Awesome Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Perhaps more so than in any other culture in the world, except for maybe the European soccer hooligans, sports plays a major role in the lives of a great many Americans. Sports has become huge business, especially over the last ten years, and even professional leagues that are considered to be declining in popularity, Major League Baseball, still attract hundreds of thousands of fans to the ball park EVERYDAY. The American sports fanatic is quite an interesting breed, a category that I think all of us on this board fall under. Allegences are usually developed at a fairly young age and can lead to quite obsessive, borderline frightful, behavoir. For many, mental states are governed to an extent by the success of a certain team. As many here can attest, an ugly loss can usually lead to a frustrated, cranky, GET AWAY I AM PISSED OFF! mood, (It's a wonder some of us haven't gone postal during the last 10 years) while a good win can spawn a state of euphoria unrivaled except by sex, or winning lots of money. My question to you Extremeskins poster, is why are you a fan of the Washington Redskins??? I'll start things off -- My story of obsession started back in 1986. I was in the second grade, seven years old, and was just beginning to understand this thing called football. I had a vague recollection of Joe Theisman and that he broke his leg -- my first grade teacher must have been a huge fan b/c the whole class wrote him get well cards one day. Anyway, 1986 was the year McDonalds released those football cards that came with happy meals. As I'm sure they were marketed to respective regions, all you could get in Virginia were Redskins cards. Well those things blew up and recess was never the same after those suckers started getting traded around. The next year I went to my first Redskins game, a win against the Jets thank you very much, developed a creepy obsession for Gary Clark after he signed my penant outside RFK, and Doug Williams led us to the promised land. I've never looked back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 didn't we already do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins24 Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 There are several other threads like this, but it never hurts to have one more...... Redskins fan since: Birth Why: In the blood, in the genes. Home team. Why not? Became hardcore fan: After watching our team win our middle Superbowl in '88 ('87 season). And by "win" I mean CRUSH Denver. I will stop being a Redskins fan: upon death Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief skin Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Moved to Vienna Va when I was 7 years old my father was a fan and the Skins were our team and the home team. Back then all they did was lose but, as time went on they got better and I learned that suffering through the bad times with your team makes the good times so much sweeter. I have been a Skins fan for 38 years, have my basement decorated with Skins memorabilia, have the indian head logo tattooed on my right bicep, and I drive from my present home in Pennsylvania to Fedex for home games. I will die a Skins fan HAIL :dallasuck :eaglesuck :gaintsuck :jetssuck: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luca Brasi Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 My dad was a fan, not to the point of obsession like we are, but a fan none the less. It was the '88 Superbowl that started it all, and after '91 it became a true obsession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Om Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Why am I a Redskins fan? Because the alternative is unthinkable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Originally posted by Skins24 There are several other threads like this, but it never hurts to have one more...... Good point I have been a fan since birth. I was born during 2 days before thanksgiving in 1974. The redskins were playing the cowboys that year and lost. I don't remember if this was the 2 td comeback or not but my dad was so upset by the loss, that till this day I have been a fan of the skins and HATED the cowbows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. D Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 because burgundy is my favorite color Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Spearfeather Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Funniest thing is, it was Redskins loss to the Cowboys that sealed me as a Redskin fan. 1979......I was ten years old, Dallas had won the Super Bowl the year before and I desperately pulled for the Bronco's to win that one....anyway, the Skins were 10 - 5 going into the last game of the season at Dallas. A win, and we were in the Playoffs. A loss and I think a Chicago win, and we were out. I can still see Riggins running down the far sideline for like a 60 yard TD, with about 5 min to go. I was thinking, we're gonna do it. Well as much as I hated him, ( for playing for the wrong team mostly ), the great Roger Staubach came back and threw 2 TD's to win it with like a minute left. 35 - 34. I was crushed, almost to the point of tears. I remember how dejected my Father and Brother were. They could't beleive it and neither could I. But it made that 82/83 Championship game such sweet revenge for me. We had beaten the mighty Cowboys, and were going to the SB. And the rest.......is history. __________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codeorama Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 There was another thread like this, but.... It's pretty slow so another doesn't hurt a thing. I had been a life long Dolphins fan. I am a Gator fan as well. I began admiring Heath Shuler from a game that he played against the Gators and tossed 5 td passes. When the Skins drafted Shuler, I started watching the Skins and attended a few games Shuler's rookie year. After Shuler moved on, I didn't follow the Skins again until First, Shula got the shaft in Miami and then Marino was treated like a dog. Since then, I have hated the Dolphins and wanted another team to cheer for. With the fireing of Turner and the hiring of Marty, I watched every Skins game that season, but it was hard to "enjoy" what I was watching. When Spurrier was hired...... That sealed the deal for me personally. No, I'm not a life long Skins fan, but I'm a die hard Skins fan now none the less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Originally posted by codeorama No, I'm not a life long Skins fan, but I'm a die hard Skins fan now none the less. That is all that matters you are one of us now :dallasuck :eaglesuck :gaintsuck :jetssuck: and you provide us with anna :tongue: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkyalligator Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 My whole family are fans....from grandparents to parents to me.......I have not known anything else...I have no rational to it...but I am what I am til the day I die......I really don't even like watching other teams plays except for perhaps during the playoffs but never during the regular season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD_washingtonredskins Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 When I was five my mom got "suckered" into a bet on Super Bowl 17. Someone at work bet her $5 Miami would win. She was not a football fan before that day. When she got home I remember my dad telling her that she was dumb. Anyway, we all watched the game and cheered for the Skins....hey $5 is $5 right?? Since then I haven't missed a game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OURYEAR#56 Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I became a fan after we got our butts kicked by the Giants in the NFC Championship game. I think the score was 35-0. I fell in love with the burgandy and gold after that. I just love under dogs. I didnt know the very next year we would be holding some hard ware of our own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 82 SB vs the Dolphins. I was 5 years old. I remember my Dad and his friends all talking smack to each other and his friends ganging up on him saying that the Skins were a fluke. My Dad was so nervous for the team the whole game and kept telling me to watch #44. "He always gets better as the game goes on." Sure enough ol#44 carried our team into the endzone, along with a few 'fins into the endzone to help seal the first Skins SB win I had ever witnessed first hand. (I mean since I had been born) Follow that with the heartbreak of 83, Joe T. breaking his leg, my fathers death and the fun bunch breaking up before the 87 tour, I expected every year that some Redskin would win a superbowl single handedly. I grew up, understood the game better and witnessed 87 gleefully, followed by 91 and new my Dad was loving all of it. Until the Cowboys started playing well again....lets not go into all that right now....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTaylor42 Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 My love for the Redskins started when I was 9 years old. My friend who was a Redskins fan. Invited me over to watch the 1972 NFC Championship game against the Cowboys. It was a great game and Charley Taylor had a great game 7 catches for 146 yds and 2 tds. I was so impressed with him that day that I became a Redskin fan because of it! I got to say living in Illinois when I was a kid and Missori now. It has been difficult to follow the Skins. I did get to see two games a year when the Cardinals was in St. Louis. That helped me to continue to follow my favorite team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gridironmike Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I can't really say when I became a fan, I just remember always being one. My mom kept lots of things I did before I ever went to school, you know doodles, writing, that type of stuff. Well, I found a picture I drew at age three or four of a Redskins helmet, a football field, several little players, and a trophy (although it doesn't quite look like the Lombardi!). It is the current design helmet, but I drew that thing in 1972 or '73! That is my claim to lifelong Redskins fandom. I have another I drew after I started school with a player (#32) running for a TD, a Dallas player (#88) outstretched to tackle (but missing of course), and a player (#7) giving the TD signal. I keep them with my collection, along with a photo of me in my satin Skins jacket and beanie-topped tobogan (I was no older than six in the pic)!! I'd say lifelong. Oddly enough, I remember watching a Jets game as my earliest recollection of watching a game. I remember the Clint Longley game and the '79 heartbreak. Why in the heck does something like that stick with you??? Oh well, good memories are coming this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redskin56 Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I became a Skins fan in 1977. I was five years old. Jack Kent Cooke was living next door to one of my father's best friends in Las Vegas. My father was introduced to Mr. Cooke by his friend. One weekend my father took me over to Mr. Cooke's house. His first question was "Who is your favorite football team". My answer to him was the Pittsburgh Steelers. He took me into his house and proceeded to tell me all about the Redskins and gave me all kinds of memoriabilia. When my father and I left, Mr. Cooke asked me who my favorite football team was again. I looked him in the eye and told him the Washington Redskins. The rest, as they say, is history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzSkinsFan63 Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I wa born in D.C. lived in the area til I was 15 and then moved to Arizona..I was born with a Redskins penant in my hand..:laugh: more importantly is why I hate the Dallas cowboys...4 words..Thanksgiving day, Clint Longely:mad: I think I actually hate the cwoboys more than I love the Redskins so I wonder what that says about me.. :finger: the cowboys!....:laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Brown #43 Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I was born in DC, and I've lived in the DC area my whole life. I was raised a Redskin fan...in fact, I'm a third generation Skins fan on my father's side. Die hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMac Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I became a Skins fan almost out of spite of my dad and his buddies. It was 1980 and all of his buddies were over watching the Skins-Cowboys game. At that time I lived in So Cal and you were either a Rams or Cowboys fan. Not many Raider fans at that time. Anyways, I started cheering for the team they werent which of course was the Skins. Ever since that day I have follwed them. I even have a big Redskin Tatoo on my upper left arm that I got put on in my college days. All I know today is :dallasuck :dallasuck :dallasuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlitzFiftySix Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Wow, I must have missed the previous thread. So this has created some deep thought. The best answer I can come up with is because my father is a Redskins fan. I can remember my interest growing while in the 2nd grade. I recall many arguments and a few fist fights that brewed from elementary school trash talk at the bus stop. The strange thing is that my dad and I have never really gotten along (until recently), in fact in years past, we never seemed to have agreed on anything but the Redskins. It's possible that it could have been the only thing that kept us social over the past 20 years. My son is now 8 years old, and despite my efforts to get him interested in the Redskins he just doesn't seem to care. We've been to training camp, I've taken him to about 5-6 games, he is surrounded by memorabillia, and understands that Sundays are meant for church and football. He just doesn't seem to care. Have any of you fellow ES.com'ers experienced this with your own boys? At what age do they come around and jump on board the Skins bandwagon with you? Every year I am more and more disappointed when I cant obtain his interest and share with him my joys and pains with the burgandy and gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowghost Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I was born in DC. I have been a Redskins fan for as long as I can remember. It just seems natural. Call it a birth right. Living down here south of Atlanta since Dec 88 has been tough, but the last 3yrs with you good folks has made it a lot easier. Down here if it isn't nascar, wrestling, hunting or the Georgia Bulldogs, it doesn't mean anything. LoWGHoST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morning Wood Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 As a youngun growing up in the 70s, I was more of a Steelers fan. Had a big poster of them on my wall featuring their Superbowls against Dallas. I developed a bit of a disdain for the Cowboys during that time. Somewhere around 80-81, I got wind of how much the Skins seemed to dislike the Boys. Obviously, this greatly appealed to me. I can't site a direct moment or occurance which caused my complete changeover, I just sorta gravitated that way. All I know is that by around 83ish, I was full-on burgandy & gold. I've been a Skins geek ever since. I'm now 31, and Redskins football is almost like a religeon to me. My wife & I are having our first child sometime in September... I have been reading team reports to my wife's gut in the hopes that my daughter won't take as long to come to her senses as I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codeorama Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 TK421.... SW fan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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