If you're not from DC, then why are you a fan?

[Vi]

I'm from Frederick, MD, so I was born into the 'Skins area (thought it's being taken over by the Ravens a bit. Ick.). Interestingly enough, though, of the 3 generations of 'Skins fans I am the first generation to actually live in 'Skins country. *laughs* My grandparents were from Pittsburg, but were loyal Redskins fans even then. My mom grew up in PA too and carried on the tradition.

[RedDevilSkins]

My parents were married and lived for Carlisle, PA for a few years before I was born and my father was a huge Redskins fan. After I was born we moved to the Poconos but every year we could my family would make a trip to Carlisle to see the training camp. I remember one year Norv Turning tapped my politely on the shoulder and asked me to move out of the way before I got run over by players exiting the field.

Now I go to school at Dickinson College and I play football there. It's really amazing hearing stories from the athletic trainers about some of stuff that goes on behind the scenes at training camp. One of our trainer's has some good stories about Lavar that I'll have to ask her about.

So I guess that's my growing up as a Redskin fan in a nutshell.

[brandies]

Just exercising my first amendment right to freedom of speech

[Chachie]

I root for my home teams. That's all there is to it. I've always lived in the DC area and I've always been a Redskin, Bullet/Wizard, and Oriole fan. (No Nats until recently.) I see no reason whatsoever for any fan to root for any other team but the one that plays for their city or state. I am perfectly okay with people who take on other teams as there fave, but I could never do it myself. It just seems wrong. It's like going to your high school everyday and rooting for the HS football team across the county... but I hope I haven't offended anyone- we are all free to be you and me.

[philal0102]

i was born in DC and lived in bowie maryland until i was 11... now i live in vegas.

[timitim]

I am late to the post on this one and have read some interesting posts. If you take a look at them you will see that there are some similarities to all of them.

I am from Washington state and remember the glory days of the redskins in the 80's when i was a younger man. Most of the fans on this board are fans because of the influences that they found as kids. I guess you can't really explain how it happens but when you become exposed to something and can related to it then you usually follow it.

My day was the super bowl against the Raiders. There wasn't a television station on earth that had the redskins winning that game and were earmarking them to lose that game against L.A. I immediately identified with the under dog and loved that logo and the colors. Despite losing and despite never moving out of the Northwest i have been a die hard fan ever since.

HAIL

[Bad Man Burgendy & Gold]

Everyone should be a fan, Washington or not

[FrFan]

Just like Aussieskin , first superbowl I watched in France was redskins vs dolphins and a helluva back named John Riggins. I'm also fond of Indians history and civilization. I've lived in Philly, I was studying English, and been to DC many times.:point2sky

[wysknz1]

Where I grew up in Montana I never watched football. Too busy ridin in the hills, swimming and just enjoying... Then when I was 14 we moved to a "city" in Wyoming and actually had a thing called cable TV, Well we also got a color TV to go with it. Just in time to watch SB 7. Also when we moved here everyone told me I HAD to like the Broncos. Well, let's see, burgundy and gold and the best logo on the helmet compared to aqua and orange and baby blue and orange?? Also the stupid dolphin or the big ugly D on the side of the helmet? That's it. That's how I became a skins fan...Been one ever since through thick and thin. Best time was the 35 point 1/4 vs the Donks WOW what a great time here. I hope you all still let me be one even if my reasoning is a bit lame..Hail Skins!!

[IBleedBurgundy&Gold1369225669]

I became a Skins fan, because I saw Eagles Fans in Philly and vowed to never root for them to be happy. So, because I had a man-crush on Mark Rypien, I became a Redskins fan and never looked back. I guess I was kind of a bandwagoner after the 1991 Superbowl, but I have never left the team since. I feel like I excerised the bandwagoning demon from my past.

No offense dude... But what is a mancrush? :applause:

[krausko2]

When I first started playing football (mid-90s) I was a WR and aside from Jerry Rice the best WRs to me were Art Monk, Gary Clark, and Ricky Sanders. Ever since then it's been HAIL SKINS!!!! And how about this... I was born in Philly! Eagles = PUKE.

[clevelanskins28]

When i was growing up, the Browns were gone. My mom's family is from DC, she was born and raised in DC, my grandparents still lived in Bethesda, my grandpa was about as big of fan as you can be. My mom as well. She raised me to love the skins, and i didnt have a choice, not that i would choose otherwise, seeing as the browns were gone. I saw my first game when i was 7. I was so exicted. It was fan appreciation day, and i got to cut everyone in line because i came all the way from cleveland for a game. I got autographs and pictures with Gary Clark, and there may have been others, ill have to check my autographs. It was amazing. I remember every play. So yeah, that sums up my history as a fan. Darrell Green was my idol/hero. He was small, but so fast. As a child, I admired him so much, and i still do. HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!

[Extreme]

i have been in va beach my entire life, and all you are guaranteed to see every week is the redskins. when i first started becoming obsessed with football (about '84 or '85), i didn't have a particular team i was a fan of, i just loved watching the games. any time it was on, i was watching, but i started to notice that i loved more than anything to watch darrell green. he always seemed to play with a fire nobody else had. then i saw him mow down tony from out of nowhere, and i jumped out of my seat in total joy. it was the greatest thing i ever witnessed. from that day on, all i wanted to see was darrell green mowing down opponents, or picking it off and running it back 80 yards. over the next few years, i gradually got to a point where i loved the entire team, which by 1990, had grown into an obsession we know as bleeding the colors. luckily for me, i got to witness them win it all with an awesome team in '91, and even luckier now am i to see more on the way. i will take this love to my grave, the skins are the greatest.

[Lady Brave]

I became a Redskins fan mainly because of my older brother. When I was 9 years old I was a Vikings fan for like 10 seconds (Hey, I'm a girl. I liked the purple uniforms, so sue me). Superbowl XVII and "the run" changed everything for me and I finally realized that my brother was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for. Also, being in North Carolina, there were pretty much two teams to root for here, Skins and Cowgirls. I guess it's because the Skins played games in this area "back in the day" and were originally considered a Southern team. So there is a fairly big fanbase here.

I realize that because I am in NC, I am supposed to abandon my beloved Skins and become a Panthers fan (Like a lot of people I know - All of them traitors). In fact, I hate the Panthers as much as I hate the Cowboys. Because of them, I can no longer see all the Skins games and buy their merchandise here. Everywhere you look it's blue and black, which is truly depressing. It sucks on so many levels. I won't even let Panther fans, who used to be Skins fans, talk to me about "my team". In my opinion, they are no longer worthy and therefore, should remain silent.

Hail Skins! :notworthy :logo:

[The Batman]

I'm from Lexington, South Carolina, and I'm a Redskins fan because my grandfather has loved them since before there was a closer team [loved them since Horace was a pup, whatever the hell that means.] I originally was a mild Broncos fan when I was very young because Elway was and still is my favorite QB of all time. However, after he left, I no longer cared for them and the sheer excitement that filled my dad when Gibbs came back just made me rediscover my passion for football and the Redskins and I'll be a fan till the day I die.

:logo:

[bbuzz1962]

Whoa nelly. I was born in DC. Yep, right in the middle of downtown DC. Did it mean I had to be a fan of the Redskins? No. My family were huge fans, and it caught on. My grandfather and his sons had season tickets before it became fashionable. So, it isn't where you live, it's kind of how you catch on.

[jaydean]

i was born in south dakota, right in minnesota vikings territory. i became a skins fan in 1972 or 73 when the vikings came to washington and lost and screwed themselves out of a playoff spot. the game was on espn classic one night, and i watched the highlights and completely recalled the night i became a washington redskins fan. i fell in love with billy kilmer and the entire team, and i've been hooked since. i am no doubt the biggest redskins fan in this area, driving a redskins ram pickup and i have a complete room of redskins stuff in my home. my wife says i've gone from fan to fanatic!!!! :laugh:

[No_Pressure]

Here's a question, how many people such as myself are die hard fans that have never seen the Washington Redskins progress farther than the divisional playoffs in their entire lives, whose first solid memories of watching skins games involve Gus Frerotte bashing his head into the wall at RFK, and Trent Green/Jeff Hostetler playing the rest of that year? How many of you like myself will never get to watch the greatest offensive line in the history of the NFL? Who will never remember seeing Art Monk or Gary Clark catch a pass?

It's one thing to be a Redskins fan since the 80's, its a whole different thing being a fan since about 1995 (about as far back as my football memory goes). We became fans of a team that sucked. I cant wait until we are back on top.

[Taylor21theBeast]

Well there was no team in Carolina when I was growing up.Also my aunt who teaches art at Washington College and lives in Chestertown would come down for Christmas and we would watch the Skins and essentially around the age of mental comprehension have been a Skin.

[FootballGuy2677]

Cuase I live in Virginia thats why:silly:

But I mostly became a Redskins fan cuase most of my family are Redskins fans and I remember wanting to watch a football game and my dad turned to a redskins game. Thats all I really remember.

Been one ever since.

[DaRock]

Who cares, you're a fan!

But anyhow, grew up in NC, family Skins nuts. Still are, from Jurg,Kilmer,Baugh,Monk,Rypien and so on.

Met em all.

[portis&taylor]

I dont have a local team so i picked my this team

[FootballGuy2677]

I dont have a local team so i picked my this team

Very very lucky pick!

[ceekay84]

the skins have always given me the perfect "football experience" everytime they play... two great examples from last season.. beating cowboys 2x, and that special moment when we were down 13-0 with 3 mins to go...! beating the bucs for revenge for the 2 pt alstott conversion was also SWEET! i love dem skinz!

[CTaylor42]

I became a fan in 1972 when my best friend put me on to them. He was a big fan of Sonny Jergensen. I didn't really care about football at the time. He begged me to come over and watch the 1972 NFC Championship game against Dallas. Sonny, didn't play that game, but Charley Taylor torched the Cowpukes for 146 yards and two TD's. I became a fan of Charley Taylor and the Washington Redskins on that day.

I get somewhat iritated at people that say how can you be a Skins fan when you never have lived in D.C. I don't care what team you choose to root for as long as you stick with that team. What bugs me is people that jumps from team to team by whoever is winning at the time. I have NO love for bandwagon/fairweather fans!