thebluefood

I'm inclined to agree. I know folks have referenced LA's NFL-less drought before the Rams returned but we aren't LA. This town has had and supported major, pro sports continually since the American League was founded in 1901 and for the vast majority of that time, we have supported losers - abject losers. We aren't nearly as fickle as the LA contingency and if we have a team here that at least tries to succeed on and off the field, we will support them. The only way we won't is if you run them the way Dan Snyder has run this one and truly, he is a generational talent in this regard.

The way the NFL and the Raiders have treated the City of Oakland will never not piss me off but the Raiders seem to have a more national fan base. I can't say how Oakland residents felt about them leaving again but the fandom as a whole didn't seem to lose a step. But with Baltimore and Cleveland - that was something different. It was more intimate and because of that, it seemed like it hurt more. My mom, who worked for GPO for decades, told me about how it was at the office the day after the Colts skipped town. Her Baltimore co-workers came off the train, walked to the office, and were just in a daze. Not angry, not crying - dazed. It was like the sun not coming up the next morning. And Mayor Schaefer barely holding back tears on local TV. Disgusting. I still spit when I hear the Irsay's name. And the situation at Cleveland could have gotten really ugly - I'm surprised there wasn't an all out riot at Municipal Stadium. But with the way things have gone here, the way the area has, seemingly, fallen totally out of love with this franchise - I don't know if we're gonna have a Mayor Schaefer moment in D.C. if they leave. I dunno if people are gonna be filled with that same indignation Browns fans had at the last home game before they left town. If this continues, they may very well leave with the area, as a whole, basically telling Snyder and Co. "Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya" and I never thought this would happen. I mean this is Washington for God's sake. This town was an NFL town before NFL towns existed (outside of Green Bay). And this is where we are now?

Well, at least the franchise did something right. This actually gives me a reason to show up to a game or two this year. I've heard word about a revamped version of the fight song which, considering how "Commanders" won't fit with the meter, I'm not really that excited about. Kinda wish they went with something like Anchors Aweigh, a well known march and something that could recognize the USNA in Annapolis.

Seriously - it's the least they can do.

Honestly, this really ain't no thing. Bad baseball in Washington, D.C. is a nearly 150-year-old tradition so as far as this is concerned, we're back to the mean. Mind you, this team is miserable to watch but it's almost like a family heirloom to root for a losing team. (This is all made much easier thanks to the 2019 Championship run of course).

Kind of amazing this forum is still up and running, considering we're largely in a post-forum internet. Glad it's still here, though - it's like coming back home to a warm, familiar (albeit fraught at times) hangout spot in your hometown that managed to survive the changing times.

This is all astounding to watch unfold from afar - I cannot believe how badly the owner of this franchise has alienated himself from the D.C. Area, to the point where PG County economic leaders are cheering over plans not hinging on the franchise staying. Unless there is an ownership change or Snyder has the mother of all epiphanies and actually rights the ship...like, them leaving is a possibility. Maybe not that likely but who'd ever think the day would come where it was even in the realm of possibility?

Cosell was a controversial broadcaster but no one had a flair for the dramatic like him.

A beautiful shot many of you know oh so well.

From what appears to be the master tape of the broadcast - the quality of the video and audio are spectacular. I am astounded by how loud and raucous the RFK crowd is from start to finish for a game where neither team could score a touchdown. ABC also got some lovely (albeit dim) shots of Washington throughout the broadcast.

The number one rule of sports fandom is this town: never have expectations. Outside of one glorious window between June 2018 and October 2019, it will only end in disappointment, no matter how low those expectations are.

Last season, I went to the Linc - I know, I know, it was for a loved one who's getting into football and they were playing Dallas so we had a shared enemy. We took the Broad Street Line from City Hall to the end of the line and, apart from being around Eagles fans all night, it was a good night. We even got home without paying fare, thanks to SEPTA. It was in stark contrast to the day I went to FedEx Field earlier that season, where I paid good money to walk a mile to and from the Metro and endure what might as well have been a neutral site's atmosphere. I say all this to say: I can deal with pricey tickets and less-than-stellar atmosphere as long as I get to and from the stadium via reliable and accessible transit. It saves money and, honestly, it helps build up the hype - the energy of fans on a train is infectious. Unless this stadium's site is near Woodbridge's VRE station and they run special trains out there the way the MBTA does for Pats games in Foxboro, it doesn't look like that's gonna happen and this franchise will almost certainly have a more dreadful gameday experience than they already do.

I had the '91 Team Yearbook growing up and wore it out. I loved this franchise before I knew the rules of football. Speaking of: there was a nice highlight reel of the '91 NFC Championship Game on YouTube awhile back. What ever happened to it?

As well he should. Despite his...unfortunate affiliation with the Eagles, Merrill Reese has been at it for more than 40 years. He's been to most, if not all, NFL stadia in use during that time. He knows what's what but it doesn't take a weathered NFL broadcaster to tell you FedEx Field is the pits.

Yeah I'm basically following this team out of some weird, civic obligation combined with morbid curiosity. But I've watched, like, two games (one in person) and neither one of them was all that great. Same general mediocrity I've been watching since I was a boy during the *N O R V* years.

Yeah as far as I can tell, the Ford Family are pretty generic "bad sports team owners" right down to the ancient, incompetent matriarch and/or patriarch overseeing the whole thing (not unlike the McCaskey's in Chicago or the Browns in Cincinnati). They're not exactly irredeemable ghouls (compared to the other, uber rich jerks who run the league) - they just suck at running a football team. Dan Snyder manages to have the incompetence of the Fords combined with the outright, generational wickedness of Stan Kroenke which makes for a team that is not only unwatchable but almost immoral to support.

I would 100% pay good money to watch this play out. It would be a laugh-a-minute.

The leadup to 2027 is going to feed my inner-cynic in the worst way. Despite the unrepentantly wretched play and culture around this team, someone's gonna blink and give them the land for a new stadium that will probably look terrible and will certainly be inaccessible. This round of PR disasters will make it harder but someone's gonna blink - the nostalgia (and graft) will see to it. Are there any betting odds for it yet?

Bingo. Sports ownership in North America (and around the world) is made up of some of the most uniquely wretched people from a socio-economic strata (the ultra-wealthy) of ghouls. You know there's some Eyes Wide Shut-tier **** going on or at least something comparable that would make even the most callous fans rethink the NFL and actually make sponsors withdraw their support and the owners cannot have that. The present is bleak and the future looks even worse because these billionaire freaks have their hands in everything, especially the things we enjoy.

No way in the world. Maryland's made it clear they want him gone, NoVA won't want anything to do with it, and despite all the sweet overtures with Mayor Bowser, it would be a political disaster to let the RFK site go into his hands.

We really have had some...interesting people own this team. -Marshall - who liked big shows almost as much as much as he disliked black people -JKC - more successful owning this team than staying married (found a 1991 SI profile of him and it is *dark*) -Daniel Snyder - a living, breathing Napoleon Complex who doesn't seem to understand how basic human decency works. Edward Bennett Williams seems to be the most stable and respectable human being to run this club and he was an attorney. Edit: here's the SI profile on JKC. Again, be ye warned - it gets *really dark*. I had no idea he did so many people so dirty. https://vault.si.com/vault/1991/12/16/larger-than-life-in-his-own-estimation-at-least-jack-kent-cooke-the-owner-of-the-washington-redskins-is-an-immortal

Naw but for real - would be pretty sweet to have a pro organization that's at least semi-publically owned. I hate the franchise model (in no large part because an owner can up and tear the heart out of a city by moving or otherwise making the organization look foolish). Even with the deep pockets in and around around the Beltway, I doub it's even in the realm of possibility.

Aaron Rodgers expands his asset portfolio to include Washington, along with the Bears. Pack - 41 Blight Upon the Earth - 17

And honestly, it wasn't that great before that. Ryp had that one sensational year in '91 but before and after was kinda spotty. But afterwards, it's been a litany of horrors.