Game Girl

As a die-hard football fan, I get totally fired up for game days. Always have. To me, there is nothing quite like a Sunday in the fall -- gearing up for a full day of NFL football makes me downright giddy. But this year, it's been particularly sweet. I'm enjoying my "Redskin fandom" more than usual now that our team is beginning to perk up like Rumpelstiltskin after a long, 15-year sleep.

As a Redskin fan living in Anne Arundel County, MD, where Redskins and Ravens fans have co-existed rather peaceably for the most part, it's been a very tough slog of late. Ravens fans seem to have dominated the outdoor "airspace" around here and have made it pretty disheartening for Skins fans on game day Sundays. It's been so painful for me...driving to church on Sunday mornings seeing all those purple Ravens car flags flapping in the wind. Ravens jerseys in the grocery store. A whole Ravens TAILGATE DISPLAY in the local Giant (where, it should be noted, I'm NEVER shopping again!) For an area that is considered 1/2 Ravens and 1/2 Redskins, it hasn't always felt that user-friendly for the average Redskin fan. And so many of our bretheren have retreated -- back to their couches and backyards to cheer for the Skins privately, where we don't have to endure Ravens' fans pity and euphoria at our expense. (I, of course, NEVER retreated, as many of you know. I always have, and always will, wear my Skins attire on game days, I don't care HOW badly we've been playing. I have never shied away from taking my lumps as a die-hard fan, but it hasn't always been easy.)

Except the winds of change are blowing, folks. Out here in AA County, at least, our Skins fan base is waking up again. Yesterday, the anticipation in the air was palpable. I saw burgandy-and-gold car flags, Chris Cooley and Sean Taylor jerseys, and even Redskins CARS out yesterday, just crusing the area sharing their goodwill as fans with one another. It was a great morning of pre-game excitement for me -- beeping my horn in solidarity with other Skins fans in their cars, chatting with the supermarket checker wearing her Redskins necklace (at the SAFEWAY, where a Redskins fan can shop and feel united with other like-minded fans!), and even buying my son a Redskins ballon on our way out of the store. No more purple paraphenalia dominating the landscape -- it's a regular burgandy-and-gold resurgence out here and I'm loving every minute of it!

Isn't that one of your favorite parts of being a Skins fan? Doesn't it make your heart skip a beat when you see a total stranger wearing a Redskin jersey and you nod, smile, and maybe even exchange a joyful "Go, Skins!" on a Sunday morning at the Starbucks? Or slap a high-five with the attendant while pumping gas on your way to work? Maybe just a jubilant wave to another fan as you are driving to pick up the kids at school? It really is the epitome of fan-dom, in my opinion...it's what brings us together as fans in this otherwise busy and transient area of the country. Whole disparate factions of our local community united around a common goal -- our Redskins! And this year, with a team we can finally count on to take as much pride in wearing our colors as we fans do, doesn't it feel that much sweeter on Sunday mornings?