After a way too fast 2016 NFL season, we are on the edge of Wild Card Weekend in the NFL. It’s a weekend for a wild stretch from 2006-2012 that generally produced a Super Bowl participant, if not champion. But this year, aside from being stoked about the Steelers being in, I, as a resident of Virginia, am ticked. Why, you ask? Because the Redskins are back in the playoffs.
Now, having grown up in The Commonwealth, I’ve known my fair share of Redskin fans throughout the course of my life. They range from bandwagon, to passionate, to disbanded and emotionally numb. Why this team being back, and their fan base rising from the ashes to suddenly support them, is exactly that, they only support the team (I’m saying majority of the fan base, Rick, you’re an exception, the emotionally numb one who still watches anyways) once every seven or so years when the team puts a mediocre run in and turns it into a playoff berth.
After the 2012 season and subsequent beatdown by Seattle in the playoffs, magically, all the flags went away. There wasn’t anyone sporting burgundy and gold shouting out “HAIL!” No, they were all waiting to see if the team was going to continue winning. When they didn’t, the fans stopped coming out of the woodwork, calling into radio shows and getting in your face about how this was their Super Bowl year.
So you’ll have to excuse me for not wanting this fair weather franchise to stick around this postseason. The flags should be down after Sunday, anyways.