Our responsibility as fans (or lack thereof)

[Boone]

I'm in the live and die by the Redskins camp at this stage of life. Been a fan since 1968. Any life worth living is worth living to the fullest. Been through the Allen & Gibb's championships and feel a sense of entitlement. Its Redskins birthright to NFL Championships. I don't accept anything less. I experience the highest of highs and joy with them and must accept the lowest of lows no matter how painful. That is life as it is with the Redskins. You get your pads back on and get on with the next game.

I love this post! Hell yes micks113

 

[riggins44]

That all sounds perfectly rational. But for me my response to the Redskins fortunes isn't rational. Today sucked and I can tell myself all day long that 'it's just a game'. Won't get me out of the crap mood I'm in when we are losing.

I couldn't agree more. I am old enough to where it shouldn't bother me...but it does. I love this team. I am very passionate about my team and have been so for a long, long time.

To be completely honest, I don't ever see me changing unless they have to change their name.

My family, friends, and co-workers all know my mood during the season depends on what the Redskins do the day before. I hate losing. In everything I do I play to win, which why hate to go to someone's house or a party and play games. To me things change when score is kept and you have a winner and a loser. I want to be the winner. Guess part is my family has always been ultra competitive and in my business it is the same way.

Pete, I know what you're saying and couldn't agree more. I've developed the same attitude regarding NASCAR and couple other sports. When it comes to the Redskins I can't.

Actually had to stay away for a day, because yesterday I was so pissed all day long. I would have spewed venom if posted yesterday.

 

[tshile]

1. Do we as fans have a responsibility to this team in times like this?

The way things have been run around here I don't believe I owe this organization a damn thing.

They owe me a decade of good football decisions and fielding competitive teams and players. Then we can start talking about what I owe them.

 

[Miles Monroe]

Pete, I know what you're saying and couldn't agree more. I've developed the same attitude regarding NASCAR and couple other sports. When it comes to the Redskins I can't.

Actually had to stay away for a day, because yesterday I was so pissed all day long. I would have spewed venom if posted yesterday.

You shouldn't stay away Gary, venting is good for you health. Nobody likes it when the boss is full of piss and vinegar.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Our responsibility? Well, the team is 1-0 when a BGO tailgate is held, so our responsibility is pretty clear to me.

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[redskins76]

what sad is when my wife has to come rub my back and say ..you alright babe !

 

[Docsandy]

Personally, as most of you, being raised in the DC area loyalty during good and bad times. I have little tolerance for bandwagoners. Some have called the loss against the Vikings a disgrace. I personally don't. But I will say one thing. Especially now that I live in steelers territory I always wear burgundy and gold the day after a game... Especially when we lose. I think our responsibility is loyalty.

As far as the team's responsibility to us... For the owner and coaches to put the best possible talent out there, which I agree this year may be a question, partially due to the cap penalty. For the players...execute and play a full 60 minutes of football.

That's my two cents.



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[servumtuum]

What Docsandy said, basically.

I have been a Redskins fan since George Allen and I will root for them and cheer for them and want them to win every game-no matter how pissed I am at them, or disappointed I am in them. That's my expression of loyalty which I give to the Redskins-it is not owed but a permanent gift. They are the only sports team of which I can truly be called a "fan'". I may like other sports teams but the Redskins are the only ones in which I have a notieable emotional investment.

So how do I deal with the team when it under-achieves what I think I should be permitted to expect?



One quirk I have that maybe others don't is the ability to contextualize everything. Nothing spills over the banks into areas it shouldn't-like unrelated parts of my life. I have the same emotions and feelings everyone else has-but everyone who has known me for a while me knows I have a very analytical temperment which is basically my default mode for everything, especially in times of emtional intensity. Essentially, I have no panic mode-I can wallow in success highs, like last seasn's run, while being able to take my emotional foot off the gas when things get too unpleasant.

Taking a quote from the movie Lawrence of Arabia "The trick, William Potter is not minding that it hurts."


My ability to quickly switch to my default analytical mode is what allows me to do that.

 

[DieselPwr44]

So we have learned that Serv is a mutant. Does that make Om Professor Xavier? Or is Boone Magneto?

 

[Lovethebeer]

I concur with Doc and Serv. I have been a fan since George Allen and will always be a fan. But I separate intellectual from emotional and can manage the emotional aspect. What I mean is that intellectually I know the team may not be great or even good at the beginning of the season, but I am still passionate about the Redskins will cheer for them. If they have a bad loss, I may be pissed for a couple of hours and probably will be the next morning when my coworkers give me crap about the Skins, but none of that changes my love for team. That is my loyalty to the team.

I don't understand people who say they are giving up on the Skins because they're bad or disappointing. Those people probably pick their teams based on the color of their uniforms.

 

[Elephant]

It's almost 9:00 on a Sunday night and I have spent less than 30 minutes on this site today. Granted our team didn't play, but still...less than 30 minutes here.

Next week I will be working on a Sunday. Ordinarily I would tell them it is Sunday...I don't like to work Sundays, when I was asked to do the menial task they have for me. Instead, I agreed to it without thinking twice. I don't care enough anymore. Next Sunday will be the first game I miss watching since the Bengals game last year. I was working then because it was my first week with the company. I will be working next week against the Eagles because I just don't care.

It's kinda like politics...a game I used to love...it just doesn't matter anymore. After Thursday night's loss, I kept thinking...Mike Shanahan, SB winning coach trying to do something he has never been able to do...build a team from scratch because he wanted it molded the way he wanted it molded. Can you guys tell me again why we gave the reigns to him? It is worse afte 3 and 1/2 years than I imagined. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know...the hand he was dealt. Well, if you think it's going to get any better now that political correctness has made it's way into our Redskins' world, you better think again. You think the officiating for the Thursday night game was bad? Just wait until more white people jump on the "it's a racial slur" band wagon because it's the next great white cause!

You guys realize we are in last place in our division with the Giants winning today?

I have lost it. We had such a great time last Sunday, we owe that to ourselves...this team? What I saw Thursday night, when I know we are better than that, beat me down as far as I, as a fan, can go.

Guys, I know some of you who are out of town, like the images I post, but I gotta tell you it will be hard to justify buying tickets to anymore games this year. Maybe I will spring for the Monday night game against the 49ers...I doubt it though. As a fan of this team, I beaten.

 

[Ax]

I am the mouse.

http://i1.cpcache.com/product/10325...jpg?color=Mahogany&height=460&width=460&qv=90

 

[fansince62]

hmmm…interesting thread. very interesting! we're dealing with an abstraction - loyalty - and what it means to each of us. I parsed through the thread more to learn about you all than to arrive at any cosmic conclusions. the range of responses fits to a T what I have come to see as many personality types in our little virtual community of interest. there's the analytic Bulldog. the semper fi Boone. the carry the load…don't tread on me Big Mike. El's out there wanting in but seeing the forest for the trees. Ax - still makes me laugh every time with his strip it to the bones realism that borders on nihilism. Henry detaching himself from what he sees as an irrational weighting of priorities. tshile, sometimes right…sometimes wrong, but diving head first into the shallow end regardless….headstrong and cocksure. serv…holding his piece…keeping a distance from the madding crowd…..but erudite as ever when he elects to dip his toes into the emotional waters. BB bringing the day to day grounding in the mechanics of the team and a fundamental, un-blindered honesty about its prospects. and on and on.

me?

well…sometimes you don't have a choice. life can be like that. but you can nibble at the edges. you can acquire wisdom. you can cover your own arse!!

- I was raised a Redskin fan from day 1. becomes part of one's genetic makeup. kinda rules out the other options.

- It can affect your psyche for a period of days. which brings one to the threshold - and it's out there for all of us - "this isn't good…tired of feeling like this…..how adjust?" everything, and I mean everything, in the ecosystem consciously or sub-consciously adjusts to reduce the negative externalities. consistent losing, clearly one can see in this thread, is one such threat. recognized or not - we are all making our adjustments at the margin.

- I have a life. It has competing stresses and joys. I can change the weighting over time - I am doing so right now. I love golf - right now that gives me more positive feedback than the Skins. so I'm reallocating the "weights" as it were. not abandoning anything - just some smart re-weighting at the margins.

- As an aviator I learned that you practice until you get it right. Mistakes will be made, but over the course of time, you eliminate them and you develop competence, you become capable….over time you become professional and skilled. you succeed. this, for me, is what is most frustrating about this team and has finally diluted my enthusiasm. life is about relying on others. life is about personal excellence. life is about achievement. life is about striving for perfection. life is about "getting it right." this team is not meeting my expectations…my personal set of "qualifiers for success and meaning". something has to give here.

I remain very much emotionally invested in this team. I will continue to pull for them and cannot envision ever even contemplating developing an attachment for any other NFL enterprise.

but, you know what, this business entity has been in conflict for a long time now with how I see life working out in the details. one of the two has priority - and that is going to be the demands I set upon myself. the carefree, unadulterated devotion of childhood is gone. the game (as Henry superbly pointed out) is forever changed from its essence - a lot less raw these days. too much "noise" around the whole drama. life aint long enough to allow the distractors to dominate. so, I'm with ya Skins, but I'm rebalancing the priorities. we all do it. all the time.

 

[Ax]

Did you just call me the n-word?







BTW, Excellent post.

 

[fansince62]

Did you just call me the n-word?







BTW, Excellent post.

ending with an "er" or an "a"? you know, one is ok, the other is not!

all comedy aside….and ending with an "-ist"…..almost!

 

[Hog Fever]

Excuse the long post.

When I started following the team back in the 70’s they were the team of “old guys” who could still get it done. I didn’t relate to that dynamic quite like I could now, but still I loved them. That team never got over the hump but they were easy to root for because you knew how much the game meant to George Allen and by extension his team. He was totally invested so it was only right for you to be as well. You skip over Pardee to Gibbs and there again you had a team that was a reflection of the coach in so many ways. You knew he was invested 100% so it was easy to do the same as a fan. Winning Super Bowls and having a team that was competing for a division crown year after year didn’t hurt. Who doesn’t like to win? I felt a personal connection with a lot of players. RFK would almost breathe when the Skins played. It was something special.

Things changed after Gibbs left but more importantly to a team like ours (and my fandom) was the implementation of the salary cap (stay with me here). After 92’ it was nearly impossible for guys to stay with a team long term because of it. We were able to keep some of the guys who were part of the decade long winning tradition in DC, but not enough. Not even half really. The team’s performance suffered, as you would expect. The dynamic of the league changed completely too. Players only stayed with a team 3 or 4 years maximum (some less). Free agency was essential but more of a crap shoot than ever before and more costly if you “missed”. The draft became critical for any type of success, and when you drafted players they had to be ready to contribute almost right away, development players be damned. That type of team building was 180 degrees out of phase from how the Skins did business for decades. You add that challenge in along with the ownership situation and you have a team that was simply not prepared to succeed in the “new” NFL. Incredibly I think they just figured this all out in the last couple of years.

The new NFL doesn’t suit me at all honestly. So much tradition has been lost. Teams that are good this year suck the next. 9-7 teams that barely sneak into the playoffs routinely make deep playoff runs or win Super Bowls. Some folks like that kind of parity. I don’t. We’ve just reserved ourselves to accepting an inferior overall product. You’ve got a two or three year window to win with the current team and then you’re forced to blow it up and start again. It makes sense for the NFL money model but as a fan you’re forced to root for an organization. That’s a lot to ask of this franchise recently because of the numerous missteps. I haven’t been able to stop caring though, although I don’t take it as personally as I once did.

Do I feel any responsibility to the team as a fan? A little bit I guess, but only because I was there for the best years in franchise history and I don’t want to be a fair weather weasel. I feel more responsibility to other fans at this point, especially the kids. They missed out on the best parts. There’s something special about being around other Skins fans and I’d love for my kids to experience that too. Real fans feel my pain and I feel theirs. A few years back during one of the Zorn years we were in the midst of a terrible streak. I was sporting my Skins hat in Home Depot when I guy I didn’t know came in wearing a Skins shirt. Without saying a word I walked over to him. He looked up saw my hat and grabbed my hand and embraced me like a long lost brother. We bitched about the team for a minute or so and then I went off to pick up whatever it was I was there to get. That guy got it. I get it too. My kids get it. I try not to live on the team’s success or failure week in and week like I once did, but sometimes it gets to me. For a long time I felt like I owed them. I think the organization owes us a little more now. Maybe that’s just me.

 

[LoyalSkinsFan]

Around 8 or 9 years ago, I met this guy....many of you know him as Om. He inspired me to become a part of the ES community....and since, did it again when he encouraged me to come over to BGO. (I'll forgive him the brief foray into The Noosphere).

I just turned 50 this year....and although I don't feel that I look it or act that age, I suppose in "Redskin years" I'm much older. In any case, 7 years ago I wrote a small piece that - with Om's assist - got posted on the Redskins.com site. I'm going to attach it here for you guys to check out. For me, it answers the question this thread has posed.

Hope you enjoy:

LIFE, DEATH AND THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS

In the end, we are defined in death by who we were in life. The legacy we leave is built....brick by brick.....as we each meander and find our way through this bewildering, occasionally disappointing and yet often exhilarating world.

I, personally, hope to be remembered.....MORE than anything....for simply being a good person. For being someone who could be counted on and trusted. For being the kind of person in which others could find comfort, could count on for a quick smile...and who could be looked to for even and solid advice. For being a loving and committed father, son, husband and brother.........and for always being there when it mattered most.

When I am finally laid to rest, though, I expect I will be remembered by my closest friends for something else as well. For something that...on the surface...isn't worthy of mentioning in the same breath as those traits listed above. And still, this other thing.....this other passion, as it were.....is for some reason just as critical to knowing me as a person. For, as much as anything, it helps to illustrate my ability to show devotion, loyalty, fortitude and faithfulness under all manner of circumstance. And that....I think......is something to strive for.

You see.....they will know me, too, as a Washington Redskin fan.

I don't paint my face....I don't wear a pig nose to work....and I only have one or two Redskin t-shirts. I have a family and a successful career....and I have no desire to devote a room in my house to the team. But, no matter how much a roller coaster ride it may be, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing than watching a Redskin game.

This season, to be sure, has been a disappointment. There have been others. But there will always be the draw of the next season....perhaps a winning season....to keep me coming back. No matter how disastrous the year may have been, the promise of the next is all too tantalizing.

I grew up in the Washington, DC area....and now have lived four thousand miles away for more than twenty years. Geography has not diminished my enthusiasm one bit. If anything, the challenge of it has greatened it. I've see fans come and go...turning away when disappointment shows up and returning on the bandwagon of success. But, I've been there through it all....year after year. And the ride......it doesn't get any better.

I remember so many players and coaches from all these many years.....and I remember more games and plays than I'd ever admit to...none any bigger than John Riggins breaking away in Super Bowl XVII. That was, to me, the defining play of my lifetime. But, just one.....out of many.

This whole experience began for me around the age of five, I'd guess. I'm forty-three now. I figure I've got somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty-five to forty seasons left to watch and cheer and look forward to. I don't want it to end.

But it will.

And when it does.....well......it does. And, most likely, no one will make any note or mention of the fact that I was a Redskin fan. They'll probably just remember all those other things about me.

And, that'd be okay.

But secretly.....I kinda hope.....that if someone were to visit my grave.....that on my gravestone they'd find one of those little, plastic Redskin helmets.

'Cause, hey....it's who I am.

HTTR

 

[Boone]

Awesome then, awesome now

And the Noosphere? It's back baby!

 

[LoyalSkinsFan]

at my funeral they will play HTTR right before it starts.

But see, that's not my style. I'm more subtle.

Then again....I sometimes get calls from neighbors a block away after a particularly exciting score.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

I like all of the responses in here and like how everyone is different. If we were all the same as fans, it would be boring and absolutely, positively horrible. That being said...

I'll be a Redskins fan for life. I'll continue to blog here as long as it is wanted. I'll be friends with other Redskins fans and some will be fellow fans and nothing more. I may meet a few of you along the way - keep in mind that I'm much quieter in person and tend to do my own thing. I have some collectibles and the usual assortment of Redskins attire. I understand that there is a larger number of fans in the Memphis area and they tend to gather in several places. Hope to meet many of them and pass along the address to this site.

As for when I die, there will be no funeral. If some want to gather for some sort of remembrance, I can't stop them. Hope to have my ashes scattered in or around the Charlottesville area. No need to mention that I was Redskins fan, that has been made known along the way.

And always...

Hail To The Redskins!