Guess He Was Serious

I posted earlier this week about Dan Snyder’s discontent with Washington City Paper and his demand that a reporter be fired. The Washington Post reports today that Snyder has actually filed suit. The City Paper article itself was pretty lengthy, but Snyder seems most upset about 4 specific points:

a. that “Dan Snyder….got caught forging names as a telemarketer with Snyder Communications, ”

b. that Mr. Snyder caused Agent Orange to be used to destroy trees “protected by the National Park Services” on “federally protected lands, ” a matter about which previously published reports had been publicly corrected;

c. that Mr. Snyder bragged that his wealth came from diabetes and cancer victims; and

d. that Snyder was “tossed off” the Six Flads’ board of directors.

It may be that the above points are the only “verifiable facts” that Snyder can complain about. And it begs the question, even if he can prove those statements were false, and that City Paper knew they were false (that’s the very difficult standard “public figures” have to meet to win a libel suit), did they make his reputation even worse? Another way of putting it, is does the truth taint his reputation so much that the false stuff doesn’t make a difference. Given the tone, and the sheer volume of today’s sports coverage, this case could have some major ramifications. I suspect club owners and the media are equally interested.