[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by NYC2LA

This is my first post...I never thought it could happen, but in the past several years I have grown to love football, look forward to Sundays and have become a true, albeit recent, Redskins fan. (Let’s say it has a lot to do with marrying a Redskins-fan-for-life who is on this board all the time.) I especially loved #21 and I began coming to this board over the past week for information as well as solace.

Losing today sucked and it was painful and emotionally trying, so I came to the board to cheer myself up. Why so much negativity from “fans”? This is a time when the team needs us more than ever to support them. Being a fan is not just cheering a team on when they win, it’s supporting them through losses as well, and it’s not just a game they’ve lost this week. They lost a great player AND a best friend and yet there are still millions of people counting on them to play hard and “in the memory of their teammate”…that’s a hell of a lot of pressure on an already emotionally drained team.

I know since I’m a newbie not only to this board but to Redskins fandom and football in general there are many aspects of the game that I don’t understand, but one thing I do get is loyalty. I feel honored to be a Redskins fan and I’m not ashamed of the way they played at all, I am proud of them. I’d still defend them and cheer them on if we were 0-12. Call me naïve…or call me a “true fan”? I don’t think being critical of your team takes away from being a “true fan” but there were so many people on the game thread who said they were ashamed, weren’t going to watch anymore games and they had given up on our team. I know it’s disappointing to see us lose games we should have won, but being a fan is not always easy. It takes more dedication than just cheering on winning games.

Welcome to the board. Nice post.