THIS PAST FALL, Dan Snyder had dinner in London with longtime associates. For only the second autumn since 1999, Snyder was not the owner of his beloved Washington football team.
He was not living the ups and downs of an NFL season, as he had done since his childhood in Maryland.
He was not presiding over the Commanders' rebuild, already on the cusp of a stunning turnaround, the kind of rise that Snyder lived for in a previous life: from 4-13 in 2023 to what would eventually be a 12-5 regular season and an underdog playoff run, culminating in an NFC Championship Game appearance Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.