Has the Burgundy Revolution been defeated by apathy?
One month ago, Washington Redskins fans were red hot for change. They filled the Internet with fire Dan Snyder/Vinny Cerrato/Jim Zorn Web sites. “Sell the team” was the new motto with one group raising money for metro billboards. T-shirts hating on the front office were hot sellers.
And now I hear crickets.
This coup disappeared faster than bailout money. No more “blackouts” at the stadium. No more hateful signs in the crowd. No more flood of tweets that turned Twitter into a flock of seagulls above the Ocean City boardwalk.
Che Guevara — where are you?
It’s hard to stay raging mad for long. Fans resigned themselves to another bad season and moved on to something else like the holidays.
Maybe revolutionaries are waiting for season’s end to demand changes like a new coach or general manager. Perhaps it will come in February when season ticket renewals are mailed. It may take until next season when the home opener is blacked out.
The Burgundy Revolution has gone underground for now. Instead of catcalls during recent games, the 55,000 remaining faithful watching Washington nearly upset undefeated New Orleans on Sunday turned FedEx Field into a flashback of RFK Stadium.
The upper deck looked like a preseason crowd so we know the call for fan exile is working. But, those attending chanted “Defense” and sang “Hail to the Redskins” even during breaks. It has been a long time since that happened. Of course, it has been a long time since the Redskins delivered a thrilling game, even if it ended in the usual defeat.
The fans proved if given a good effort they will support the team. And that’s the problem with expecting Snyder to change. He knows if the Redskins make the playoffs, the bandwagon will need extra wheels. Fans may be disgusted now, but they’ll line Constitution Avenue for a Super Bowl.
This isn’t a casual fan base that only supports a winner. It’s one of the NFL’s core audiences. It has taken a decade of poor stewardship by Snyder to break the lock on Washingtonians, but the Redskins are still the No. 1 team in town.
Snyder can tolerate some background noise. A little revolution is good for the soul. The fire of midseason seems to have faded in the final weeks, though.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe not. We’ll see in coming weeks and months.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
