There Are Still Things Money Can’t Buy

Thomas Boswell on the owner of the Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons:

The ringleader of this circus is Snyder, 38, who wants to own the Redskins for many years. He wants to learn. He’ll pick any brain. That’s admirable. But he’s learning on our time. Even more scary, there’s plenty of precedent that, despite his brains, energy and good intentions, he’ll never be a “football man.”

To see the problem more clearly, use that old principle from high school algebra: invert. Imagine a great football executive who wakes up one day and inherits a controlling interest in Intel. So, he quits football and makes himself CEO of Intel. Why? “Because I’ve always loved computers. And I’m a quick learner.” What would you do with your Intel shares?