8-14-08

Maryland-style Sunday tradition, serve warm with a generous helping of friends and family

I love the Redskins. I mean, I .......really ........love........ The Redskins. It is a tough job and very thankless at times, but it is a great feeling to have a love for a team. It has been a long time since they were a “winning” team, but being a Redskins fan is sort of like watching one of your children’s baseball games. It doesn’t matter if they win or not You are always behind them and cheering them on.
Now I haven’t always been into football. I was probably 14 before I could even throw one properly. I think it all started when I was younger and started working during my free time when I was in Art School... No jokes please.
When Sunday would come, all I wanted to do was lay on the sofa and fall asleep watching TV. I soon realized that listening to a football commentator’s voice would decrease the time it took for my eyelids to go from open to slam shut.
After a season or two of this becoming my Sunday routine, I found myself looking through the TV Guide to find out when the game was on so I could schedule my nap. Over time, I figured, if I am going to turn on a game I might as well turn on the Redskins. About this time they were right off of their last Super Bowl win. There was no action on the field. Sleeping was good.
I do, on a side note, remember well, where I was on that last Super Bowl win. Do you remember where you were when we went from 1999 to 2000. Kind of like that. Slowly, I started staying awake and actually watching the game.
Now, I know some people would say that I wasn’t a fan. I have friends that know stats that some head coaches don’t even know. They know things like draft picks, depth charts, .......players’ names ( I do know names). I just love watching a good battle and knowing that those soldiers are fighting for my hometown.
I also love the “Tailgate.” This is where I really became a fan.
My Sundays became focused on football. What would we eat? Who’s house would we be at by kick off? Were new girlfriends to be introduced at this time? Should we also cook wings?
My friend Steve and I thought we were the best because we worked a cook line at Chili’s together. Once again, another story.
The Redskins and Sunday in general became a major part of my thinking for the week. I was now officially HOOKED. What other activity is it socially acceptable to wake up at six in the morning to get ready for a game that doesn’t start till 4:30 p.m.
I know what you are saying by now. Well, Maryland Boy, you’re not in Kansas anymore. OH do I know it. Moving away from my friends to N.C., I have now been forced to form my own sort of Sunday tradition with my own family. My wife is on board and I am anxiously waiting to see if my kids take a liking to a Sunday-Redskins tradition. My friends and I call each other on Sundays by the end of the 1st quarter. The half.... and every 3 or 4 plays around the last few clock minutes. That’s right, CLOCK minutes. I told you I was a fan. This is still fun and I get excited talking with my friends, but it just isn’t the same.
I still love my Sundays and love my Redskins. I do miss a house full of friends, food and the all around feeling of camaraderie. I am hoping that over time the tradition will start up again down here in my new home, and I am sure it will.
But until then, I am calling out to all you Redskins fans in the sound of my...voice, (I’ll even just take NFL in general at this point): Plan your Sunday.... after church of course; Make that food; Cook that pig. Ice those drinks..... Just get those friends and family together and start that tradition.
No matter where you live or what team you are rooting for, know that you are watching the soldiers from your hometown, battling for this group-of-friends-that-have-been-planning-for-THIS-60-minutes, all week long.
Just to cheer and hi-five for their soldiers.
Bryan Pinkey is a Duplin Times staff member.