Why are Skins fans so soft?

[skinsn24]

And there are Cubs fans who are 90 years old who have never seen them win a World Series. The Skins are your team. You have a right to complain, but don't totally bash you own team.

I happen to live wiht 3 kids from chicago (at school in madison) so i know the cubs struggles..however

The sox won the series a year ago

The Bulls got 6 in the 90s

The bears just went to the superbowl

they have plenty to be happy about, me i just sit and wait, yea i complain alot, but like you, everyone that knows me, knows not to talk to me after a loss, it is just not a good idea.

[hail2skins]

PJ, I think the people who complain about others "living in the past" refer to people who think that we are bound for glory again solely because Gibbs is our coach. Certainly everyone was excited about his return, expectations were probably higher than they should've been, and he led us to the playoffs in an exciting '05 season, but Gibbs II so far has been disappointing. Not just because of the losing seasons in '04 and '06 but the continued indecisiveness and poor clock management we saw in games last year. Things can certainly turn around in the next 2 years, but another thing is that Gibbs' tenure this time around is relatively finite. Even though he can sign an extension at the end of his contract, the conventional wisdom seems to be that he'll probably step down after 2008. But yet whenever someone starts threads about who will take over after Gibbs leaves, you get responses like "Why even think about the future while Gibbs is still here" and (my favorite) "If Gibbs can't turn the team around, nobody can."

[skinsn24]

Again, i am 20 years old (just about 21). In the last 14 years, we have had 2 good seasons. I am a die-hard, punch a whole in my wall, bloody my knuckles, type of fan when we lose. But to tell me that after losing for almost my entire life, i have no right to complain or be angery, is just not fair.

[pjfootballer]

Again, i am 20 years old (just about 21). In the last 14 years, we have had 2 good seasons. I am a die-hard, punch a whole in my wall, bloody my knuckles, type of fan when we lose. But to tell me that after losing for almost my entire life, i have no right to complain or be angery, is just not fair.

I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad you stick with them. Like I said, you can complain. Hell, I complain all the time and my family tells me to suck it up and deal with it. See, even at my age, people still tell you what to do. :laugh: It never stops. I don't believe Gibbs will take us back to the SB, but I think he'll set us up very nicely. I know you've probably heard this from your parents/family, but you'll learn as you get older that everything in life is not fair (unless you're BIll Gates).

[pjfootballer]

PJ, I think the people who complain about others "living in the past" refer to people who think that we are bound for glory again solely because Gibbs is our coach. Certainly everyone was excited about his return, expectations were probably higher than they should've been, and he led us to the playoffs in an exciting '05 season, but Gibbs II so far has been disappointing. Not just because of the losing seasons in '04 and '06 but the continued indecisiveness and poor clock management we saw in games last year. Things can certainly turn around in the next 2 years, but another thing is that Gibbs' tenure this time around is relatively finite. Even though he can sign an extension at the end of his contract, the conventional wisdom seems to be that he'll probably step down after 2008. But yet whenever someone starts threads about who will take over after Gibbs leaves, you get responses like "Why even think about the future while Gibbs is still here" and (my favorite) "If Gibbs can't turn the team around, nobody can."

I completely agree. But, I just want them to know that even though we were lucky enough to see the 3 SB wins (And we suffered on Jan 22, 1984 against the Raiders) we still feel their pain. It's a different kinda of pain. They've never seen the team win anything, which frustrates them. we've seen the team win and wish they could get it back, and that frustrates us. Same frustration, just coming from different sources.

[nemocystem]

Um did you site 1981 in your post? It is 2007. Alot of us here were not alive/have no memory of anything positive except for our 2 playoff appearences.

We cannot live in the past. In the last 14 years

8 years under .500

No back to back season of 9+ wins

8 differen passing leaders

1 division title

14 years of mediocre to below success does not eradicate 60+ years of being an elite franchise.

this is what's rediculous. the younger crowd going "I've only existed 20 years so nothing else means anything to me."

it's the same ones who go "Jim Brown who...what did he do this year?"

or "you can't win by just running the football, when was the last time...:blahblah: "

trends do not a history make. just because that has been the succsessful trend of late does not mean that you can't win the other way, it just means nobody's really tried or executed like they should.

same goes for the draft. we have a winning plan, we just need to stick to it & not panic just because we've had some unsuccessful years. the formula is finally there.

I'll give you this, the first 4-5 years under the Dan I was worried, like anybody else that he would turn out to just be a meddling tycoon with a new toy. but you can see how every couple of years he learns from past mistakes & makes corrections.

before you start talking about not correcting the draft, just let me point out one thing...the difference between the draft & say, coaching/staff decisions is that the draft/FA spending is a PHILOSOPHY that is traditional in the Redskins franchise.

the teams that have remained successful over time have always stuck to a basic philosophy a' la the Bears - always focus on D first & improve the Offense after that has been established, the Rams - have always had elite talent at the WR position (Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch anyone?), the Vikings - have always emphasized the skill positions & built around that (note, the PPErs of old had a great D-line but also had great DB's, always somewhat lacking at the LB position though), the Steelers - alwasy focus on Defense & building an Offense around the play-action pass stemming from power football.

I could go on but you should get the idea. the Redskins focus on acquiring cast-offs & FA's to fill role-positions & get PROVEN players to fill needs while making the occasional, necessary, high-end draft pick.

this is what you would know if you researched Redskins...nay NFL history & didn't focus on the last 14 years of football. you know, the west-coast, salary cap having, 3-4 Defense trending, no more power/SMASH-MOUTH football era. it is in this era that the Redskins are trying to build a team around toughness, physicality, aggresive, power running, play-action based football. just like the good 'ol Riggins/Theismann days, or the Ernest Byner/Doug Williams year or the...well, if you don't know, start your research.

Hail

[skinsn24]

14 years of mediocre to below success does not eradicate 60+ years of being an elite franchise.

this is what's rediculous. the younger crowd going "I've only existed 20 years so nothing else means anything to me."

it's the same ones who go "Jim Brown who...what did he do this year?"

Ok first of all 60 years of being elite? try like 15-20 years tops. Second, dont generalize toher young fans to me. I have watched every redskin dvd/tape i can get my hands on. I can tell you all about jim brown, man ive run a statistical anaylsis on the top RBS of all time to find out statisically who is the best. Football is my passion, i am a student of the game and a student of history.

The fact of the matter is we have be horrible for my life time, but i stick with us, i live and die every week with this team.

However, i feel that i should be able to voice my negative opinion of how things are currently.

Keep this in mind, while you may have a biased view of things right now because you witnessed firsthand the "glory years", i on the other hand have seen good teams (twice) and alot of bad teams, yes i may be slightly biased to the bad teams, because i have seen so many, but my view is not sooo tainited that i cant call a spade a spade. I pray we make the right decisions in this draft (trade down, draft 2 defensive players, including 1 dl), and then i may have a positive outlook again.

BUt seriously, 14 years is a long time, do you know how many businesses have come and gone in that time. Man, 14 years ago the internet wasnt even around. We were in the first bush administration or just coming out of it. Its been a long time, and its been 16 years since a superbowl win. No one had heard of chapelle, Notorious BIG wasnt even known, yet alone killed yet, and we still had fears of Japan.

To try to make it seem like 14 years is not a long time is redicoulus. Do you have pet, a dog? A cat? I bet they werent alive the last time this team won the superbowl.

[JoeKnowsBest]

Seriously, we have suffered through almost 2 decades of losing after losing and we still have all these die hard fans that support their team with whole hearted passion. The stadium is sold out with the waiting list for like the next 20 years and it's the largest stadium in the NFL with 80,000 seats. The merchandise revenue is the richest in the league, and this board is always packed with members more than any other message board I've been with on the internet.

With the losing records yet still die hard and intelligent loyal fan base that the Redskins have, I can't fathom how any one can say "Redskins fans are 'soft'". It's still one of the largest and most loyal fan bases in the NFL.

[ttr77]

I'll give you this, the first 4-5 years under the Dan I was worried, like anybody else that he would turn out to just be a meddling tycoon with a new toy. but you can see how every couple of years he learns from past mistakes & makes corrections.

I keep reading how he has learned from his mistakes. Does anyone have any concrete proof of this? His firs year, when he had no chance to truly get in the way, they were 10-6. Then he gets his chance to sign the probowl team from 1990 and they go 8-8. Their most recent season - 5-11. After all this talk we do about the cap, free agency, the draft, who makes the decisions, etc...isn't the amount of wins ALL that truly matters? In this regard, the team has regressed. And it's not like they are a particularly young team.

And for those who say that age matters here...how? I remember the 80s vividly, but that does not make this any easier to accept. I would argue that perhaps it makes it harder. We saw how this team was...we saw the tradition, the honor, the fact that teams were SCARED to play the Skins. How they walked on the field at RFK and had no doubt they were in for a long day. The team was widely respected and won, while perhaps not even having the most talent.

Now? Teams walk in FedEx and feel like they are playing in front of a bunch of a picnic-eating, manicure-having, white glove-wearing crowd, with the occasional $7 beer bottle being thrown. And they know - all they need to do is make a few good plays and this crowd of 90k will turn on the home team in a second with an outpouring of boos. When that happens, they usually win. That NEVER happened in the 80s. I'm old enough to remember. And to me, thats harder.

[Thinking Skins]

I keep reading how he has learned from his mistakes. Does anyone have any concrete proof of this? His firs year, when he had no chance to truly get in the way, they were 10-6. Then he gets his chance to sign the probowl team from 1990 and they go 8-8. Their most recent season - 5-11. After all this talk we do about the cap, free agency, the draft, who makes the decisions, etc...isn't the amount of wins ALL that truly matters? In this regard, the team has regressed. And it's not like they are a particularly young team.

exactly my point.