tshile
Guest
There is a group of people out there that will not really appreciate what they're about to read. They'll even think it's a bit cheesy, or maybe just over dramatic. They'll say it doesn't matter when two 3-6 teams line up; both fan-bases demanding the heads of their respective coaching staff to be placed upon pikes.
There is also a group of people who will appreciate it; it'll make them wish they were there, it'll make them wish the TV production crews did a better job of capturing this sort of thing for the people at home.
This is written for the latter group. The first group can go kick rocks as far as I'm concerned. We beat the eagles 31-6 at home; we didn't allow a TD. It was a good day at FedEx Field yesterday
Let me take you back to a bitter Sunday, November 4th. It was homecoming - the redskins were introducing 10 new players to add to their 'Greatest Redskins' list, which is now up to 80 players to celebrate the 80 years of existence.
After introducing 10 new greatest players, the redskins introduced.... wait for it... wait for it... the special teams...
After trading the farm for Robert Griffin III ( who up to this point had won Pepsi Rookie of the Week 3 times), introducing 10 new members to the Greatest Redskins list, and for a homing game, you decided to introduce the special teams?!
Well, the crowd responded appropriately - with nothing. The introductions were lame, the crowd was quiet and out of it, and the game followed suit; lame, crowd completely out of it. It was an ugly game, and a terrible experience. Just an all around awful day. The game day experience truly earned it's 'worst in all of sports' title that day, and I genuinely feel sorry for those who choose that day as their 'once a season' game to go to. For those that go even less often and chose that game? Ugh... words cannot describe the utter sadness I have for you - hopefully you make it to another, much better game, in the not too distant future. What a miserable experience.
The two week break that followed was also ugly; the fan-base, for the most part, had given up. The coach appeared to have given up during the post-game press conference.
The tone that was set during the opening introductions carried for two weeks... two miserable, God awful weeks. I didn't even bother reading the redskins forums... Who wants to participate in this kind of garbage? What's the point? The game was depressing enough...
Fast forward to yesterday. A divisional game against the eagles, at home, which was either completely meaningless or couldn't have been more meaningful - depends on who you ask.
The stadium crew decided to introduce the offense - thank God!
But they did something a little more this week. While saluting the troops is pretty common at FedEx Field, this weekend was more a tribute than usual since we missed celebrating Veteran's day due to the bye week.
So, they introduce the starting offense, and as you would expect Griffin is the last person to be introduced. When he appears at the tunnel he's carrying the American flag. He runs quickly down the line of players, flag flapping in the wind, then he shoots across the field, eventually meeting with the rest of the team in the corner of the end zone, on the home team side, opposite of the tunnel where the team comes out of.
The crowd
went
nuts.
It was an incredible way to open the game. And that tone carried over to kickoff, and then through the next 4 quarters of play. The eagles were never in the game, at any point. They lost before kickoff even happened; the crowd was so pumped up it was absurd. The eagles fans at the game were quiet for 4 straight quarters. There was an energy that is hard to describe.
My buddy looked at me while they were lining up for the opening kickoff and said "Look at everyone, that was powerful bro!" He was right... it was powerful... in that really cheesy, lame way - that it almost brings a tear to your eye when you retell it kind of way.
I just watched the opening portion of the broadcast on game rewind, and unfortunately those of you who watched on TV were absolutely robbed. They didn't even show it, much less try to capture the actual moment.
The best video I can find is the 2 second highlight:
http://www.redskins.com/media-galle...ghlights/fcd300d6-0d47-4422-b750-9f59499cda28
You can at least see kind of the start of it. There's a youtube video where someone captured the intro - well, everything but the actual player introductions. Very lame, whoever edited that video.
Anyways, if you believe in the 12th man, if you think the crowd makes a difference, then the stadium crew that makes decisions like this matters; their decisions set the tone for the game. Having an intro like the one we saw yesterday, and not like the one we saw against the panthers, is crucial. It changes the entire start of the game. It has the potential to kick off the start of what we call 'momentum' in a game.
It makes the difference in that unfortunate conversation we've been having lately about the lack of a home field advantage. This team needs every piece of help it can get, and getting the crowd in the game from the start is very important. I hope they continue to do introductions like this.
PS - The overall tribute to the military was pretty awesome yesterday. So I'm going to include a few notes on those things:
Military people singing the national anthem - it simply doesn't get any better. They do it with the most class, the best quality voice, and the most power. I have no idea why the NFL bothers with stupid celebrities for their big games - bring in the military people. There is no one better. No one.
Cheerleaders' military uniforms - the ladies looked great in their military uniforms. But not only that, the tribute itself was actually pretty cool. I'm normally pretty hard on the cheerleading act - it generally seems lame and barely-above-stripper in terms of class. This tribute, however, screamed class while still looking great. Was very nice to see.
Just good decisions all the way around all day by people not making on-the-field decisions.
There is also a group of people who will appreciate it; it'll make them wish they were there, it'll make them wish the TV production crews did a better job of capturing this sort of thing for the people at home.
This is written for the latter group. The first group can go kick rocks as far as I'm concerned. We beat the eagles 31-6 at home; we didn't allow a TD. It was a good day at FedEx Field yesterday
Let me take you back to a bitter Sunday, November 4th. It was homecoming - the redskins were introducing 10 new players to add to their 'Greatest Redskins' list, which is now up to 80 players to celebrate the 80 years of existence.
After introducing 10 new greatest players, the redskins introduced.... wait for it... wait for it... the special teams...
After trading the farm for Robert Griffin III ( who up to this point had won Pepsi Rookie of the Week 3 times), introducing 10 new members to the Greatest Redskins list, and for a homing game, you decided to introduce the special teams?!
Well, the crowd responded appropriately - with nothing. The introductions were lame, the crowd was quiet and out of it, and the game followed suit; lame, crowd completely out of it. It was an ugly game, and a terrible experience. Just an all around awful day. The game day experience truly earned it's 'worst in all of sports' title that day, and I genuinely feel sorry for those who choose that day as their 'once a season' game to go to. For those that go even less often and chose that game? Ugh... words cannot describe the utter sadness I have for you - hopefully you make it to another, much better game, in the not too distant future. What a miserable experience.
The two week break that followed was also ugly; the fan-base, for the most part, had given up. The coach appeared to have given up during the post-game press conference.
The tone that was set during the opening introductions carried for two weeks... two miserable, God awful weeks. I didn't even bother reading the redskins forums... Who wants to participate in this kind of garbage? What's the point? The game was depressing enough...
Fast forward to yesterday. A divisional game against the eagles, at home, which was either completely meaningless or couldn't have been more meaningful - depends on who you ask.
The stadium crew decided to introduce the offense - thank God!
But they did something a little more this week. While saluting the troops is pretty common at FedEx Field, this weekend was more a tribute than usual since we missed celebrating Veteran's day due to the bye week.
So, they introduce the starting offense, and as you would expect Griffin is the last person to be introduced. When he appears at the tunnel he's carrying the American flag. He runs quickly down the line of players, flag flapping in the wind, then he shoots across the field, eventually meeting with the rest of the team in the corner of the end zone, on the home team side, opposite of the tunnel where the team comes out of.
The crowd
went
nuts.
It was an incredible way to open the game. And that tone carried over to kickoff, and then through the next 4 quarters of play. The eagles were never in the game, at any point. They lost before kickoff even happened; the crowd was so pumped up it was absurd. The eagles fans at the game were quiet for 4 straight quarters. There was an energy that is hard to describe.
My buddy looked at me while they were lining up for the opening kickoff and said "Look at everyone, that was powerful bro!" He was right... it was powerful... in that really cheesy, lame way - that it almost brings a tear to your eye when you retell it kind of way.
I just watched the opening portion of the broadcast on game rewind, and unfortunately those of you who watched on TV were absolutely robbed. They didn't even show it, much less try to capture the actual moment.
The best video I can find is the 2 second highlight:
http://www.redskins.com/media-galle...ghlights/fcd300d6-0d47-4422-b750-9f59499cda28
You can at least see kind of the start of it. There's a youtube video where someone captured the intro - well, everything but the actual player introductions. Very lame, whoever edited that video.
Anyways, if you believe in the 12th man, if you think the crowd makes a difference, then the stadium crew that makes decisions like this matters; their decisions set the tone for the game. Having an intro like the one we saw yesterday, and not like the one we saw against the panthers, is crucial. It changes the entire start of the game. It has the potential to kick off the start of what we call 'momentum' in a game.
It makes the difference in that unfortunate conversation we've been having lately about the lack of a home field advantage. This team needs every piece of help it can get, and getting the crowd in the game from the start is very important. I hope they continue to do introductions like this.
PS - The overall tribute to the military was pretty awesome yesterday. So I'm going to include a few notes on those things:
Military people singing the national anthem - it simply doesn't get any better. They do it with the most class, the best quality voice, and the most power. I have no idea why the NFL bothers with stupid celebrities for their big games - bring in the military people. There is no one better. No one.
Cheerleaders' military uniforms - the ladies looked great in their military uniforms. But not only that, the tribute itself was actually pretty cool. I'm normally pretty hard on the cheerleading act - it generally seems lame and barely-above-stripper in terms of class. This tribute, however, screamed class while still looking great. Was very nice to see.
Just good decisions all the way around all day by people not making on-the-field decisions.
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