sound all postseason, but in Game 3 Baker rediscovered that David Hensley was still breathing oxygen and he actually provided a hit, something that Trey Mancini or Diaz or any other goofus in the bottom third of the Astros lineup could claim.

But no, Baker reinstated Diaz into the lineup, where he got three of the worst ABs imaginable and three Ks. The kicker was in the top of the second, when Michael Tucker attempted to create a rally all on his own by doubling and then advancing to third on the next AB when Alec Bohm failed to look him back to second while throwing to first. Christian Vasquez walked, which brought Diaz to the plate with two on and one out. The Phillies were giving Diaz the entire right side of the infield.

Now, normally I’m not one for a hitter going away from his usual approach. There have been treatises — too many to count — written on why hitters just don’t take the free single when infields shift. But this is Aledmys Diaz. He’s hitting .056 up to this AB. He’s just had a hilariously futile attempt in Game 1. He can give the Astros their first lead in Philadelphia.

He swung wildly at four of the five pitches he saw, furiously trying to yank them to Wilkes-Barre. Of course, he struck out. May we all one day find the unwarranted confidence of an Aledmys Diaz coursing through our veins and making us think we’re capable of the greatest feats.

M’m! M’m! Good!

Let’s end with Kylian Mbappe and his goal yesterday against Juventus. This is some original Ronaldo shit — the Brazilian one — the kind of goal that got him a NIke ad in America when soccer players didn’t get NIke ads in America:

May Frederico Gatti’s family find solace in the knowledge that he lived his dream of playing for the most famous club in Italy, before Mbappe buried him 20 yards from goal at Allianz Stadium. Then the accuracy to go post and in after beating two other defenders. The best find serenity at the most chaotic moments.

Most people could’ve predicted Najee Harris’ sophomore slump. One look at the Steelers’ payroll, offensive line depth, or quarterback situation should’ve been enough for anyone to foresee backfield struggles for the 2021 first-round pick out of Alabama. Still, several believed his feature role and pass-catching ability — essentially, his sheer volume of work — would make up for any deficiency. After all, he is immensely talented.

Eight weeks into the season and now, that last statement is seeming less and less true. Harris is currently averaging 3.3 yards per carry, 45.1 yards per game, three receptions per game, and 4.7 yards per reception. All of those figures are down from last year. He’s not reaching the end zone as often. He’s receiving far fewer targets, and even when he does get opportunities, he doesn’t pass the eye test. Steelers fans have shaken their heads and fists too many times watching Harris run East to West instead of North to South. He hasn’t shown patience running up the middle. He hasn’t shown smart play. He’s just been bad.

That said, all of these struggles are just that, struggles — meant to be overcome. Sophomore slumps are well-documented, and considering Harris spent the first half of this season dealing with a nagging ankle injury, there’s reason to be optimistic for a late-year push or third-year resurgence. More likely though, is that Harris will not recover from these struggles.

We’ve actually seen this career arc before.

Yes, that is a graph that accurately illustrates the effectiveness of Najee Harris compared to Trent Richardson, another Bama back, through each of their first 400 rushing attempts.

Both players were drafted in the first round of their respective drafts. Both players were given more than 250 rushing attempts in their first season. Both players averaged under four yards per carry despite the heavy workloads. Both players showed great promise, only to disappear quickly. Most frightening for Harris fans though is that we’re currently seeing the same flaws in his game that ultimately destroyed Richardson’s career.

Richardson was 228 pounds during his career, according to Pro-Football-Reference. Harris is four inches taller than Richardson was, but four pounds heavier. Regardless, the average weight for an NFL running back is about 215 pounds. Both Harris and Richardson are big men for their positions, making them perfect candidates for up-the-middle, North-South running. Dive straight into the teeth of the defense, work well in short-yardage situations, and don’t try to speed around edges or shake defenders out of their boots. Neither played like that though.

Plays like the one above certainly don’t help Harris’ case. On third down, the first down marker was just a few yards downfield, but instead of moving toward the first-down line, Harris decided to dance and try to get around the defender and turn the play into a potentially bigger gain. That shows poor vision, poor decision-making, poor field awareness, and poor agility — the defender didn’t fall for his move at all, and it slowed him down so that a second defender was able to come up and help make the stop — all the same flaws that plagued Richardson’s game.

I will say, Harris hits holes in the offensive line more consistently than Richardson, who loved to run into the backs of his linemen, did. Harris doesn’t do that quite as often. Harris also plays behind a worse offensive line. The 2013 Cleveland Browns’ O-line consisted of two 2013 Pro Bowlers (including All-Pro left tackle Joe Thomas) and a future All-Pro in right tackle Mitchell Schwartz. That line ranked 18th in adjusted line yards and ninth in power success rate. Those aren’t elite metrics, but they are indicative of solid line play. Because of Richardson’s ineffectiveness, that line ranked near the bottom of the league in second-level yards and open field yards. Those stats do reflect somewhat poorly on the O-line but are more indicative of ineffective running after holes are created by the big men up front. Cleveland ranked 28th in second-level yards per attempt, and 31st in open-field yards.

This season, the Pittsburgh Steelers rank 23rd in adjusted line yards and 11th in power success rate. Both numbers are below the 2013 Browns O-line (18th and ninth respectively), but they’re at least somewhat close. Pittsburgh ranks 28th in second-level yards and 28th in open field yards. Sound familiar?

It’s still early in Harris’ career. He has time to turn it around, but history tends to repeat itself. Another running back out of Alabama, on an NFC North team, struggling with his identity, is a story we’ve seen before and it didn’t end well. As it’s going right now, Harris is Richardson 2.0.

As hard as it might be for the masses to admit, Kevin Durant was right.

Sure, it felt cold and nasty when the story leaked out that Durant wanted both coach Steve Nash and GM Sean Marks fired in order for him to stay with the Brooklyn Nets.

Months later, it’s one down, and perhaps one to go.

We can sit around and argue about Marks being whacked. He’s done a good job building a roster that can certainly compete for a championship if all the stars are aligned, i.e. players stay healthy and play up to their abilities.

In regards to Nash, there just was justification to continue to have him helm the team.

He was bad, terrible.

That’s why it shouldn’t have come as a big surprise that he got canned Tuesday after the Nets’ woeful 2-5 start. If you were honest about the whole situation, Nash — the former back-to-back NBA MVP — should have been fired after the Nets were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. He was totally out-coached, and in over his head. Somehow, he couldn’t adjust to the Celtics’ defense and couldn’t figure out a way to get KD or Kyrie Irving any open shots. It was embarrassing.

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And his team didn’t play defense. It was brutal to watch.

Joe Tsai, the Nets’ owner, originally backed Nash and Marks after the story of Durant’s wishes was leaked.

He tweeted that he was keeping the two. It wasn’t because they had earned their keep, but because he didn’t want it to come off as if KD was running the Nets and not him.

Star players wanting a coaching change isn’t new. Magic Johnson got Paul Westhead fired despite him leading the Lakers to a championship in L.A.

And the timing makes total sense. You don’t want the season to get away from you. There’s still plenty of time to get the ship righted.

The Phillies fired manager Joe Girardi after a 22-27 start. They made a needed change early in the season, and are now just two wins away from a World Series title.

This ending in Brooklyn doesn’t mean Nash can’t coach a lick or can’t get another opportunity in the league. It just means his time had run out like the expiration on milk.

Sometimes, players need a new voice and direction. It just seemed as if the Nets had tuned out Nash and weren’t responding.

The NBA is a players’ league. Coaching is important, but not better than having great players to perform. In the NBA, two or three players totally dictate if you have an honest chance to win and win big. It’s just not like that in MLB and the NFL. You need so many things to go right and there are so many layers in those sports.

Former Pistons GM Joe Dumars said it right when he put together that championship team of misfits and castoffs that beat the Shaq and Kobe Lakers in 2004.

To get there, Dumars had to trade some of the very players he’d drafted that didn’t pan out to get the right pieces for his team. “It’s not about being right, it’s about getting it right,” Dumars famously said.

The same goes for the Nets some 20 years later.

In firing Nash, the Nets got it right no matter what it feels or looks like. Nash — who had no previous coaching experience before getting the gig — will be fine. He’s not the first former great player who failed at coaching.

The list of failed former superstars is so long that it won’t fit here on the internet. We can start with Magic Johnson. Great basketball player, bad coach.

Wayne Gretzky was the greatest player in the NHL and a lousy coach.

Ted Williams was one of MLB’s greatest hitters, the last man to bat over .400 in a season; yet, he flopped as a manager. And Bart Starr was a great NFL quarterback, but another bad coach. What happened to Nash is normal. The best coaches, for whatever reason, seem to be guys who either didn’t make it to the league or were role players.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr is the perfect example. He was a role player with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. Now, he’s won four titles with the Golden State Warriors as their coach.

Let’s face it: KD was right. Accept it.

Let’s be honest, the only reason any reporters are writing about Odell Beckham Jr. is because of name recognition. If another receiver in his ninth season had a similar resume and was languishing unsigned while recovering from a torn ACL, nobody would care. Houston Texans’ wide receiver Brandin Cooks might as well be teamless, too, but his trade demands went unheeded, and I bet you didn’t even know he asked to be moved.

Cooks was taken in the same draft as Beckham in 2014, and though I bet a large portion of fantasy football players could guess who has more career yards and receptions, the perception of Beckham has remained as outsized as his personality.

The then-Rams’ receiver was hurt in the Super Bowl on Feb. 13, less than nine months ago, and he turns 30 in a few days. Yet he’s going to return like Adrian Peterson and help a contender make a push for the playoffs?

He just won a championship in L.A., and it doesn’t appear that he’s getting after it like LeBron James battling Father Time.

From what my sources told me — which is basically one of my buddies texting me he ran into Beckham at the Aura Club at Atlantis in the Bahamas a couple of weeks back, while he was attending a wedding, and OBJ was I guess rehabbing his dice hand — the free agent receiver hasn’t been sequestered in a gym and solely focused on getting his knee back to 100 percent.

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It’d be one thing if it was a night out in the city that he resides in, but a quick trip to the Caribbean doesn’t scream, “I want my job back!” There was a report that OBJ is targeting mid-November for his return to the field — and on an unrelated note, I’m aiming to be married to Christina Hendricks by mid-January.

Former Alabama receiver and current Detroit Lions rookie Jameson Williams suffered the same injury as OBJ in the College Football Playoff final a month before the turf monster caught Beckham, and last week Dan Campbell said the 21-year-old is still a month away from seeing the field. That conservatively sets his return for Week 12, aka Thanksgiving week.

So let’s pretend the two are on the same timeline despite one player being nine years younger than the other. In theory, that would put Beckham on pace to return around Christmas, which is Week 16.

I’m not sure how Beckham would help the Giants or 49ers or Chiefs or Bills or any number of the teams that he’s been linked with, given that it takes time to implement a new wide receiver, and we have no idea how much burst he has left to be a viable deep threat that scares defenses.

Von Miller is the only teammate I’ve heard attest to the quality of OBJ’s character, and he still guarantees his former Rams teammate will be a Bill. That said, I find it near impossible to believe a guy who once proposed to a kicking net is going to be delighted as Buffalo’s, what, third or fourth option?

While I understand that everybody loves Brian Daboll, his wide receiver room has been tumultuous to put it lightly. Kenny Golladay has two catches on the season and has been squarely in the new Giant coach’s doghouse — or in the trainers’ room. Darius Slayton’s 232 yards lead all skill players. The team has three receivers with a TD catch this season on the roster, and only two of them are active.

Do you think Beckham is going to see that and be cool ceding snaps to Richie James, Wan’Dale Robinson, and David Sills? (If you do, I’ve got some Blake Griffin stock to sell you.)

San Francisco is one of the most physical and diverse squads in the league, with receivers, tight ends, and running backs asked to run, catch, and block. He’ll immediately be the answer to which one of the skill guys isn’t like the others.

Kadarius Toney is now in Kansas City, and the Chiefs got stable chemistry in place that isn’t broken. The team’s offense also is rounding into form, and anything they get out of their new toy will be house money.

Jerry Jones is dumb enough not to know when to stop tinkering, so that’s a possibility, but probably one more made-for-headlines than anything of worth on the field.

I get it. He’s popular, which is why I wrote this post. However, these stories are simply for clicks, and NFL fans wishing their GM would take a chance on OBJ like he’s going to be a meaningful contributor are delusional.

If you want to catch a glimpse of Beckham this season, you’ll have better luck in the Bahamas.