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What Motivates You ... ?

For me there is a simple answer and a deeper answer. The simple answer is I like football and the Redskins are my favorite team. So I watch and lately get frustrated. But I still watch and try to go to games when I can. Someone told me they were taking me to the game in Charlotte later this year and I'm pumped to go even though I expect a beat down. But I love sports and football and the Redskins.

The deeper answer comes from when I moved to NC to go to college. It was the mid 90s and despite the fact that my childhood was filled with nothing but great Redskins memories, the Redskins were in a period of post Gibbs suck. I think it was back to back 3 win years while the hated cowboys had won Super Bowls and were constantly contending for them. The Panthers were brand new as their first year was my first year in NC. But I remember being in my dorm room and turning on the TV and the Redskins were playing. Seeing the team play I was getting fired up. I'm pretty sure they won as this was the year they started 7-1 and norved their way to a 9-7 finish. But I recall that day and I'll never forget how excited I was seeing them play. Later that year, the Panthers made it to the NFC championship against the Packers. I wanted to see the Packers win just because at the time, Favre was that guy who hadn't won. But all these people would see me wearing Redskins stuff and ask if I was rooting for the Panthers. I'd tell them no, I'm a Redskins fan. And they would go on and on about how Id have to now root for the Panthers. It actually angered me and renewed my passion for the Redskins. It helped that for the first almost 10 years the Redskins owned the Panthers. But the idea that I should just root for some other team because they are newer or closer or better or all 3 just really bothered me. I'm a loyal guy and so my football team and baseball and hockey teams became a way I showed my loyalty.

It hasn't been easy. Being a Redskins, Orioles, and Capitals fan has been mostly heartache. The Caps winning the Stanley Cup was more of a relief than jubilation. But that's all I have in recent sports history. The Orioles and Redskins are historically bad. But I still root for them. I still go to games when I can. They will be my team. Those teams are bigger than the players, bigger than the coaches, bigger than the front office, and bigger than the owner. So I'll complain about each one of those and criticize them when they deserve it. But the Redskins are my team and I'll support them even when that means screaming for changes.


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I don't like to see incompetence.

Especially in things I pay money for - tickets for sports, other entertainment etc.

With the Redskins you double down on the fact the team represents not a single restaurant or theater or rock band but an entire metropolitan area.

And while Snyder May have little sympathy for the sensibilities of the city and the fans he can take ‘Washington' off the team name and call them simply ‘the Redskins' if he intends to promote this schlock going forward.
 
Hey Boone, I really appreciate what you do for this board, and I have enjoyed your writings going back I guess 15+ years now including ES.

I was on that ledge where you are a couple years ago. The answer to your question for me is simple: I stopped giving a ****. I still watch the games, but not like before. I used to plan my whole Sunday around Skins games. Now I set the directv to record the game, and I watch it Sunday night or sometimes even Monday. I skip the commercials and if they look terrible I stop watching. Got my Sundays back, and it usually doesn't bug me as much when they suck. On the rare occasion I do get pissed, I have a beer and a puff, and come in here and try to poetically rant it right out of my system.

It's just football my man!
 
Hey Boone, I really appreciate what you do for this board, and I have enjoyed your writings going back I guess 15+ years now including ES.

I was on that ledge where you are a couple years ago. The answer to your question for me is simple: I stopped giving a ****. I still watch the games, but not like before. I used to plan my whole Sunday around Skins games. Now I set the directv to record the game, and I watch it Sunday night or sometimes even Monday. I skip the commercials and if they look terrible I stop watching. Got my Sundays back, and it usually doesn't bug me as much when they suck. On the rare occasion I do get pissed, I have a beer and a puff, and come in here and try to poetically rant it right out of my system.

It's just football my man!

Thanks brother - nice to see a post from you!

I'm sort of taken aback by the number of guys giving your basic perspective. It sort of lets me know that I DO need to take a step back. I don't know that I'll ever fully embrace 'it's just football' - even if I know that's true and that I should. I'd have to change the name of the community to 'BGCI' (Burgundy and Gold Casually Interested) :)

But I do recognize that the disappointment and anger I feel, particularly towards the hapless owner and front office, is not healthy or productive. Thing is - if I just thought Snyder was stupid, ill-informed, or even just incompetent, I would still be bummed by our results, but not angry.

Knowing he's really not a decent human being, and that the state of the franchise I grew up loving is in disarray primarily because he's an egotistical selfish douchebag - that makes it much harder to absorb.

I'm going to t try and be more like the rest of you though. Thanks for the feedback!
 
It's difficult to stay motivated, and as my signature states 'Why get up at 4am just to watch us lose?'. As with watching, with the changed viewing schedule, if we are not playing on TNF (which is Friday down here) or in one of the three games chosen by the local network to be shown on Monday morning, we don't get to watch us, win or lose, anyway. The local network only shows winning teams, so it will be a long time before they choose one of our games.

As I'm not getting any younger, I find it difficult to get out of bed at the best of times, so if I'm not already awake, I don't bother. Now that Jay has been fired, it won't be this year, or next, that we'll again be a force to be reckoned with. Who knows what the 2021 season holds but probably be too old to worry about it. However, I do look forward to reading what everyone has to say. Being so far away from the 'action' probably is the reason why I look forward, every morning, to reading everything NFL. I can't say what I think of the Redskins organisation as I'm not there, but signing players who want to play football and not want multi-million dollar contracts should be worth considering.
 
I doubt this team would ever have won anything with Jay, even if the team had a first rate front office.

Like Rex Ryan or Gregg Williams there is just something missing in his makeup.

While Rex and Gregg come off as hard asses which is less effective over time, Jay is a guy that runs a soft program and doesn't hold players accountable.
 
I doubt this team would ever have won anything with Jay, even if the team had a first rate front office.

Like Rex Ryan or Gregg Williams there is just something missing in his makeup.

While Rex and Gregg come off as hard asses which is less effective over time, Jay is a guy that runs a soft program and doesn't hold players accountable.


Rex Ryan was asked about the Redskins and said, "I would coach them."
 
Rex Ryan was asked about the Redskins and said, "I would coach them."

I can echo most of the sentiments here; this is a great thread. Henry's post about his kids... I have a 6yo and a 3yo, and I'm raised them as Washington sports fans in general. It's tough with the Skins, obviously easier with the Caps and Nats. Man, those Skins though, because the kids just gravitate towards the action in football, and my family in general has always circled the Skins more than any other team (typical DC family I suppose!).

Then, the posts that talk about "taking a step back" - I am a cable-cutter, and I jump through hoops to watch/follow the Nats and Caps. I'm not a huge fan of either owner there, but they have figured out ways to make their respective teams win (OK, I'll give Ted a couple more years with the Wiz, but I do think he should do better...). I am not a fair-weather fan, I just don't believe that I can spend money irresponsibly on something I have no control over. It defies logic. I also am a believer in "time is money" (and with kids, time is money^1000). I simple can't afford to spend my time that way, I can't make the math work there. So, I relegate myself to replays, articles and things I can consume in a couple of hours per week as opposed to many hours to days per week, which is what the habit really took in the past.

OK, all that said... Elephant's post (quoted above)... sometimes I'm shocked at how annoyed/angry this team or some thought about this team can make me. Hiring Rex Ryan? ... I have no words ...
 
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Rex Ryan wants that 5 year, $25M contract, lets be straight 🤡🤡🤡
 
Rex Ryan wants that 5 year, $25M contract, lets be straight 🤡🤡🤡

Problem is...he could probably come in here and have some success. I doubt we'd win it all with him, but I bet he could get us to the payoffs a couple times in 3 or 4 years...if he lasted that long. He'd pull a Marty and tell Dan to keep his hands off.
 
I think at this point the my loyalty and motivation are pavlovian! LOL

Every week when the games about to start I get a little bit excited. Before that kick-off I get absolutely positive that this week will be a win.

Yes I know I should know better, but I'm addicted to that 'Any Given Sunday' phenomenon that means that anything can happen. I want to be there to see it.

In some ways I'm not so down on the team and the decades long bad streak as others because I've weathered similar situations in my other sports followings.
I've probably told the story before, but I only picked the Redskins because I loved the colour of their uniforms, and the quirk of the fact it was the first game I ever watched. I don't have a specific city allegiance simply because I don't live in the US, so my first experience with the game (Raiders/Redskins SB XVIII. Not a great start to my fandom obviously) meant I picked my allegiance by colour/uniform. Red has always been my favourite colour, and Burgundy sits in that spectrum so Skins is was. I've rolled with them ever since.

That colour choice rolled into other sports. The red/burgundy/wine connection also brought me into the fold as a Cleveland Cavaliers fan. Cleveland also have had a kind of spotty past, bad coaches, bad owner etc, but I weathered those years and then we lucked into Lebron and everything changed for a while. Now we're back to being awful again. LOL
But going through that process there, with a team I never thought would win anything, means that I kind of view the Redskins the same way. The pendulum WILL swing eventually and I'll be there to see it.

In the meantime, to echo some of the others here, it's just football. The result often makes me a little angry on a Sunday night, but within a couple of hours I'm over it. Then I roll on to the next week with the hope that that will be a good week.

I'd also echo that finding you guys here has made a HUGE difference too. Such a diverse range of personalities in here, all invested in the same thing and all with WAY more knowledge than me. I love it here.
I love the game chats (quick disclaimer! If I'm a little quiet in those chats sometimes it's because my game feed can be as much as a minute behind the chat, so if I watch too closely all the time you're telling me about things I haven't seen yet! Last week was particularly bad. lol)

Last note...

I was rewatching Battlestar Galactica the other day and in it there was a quote from Starbuck. There's a point where the Cylons arrive and she's asked what they're going to do... she simply says... "We keep fighting till we can't" (or something like that!). I'll be a Skins fan till the day I can't be. Simple as that. And that day will probably involve my burial :)
 
Yeah, streaming puts me a minute and a half, or more, behind everyone in chat as well. Gotta try it with tapatalk this week. If that's even possible. Gonna be out of town, and not sure if the game will be shown where I am.
 
Duplicate post..... not sure what happened there.

Anyway... go about your business... nothing to see here...
 
Well, that's my point. Ryan will not get another team to offer him the HC job.
 

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