A story of lifelong Washington Redskins fandom

First game and out-of-market fandom

My parents took me to my first Redskins game at age nine.  The game was played at the Metrodome in Minneapolis against the Vikings.  Monday Night Football was the setting.  The Redskins won the game like they usually did, I was happy.  But nothing could prepare me for what was coming after the game.

We gained access to the players tunnel and one by one, my hero’s came walking by, Theismann, Butz, Manley, Riggo, Monk, Mosely, Green, among others.  These guys saw me, this little kid with a Redskins helmet, standing outside at nearly midnight, in the middle of a cold blistery winter night in Minneapolis (on a school night, ha!).  Each one signed my helmet and cemented their legacy in my heart.

Washington Commanders

Yes, this was the same Redskins helmet that I wore in my youth football games.  The helmet was never worn again after that night and it proudly sits on my mantle as my most prized possession all these years later.

Growing up a Redskins fan out of market, especially as a kid in the 80’s, it was hard.  Those of you under 35 won’t understand, let me clarify.  The NFL Sunday Ticket didn’t exist, there was no NFL Network. You watched the game that came on in your local market. For me, it was typically the Vikings and later the Colts as I moved to Indianapolis as a teen.

As a young kid, I sat in front of the TV every Sunday, not to watch the televised game, I would wait for the Redskins score to come across the ticker.  My only interest in the televised game was to see how much time was left until halftime or the end of the game. At that point I could see a couple seconds of Redskins highlights.

There wasn’t the Internet, no cell phones, no way to get scores until Brent Musberger gave them to me.  I still get goosebumps remembering when Brent would come on the pregame show, just before kickoff and say “You’re looking Live, at RFK stadium, where the Redskins are set to take on the….”

My favorite day of the week was Thursday’s, this was the day the TV Guide came in the mail.  Yes, there was a time before the guide button on your remote!   I’d come home from school, go directly to the mailbox to grab the TV Guide magazine and immediately go to the Sunday listings in hopes of seeing that my Redskins would be on TV that week.

Sadly, the TV Guide would oftentimes only say “NFC Game of the Week”.  That meant I would have to wait until Sunday morning, when I would get up at 6 a.m. on my day off from school to check the Sunday morning newspaper for the local TV schedule.  All in hopes of being able to watch my beloved Redskins.

When ESPN launched in 1979, it changed the landscape of how sports were covered.  But in 1994, when the NFL Sunday ticket was released, it changed my life.  Thanks to Direct TV, I haven”t missed a Redskins game 25 years.  During my college years and as young adult, I couldn’t afford the price of the NFL package.

So I’d go to our local Damon’s Bar & Grill, the only place in town that had the games back then.  There I’d sit, Riggo jersey on my back, cheering on Gus Frerotte, Heath Shuler, John Beck, it didn’t matter who was the QB, how bad the team may have been, I never missed a game.  I never stopped caring.