Why are fans so hard on the Washington Redskins, cornerback Carlos Rogers wondered. “Sometimes when you’re at home you feel you’re away,” Rogers said on Monday. “You get so bashed at home for any little mistake. … We’re home, I don’t know the problem, but we’re still wanting that support from fans.”
It’s very simple — the team is 57-52-1 at FedEx Field since arriving in 1997. If that wasn’t 15 more wins than on the road over the same period, the home record would look even more miserable.
Redskins fans finally realized last season that after a decade of being fleeced by owner Dan Snyder, this team perennially stinks. Indeed, it has stunk since 1993. The last Super Bowl victory, which this team markets over current success, was 19 years ago.
The fans arose late last season in disgust. The 91,000-seat venue was barely half full for the final three games. Snyder finally made needed changes in the front office and stadium personnel to retain ticket holders, but it’s an uneasy truce.
The Redskins are 2-4 in home this season, guaranteeing their eighth non-winning mark since 2000 and ninth overall at FedEx Field. The five winning home seasons were 1997, ’99, 2002, ’05 and ’07.
Protect this house? It’s more like another foreclosure.
“I guess they’re hard on us, and we do give them a reason to be hard on us,” Rogers said. “We’re not winning.”
Exactly. Everyone loves a winner and the Redskins are a constant disappointment no matter how many times Snyder changes direction.
Comparatively, RFK Stadium was a special place from Vince Lombardi’s 1969 arrival to the final 1991 Super Bowl season. The 54,000 seats were owned by the same people. Nobody sold or gave away their tickets. There was no rich people section. It was family in the stands no matter social, race or financial status. People became friends with those around them.
FedEx Field is a dysfunctional family that argues at the sight of one another. Constant losing just starts the conversation. There’s an area for rich folks more eager for status than sports. Some don’t even venture to outside seats. The excessive seating has so many tickets for resale that visiting fans gain a foothold, negating home-field advantage. The Pittsburgh Steelers game in 2009 was embarrassing through its sea of yellow Terrible Towels.
Redskins fans are largely frustrated, and the team does little annually to reward them for spending hundreds of dollars per game in tickets, parking and concessions. So they boo.
Rogers asked a good question: “If you don’t like the team or you don’t want to support us through the good or the bad, why come out to the games?”
Because it’s the one tie that binds Washingtonians. Fans are long-term; players are just passing chess pieces. Until players start winning the crowd, they’ll get booed.
Rogers should be glad that’s all it is.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
