What Redskins' generation are you and what's your first "live" 'skins memory

[RWJ]

My first memory of the Redskins was the 1973 Super Bowl between the Redskins vs. Dolphins.

[Acworth skins fan]

2 hours ago, RWJ said:

My first memory of the Redskins was the 1973 Super Bowl between the Redskins vs. Dolphins.

Mine also, 6 years old at the time. 

[Wyndorf25]

I'm 46 now and I think I was 5 or 6 at a relatives house for either a game-watching party or it might have been Thanksgiving and the Redskins were on TV (probably playing the Cowboys).

 

I just remember this small psycho with a single-bar face-mask, dirty and disheveled uniform, running all over the place and making play after play to help the Redskins win on this particular day.

 

I remember getting so excited (really, for the first time that I can recall watching any sports). I asked my dad who number 7 was and he proudly told me, Joe Thiesmann. From that moment on, I was a Redskin fan for life.

[Fight for ole DC]

6 hours ago, RWJ said:

My first memory of the Redskins was the 1973 Super Bowl between the Redskins vs. Dolphins.

+1. My family had just moved to Woodbridge, VA and I became a fan watching the same game. My Dad was in the military so I moved often but my love for the Redskins has followed me. HTTR

[ColonialWBSkinsFan]

48 here, grew up in Charlotte, NC  (don't ever let ANYONE tell you that the Carolinas are Panthers country, they were, and to a large extent, STILL ARE, Redskins country!)

 

Played youth football for one year at age 8 in 1979 (and I was 3-foot nothin' and weighed about 40 pounds soaking wet, so that didn't last).  When we had scrimmages, they divided up the team and one side was Cowboys and the other was Redskins.  I was always picked for Redskins so I got interested in them.  First memory I have was the infamous Roger F***-ing Staubach season-finale in 1979.  I literally cried at the end of that game, much to the confusion of my parents (neither of whom have really ever cared much about pro football).   From there, it was on, and I've been a die-hard ever since.  

 

If you've ever been to a Redskins - Panthers game in Charlotte (I've been to two over the years), you'll know what i mean about NC being Skins territory.    LOTS of burgundy and gold there, at least 50-50 by my estimation, even in years when the Skins have sucked.

[88Comrade2000]

51. Superbowl 17 is my first memory. I wasn't really much of a sports fan then. I spent my freshman year, 86 at George Mason. Casually followed the Skins that year and 87 while at Marshall. After watching Superbowl 22, I realized I was a Skins fan and have been one since then.  It wasn't a particular player that lured me in. I love all Skins until they make me hate them. It was Coach Gibbs .

[Probos]

I'm 55.  My father grew up outside of Chicago in northwest Indiana so he grew up a Bears fan.  My initial football fandom was for them since he still followed them even though we lived in the Maryland just out side of D.C.  He started following the Skins in the early 70's.  I have a vague recollection of watching the '72 SB on TV and watching them play the Buffalo Bills that same season.  Those are the earliest memories.  My father switched his alligance to the Skins shortly after.  I was in HS when Gibbs became HC and was lucky enough to watch all those great teams throughout my teens and into my 20's.

[nonniey]

My first memory was taking my grandson to see Sammy Baugh's first game.  Being a Temple fan I wanted to see how well he did as a Pro.  We crushed the Giants that day and our rookie QB Baugh led us to our first championship.  Great year for football. Ah the memories.

 

 

v/r

Paul Edgecomb

[hail2skins]

Cool to see all the folks here who started with the Skins in the Allen era. I wasn't a fan yet by this particular game, but this silent film always fascinates me, with the images of people heading into the game, the action on the field from an end zone seat at RFK, and showing the Post with a pair of tickets. Merry Christmas 1972!

 

 

[Warhead36]

First Redskin memory...probably 98 or so when we had that big comeback against the Cardinals only to lose on a last second FG. I think Boomer Esaison lit us up for like 600 yards or something crazy that day.

[Darth Tater]

The first real memory of my Redskins fandom was the 1972 comeback win against Dallas during the regular season.

[hail2skins]

9 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

First Redskin memory...probably 98 or so when we had that big comeback against the Cardinals only to lose on a last second FG. I think Boomer Esaison lit us up for like 600 yards or something crazy that day.

The Esiason game was 1996 when it was actually the Cardinals that came from behind and beat us in OT at RFK.

 

The 1998 game at FedEx, the Skins were 2-8 heading into it and were down 31-6 to the Cards, led by Jake Plummer, at half, and the fans let the team have it as they left the field. Skins were still down 38-13 with 4 minutes left in the third, but then had a furious comeback which brought us to within 3 with 9 minutes left in the game, but the Skins couldn't stop the Cards from scoring again and wound up losing by 3. Thing I remember was sitting down low and it seemed like the stadium was going crazy as the Skins were trying to comeback. But I look at the attendance from that day, and it was only 63K.  Maybe it wasn't that different than today's woes...……….

[BraveWarrior]

While I probably saw other games before this, the earliest Redskins game I can still remember is the 1979 season finale, when Staubach beat us in the final minute to knock us out of playoff contention. I remember being so upset, I went up to my parents and told them to throw out all my Redskins stuff! Kept that passion for them for many years... until 20+ years of Snyder's mismanagement made me indifferent to how the team has played the last few seasons.  

[88Comrade2000]

10 hours ago, nonniey said:

My first memory was taking my grandson to see Sammy Baugh's first game.  Being a Temple fan I wanted to see how well he did as a Pro.  We crushed the Giants that day and our rookie QB Baugh led us to our first championship.  Great year for football. Ah the memories.

 

 

v/r

Paul Edgecomb

Wasn't that 1937?

[nonniey]

8 minutes ago, Rdskns2000 said:

Wasn't that 1937?

Yep.

[LightningBuggs]

Reading this thread I find it interesting how many fans are scarred by the '79 game in Dallas.  I share in that pain.  Worst loss for any team I'm a fan of ever.

 

One minute Skins are division champs with home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and minutes later they're out of the playoffs.  Gut wrenching.

[TheBlueIndian]

Born in 1970 and from as far back as I can remember the Redskins were always on at our house, my grandparents house, aunts and uncles and friends of the family. Sundays were for Redskin football it was just what we did as a family. However, the most indelible memory I have as a young fan was the 82 superbowl. I was 11 at the time and I was invited over to one of my classmates house for a superbowl party. My folks were having a party as well and in hindsight that is where I should've stayed. At any rate I showed up to the party and was having a good time until the inexplicable happened. From the category of You just cant make this S up:

 

So everyone knows the play.... 4th and 1 from the 42 and trailing in the fourth quarter in a masterpiece of power football and as soon as the ball is snapped the idiot kid who is hosting the party gets up and says "I cant watch" then turns the F'ng television off. We collectively screamed at him DUDE ! what the....

 

Now keep in mind this was 82 and remote controls were a new thing and this kid didn't have one so you had to twist the volume knob to turn on the TV . Another kid jumps up to turn it back on and in his fervor pulls the knob completely off. Now it is a mad scramble to line up the splines on the knob to get it back on which eventually happens and the TV is turned back on only to have the obligatory 15 seconds of fuzzy colors as the set warms up just in time to see the replay.

 

Favorite players though the years

The gold old days:

Riggo, Monk, Green, Mann, Manley, Grimm, Jacoby

 

The not so good old days:

Jansen, Samuels, Taylor, London, Portis, Sellers, Cooley

 

 

 

[hail2skins]

1 hour ago, LightningBuggs said:

Reading this thread I find it interesting how many fans are scarred by the '79 game in Dallas.  I share in that pain.  Worst loss for any team I'm a fan of ever.

 

One minute Skins are division champs with home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and minutes later they're out of the playoffs.  Gut wrenching.

Yeah, and the thing is, we still make the playoffs if the Cardinals don't lose by like over 30 to the Bears earlier in the day. And of course they lose 42-6.

 

I was living in NJ and the game wasn't on up there, so I somehow found an out-of-town radio station that was broadcasting the game. When I heard Riggo breaking off his 75-yard run, I was so pumped. But the game that was being shown up there (Eagles-Oilers) ended and they broke to the Skins game just as Tony Hill caught that TD pass to tie the game (and the XP put Dallas ahead). And then getting up to close to the Dallas 40 to give Moseley a prayer, but not getting the timeout. Dagger.

 

I honestly can't think of any other game that compares in recent memory. The '99 divisional game, blowing the 13-0 lead against Tampa, and the FG fiasco at the end was painful. And pulling ahead of Seattle in the '07 wildcard game, only to see it go awry and end the season after we had gone on the streak after ST's murder. From all sports, being at game 5 of the 2012 NLDS, having a 6-0 lead early and then 7-5 going into the 9th and Storen blowing it, was really bad. Exiting Nats Park after that  magical season that night, you could hear a pin drop. 

[CrypticVillain]

My first "live” memory of the Redskins happened during an event when I was three years old I think. I was playing on the phone with my one-year-old niece at the time. We ended up calling the police. Of course they came and I got in as much trouble as a three year old could. I remember the Redskins playing and that big yellow CBS Sports banner with the blue letters along the bottom of the stands. It was early 1992, so I’m thinking it could have been the playoff game against the Falcons. I hate the fact that during our last dominant run that I was being a nuisance to the DC Police. 😩

 

After that my memories were just hearing names like Richie Pettibone, Mark Ripken (I remember being kind of blown when he went to the Rams) Terry Allen, Norv Turner, and of course Heath Shuler and Gus Frerotte.
 

But my first real live game memory was a game against the Lions that we won in OT with a Darrell Green pick-six. Apparently that was in 1995.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1995/10/23/redskins-score-some-green-in-overtime-36-30/6ae5b47a-7c9b-4e55-ad5d-8c7d30166244/

 

 

(This just made me realize how deep I go back with this team. It’s crazy. 😂)

[tmandoug1]

On 3/6/2020 at 3:46 AM, RWJ said:

My first memory of the Redskins was the 1973 Super Bowl between the Redskins vs. Dolphins.

Mine as well......I was also only 6 years old.

D

[Darth Tater]

9 hours ago, LightningBuggs said:

Reading this thread I find it interesting how many fans are scarred by the '79 game in Dallas.  I share in that pain.  Worst loss for any team I'm a fan of ever.

 

One minute Skins are division champs with home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and minutes later they're out of the playoffs.  Gut wrenching.

Well, I've overcome that pain by thinking it may have had a large influence on setting up the 80s. I suspect that Beathard is the one who gets canned.  So, no Gibbs, Monk, Hogs and many others.  A 1980s Pardee coached Redskins at best are a perennial one and done playoff team.

[stoshuaj]

I don’t remember the specific game but I know I was wearing a band-aid across my nose bc that’s what Billy wore.

 

Sitting in one of the end zone caves at RFK.  Got ahold of some bad popcorn and barfed in the aisle.  While crawling around clearing my stomach, noticed that the reason it was so loud is because the metal plates on the floor were broken loose from the frame which allowed the constant stomping/banging of the plates combined w the echo of the cave to deafen you.  I sat up in time to see the stadium literally bouncing.  (Youtube it, it’s real).  I was scared ****less that the whole place was going to fall in.

 

The resident answer to my ills?, whiskey out of random stranger’s flasks......I was probably 9.

 

Oh yeah, pissing in the sink.  Seemed like the thing to do.  I hesitated, because you know, the sink.  My dad lifted me up and said “let’s go, piss in the sink.  We’re going to miss the damn game and you’re holding up everybody else”

 

Every time we got home from a game, my mom would be pissed at my dad.  It was a glorious time.  I miss my pops.

[stoshuaj]

Next best memories, ‘82/83 season.  Senior year in HS.  Friend’s dad was a lobbyist who had club tickets right around the 50 yard line.  4 high school kids, sitting amongst the hoi paloi in the clubbers. Lol

 

They all changed their opinion when Monique (cute as a button, wonder what ever happened to her?) opened up her bubble coat and bottles of liquor were made available for all.  (My dad owned a liquor store)

Iirc, the Detroit game, we somehow ended up on the field at the end of the game.  (along w a lot of other people) This wee little fella in a Redskins uniform was yelling at us to “get the **** off the field”.  It was Joey T, lol

 

All 3 games, it was our final hurrah as a group before we all went our separate ways.

[gooseneck]

My mother took me fishing in the potomac river in 1968 when I was 10.  The Redskins were playing the bears and we could hear them on the radio.  I believe they won 28-14.  The bears were pretty good back then.  After that it was start-o-matic and a long love affair with much disappointment after 1992.

[88Comrade2000]

23 hours ago, nonniey said:

Yep.

Taking your grandson in 1937?  Wow, you have to over 100 then.