twitter: John Harbaugh is an *******, oops, I mean, said he wants to 'Take Control of the D.C fanbase'/ Haloti Ngata Aint Goin Nowhere

[zoony]

I also take it personally when people bad mouth Baltimore. This is my home now. Has been for 11 years. It's the home of my Wife and her family which is now MY family.
.

I spend a lot of time in Baltimore. Will be there for a week in February, actually. I think Baltimore is a city with a lot of character, and I think the areas surrounding Baltimore are very nice.

That said, anytime I wear a Redskins shirt (it's rare, I'm usually in business atire when there) I catch a load of **** from everywhere. It's all in good fun though...

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Its already happening slowly I was at a restaurant watching the game on Saturday in Falls Church and every time the Ravens did something good the whole place went nuts. Some people here are overreacting though. If people want to stop being Skins fans and be a Ravens fan who cares?

[ouvan59]

I really don't understand why you would fault someone for choosing another team. ....

I really don't understand how any real fan could not fault someone who switches allegiences. Being a fan isn't about the path of least resistance. It's about sticking with your team through thick and thin. The bad times are what makes championships that much sweeter. So if any of you (or your friends) are tempted to switch to the Ratbirds I say good riddance. Take your Lakers, Yankees and Penguins gear and hit the highway. And when you come back when the Skins are good again claiming that you've been a Skins fan since birth I'll have the requisite amount of comtempt for you and yours. If you want to switch teams that's all fine and dandy but don't expect to earn any respect for it. It's the easy way out.

[Destino]

It would be a wise decision. I'll never be a fan of any other team, I'm just not wired that way. But sometimes I wish I could be, I really do. The Redskins on the field product sucks. And it has sucked consistently since 1993 (minus 2 JG playoff years)

I really don't understand why you would fault someone for choosing another team. Especially someone outside of the DC area. Christ, on some level, this is supposed to be fun isn't it? What's fun about watching your team get its ass kicked like a bunch of incompetent losers week in and week out for two decades?

It would be a whole lot more fun to be a bandwagon Pats/Steelers fan. I know several, they always seem to really enjoy football season. I mean, really, really, really enjoy it. While I'm pretty much miserable. And the worst part is, we're not even the lovable losers. Our owner is a Class A prick.

....

Couldn't have said it better myself. If my heart allowed me to jump ship I would have done so years ago. Sadly I'm a lifer like many of the people on this board. To be perfectly honest I don't think the skins have many fans left that are otherwise. Hard to build a fair weather fan base when your team team has been under a hurricane of fail for the better part of two decades.

I still enjoy watch the games and knowing way too much about a football team (sometimes it does seem a little ridiculous doesn't it?) but I'd be a great deal happier if the skins were a yearly 10 win or more ball club. I don't even need a Superbowl at this point to be honest just a good team.

I stopped buying merchandise a couple years back as one fans protest... so far I have failed to change the franchise.

---------- Post added January-18th-2011 at 03:35 PM ----------

I really don't understand how any real fan could not fault someone who switches allegiences. Being a fan isn't about the path of least resistance. It's about sticking with your team through thick and thin. The bad times are what makes championships that much sweeter. So if any of you (or your friends) are tempted to switch to the Ratbirds I say good riddance. Take your Lakers, Yankees and Penguins gear and hit the highway. And when you come back when the Skins are good again claiming that you've been a Skins fan since birth I'll have the requisite amount of comtempt for you and yours. If you want to switch teams that's all fine and dandy but don't expect to earn any respect for it. It's the easy way out.

And what if the championship never comes and the team gets worse and eventually moves? What does that make us fans? I'm not going anywhere and frankly can't but intellectually I realize that the risk is being a life long sucker. A source of income that financed failure. That's how I feel about fans of other ball clubs where the ownership is clearly just screwing a loyal fan base over because they know that they don't have to do squat to get these people into the stadium and into their stores. At some point a fan can become an idiot with a fist full of money.

[Hollywood1127]

I could easily see this happening if Redskins continue to have loosing seasons. People in the Washington area are not too excited about Mike Shannahan that is attempting to get rid of Donovan McNabb. It's sad to see because he is probably going to be with another team and do much better under their offense. Not only that but if we draft a QB, it will take time for him to learn the system. He may struggle a bit under our O-Line and possibly become an injury prone QB. At the best, I see the Redskins going 6-10 again or 5-11.

If the Ravens continue to have successful seasons, it could easily hurt the Redskins fan base. Baltimore is an AFC team, but they are a near by city. Their games seem to be a lot more exciting when it comes down to the defense. They make interceptions and sack the other teams QB a lot. When the Ravens are on defense, you don't feel like the opposing team's offense is going to launch the ball 50 yards for a TD. When the Redskins are on the field, I attend to feel that way. Rey Lewis is definitely a crowd favorite. He gets the defense fired up and the crowd excited about the game. The Redskins just can't seem to create this energy inside FedEx field.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Anyone ever watch Ravens game when we have a 4 pm game the same day and its the only 1 pm game shown?

They are awful, they are boring and it honestly reminds me of watching the Big 10 games at noon on Saturday.

I'd fall asleep watching those games consistantly

As for me and the Redskins, this is a life long love, this team is family. I probably think about the Redskins as much as any other thing in my life. I am not going anywhere

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Sports fandom is kind of ridiculous. You choose your favorite team when you are seven years on one of three criteria:

1. They are the team closest to you.
2. They are the best team at the time.
3. You like their uniforms.

And you are stuck with that team forever. You are never allowed to change your mind. If we made other decisions this way, my favorite movie would still be Pete's Dragon and my favorite book would be "Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Syrup Factory."

[SkinsHokieFan]

Sports fandom is kind of ridiculous. You choose your favorite team when you are seven years on one of three criteria:

1. They are the team closest to you.
2. They are the best team at the time.
3. You like their uniforms.

And you are stuck with that team forever. You are never allowed to change your mind. If we made other decisions this way, my favorite movie would still be Pete's Dragon and my favorite book would be "Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Syrup Factory."

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Anyone ever watch Ravens game when we have a 4 pm game the same day and its the only 1 pm game shown?

They are awful, they are boring and it honestly reminds me of watching the Big 10 games at noon on Saturday.

I'd fall asleep watching those games consistantly

As for me and the Redskins, this is a life long love, this team is family. I probably think about the Redskins as much as any other thing in my life. I am not going anywhere

That's how I feel...about it all. If you're wired to be a fairweather fan, why the Ravens? I get that their relatively local, but so what? It's so easy to follow ANY team now, that I think teams like the Saints or Packers would be much more popular if you were looking to jump ship.

As for me personally, I just can't do it. It sounds corny, but I really didn't make a conscious decision to become a fan, I just became one. I'm happy I did...really those 10 years in the 1980s/90s probably contained more incredible memories for me than 75% of football fans get in 50 years of watching their teams, so I won't complain.

Sports fandom is kind of ridiculous. You choose your favorite team when you are seven years on one of three criteria:

1. They are the team closest to you.
2. They are the best team at the time.
3. You like their uniforms.

And you are stuck with that team forever. You are never allowed to change your mind. If we made other decisions this way, my favorite movie would still be Pete's Dragon and my favorite book would be "Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Syrup Factory."

Good stuff! It's very true and a fascinating thing. How did the Syrup Factory turn out? Was it Old Man Dithers dressed as a zombie?

[ouvan59]

And what if the championship never comes and the team gets worse and eventually moves? What does that make us fans? I'm not going anywhere and frankly can't but intellectually I realize that the risk is being a life long sucker. A source of income that financed failure. That's how I feel about fans of other ball clubs where the ownership is clearly just screwing a loyal fan base over because they know that they don't have to do squat to get these people into the stadium and into their stores. At some point a fan can become an idiot with a fist full of money.

Should the Cleveland Indians have no fans even though they haven't won a WS title since 1948? Were Red Sox fans suckers for sticking with their team? Were Saints fans? I understand the frustration and the unwillingness to spend tons of money on a poorly run franchise but I'll never, ever understand deciding to root for another team when times are tough. Every team goes through down times. And when the new team you switch to goes through down times, which surely they will, are you going to switch to a new team? How convenient. Sorry eff that.

[Mooney]

Bisciotti and Harbaugh are both very in tune with their fanbase. They both know Baltimore fans have always had an irrational hatred of the Redskins.....

This is Harbaugh's attempt to distract the fanbase.....that has already started turning on him.....from yet another choke job.

Ed Reed probably retires this year.....Ray Ray soon after that. Their window is closing. Half-empty Mullet & Trailer Stadium scenes are in the near future.

[ouvan59]

Sports fandom is kind of ridiculous. You choose your favorite team when you are seven years on one of three criteria:

1. They are the team closest to you.
2. They are the best team at the time.
3. You like their uniforms.

And you are stuck with that team forever. You are never allowed to change your mind. If we made other decisions this way, my favorite movie would still be Pete's Dragon and my favorite book would be "Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Syrup Factory."

Ummm, the difference is that Pete's Dragon & Scooby Doo are the same year after year after year and appeal to a certain age group. Football (and other sports) are fluid from year to year to year and isn't age specific. You aren't rooting for the same players you rooted for in 1967. What makes sports so unique is that fans develop an identity and pride following a team. It is what it is but what sense of pride do you get from switching teams? I watch a lot of sports and I always find a reason to root for one team or the other in any game I watch but there is no real satisfaction when the team I am rooting for wins and no real disappointment either. The real emotion of sports is when the team you have rooted for your whole life wins a big game or loses one. For example, I'm not a big soccer fan although I do watch the World Cup. I rooted hard for the US last year but there was no real emotional attachment so when they advanced to the knockout stage I was happy but not ecstatic and when they lost I was disappointed but not stunned.

For the younger Skins fans I understand the feeling that the good times may never come again because the Skins stunk when I started following them in the 60s. But they are going to come back at some point and if you stick it out you'll be happy you do.

[zoony]

And you are stuck with that team forever. You are never allowed to change your mind. If we made other decisions this way, my favorite movie would still be Pete's Dragon and my favorite book would be "Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Syrup Factory."

Might be that way for you, but at the age of 7 my favorite movie was Pulp Fiction and I was a big Brian Greene fan.

---------- Post added January-18th-2011 at 11:37 AM ----------

wtf- thread got closed for some reason

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Might be that way for you, but at the age of 7 my favorite movie was Pulp Fiction and I was a big Brian Greene fan.

---------- Post added January-18th-2011 at 11:37 AM ----------

wtf- thread got closed for some reason

Be honest, you mean Brian Austin Green, don't you?

[JPCreativelab]

i know it sucks for the younger fans, that have never seen anything close to glory, but for us older fans, that have seen 3 Super Bowl wins, a super bowl loss (or two if you are even older) we have a different outlook for the most part.

But, my roommate loves to laugh at me when i complain about the Skins and their lack of glory in recent times.

he is a Dolphins fan...and he reminds me that he has never seen a Super Bowl win, or much of anything other than a couple winning seasons, and he is my age. he just missed out on the Dolphins win over the Skins in the Super Bowl, and has seen nothing but crap since...esp since Marino departed.

so, i guess my point is, we may think we have it bad, but the Dolphins fans do have it worse