That’s right. I’m the scum of scum. I’m a traitor, a scalawag, a backstabber, a bastard of the highest order.
I’m changing my football team alliegance.
That’s right. Seventeen years I’ve been rooting for the Washington Redskins. Sometimes fanatically, sometimes with no enthusiasm whatsoever, but time and time again, the 'Skins were always my team.
But ten years of incompetence takes its’ toll. I’m not talking about individual incompetence, or mistakes on plays; I’m talking about the drudgery of year after year of being told that we’re going to have the best team ever, that this year we’ll get back to the Bowl, and then watching us stumble and fumble and screw up.
I watched two football games on Sunday. The 'Skins game was just pathetic. Our team was tired, and pushed around, and screwed up in ways I can’t even begin to comprehend. An experience quarterback, one of the best in the league, and he throws three interceptions. Deion Sanders, the man we hated for so long and sacrificed so much to bring here- a big zero. The game- which every commentator, every newspaper, every gambling service- said was ours to win, was a complete disaster.
Conversely, the game I watched previously was thrilling. Back and forth intensity, absolute devotion to pushing the limits, a constant swerve of leads after coming back from what should have been a crushing defeat- it was a game of beauty and mastery, a game that reminded me what football was all about, what the beauty of the game is, and how everything tastes bitter when you assume victory is yours while everything you have to fight for tastes so sweet.
Call me a ‘fair-weather’ fan. Call me a slimeball. Call me a turncoat. But today I’m turning in my burgundy and gold, and picking up purple and black.
Go Ravens!
p.s. weirddave- I assume you saw that game, right? How kick-ass a game was that? I nearly had a heart attack during those last two minutes…
Yeah, yeah… for those of us that grew up around Chicago and STILL think that some year will HAVE to be the year for the Bears: We don’t want to hear it.
I’m an Eagles fan first and foremost, but I never saw a problem liking an AFC team, too. Since my ex-gf is a Browns fan, I leaped on the Ravens bandwagon three years ago to spite her. Last year, when they beat the Browns in Baltimore, I made a joke to her along the lines of “at least the Browns remembered to go home after visiting this time.”
I watched the same games you did on Sunday, John, and while I’ll always hate the Redskins, I was jumpin’ with joy when Sharpe caught that last TD. Wow, what a game.
I, too, live in the DC area. I love to watch the Redskins because they are the team I despise more than any other. When this season started, I couldn’t wait to watch the games because I knew the fans had expectations of greatness for a team that will probably not even win the division.
So, it warms my heart to see all the “Hey, we’re not supposed to lose!” cries. I can’t wait to hear them get booed off the field at home. All the Monday-morning “what happened?” analysis. Ha, ha, ha.
BTW, I think that Deion Snaders is the best thing this team has. By the end of the season I predict the lament around here won’t be “Deion sucks.” It’ll be “At least we had Deion, or else we would have lost even more games.”
Art Modell is going to hell, and you’re all going with him.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, folks. Have some integrity. If you’re going to go turncoat (and that deserves a whole 'nother rant), at least root for a team that isn’t stolen.
That’s it, John. I can no longer talk to you. What do you MEAN you’re leaving! This is NOTHING!
Remember the year they lost the first 8 games, and if they could have lost the bye week, they would have?
Remember the Petibon era?
This is nothing! Yes, the game was pitful. Ask my roomie…she got to hear me yelling “They can’t score a TOUCHDOWN, and we LOST???” all night. However, it was the offense that blew it. The D isn’t looking too bad, although Deion blew that game. (Which he admitted. Wish Brad would admit HE blew it.)
Good GOD, man! The 'Skins will rise again, like they always do! And damn you for leaving! Oh well, at least you didn’t switch to the Cowboys. Then I would have had to kill you.
Show me someone who can simply switch their NFL allegiance, and I’ll show you someone who isn’t a true fan.
And DB’s right - anyone who would root for a team owned by as morally reprehensible a human being as Art Modell should be sat on by Drew Carey AND Mimi.
Because they suck, let you down year-in and year-out and fall short of expectations, you’re switching allegiances? If it were that simple, the Pontiac Silverdome would be empty every Sunday. The Redskins have won the Super Bowl. The BENGALS have been to the Super Bowl – TWICE!
But alas, I am doomed to forever wear my allegiance to the Lions as an albatross around my neck. Their last championship was in 1957. Since that time, they have won one playoff game.
But 150 years from now when they win Super Bowl MCLMXLV or whatever, my great-grandkids can say “we were there for the two centuries of lean times.”
P.S. Stop listening to the “experts.” Anyone who said the ‘Skins had a sure thing in the Lions’ house doesn’t know much. The Pontiac Pussycats typically play well at home.
Oh, John, and we had so much hope for you! Yes, the 'Skins have broken my heart time and time again, but I still love them! Why? Because they’re MY TEAM. Damnit, John, think about this before you make such a rash move! You’re gonna root for the team weird likes (and we all know how dave he is)? Snap out of it, man!
And if you decide to go through with this, all I can say is, to second Falcon: at least it’s not the @#!boys… 'cause then we’d definitely have to kill ya.
Falcon- Good point; I can’t be the lowest form of life there is until I start rooting for the Cowboys.
No, what really got me was not that the 'Skins were losing; like I said, I’ve spent eight year sitting through the doldrums (including Petibon- uck). What got me was just the attitude the players seem to have. They seem to go into the game with the “can’t touch us, we’re the best, this game’s already ours” and then deflate never to surge again. I saw two games on Sunday- in one of them, both teams fought like hell to try and win; in the other, the losing team seemed to just not give a shit once the second half rolled in. And I’ve just had too many seasons of the ‘Skins standing on the field, not giving a shit while the other team rolls over them. The Ravens seem to actually give a damn about playing their best. And maybe the Ravens’ best isn’t as good as the ‘Skins’ best, and maybe the Ravens don’t have a chance of getting to the playoffs. But at least with the Ravens, their flaws are in talent, where in contrast the 'Skins have incredible talent but don’t seem to care whether they win or not.
To pull a bit of a ff, I’ll admit that I’ve got ulterior motives here; my GF and her family are big Ravens fans, while my family are very luke-warm 'Skins fans, so most football-watching I’m going to do at gatherings will be of the Ravens. So some of it is in the interest of being able to know what the hell her father is talking about when we’re sitting in her living room and watching TV (“I don’t really care what other people say- I think they did the right thing in getting rid of Testaverde!” “Er, uh, sure.”)
Drain- true, two wrongs don’t make a right. On the other hand, if I wanted to be morally clean in my team support (i.e.- had not switched cities, had not specifically discriminated against black players, had not stolen key players or team officials away, etc.) I couldn’t watch football. Or baseball, or nearly any other sport, for that matter. So I’ll root for the Ravens, try to assuage my guilt by pointing out that at least Modell left Cleveland the rights to the Browns, and accept your loathing. Sorry.
Let me try again to set the record straight-
My switching allegiances has nothing to do with the win-loss record.
Hell, if past is prologue, the Ravens are less likely to make it to the playoffs or Superbowl than the Redskins, so if winning is everything, I shouldn’t switch.
That isn’t why I’m switching. The Ravens could lose all the rest of the games this season, and the Redskins could win, and I’d still be going over to the Ravens. Because while winning is great, I’d rather watch a game. I’d rather see a contest. I’d rather watch someone go down fighting than just stand around in a win. And win or lose, the 'Skins have just spent too many games just standing around, waiting for things to be handed to them on a platter. It’s not that they lose; it’s that they don’t even seem to try. And I’m not going to sit around and continue to hand them money and ego boosts for them just to sit around and whine and wait for victory to show up on a platter.
JC, I have to tell you that my opinion of you, already high, has skyrocketed. I knew you were an erudite and wise man, but you’ve moved into the realm of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. You will never regret this decision. Congratulations on chosing the best team from the only real city in the Mid-Atlantic region. Watch the game? I was AT the game. I sprained mty ankle jumping up and down on a step( not smart ) when Sharpe scored the winning TD. You would not have believed the rush from the crowd there. It’s absolutely incredible to feel a huge concrete stadium actually move from the enthusiasm of true football fans.( Unlike FedEx field, which moves 'cuz it was built by monkeys.)
As to Art Modell, the rest of you, get over it. The city of Cleveland stepped on it’s own dick with golf shoes and lost the team. I am sick and tired of hearing all of you whine, moan and piss about it. At least Art had the class to leave the name, heritage and ugly uniforms behind, something no other owner has done when he moved. Do you Foreskin fans bleed for Boston? I didn’t think so.
So, welcome to the good side of the force. Now we just gotta get Falc to see the error of her ways.
My family has been full of life-long Buffalo Bills fans. You can imagine my horror when my Bills proceeded to lose every single stinking Super Bowl played during my college years. This was a time when you darn near had to talk trash about football with your college friends who were as likely to be from out of state as not. And they let me down every time.
I have remained a fan, but I recently lived in Tampa for three years and I couldn’t help but become a fan of Tony Dungy, Warren Sapp, etc.
So now I root for both teams.
Milo, the Lions’ asses are going to be kicked to shreds next weekend. I offer my condolences in advance.
On a related note, I’d just like to say that even though Penn State is breaking my heart this season, I still love them to pieces. I can’t believe we lost to freaking TOLEDO. Maybe this is destined to just be a bad football year for me…
You want to talk about disappointment? I’ve been a Vikings fan since I was old enough to pledge allegiance. They live to rip out my heart during the playoffs, but I’m still rooting for em. What makes it harder is living in Dallas with a bunch of Cowboys fans. Random people walk up to me after they watch the Boys get their asses handed to them looking for sympathy. You don’t get any from me, damn it! I’m gonna go take my pills now.
Oh well, at least you didn’t switch to the Cowboys. Then I would have had to kill you.
----------