Why you chose to be a Redskins fan:

I love this team but I really don't care for the owner or Vinny C. As Sfredskin fan said, they're like family. I can remember in 1977 when I was 7 years old and they started off 6-0 and ended up not making the playoffs. They were the hometown team and that's how it started for me. I've lived in the DC area my whole life so I follow this team closely.

Yea, i find myself bashing VC/DS on Warpath but yet i tend to want to take up for them to the "outside" world. Kind of like family. I can call my sis an idiot all i want but when someone else does i'll take up for her.

Why I chose to be a Redskins fan is different than why I choose to be one now.

When I chose to become a Redskins fan they we're on the television all the time (still are), they were a good football team, and they were the hometown team (still are).

Why I choose to still be a fan is because of loyalty . . . . masochistic, painfull, gut-wrenching loyalty. I guess it would be like being married to a woman who put on a few pounds after she's had children. Sure there are plenty of other good looking women available but your wife is your wife, for better or worse.

I've made a commitment to this team for better or worse. There are a few things that could happen that would break that bond but not many.

Born and raised in Montgomery County, my parents are casual sports fans who root for the Skins and O's. So growing up, that's what I was drawn to. My love for sports outgrew my parents' casualness, and now I'm a diehard Skins/O's/Caps/Terps/Manchester United fan.

What locked me up with the Skins for life was November 15, 1987. Skins/Lions game at RFK. Naturally I had a Redskins jersey, and wanted to be a gunslinger like Jay Schroeder. So my Mom's best friend and her family took my Mom, sister and I to the game. They had season tickets, 10 rows up in Section 12? (middle of the end zone opposite the Budweiser sign, sitting just about the middle of the uprights), and I was in awe the whole time. I was a little perturbed when I found out that my favorite player was being replaced, but that disappointment didn't last too long when Doug Williams threw 2 TDs in the first half. The Skins won 20-13, and marched their way onto the Super Bowl, and the rest they say is history.

My fondest memory from that day was the 4th quarter, how incredibly LOUD the stadium got. Watching the stadium rock back and forth, listening to the people jump up and down on the metal platforms connecting the seats to the concourse. It was amazing, and a memory I'll never forget. I went to several more games at RFK over the years, including 2 games during the final season at RFK. I saw Boomer Esiason throw for over 500 yards in a 37-34 OT Cardinals win over the Skins (which my buddy and I missed the end and OT because we wanted to miss the crowds getting on Metro, and that there was no way the Cards would score again...they did with 20 seconds left). And I saw the Giants lose their last game at RFK from underneath the Budweiser sign.

I feel bad and sorry for those Skins fans who didn't get the chance to experience a game at RFK...it was definitely an experience like none other.

I grew up in upstate NY surrounded by seemingly equal parts Jets, Giants, Pats and Bills fans. I didn't really have a team until the '82 Redskins with Theisman, Monk, Riggo.. I fell in love with the team and haven't wavered since.

Ironically, I've never seen the Redskins play in Washington. I've seen them play in Dallas (4 times), Philly (twice), Miami, Tampa (twice), Atlanta (twice) but never in DC. I've never lived in or around DC but my best friend (who's a stinking Cowboy fan) recently moved to DC so I am sure I will make my first home game this season.

you have a 2 year old, and a 24 year old? are you insane?( j/k)
Insane is the nice word my friends use to describe it. My wife is younger and I knew when we got married she want a child and its been pretty cool. The loss of freedom is really the biggest thing but I don't mind that.

It's not something you choose, it's something that chooses you.

I honestly believe that. You can't "choose" to be a fan of a team. You're just drawn to them for some reason, and if you're a real fan you feel a passionate connection that you can't get away from, no matter how many losses they ring up.
So true! I am a Redskins, Mets & Georgetown fan. It's been 20+ damn years since I've tasted championship glory in any sport!

I adopted the Jordan era Bulls just so I could feel good about sports again! :-)

Family.. and grew up in the DC area.. I'm big on hometown teams and extremely loyal, which is why I like the Nationals existing, but I'm an Orioles fan because that's who was around when I grew up

I remember one day when I was 3 and we had a family friend over that was an Eagles fan and he said that the eagles were his favorite team.. for whatever reason I said they were mine too, I guess trying to fit in

edit: (I was a skins fan already, but I was 3)

my family literally had an intervention and later that afternoon we had a "Redskins Party" at my aunt's house to teach me that I'm a skins fan and how I'm not allowed to like other teams along with the redskins, especially not the eagles or cowboys

my family is crazy, but that's where I get all of this from and I don't have a problem with it

during the 1987 superbowl we were at a superbowl party and I wasn't allowed into the adult room... I sat there bored for hours because I couldn't watch football, didn't even want to play with the other kids

I became a fan around 1974 or so...I loved those old uniforms with the yellow pants.
I remember seeing the old bumper stickers on cars all over town, "I am for Sonny" or I am for Billy".
Getting those free Redskins drinking glasses at Shell or was it Sunoco (?) gas station if you pumped 8 gallons or more. I still have a lot of them.
7-11 had those plastic player collectors cups. Even though the skins were not very good then, it was easy to become a fan.
Sonny, Billy, a young Joe Thiesman returning punts, Larry Brown, Charlie Haraway, Roy Jefferson, Charlie Taylor, Jerry Smith, Chris Hanburger, Ron Mcdole, Diron Talbert, Coy Bacon, A young Dave Butz, Pat Fischer, MIke Bass, Ken Houston, Speedy Duncan...
It was rewarding as a fan to suffer through those early losing years to later have George Allen take us to SB 7 (loss) and then the Gibbs/Bethard dynasty.
I now relaize that for you fans that are too young to watch the Gibbs 92 SB win live, have suffered through 17 years of average to below average football. That is a long time.

I was young but I watched the super bowl, that's still one of the happiest days that I can ever recall

man how cool is it to see your team that you've supported go to the super bowl and win it convincingly? and how about detroit stomping dallas one week and we made them look inept in the nfc championship?

glad that I cared more about sports than cartoons as I could've easily missed that being only 8; I remember being so sad because I wasn't allowed to watch the MNF game where Monk got the receptions record.. I knewwww he was going to get it vs Denver and he sure did

I 'm only 19 and honestly never was around for the skins hayday, I'm also from a family of Pats fans in New England... but i never really felt connected to the Pats like i was with my BoSox due mostly because of the blue collar play style. any way i became a serious Skin's fan in 05' when Brunell threw those bombs to Moss to win in Dallas.

PS I've ALWAYS hated the Cowboys, and the "America's Team" BS-that nickname offends me as an American

Damn man, sorry for the past almost 20 years

that pats thing would've worked out well for you haha

I have never been to DC or been to a Skins game. I don't live in the US nor am I a US citizen. Started watching NFL in 81, a team with in b'n'g colors with hard nosed RB caught my eye. Started following the team, through the 80's and the SB trophies. Haven't watched any football til 2003, found out there were some new teams in the comp, (broncos and the bucs now look cool in their new uniforms and logo). The one thing that hasn't changed is my love (and loyalty to the Skins), try as I might to adopt a new team like the Ravens or Texans but its a hollow feeling, b'n'g is inside me and it always be there.