Quick Snyder related laugh

[Paintrain]

This is great stuff!!!

From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...PGQFFCJ831.DTL

Nolan came to Washington after spending time as the New York Giants' defensive coordinator under Dan Reeves.

Even though Reeves and his staff were fired after the 1996 season, Nolan was dubbed "Boy Wonder" by the New York media because, at age 37, he appeared destined to be a head coach. He just needed more experience.

He was hired by then-Redskins head coach Norv Turner as defensive coordinator in 1997. Washington was coming off a winning season, and boasted of defense stars such as cornerbacks Chris Dishman and Darrell Green and had signed defensive tackles Dana Stubblefield and Dan Wilkinson.

But in three tumultuous seasons, Nolan went from "Boy Wonder" to "Whipping Boy" for the underachieving team. He was fired after the 1999 season.

He now calls it his most valued coaching experience, and linebacker Derek Smith, who played for Washington at the time, admired Nolan's strength in facing the team's troubles.

In 1998, Nolan's second season, Washington lost its first seven games, and Nolan began calling out players in the film room.

If a player was loafing on a play, Nolan would point him out and ask, "Is that (your best) effort?" Typically the player would say no, and soon Nolan had the defense flying to the ball.

"That's what I admired about him most," Smith said. "He wasn't afraid to call anyone out."

The defense showed improvement by the end of the '99 season, when the team finished 10-6 and won a playoff game.

But Nolan failed to convince owner Dan Snyder, who had an unusual way of communicating. Snyder told the media that Nolan's defenses were "vanilla," and even delivered melting ice cream to Nolan's office to emphasize the point. But Nolan discovered that Snyder was far from a good humored man.

"It happened twice," Nolan said of the ice cream deliveries. The first time, rapidly defrosting gallons of extravagant flavors were placed outside Nolan's office door with a note saying, "No more vanilla."

"I wrote him a note, saying that my kids would enjoy the ice cream and that the advice was well taken," Nolan said. "(I was) thinking he was kidding. Then I found out he wasn't kidding."

When Nolan stayed conservative with his defenses, Snyder went industrial. Nolan showed up one day to find a hand cart parked at his desk with melting 5-gallon drums of ice cream.

Any more questions if Snyder would have delivered the flat screen to Coles?