LOVERRO: For Washington football faithful, it’s July 4, Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled up in one

In the film, “Brubaker,” prison reform warden Robert Redford tasks his staff to provide sunglasses to the solitary confinement inmates he is letting outside in the yard for the first time in years – the first time their eyes will have seen blue skies and bright sun during that time.

Someone should alert FEMA to start passing out sunglasses on the streets of the DMV to anyone who identifies as a Washington football fan. They might have been hard to find before Thursday, but Thursday was the day the doors swung open on Daniel Snyder Penitentiary and the sun shone brightly on the land of the Washington Commanders.

Just have National Guard soldiers stand on street corners and hand out the Foster Grants. 

With the NFL’s formal approval of the sale of the Washington football franchise for $6.05 billion, the team now belongs to Josh Harris and his band of brothers. Nobody could have imagined such a miracle possible after Snyder’s pathetic attempt at a joke when he declared “Happy Thanksgiving” at Ron Rivera’s January 2020 press conference hiring.

Here he was, after 20 years of chaos and ruin, destroying one of the most passionate fan bases in all of sports over that time, and the smug tyrant still felt empowered to be glib, I guess, in one of his rare public appearances. 

Snyder probably felt untouchable, immune from all outside forces, no matter what sins he committed. But some brave former female employees who felt anything but untouchable during their time working for Danny’s Little Shop of Horrors spoke up to the Washington Post, and here we are, celebrating his exit as if the Pilgrims arrived with a feast.

It’s a celebration that has taken place in stages before getting to the final act. Like stages of grief, there are five stages of happiness — early happiness, socialized happiness, conditional happiness, transition to happiness and authentic happiness.

There was the November announcement that Snyder had asked Bank of America to explore “potential transactions, putting the NFL franchise on the market. That was a bombshell that set off days of declarations of celebrations — a combination of early and socialized happiness.

All things seemed possible — including, of course, Snyder pouring sour milk on the deal and laughing while wishing everybody “Happy Thanksgiving” again.

Then it became much closer to reality in May when, in a joint statement, Snyder and Harris announced a deal in principle for the sale of the football team. It seemed very real then — except for the word “principle.’ Does Snyder even know what that word means?.

Still, that announcement was conditional happiness.

Finally, now it is done. But while Washington faithful may have entered the final stage of authentic happiness, you don’t want it to be fleeting. You want to enjoy it for a while. 

We don’t know what the future will be under Harris, Mitchell Rales, Magic Johnson (who has to make an appearance at training camp) and the rest of the band. We can pore over Harris’ track record as an owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils for clues, and that record is mixed. Some good, some bad.

At this point, though, the only thing that matters about the Harris resume is that it has no Snyder on it. For Washington fans to keep the celebration going as long as they can and sustain authentic happiness, Harris just needs a one-sentence resume — “I’m not Dan Snyder.”

That should resonate in the weeks and months to come, because there will be missteps and mistakes committed by the new owners. There will be expectations that fall short, the most troubling will be the difficulty in finding a home — and money — for a new stadium. I suspect that FedEx Field may remain the home of the Washington Commanders for years to come. 

It will be important to not let the memory of Danny’s Little Shop of Horrors fade too quickly. You know all those lists out this week about the worst moments of the Snyder regime? Don’t get rid of them.

Authentic happiness is still embracing who doesn’t own the football team. It was 24 years of pain and suffering. Don’t let Snyder disappear in a few weeks. His absence is the sun shining in the sky. Like T.S. Eliot once said, “The darkness declares the glory of light.”

You want to wear those sunglasses for a while.

You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.