Week One: Rival Week!

The Washington Redskins against the Dallas Cowboys for the first Sunday night game: OhMy! The emotions of fans who just want a winning team back in Washington, DC, the excitement for the start of football season and most hated rivals in the NFL faceoff. Tailgating started at noon, eight hours before kickoff and for the most part, fans of both teams behaved. As you entered the stadium, the chants started and the tension grew and no one in Vegas placed bets on that feeling that was in FedEx that gave Skins fans goose bumps before the game.

Flash backs from RFK stadium and highlights from those whose names are now in the Washington Ring of Fame brought back memories of the good ole days and for others they were images that made you flash-forward to when you can take your children to a game and say “I was at that game” or “I remember that moment”. I couldn’t help but wonder if I would ever witness those moments where years from now they will be played back and those moments will be remembered forever.

The very next image on the big screen was bundled up older man named Charlie White. Talk about a moment… After a moving tribute for his 72 years of ushering for the Washington Redskins- he has seen virtually every Washington home game- the 86 year old is a piece of Washington Redskins history. (Read Dan Steinberg’s story on White)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/12/meet_charlie_white_the_redskin.html

Maybe it was the tension building from tailgating to the stadium. Maybe it was an 86 year old fan and usher that made every Redskin fan in FedEx glossy-eyed as he was living proof that a true fan is a fan for life. Maybe it was all the disappointing seasons and years of never knowing what Snyder is going to do next that was building the emotions in FedEx. You could just feel it… And then, the stadium erupted when the big screens zoomed in on Chief Zee wearing the headdress as he chanted: WE Want Dallas! WE WANT Dallas! WE WANT DALLAS! FedEx has never been that loud and the intensity for a win has never been more clear.

The fans never left the game and with each down there was restored hope that we can win. I'm pretty sure this game took a year off my life and I woke up on Monday with no voice. As a Skins fan; a W is a W, no matter what the stats show

If I was Coach Shanahan I would have given the Redskins defense off from practice on Monday, Special teams half a day practice, the offense would have two-a-days all week. The yellow pants that matched the flags on the field would be worn every game in hopes that the calls go for the Redskins! But even if the Skins lose every other game this season, the emotion, loyalty and a restored hope that started from the image of a 86 year old man on the big screen and ended with 13-7 HAIL TO THE REDSKINS is a moment that will last my life time.

Rivals: Come Together!

It’s the first NFL game of the 2010 season and the New Orleans Saints are taking on the Minnesota Vikings- its just one of those games where every football fan was watching.

Before the game, both teams walked towards each other on the field, in a row and held up their right index finger as way to make a statement to the NFL and the owners. The statement the Satins and the Vikings made went beyond the rivalry of an NFC Championship game but as way to unite the National Football League players union.

The National Football League player’s union was formed in 1956 when football players on the Green Bay Packers and Cleveland Browns together demanded that the organizations provide players with a minimum league-wide salary and per diem pay, uniforms and equipment paid for and maintained at the clubs' expense and continued payment of their salaries while they were injured and unable to play. Don Shula of the Baltimore Colts, John Gordy of the Detroit Lions, Frank Gifford and Sam Huff of the New York Giants, and Norm Van Brocklin of the Los Angeles Rams led the organizing drive. (Thank you Wikipedia)

So.. what’s the big deal? Basically, the owners and the players can not agree on the percent of leagues revenue that is shared between team owners and the players, the rookie salaries and contracts, the length of the season (will they extend to 18 games), health coverage for family and retirement and the use of drug testing. Will the owners of the most watched sport in the United States lock out players for 2011 season because they are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement for the league’s 1,700 players?

Honestly, let the individual teams deal with the issues of salaries and contracts and besides the extension of a regular season schedule, the rest should be the leagues responsibility to provide health care and instill drug testing. Take away professional football from millions of die hard, crazy fans and the NFL will not only be called the No Football League but the rivalry will no longer be between the owners and the players, but between the fans and the NFL.

FIGURE IT OUT GOODELL!

I just want to know that in 2011 I will still have a holy day of football and my excuse to my boss for why I am unable to work on Sunday’s. This is a rivalry that needs to end before March 2011 and it is the one rivalry that the owners and players do not want the fans to be against them.