For the girls that get the game

I was so sleepy

This is embarassing to say but even with being the Redskin fan I am, I missed almost the entire second half of the Redskin - Dallas game this past Monday night.   I was really sleepy and fell asleep.  Watching the game with my Dallas Fan husband I do remember loud rumblings and periodic shouts causing me to shift to the other side, but I just couldn’t come out of my fog.  Wow, I knew I was getting older but now it has come to this.

I did get a full recap from many the next day and heard plenty of radio talk and online chatter and know that we certainly missed an opportunity to capitalize on Dallas’ mistakes.  That is disappointing and a little scary after the Arizona game.  I say that because I was there for that game and celebrated with them not quiting and pulling out the win that they never would have done in the past few years.  However, I also saw the REDSKINS miss too many times in the REDZONE.  They just missed too many opportunities to score, not to mention the missed field goal, and that brought back memories and flashbacks of these many past long years.   

All of that being said, I like the Skins themselves am not ready to throw in the towel, and am anxious to see a great game this weekend!

While writing this I also want to take a minute to say that I also missed most of the first half of the Redskin-Dallas game, but trust me it was for a great cause. We went to an event to help raise money for ALS and to remember George Vinall who unfortunately passed away from ALS (often called Lou Gehrig’s).  I had the privelage of working and getting to know George while in my first job out of college and all you needed to do was meet him once to know his personality and presence could take him anywhere.  They had a speaker from the organization talk at the event and I thought she said it perfectly when she said ALS is often called the nice person’s disease because it sadly impacts so many wonderful people who get themselves, their families and their friends through the disease through humor and amazing strength.  To learn more, about George and the foundation you can go to  www.gvals.org or to learn more about ALS you can go to www.alsa.org.

Week One - a little late

Well football season started, but clearly I have not quite got the whole prompt blogging thing down yet.   From my lack of writing you wouldn’t guess how excited I was about last weekend.  And when I say excited I’m talking about the Skins.   They looked and acted like a team - a real team – that works together and wins.  

I loved seeing them making offensive plays to get out of a 3^rd and 20 and I loved seeing them go for it on 4^th and 5 and actually ending up with a touchdown out of the drive.   I’m loving Hightower and I’m loving seeing our receivers catch the ball!     My happiness didn’t stop there though because I also saw our defense hold them at 4^th and 1 and saw blocked passes turn into touchdowns.     Now I just want to see more of what I saw last weekend. 

The word is that the players really respect Shanahan and his coaching.  If they keep playing like this then the fans will be respecting him too.  He stood his ground in going with Grossman and with week one it looked like he may get the last word.  I hope he does.

Don’t worry I haven’t bought my dress for the dance yet, but I’m starting to think about what it might look like.  It is my brother who has actually already predicted a Super Bowl.  Trust me he is a really smart guy.  He was quick to point out that the last two strike seasons (Super Bowl 17 and 22) were won by the Redskins.  Well you know what that means.   If you don’t, I’ll be sure to clarify for you in January.

Until then I will be watching from my stadium seat this weekend and look forward to celebrating with the fans and my Dallas Cowboy fan husband and sister who will be there too :)

Gone Fishing

Something that I’ve added to my summer activities this year is fishing.  Well, at least I went for my third fishing outing with my husband this past weekend.  Yes, I know what you’re thinking and it is very nice of him to let me tag along.   I am not the best fishing partner as I don’t know how to set up the line, don’t handle the bait, don’t know how to get out of a snag, and I lose a lot of bait.  BUT, I love being outdoors and am pretty low maintenance as I quickly get caught up in the moment of staring at the water waiting for the big win.

After two previous outings of not catching a fish, I went out last weekend knowing that today was the day. You can imagine how excited I was when after about 30 minutes I had hit the jackpot and found what must have been a village of fish below.  Every time I threw in the line I was getting a nibble!   But, every time I threw in the line I was also losing the worm!   Those fish were quick and clever.   I would have jerked the rod harder when I felt the nibble, but I quickly remembered that when I aggressively jerked the rod on our first fishing expedition (a day on the lake), I almost knocked my husband out of the boat and that apparently is not part of fishing etiquette.

Well, even though I wasn’t catching the little fishies I was having a ball, because I could feel success just a moment away.  In hindsight, I realize now that it could not have possibly been fun for my husband.   I had now been on my fourth round of bait after finding the fish village.  I had lost the bait so many times that I was now in a rhythm of casting with one rod, feeling a nibble, reeling the line in, and handing it to my husband to have him re-bait the line while he would hand me the second rod (his rod) which was now already “re-baited”.

As this process continued, I began to lose hope.  Maybe today would not be the day after all.   It was just then that I felt another nibble and  felt a constant weight as I continued to reel.  Maybe this was it and hopefully this time it wasn’t another tree or brillo pad – yes I caught a brillo pad.   Anyhow, I continued to reel and then with utter surprise and excitement I saw a fish on the end of the rod. 

And it was a cute fish!   I was expecting an ugly catfish as this is what it seems is usually caught in this area of the Potomac.  But no, it was a cute fish.  Still not sure, but maybe it was a perch?   Anyways I was so excited that I screamed - again forgetting about fishing etiquette and the fact that we were under a small bridge which made things echo loudly.   Once again, I almost knocked my husband in the water.  

At first when I turned to him I thought the disappointment in his face was because of my screaming.  However as I swung the rod around for him to grab the little fishy it was a different kind of bad news that caused the look on his face.   He said, I think I have bad news.   It looked like the little fish with the big eyes and wide open mouth had swallowed the hook.   At this news, I immediately welled up with tears.   I knew this meant that the hook would sit and rust in his tummy and kill him.

I was out to fish for sport not for dinner.   I thought I would catch and release.   Isn’t that what they do on TV? !   The tears became bigger as my husband cut the line and the hook remained in the fishie.  But wait, just then my husband (my hero) magically got the hook after pulling with plyers.  At first I smiled and slightly cheered in relief, but when he was thrown back into the water the tears quickly came again.  The fishie flipped and flopped trying to swim like fish are supposed to swim and it didn’t look like he was going to make it.  

For those of you that need to hear a happy ending like me, I will tell you that eventually he got himself off of his side and as my husband said “see he swam away”.    Needless to say, that was the end of our fishing day.  We packed up and I sniffled a few more times and realized that maybe I’m not cut out for fishing after all.    

Yes, I am a Redskins Fan!

I say it proudly, but if you have a kind heart, then right now you might feel slightly bad for me and slightly empathetic that it has been quite “some time” since we have seen a winning season.  But don’t feel too bad, because I am one of those typical Redskins fans that can still somehow survive by holding on to the days of the Hogs, Joe Theismann, Riggins, Darrell Green, Art Monk, Charles Mann … you get it.   I’ll move on, but only after I take a second to reflect on one of my most memorable days when my parents let me skip school to go the Redskin Parade after they won Super Bowl XXII.   Ahh….

So, my path to becoming a Redskins fan was “somewhat” default because I was raised in Northern Virginia, but the fact that I have a twin sister who became a Dallas Cowboy fan and a husband who grew up in my hometown and is also a Dallas Cowboy – does mean I had a choice! 

I also had an older brother who is a die-hard Redskins fan and was on the waiting list for season tickets since he was five years old.   This was pre Fed-Ex days for anyone that still misses the rocking of the bleachers at RFK.  Anyways, Sundays often evolved around my brother’s mood level which was dependent on if the Redskins won or lost.  I always watched the games, but when I was younger it was often background noise as I napped.  

It was when he left for college and passed the torch to me to please record – yes on the VCR – every Redskin game and please skip the commercials, that I crossed into really becoming an absolute fan for the Skins and for football.    It would also be years later that my brother passed the torch to me again when he finally came up for his season tickets but now lived in Montana.  The season tickets were mine!   

 

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