Washington Redskin Fans Remain a Mystery

I’m not from the D.C. area, so when I relocated here in 2002, there were a lot of things I had to get used to.

The number one thing was the traffic. In West Virginia, where I’m from, rush hour lasts about 15 minutes, unless you’re on the Beckley By-Pass near Wal-Mart. But the Capital Beltway is an anomaly unto itself. And now after 8 years, I have to admit that I’ve learned some shortcuts and ways to keep my sanity.

The next thing I had to get used to was how expensive everything was. When I moved here, I was told that Montgomery County, Maryland was one of the more expensive counties in the nation and it just happened to be the county that my family and I set up residence. Though I wondered how I had landed in this zip code, I learned ways to stretch my dollars.

Finally, the last thing I had to get used to was the Washington Redskin fans. Being from the southern coalfields of West Virginia, I cheered on the Blue and the Gold, the West Virginia University Mountaineers. Of course, when I moved to Huntington I cheered for the Marshall University Thundering Herd. I was even fortunate enough to live in Huntington during the Randy Moss/Chad Pennington/Byron Leftwich years – and it was truly an exciting time.

I don’t understand that much about the game of football – and you would think that I would. I was in the marching band and played at every football game from middle school all the way to my junior year of college. I can pretty much tell you when my team is winning and losing, but I’ve never understood downs, penalties, safeties – or any of that stuff. My son has played football since he was six years old and is now on his high school JV team and the best thing for me is seeing him in that football uniform.

One thing I strongly believe in is that you must love your team regardless of whether they’re winning or losing. I learned that from my husband, who is a huge New York Yankee and New York Giants football fan. There have been years when he caught heck for wearing NY Yankee hats or t-shirts – especially when we were in West Virginia. But he did it anyway, because he was born in Harlem, New York and cheered for those teams early on. Each season he’d proclaim that this is his team’s “year.” And if they suffered a disappointing loss, he’d always say, “That’s okay, there’s always next year.”

I admire Redskin fans who always kept their spirit about them, even if I found their behavior a little obnoxious. (Come on, “Hog wear??”) But that was how they supported their team and I gave them that. But since I didn’t grow up in this area and a part of the exciting Washington Redskin legacy, I was always – and forever will be - disconnected.

Recently, I heard that some Redskin fans booed their team after an anemic win over a team they should have crushed. And after a loss to Kansas City yesterday, ‘skins fans seem to be dropping like flies. Some have said they’re not going to root for the team because they’re so frustrated. I get that it hurts and it's even embarrassing to lose when you feel you have the talent to pull out a win. So continue to root them on, after all they’re YOUR team, and you stick with them.

Redskin head coach Jim Zorn apologized to the fans and said that he felt bad for them. If I were a Washington Redskin fan, the last thing I’d want to hear from my team’s head coach is an apology. I’d want to hear him saying that everything is going to be okay. That we would live to fight another day! That victory was in reach! Motivate me, man!

Every time I return home to West Virginia I’m always greeted with Blue and Gold hats, shirts, jackets and sweatshirts. The ‘eers don’t always have to be winning for us West Virginians to show our support and pride. They’re no NFL franchise – and sure, we like those Steelers – even the ‘skins, but one thing is certain – the Mountaineers are our team – no matter what.