Redskins.com Promotes Fan Rebellion

For months now, the official radio empire of the Washington Redskins has seemingly gone out of its way to criticize the team, with several of its employees among the front-office's harshest critics. The editorial freedom is to be applauded, although lots of cynics still figure the purge is coming.

Anyhow, not wanting to be left behind, the team's official Web site has now gotten into the act, as seen above. For several hours yesterday, fans clicking on the team's official video clips and waiting through the official pre-video advertisements may have seen this crowd shot from the Eagles game, part of a promo for the team's official ultimate fan community site RedskinsRule, sponsored by official banking partner Bank of America. The crowd shot included an extended look at the fan who was hoisting a sign calling for Vinny Cerrato's head. That's some serious self-subversiveness.

Of course, the AP's eagle-eyed Joseph White spied this clip, and included it in his season wrap-up yesterday:

Making many of those [upcoming personnel] decisions will be executive vice president for football operations Vinny Cerrato, who desperately needs to put together a decent offseason to validate his position at the head of the front office. In one of the stadium scenes posted Monday on the Redskins' own Web site, there was a fan holding a green and red sign with a message for owner Dan Snyder: "Dear Danta, please bring us a real GM."

Oddly, when I checked the Redskins' site a few hours after this story was filed, I couldn't manage to find the ad with the anti-Cerrato sign. But that's ok. I figure any day now the franchise will launch FireVinnyCerrato.com, sponsored by Randstad, the official international staffing agency of the Washington Redskins, and the clip will be back.