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DC Sports Bog: Scenes from the Burgandy Revolt: Bucs

SkinsHokieFan

By SkinsHokieFan
in The Stadium

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/10/scenes_from_the_burgundy_revol.html

So 2 thoughts/questions I have

1) How ugly are you willing to have this season get in order for there to be top to bottom changes in the organization and the way its run.

Me personally, I am willing for it to get real ugly, I mean ugly with paper bags, boos, blackouts, and near rioting from the fans (no violence please, lets go Ghandi on this)

2) For those who went, how bad was it at halftime?

I've only been going to Skins games for four years. My historical knowledge is scant. But I can tell you for sure that the mood at the end of Sunday's first half was as defiant as I've seen. There was rage. There was dissent. It wasn't just the demagogues out on the barricades; The People themselves were taking a few cautious steps toward the palace guards, raising their voices, yelling "Yo king, I understand there's a famine in the countryside, but dangit, we're hungry right now, and we just can't wait any longer."

And then? Well, then the second half happened. The wagons pulled up with the provisions, and it wasn't just dry grain, but even some fruit and chocolates, and the cheers were unanimous, and the mob scooped up what they could get and raised their arms in joy and then went on home to celebrate. It ain't easy to revolt, and if the immediate hunger in your belly disappears, maybe it's no longer worth it. I'm not here to judge.

But some of the True Believers I talked to during that unstable first half didn't rip up their pamphlets, even if they ate some of the grain themselves. If the food arrives again during the next two weekends, maybe they'll rip up their leaflets and throw away their revolutionary garb and a great peace will settle over the land. But rest assured, if the famine comes back, so will the outrage. In the meantime, witness some scenes from the still-wobbly Revolution. There's something happening here.

The Shirts

As you can see above, there were plenty of people wearing homemade shirts of dissent. On the left, wearing a Mister Irrelevant model tee, was Ryan Fitzpatrick of Arlington. You might remember seeing him shirtless on the Nats Flex Cam. Sunday, he was a partisan, and he reported that fans in his section gave him a standing ovation.

"Skins til the day I did, but this is the worst," Ryan told me, during that dark first half. "I love them, but this is terrible."

As I was trying to take his photo, a woman neither of us knew named Lisa ran into the shot with that paper plate you see above. Someone had been handing them out inside the stadium. Sign o' the times.

The woman on the right, meanwhile, is Maggie Cameron, 28, of Alexandria. At 3 a.m. Sunday morning, inspiration struck, and she decided to make this shirt herself. It seemed to work. One man asked her to pose for a picture with his baby. Strangers came up to give her hugs and pose for photos. More than one person offered to buy the shirt off her back. Why did she make it?

"It was a stroke of genius," she said. "I think Dan Snyder is better-suited to amusement parks and children with rides."

Then there was this guy, Andrew Smith, of Columbia. His buddy Dave made about 20 of these Snyder jerseys, though this was the first time he wore one to a game. Somewhat reluctantly.

"I'm a fan, I didn't really want to do it," Andrew told me, "but I'm telling you, people love it. I might go buy a thousand and sell them."

So, why now?

"I figured right now's an appropriate time," he said. "I'm still a fan, it's just not much fun any more....I like the fact that Snyder's willing to spend the money, but he's got to get out of it. Sign the checks and that's it."

His friend, Rusty, drives past M&T Bank Stadium every Sunday, and the contrast is...well, you know what the contrast is.

"I don't feel like we're really doing anything to get any better," Andrew concluded. "But at least we've got the Caps."

And in fact, he said his next step might be to wear his Ovechkin jersey to Skins games.

Rocking The Red

Click link for rest...

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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How can it change? If Snyder doesn't know by now that his way of doing things does not produce even winning seasons, much less Super Bowls, when will he ever find out?

Personally I am hoping it gets so ugly that Snyder is sick to his stomach anytime he walks into the stadium. The boos, and just plain ugliness has to have an impact on him.

He has tried everything, everything, except hiring a real FO and given them the power they need

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loren

loren

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Personally I am hoping it gets so ugly that Snyder is sick to his stomach anytime he walks into the stadium. The boos, and just plain ugliness has to have an impact on him.

He has tried everything, everything, except hiring a real FO and given them the power they need

He hasn't tried everything, he's tried one thing.

Some cycle of big name coach/overpay big name free agents, then mediocrity, then try it all over again with new big name coach/different overpaid big name free agents, blah blah blah, up to the point where no big name coaches even wanted to be overpaid by him, and he had to go with a guy with no resume like Zorn.

The boos probably just make him more resilient to do things his way. He probably thinks he's going to show us all when he wins that Superbowl one day.

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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The boos probably just make him more resilient to do things his way. He probably thinks he's going to show us all when he wins that Superbowl one day.

Thats my one worry, that its not about winning to him, but its about winning his way and Dan getting the credit.

Thats what happened down in Dallas. Jerry couldn't take not getting the credit. And he (thankfully for us) has killed that organization

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zoony

zoony

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David Peverall, a 40-year old from Alexandria, saw me talking to Raum and called me over. He asked if I wanted to know how he was spending his Redskins money next year. I said sure. He told me he was going to drop his two Skins tickets and upgrade his five seats at George Mason basketball games.

"I'm not gonna pay money for this garbage," he said. "I'd rather give money to the school than this."

When we chatted, David and his son were finishing off the remains of their $22 lunch, which bought them nachos, a pretzel and two sodas. He said he and his wife had made the decision at the Rams game, because of the experience and the results. He usually brings one of his two sons to the Redskins game, so I asked if they'd mind.

"Do you mind if we ever come to the Redskins game again?" he asked 7-year old Cole. The boy shrugged.

"He don't care," David said.

That is just brutal.

And sad. I feel so bad for this generation of young fans.

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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That is just brutal.

And sad. I feel so bad for this generation of young fans.

As I said before, the fans weren't going to revolt and turn on Dan with Joe Gibbs around. Joe Gibbs was a big security blanket for the team

Now that he is gone, this thing is getting very ugly very fast. And it already was heading that way right before ST passed away

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loren

loren

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As I said before, the fans weren't going to revolt and turn on Dan with Joe Gibbs around. Joe Gibbs was a big security blanket for the team

Now that he is gone, this thing is getting very ugly very fast. And it already was heading that way right before ST passed away

Yep. And don't forget that this feeling was fomenting before Gibbs was lured back. Gibbs bought Dan Snyder 4 years to try to clean up his act, but it took luring the greatest Redskins ever out of retirement. If this thing doesn't work out this year, there's no equivalent (that I can think of) that will buy him that sort of time.

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RenegadeTK

RenegadeTK

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i never wish a loss on my team... ever. in retrospect i will say "man i guess it's pretty good we lost that game" but i will never go into a week hoping or wishing for my team to lose for any reason. plus, i honestly believe we could go 1-15 and still have snyder calling the shots. he would just get new minions.

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loren

loren

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That is just brutal.

And sad. I feel so bad for this generation of young fans.

By that same token, I feel bad for my wife. I got to at least see a Superbowl. She did not have this pain in her life, and then married me, and last week as she's watching the end of the Lions game and cursing, it occurred to me I should be arrested for spousal abuse for getting her to like this team like I do.

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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Yep. And don't forget that this feeling was fomenting before Gibbs was lured back. Gibbs bought Dan Snyder 4 years to try to clean up his act, but it took luring the greatest Redskins ever out of retirement. If this thing doesn't work out this year, there's no equivalent (that I can think of) that will buy him that sort of time.

The only thing that would give Dan Snyder any credibility is to get a football man in place and GTFO of the football operations completely.

If he truly was out of the football operations we'd see full drafts, good special teams plays and incremental improvement. Offseasons would be geared around mid April when the draft occurs, instead of March 1st which is the first day of FA

There wouldn't be a show on march 1st on 980 talking about the latest big FA signing

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TD_washingtonredskins

TD_washingtonredskins

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SHF,

You posted something a while back about the organization losing its fans. I had some negative posts about that opinion in that thread. I'd like to go on record now as saying that you were 100% correct and I was wrong.

I see this thing heading downhill very quickly. In many ways we're worse off than we were after Spurrier's second year because we're not a roster full of cheap scrubs, we're full of vets with high cap numbers.

I think Snyder needs to hire a strong GM, back off, and let someone come in and rebuild this team from top to bottom.

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