Hail To The Burgundy And Gold

Having been a fan of the Redskins for over 30 years I have seen a lot of players come and go. With the salary cap, free agency, and the fact the average NFL player's career only lasts 4 season, players are gone before you know it.

So when it comes down to it, we root for colors. Maybe you root for the blue and orange, the silver and blue, or the silver and black. I look good in burgundy and gold. The names on the backs of the jersey's may change each year, but the colors, they are forever.

Once in a while we are lucky enough to have a few special players strap on the burgundy and gold. Players that leave a mark in our memories, and in our hearts. Players like Riggins, Theismann, Manley, Clark, Coleman, Butz, Green, Monk, The Hogs, Portis, Cooley, and Taylor.

And once in a while, the 53 guys wearing the burgundy and gold are truly a team. The 2008 Washington Redskins are a team, not 53 individuals. I believe that more than I can ever remember, dating back to the glory days. The Dallas Cowboys are in trouble! With all the I love me some me and pointing of fingers, they can't compete with this TEAM.

Like George Allen would say "With 53 men playing together, we can't lose!"

Cheers and Hail

Fatpickle: I Heart The Redskins

I am 34 years old and I have spent all my life building a relationship with the Redskins. To say we have had our ups and downs would be an understatement. But in the end, they are my oldest and dearest friend. Here is a little history of our relationship.

My oldest memories of the Skins date back to the late seventies. I’m not sure how I remember the games from that era, as I was only 5 years old. My Grandmother owned a bar in Herndon, VA around this time. Pictures of the Skins hung throughout the walls, and lots of Skins were customers. My Grandmother moved to another bar in the early 80’s. I would hang around the bar, as guys such as Riggins, Jacoby, Grimm, and others hung out curling 12 ounces. Another fond memory of this era was the open tryout my uncle “Mo Joe” attended while George Allen was coach. Mo is about 5’9” 260. He decided to try out for the Over the Hill Gang as a punter. The legend is that uncle Mo really got his foot into one, so much so that he lost the flight of the football. The tryout came to an end after the football landed a couple yards behind him. No “Invincible” moment there.

The glory years of the Skins, and my full blown love affair took place in the 82-92 seasons. 4 Super Bowls, 3 Titles, life was good. You got the feeling that it would be this good forever. This was along the time that I switched from hanging out in the bars (until later in life) and moved directly to Redskin's Park. My mom would drop me off at Redskins Park and pick me up later in the day after she got off work. I met and got autographs from all the players, media, and even retired players like Charley Taylor and Sonny Jurgenson.

I also got to do cool things like toss the Football with Mark Rypein, Ricky Sanders, and Gary Clark. I can still remember like it was yesterday hitting Ricky on a post pattern. Many of the players were awesome, I do remember some that were not. It’s amazing that I spent many days at Redskins Park, but I never saw Joe Gibbs. I guess he was always hard at work. My favorite memory by far was the day that I snuck onto the field and filmed practice. It was Super Bowl week before the Denver game in 87. Gibbs was always worried about spies, so I’m unsure how I was able to film 10 minutes of practice before getting kicked out. I later got the chance to ask Dexter Manley what he was going to do to John Elway in the Super Bowl. “I’m gonna kill him” Dexter replied. Sorry Cooley Bros.

I am lucky enough to be married to the greatest Wife and Mom in the world. Rebecca and I were high school sweethearts and we have been together for the better part of 18 years. We have a 4 year old son, 3 cats, and we lead the perfect life. All except for one thing, Rebecca is a Cowboy fan. So for a couple times each year things can get pretty tense. I’m happy that the Redskins have gotten the better part of the Cowboys the past couple years. My wife and son have taught me a few things. I don’t need to yell and scream obscenities while watching the game. The silent tirade I have in my head works just fine. Betting on the Skins and an over is probably not a good idea, the little man needs new shoes and to eat. A 24 hour period to be in a bad mood and get over a loss is enough, no need to be angry the whole week.

The opportunity came a few years back to convert Rebecca to be a Redskins fan. Rebecca was chosen from several hundred applicants to work for the Skins. My dreams were coming true. I was back in Redskins Park, getting tours of the locker rooms, the meeting rooms, and the field. We had season tickets, I was meeting players, and man life was good. Rebecca started on a Monday, which coincided with my annual canoe trip on the Shenandoah River. I bragged the entire weekend to all my buddies about my new found fortune. When Rebecca came home from work that Monday, the dream started crashing. The moment I saw her I could tell. She hated the job, hated the people she was working for. She wanted to quit. Dan Snyder had walked by her desk said “who are you” then walked away without waiting for a reply. Nice introduction Dan. I talked her into returning for her second day, but she resigned that day. The dream was over, and now her love for the Cowboys, and hatred of the Skins had intensified. “How can you root for that team when they made me cry?” is a question I get a lot.
The answer is I love the Redskins. Sure I feel like I have put a whole lot more into them than I have received back, but things are looking up. The team is looking great, and I am forever optimistic about our chances. The Super Bowl is in Tampa this year, which happens to be where I live. It would be wonderful to end 17 years of frustration here in my backyard. But, that's still a couple months away. For now, there is only one thing on my mind.

WE WANT DALLAS!!

Mrs. Pickle: I Heart The Cowboys

Fatpickle’s wife is a Dallas Cowboy fan. Yep, you heard me right, Fatpickle who is the Redskins life-long, lives and breathes burgundy and gold, #1 fan, married a Cowboy fan. I too can claim to be a life-long fan because I have been routing for Dallas since I was 5 years old. My parents had a friend, who in my 5 year old mind was the best looking, funniest, most awesome person on the planet. His name was Randy.

Randy?

Randy was interesting and charming and loved the Dallas Cowboys. Therefore, I too loved the Dallas Cowboys. One memory of Randy that stands out is when we would all go to dinner at the Chesapeake Bay Seafood House. My sister and I would have to entertain ourselves for hours while we watched Randy pick crabs, my parents and his wife having finished long before him. This was to be a precursor to the type of guy I would marry. How ironic that I am still sitting and waiting for my favorite guy to finish picking crabs.

Randy taught me to love the Cowboys when I was young. I didn’t know much about them then, but I was learning to enjoy the competition, to share a common bond with someone special and to celebrate a win. And, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about them now, especially compared to Fatpickle who claims to know everything there is to know about his team. He can recite stats about the game and players (past and present) and has become a self-proclaimed addict to a certain Redskins’s blog.

Some will try to criticize that my lack of knowledge prohibits me from calling myself a die-hard Cowboys fan......

I can tell you this….I am a Cowboys fan and no one can tell me otherwise. Nope, I don’t have to know who the quarterback was when I was five (but I do, Danny White), I don’t have to have 8 jerseys and I am not afraid to admit that I had to ask my husband who our backup quarterback was (well, before we were sadly having to use him of course).

I love being a Cowboy fan. I love their uniforms and the big blue star. I love the exuberance of Jerry Jones contrasted by the ‘he looks like a teddy bear I want to hug’ likableness of Wade. I love that there is a show on CMT about the cheerleaders. I love that there was a show on HBO about the training camp. I love that Tony and Jessica are dating and I get to read about it in People Magazine. I love that they are America’s Team and that they are my team.

So, don’t question Fatpickle’s choice in marrying a Cowboy fan. He’s fine with it….just ask his BFF.....Our house is fun and loud during the big rivalry games. It’s just sad that on Monday morning our beloved Fatpickle will resume his blogging in a hungover and depressed state….he’ll get over it though…he has the other 56 times.

Go Cowboys!

Rebecca Ramey

Porkboy46: Crazy About Them Cowboys

Looks like Romo hit the buffet on the bye week!

How does a kid from Erie, PA. end up a Cowboys fan? I guess just good luck and a little help from my brother Jimmy. We had NFL helmets and we would wear them to play in the yard. I got the silver one with the star, and it's been a great fit ever since. You see I am one of those wackos that would be buried in a Cowboy's casket or have his ashes spread over Valley Ranch. Most people see that stuff and say what a nut case, to me it sounds pretty reasonable!

When it comes to the rivalry, just seeing the colors gets me all fired up! Blue and silver, burgundy and gold! I love to watch to watch old VHS tapes of them (I have every game between the two on tape since 91). Some are great, some very bad, but all are classic! Just watching the uniforms against each other on Madden gets me psyched up, nothing I love more!

My first memory of the rivalry was Tony Dorsett throwing the football at Dave Butz! There are so many great moments and here are a few of my favorites:

NOVEMBER 1991, SKINS ARE UNDEFEATED and the Cowboys come to RFK and throw everything they have at one of the best teams in NFL history. Hail Mary's, onside kicks, back up QB's and get a win!!! That started a winning streak that put them in the playoffs!

LAST SKINS GAME FOR ROGER STAUBACH, he leads them to 14 points in the last 2 minutes to win the game and knock the skins out of the playoffs. That was the last game of the season, the winning team won the division and the loser went home!THANKSGIVING 1996, the boys are supposed to be out of gas and Emmitt Smith is on the downside. But, Emmitt goes wild for 3 touchdowns!

DANNY BELT BUCKLE'S FIRST GAME, September 12, 1999. The Skins are up 35-14 and the Cowboys rally to win in overtime, with a great play action bomb to Rocket Ismail!

I could go on and on forever. Many people have called this the greatest rivalry in sports, and it is better than ever! You can even go to a wikipedia page all about the history.

Listen, if you don't have respect for your greatest rival then its not much of a rivalry. There were times when I was young and my brother Mike would tape pages from the Washington Post up on my ceiling after a big Skins win! During the 87 strike game the Cowboys lost, and I lost a bet. That meant that I had to burn my favorite Dallas t-shirt right after the game! There have been great days on both sides of the ball. Like Chris Cooley scoring 3 TD's as he ran over the entire Dallas secondary to blow out the Boy's on their way to the playoffs. That game brought the rivalry back from the dead! Santana Moss's 2 TD's in the closing minutes on Monday night in Texas Stadium to win 14 - 13!How about " THE RIGGO DRILL?" THE SKINS RUNNING THE SAME PLAY OVER RANDY WHITE TEN TIMES TO RUN OUT THE CLOCK IN THE NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!! Many Skins said that the Super Bowl was a letdown after the Dallas game the week before!

There are many more. The legendary shoot-out in 1966 that Dallas won 31 - 30 when MEREDITH AND JURGENSEN WERE OUT DRINKING TOGETHER TILL 4 AM THE NIGHT BEFORE!

Ken Houston tackling Walt Garrison on the one yard line to win on Monday Night! This brings me to one more note, this rivalry should have one Monday night game every year! But Sunday night will do, this is going to be a classic! I think the winner goes to the playoffs and the loser will be the team left out. But I sure as hell would love to see a best two out of three this year!

I have a lot of friends that are big Skins fans, but I have a best friend who is a Skin's nut! We usually feel a little strange when these games roll around. Trying not to sound too cocky or rub it in (because we are sure that our team is definitely going to win!) Nothing needs to be said. We both know how deep these games cut and how bad it feels to be on the wrong end. And, we are both way superstitious ! I would just like to thank him for being such a great friend and for letting me spill my guts about these teams.
I just hope the players on both sides care half as much as some of us fans do!!!
Good luck Skins fans, you guys are going to need it.

Did I mention Clint Longley, Thanksgiving of 1974 ?

Porkboy46

Big Boy's Take On The Redskins-Cowboys Rivalry

What does the Cowboys/ Redskins rivalry mean to me? Very simple....everything. It's the good guys against the bad guys. The blue collars against the white. It's the greatest rivalry in professional sports! George Allen, a journeymen coach arrived in Washington in the early 70's with his brand of football. He had no time for rookies. Just give him veteran players with something left in the tank, and something left to prove and we will be successful. Oh, one other problem....he also knew that to be successful with the Redskins, he had to beat the Dallas Cowboys. And so it began. It just seems that over the years they have been a tuxedo and we have been a pair of brown shoes. We had pickups they had BMW's. We had something to prove and they had what we wanted.

At the age of 37 I am still a big sports fan, however I'm not near as emotional about it as I was in my youth. Except 2 times a year. It just builds in me from Monday to Sunday. It consumes me. Dallas week is still as emotional in my life now as it was then. I can still hear my mom talk about how Clint Longley came off the bench for a injured Roger Staubach to beat us. How they knocked us out of the playoffs in '79. How we got some redemption in the '80's, a very successful decade for us but always a snag or two from guess who. How my childhood friend Mike Dellinger, who was as die hard a Cowboys fan as you will ever find, would chat all week about the importance of the game. I remember how each of us hated to be on the losing end the morning after and that phone would ring. Oh man!

My greatest memories of the rivalry? I have many but I will share my favorite. It was during the second Joe Gibbs era. It was Monday night September 19, 2005. My cousin Herman and I were at our local watering hole. We had been suffering a few dismal years in the rivalry. The Skins were down 13-0 and couldn't do a damn thing on offense. Some guy at the end of the bar got up to go to the bathroom and in passing, said something that did not sit well with us. Words were exchanged which led to pushing and shoving. After the altercation was broken up, the bar divided, things got settled down and the game went on. The guy left, but vowed that he would be back. And he did, he came back wearing a Cowboy's jersey with several other Cowboys fans. We we got into again, this time the result was the Cowboys fans were asked to leave and not come back. Two long passes later we win 14-13! The remaining Redskin's fans in the bar all cheered and hugged one another and all was good.

The best part about it was the reaction of the coach. Here's a guy, a Hall of Famer, Superbowl winning coach, Sprint Cup champion car owner. If you remember his reaction after the game it was very moving. He knew at that place and time what the rivalry means to him, to the players, and all of us fans.

Jeff Collins

Chris Cooley's Biggest And Littlest Fan, Meet Carson Cox

My favorite team is the Redskins. I like them because they are a good team. And I like going to see their games. We don't have to go real far to see them. Every game I go to, I get new Redskins stuff like jerseys, sweatshirts and hats.

I keep all my stuff in my room. For my birthday, my mom and dad and my mamaw and pappy got my room painted with Redskins stuff. When I went to training camp on my birthday, Chris Cooley took a picture of me and put it on his website. That was cool!!! He is my favorite Redskins player because he usually makes a 1st down when it is 3rd down if they throw it to him. I also think he is funny. I have a signed picture of him on my wall and it has a writing that says" Carson- Good luck with football. I'll be rooting for you! Your friend, Chris". It is great. Aunt Becky, Uncle Doug and Mason gave it to me for my birthday.

Also at training camp, Clinton Portis signed my birthday poster. One time at a Redskins game, a camera guy filmed me and my cousin Derek saw me on the NFL channel! The Redskins are great and I hope they will be in the Super Bowl this year!

I want to be a pro football player for them when I grow up!

Carson Cox-age 7

Dallas Week

It's Dallas week! For the first time in our short history, Fatpickled will be opening our doors and inviting in a few guests. Family and friends will be visiting to tell us about the love they have for their teams. Yes, we're even going to have a few Cowboy's fans on this website. However, I will be watching what they say. Even if it is my wife and best friend, they can be asked to leave if they get out of hand.

I want to thank everyone who is participating in this weeks festivities. I have read most of your blogs, and I think we are capturing the exact spirit of the week. Our festivities will kick off tomorrow with our youngest blogger, 7 year old Carson Cox. The week will end with a very special guest who will be playing in the game next Sunday.
I put together this little video to get us Skins fans pumped for this week (like we needed it).

Cheers and Hail