What's YOUR story?

[The 12th Commandment]

My family moved to Alexandria in ’70 when I was 4 or 5 and I guess my old man, having grown up in Mexico City, didn’t have a team. He adopted the Skins and my earliest memories of football are him complaining about Allen trading away our future with all these old guys. Going to elementary school in NOVA we had skins players come to talk to us from time to time which created a little more interest and I started playing football with my buds too so the understanding of the game helped solidify the choice.

I have two experiences in elem school that made it even stronger. In the waiting room for the principle in 3rd grade (I don’t even remember what I did) I met Diron Talbert who was coming to give one of those talks. And in the second grade I wore my skins sweatshirt on “picture” day. My rear end still hurts when I think of the whuppin my mom gave me for that one. Ah, the '70s. :doh:

Anyway, I live and die by the skins every week. I truly am thankful that I’m old enough to remember the glory years. Hang in there younguns, it’ll happen again.

[casey56]

I was born in 1982 at Sibley Memorial Hospital in DC and raised in Herndon, VA my whole life. I was wearing a Joe Theismann jersey by the age of 1. My dad is a hardcore fan and raised me that way as well. We had club level tickets every year at RFK, and I LOVED going to games in that stadium. Now we have season tickets at FedEX.

I still vividly remember the Super Bowl party we had in January 1992 and hearing the parents talk about whether Art Monk had stepped out of bounds on his first TD catch that was called back. That game was a great memory for me, and we still bring out the tape and watch it from time to time.

HTTR forever

[robearlyii]

I've been a die-hard Redskins fan since I was a young boy. When I was about 5 years old, I broke my arm in two places, a compound fracture. I was rushed to the hospital where I met Billy Kilmer and Mike Bass. They both told me to hang in there and I would be fine. I was in awe. I was a fan before I even understood a bit about the game.

Then, Joe Gibbs came along. The first superbowl we won under Gibbs was awesome. It was so crazy in D.C. that many people took off work and many kids missed school to attend the parade downtown. I was one of the kids that took off school to go. Watching the team drive down, I think, Constitution Avenue, and the entire crowd cheering, singing Hail To The Redskins, was so exciting and such a good feeling that I wanted to keep that feeling going forever. The next year, we were the best in the league but lost the superbowl. The winning never stopped, there were very few losing seasons under Gibbs, and two more winning Super Bowls

After Gibbs left and all the losing began, I always said to my friends and family, if only Gibbs were back, this would get turned around. Now he is back! That old great feeling came back last year, and I know Gibbs still has it in him to bring me the even greater feeling again, to win another Super Bowl!!

[LoyalSkinsFan]

I remember wearing a band-aid over the bridge of my nose at school the day after Billy Kilmer had one put on during a game. I was just one of MANY kids at my elementary school to do that. Back then, that's just the way we thought. Everyone in the city seemed to live and breathe with the Redskins. After a loss, the whole town seemed to trudge through for the whole next week....but would come alive again on Sunday.

I remember George Allen cutting ice cream cakes and dreaming of being in the punt, pass and kick competition at RFK. I remember going to a preseason game against the Colts in the late 60's...it was a nighttime game...the Almas Temple game. I didn't know who the Almas guys were, but I loved seeing all the fez caps that night. And the starting QB's that night? Sonny Jurgensen and Johnny Unitas. I remember when Redskin Park opened..I remember when we lost Super Bowl VII and how disappointed I was. I also remember that in the Dolphins' undefeated season that year, they actually had ONE loss..in preseason....to........the Redskins. I remember playing in my YMCA league in a white jersey with my Redskin helmet....I remember the Ken Houston stop of Walt Garrison on MNF and when Joe Theisman got his leg snapped on another. I remember that after a long stretch without a first round pick, I wondered who the hell was this guy, Art Monk....and why did we select him? Remember that feeling you had...if you were old enough...when John Riggins was running...no, sprinting....down the field during Super Bowl XVII? I rolled on the ground at my friend's house and literally cried tears of joy. I remember watching, in person, our loss to the Raiders the following year...and my long drive home from Tampa. I remember whondering who was this guy named Timmy Smith...and then thinking how lucky I was to be rooting for a team as focused as the Redskins were while the Buffalo Bills and Thurman Thomas were paying attention to something else and had to search for his missing helmet on the sideline of another Super Bowl. I also remember many years of frustration...watching a carousel of coaches turn as one losing season turned into many....and then, that moment of wonderful disbelief when I heard that Joe Gibbs was coming back to straighten things out.

And, I'll tell you.....I'm pretty sure he will. And then, there will be new memories worth posting.

HTTR

[docsandy]

EXACTLY. Especially when you are not in the DC area. I actually get the ole warm and fuzzy the moment I see someone wearing something Redskins. It feels like you know that stranger who you never talked to before better than you know every one of your co-workers. Strange, but true.

That is so true.. we went on an Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon and while out on deck one evening.. my husband was wearing his Redskins starter jacket... and behind us we heard someone humming Hail to the Redskins. We turned around and it was a couple from Texas of all things.. lived right in the heart of Cowboys country... but were diehard Redskin fans.

[LoyalSkinsFan]

That's something I miss terribly. I've lived in LA now for twenty years....and I really miss walking around town feeling like I'm a part of something bigger. Whenever I go back to DC to visit family, just seeing all the Redskin gear around on people and on signs makes me feel homesick. I'm still a season ticket holder and it's times like that that really make me think about relocating again.

HTTR

[redskin81]

Yep, for sure. I immediately feel some sort of a "bond" when i see anyone wearing anything Redskins...or hear someone yell "Go Skins" if they see me while rocking my gear.

Especially here in Dallas. When you see someone wearing the B and G its like finding a long lost relative.

[skinsngibbs4life]

Haven't had time to read everything yet...I DO have a real job, by the way...but am now getting caught up. Just want to quickly address this......this is not, by any means, an "I'm a superfan/you suck" thread. My intention was to simply hear the stories of other fans and hear how and why they became such die-hard Redskin fans. It's an interesting thing, I'm finding....we're all drawn to this team for some reason..no matter how our backgrounds differ. It's almost like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" where everyone goes off to the plateau without really knowing why. I just thought it'd be interesting to hear the tales.....

I have lots of interesting stories of my own to tell..just curious what yours were.

We've always taken pride in being the most loyal and intellegent fans in the NFL. Thought it'd be cool to see how this happened.

No harm meant.

HTTR

Yeah man, i completlely understand. I only read the first couple lines of the thread(biggest mistake I could have made right there), and started making ASSumptions. Sorry to shoot the gun like that. This actually is a good idea for a thread

and while im at it, heres my story...

Well, born and raised here in the metropolitan area, so I natrually have ties to ALL washington sports teams. My dad is/was a diehard fan, and brought me up the same way. He travelled to minneapolis in '91 for the super bowl and stayed in the same hotel as the players. Thus, he was fortunate enough to come back with A LOT of memorabillia. I have the newspapers from the day after the superbowls framed on the walls in my room, several signed footballs and stuff. Long story short, I grew up a die hard, and I will die a diehard :point2sky

[wlbai]

One Sunday afternoon in 1967 in Danville, VA a 5 year old boy sat in his grandparents living room after Sunday dinner and asked his dad, "Daddy, what football team do you like?" The answer was the Redskins.

Today 39 years later a 44 year old sits in his living room in Hagerstown, MD still rooting for his daddy's favorite team.

That's my story... :logo:

[bnc405]

well...i started loving the skins because of my father.growing up in texas (houston area)my family on my father's side are all cowgirlsfan,so my father just went the opposite way out of spite.he told me once they got their first color tv he realized the team his family hated the most was the team in burgandy and gold.so from that point on he became a diehard redskins fan.i wasn't born then,so when i started really understanding football and the teams around 5 years old,all i knew is my daddy hated the cowboys,so i hated them too.i liked the oilers because that was the hometown team,and i rooted for the steelers(except when they played the oilers)because i remembered seeing them beat the cowgirls all the time.then,seeing how emotional my dad always got when the skins and crybabies played,i naturally became a diehard skins fan...i remember in the early 80's i used to say "if the cowbabies played the russians i'd be a communist for a day!!":dallasuck :dallasuck :dallasuck

[Art McDonough]

I have recollections of watching the lowly Washington Redskins back in the 50's when Eddie LaBaron was QB. Back then, they were perennial bottom feeders with numerous head coaches like Joe Kuharich, Mike Nixon, Bill McPeak, and Otto Graham. Throughout the 60's, my team was the Baltimore Colts. I began taking notice of the Redskins again when Vince Lombardi took over and produced a respectable 8-8 record his first year. I became a rabid fan when George Allen became coach and the Skins developed a real character (ie. Over the Hill Gang). When they lost the Super Bowl to Oakland I had to be taken home from a SB party at half time for threatening to go at it with a couple of obnoxious non-Redskin fans. When Denver jumped out to a 10-0 lead in SB 22, I threw an ottoman across the den and broke it all to pieces. My dog refused to even stay in the room and began hiding under the bed during Redskin games. Today, I watch Redskin games alone and my wife removes all throwable furniture. The dog died and I hope those two jerks are Arizona fans.

[21KO]

Got it natural - Dad was a fan, therefore son is a fan - as long as I can remember...he still has 8-track tapes of games he would record from the TV...

For the kids, this is an 8-track tape

[LoyalSkinsFan]

I threw an ottoman across the den and broke it all to pieces. My dog refused to even stay in the room and began hiding under the bed during Redskin games.

LOL! The parents of one of my friends in high school had a separate chair - it was actually more of a three-legged stool - set aside for me if I ever watched a 'Skins game at their house. They'd put a name tag on it and everything.

Today, as a father and husband, I've mellowed a bit, but I've still jolted my daughter with quick yells and my Giants-fan neighbor around the block (about six doors away) can hear me, apparently, whenever something big happens. The dog, a very sweet black lab, has learned in her seven years to just hang out in the bedroom during games.

So, as you can see, I've mellowed quite a bit.

[Insomniac]

i once shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. do you really wanna argue with me?