A suggestion that the name of FedEx Field be changed to FedUp Field if the Washington Redskins don’t start winning home games was a flippant Twitter comment, but I apparently touched a nerve.
The public outrage of recent years that fueled a boycott, helped oust general manager Vinny Cerrato and turned home games into visitor centers returned. Redskins fans have been quiet recently as rookie Robert Griffin III tries to become the team’s best quarterback since Joe Theismann a quarter century ago, but they remain upset over the franchise’s perennially bad teams.
“It’s already Fed Up Field … when’s the last year the Redskins had a winning record at Fed Up Field?” wrote @brucehallsports.
Actually, that would be 2007, when they went 5-3. The Redskins also posted winning home marks in 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2005 in Landover.
But the Redskins are only 59-60-1 at FedEx Field, an even 60-60-1 if you count the 1999 playoff win over Detroit.
That’s home-field advantage?
Washington was 3-5, 2-6 and 2-6 at home the past three seasons, only the second three-year losing streak since the franchise arrived at D.C. Stadium in 1961. The Redskins also lost from 1961 to 1963.
One reason the Redskins have only three playoff seasons at FedEx Field is that they have had only four winning overall marks, missing out on the postseason in 1997 at 8-7-1. If only Gus Frerotte hadn’t head-butted the wall that year against the New York Giants, the Redskins might have had a playoff team and overall winning mark at FedEx.
Protect this house? The Redskins can’t even fill the place anymore. They yanked out 14,000 seats to create “party decks” despite a supposed six-figure waiting list for tickets. Recent years have seen visiting fans sometimes outnumber Redskins fans, including against New England last year and against Dallas and Philadelphia every year recently. Fans waving Terrible Towels seemed to fill 80 percent of FedEx Field during a 2008 loss to the Steelers.
Washington finally makes its home debut Saturday against Indianapolis after two preseason road games. The Redskins haven’t won at FedEx Field since Sept 18, when it beat the Cardinals to open 2-0 before losing the final six home games. Now the team is selling RGIII vs. Andrew Luck T-shirts for Saturday’s epic showdown of the top two players drafted in April.
As the Redskins promote their top 80 players and related moments this season, there’s probably only one game other than the Detroit playoff win worth mentioning, and that was marred by a brawl. As far as the top-10 moments in D.C. football history, it’s easy to argue not a single one happened at FedEx.
Twitter followers quickly turned bitter about that. Indeed, a top-10 list of bad moments quickly appeared.
“Lowlight was Redskins-Steelers in 2009,” @doctortechie wrote. “Idiot put Weber grill w/coals in his car. Parking lot fire took out 6 cars, incl mine.”
OK, that has to be the winner, but “The MNF pepper-spray fiasco vs Eagles!” posted by @jforsythe23 was solid, too.
Personally, the Big Jack was a great name for the venue, but FedUp Field might be its legacy until the Redskins likely open a new city stadium in 2027.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
