They are, I was shocked to discover, delicious and crisp, but you have 30 seconds to eat them after picking before they turn into the horror you describe so eloquently.
This is most certainly the real culprit. There are undoubtedly markets where the Red Delicious lives up to its name. The rest of us end up with whatever freshness roulette is played by the local supplier; while I too have occasionally eaten a 'good' one, the number of times I end up with an abomination in my taste buds far outweighs it.
