Like Snyder, Edward Bennett Williams liked to chat and stroll his buddies through the team's locker room. Once, before the 1972 NFC Championship Game, Williams brought along Joe DiMaggio. My father was so angry about this intrusive distraction in his sanctuary that he simply walked away from DiMaggio's outstretched hand.

Williams was furious at my father, but later that night, the Redskins won, bringing the city of Washington its first championship team since World War II, and the Washington press named my father the "messiah."

In Washington, winning is everything. Win, and the President of the United States invites you to the White House. As a kid growing up, I actually believed that if the Redskins continued to win my father would never be fired again.

I kept remembering what Williams declared when he hired my father: "George Allen is the last coach I will hire." I believed him. Even my father, who had already been fired twice in his five-year coaching career, believed Williams.

But as my father neared the end of his seven-year contract, rumors spread around the Beltway that my father was a lame-duck coach. After five playoff berths and one trip to the elusive Super Bowl, Williams and my father could not agree to terms on a contract renewal.

Moments after the last game of the season, Williams decided to venture down under the stadium for yet another stroll through the locker room, but he found the doors locked shut.

The Redskins' chances to reach the playoffs hinged on another teams' defeat. My father was leading the players in prayer. They were praying for an opponent's loss. While the team knelt, Williams knocked and banged on the double-locked doors. Williams even tried to peer through a small square window, but the equipment manager had taped a towel to block the view. There was the owner of one of the most expensive teams in the league -- locked out of his own locker room.

The prayers went unanswered; the 'Skins failed to reach the playoffs. Two weeks later, Williams fired my father. At the time, he had the best coaching record in the history of the team: 69-35-1. But sometimes even a winning record cannot protect a coach from the powerful hand of an NFL owner.

And Norv, despite your big victory over the Super Bowl champs Monday night, that's something you shouldn't forget.