Hail to the Toughskins.

I knew I would have a good day when I read the lead below in the Washington Post:

As the last desperate pass of another lost afternoon wobbled into the hands of Tennessee Titans safety Lamont Thompson for an interception, some 88,000 people rushed for the FedEx Field exits at once. Loyalty was a casualty of the Washington Redskins' ineptitude in the second half, and as a sellout crowd made its way to the parking lots, the home team in last place in the NFC East, the sound of protest came in the form of loud and prolonged boos.

Of course, the Post continues to refer incorrectly to the team from Landover, Maryland, as the Washington [sic] Redskins, but still Dan Snyder's vanity project has fallen yet again. The article is also incorrect to indicate that somehow this loss will affect crowd loyalty. 88,000 morons will continue to purchase Deadskins tickets, pay for parking, etc., to fill diminutive Dan Snyder's coffers. Sports is yet another arena where the common free-marketeer wisdom that "better products prosper" is shown to be a dreamy bit of wishful thinking, the fluff so many mirages and so much bad policy is made of (of course, it must also be noted that the NFL as a de facto monopoly is not exactly the best example of the free market either, but I'll use it).

Loyalty to your college or high school team I understand. After all, you spent the better part of your formative youth in those places. For colleges especially, your school's sports teams are often the most prominent visible symbols of your alma mater.

With the Pros, however, it's an entirely different matter. These are businesses that can pack up and go in the middle of the night, as Baltimore Colts fans discovered one morning a few decades back. They have no real connection to anything except a spreadsheet, and thanks to commodity fetishism, it's highly unlikely that the bottom line will be adversely affected to any great degree out in that blessed plot of land once known as RalJon.

Suckers.