For everyone that didn't give up!

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Where people deserve to be mocked is if they come on here and simply say "I think we'll win because I just believe we will." Or something like that. There is no rational thought there, there is no knowledgeable discussion there. If I see someone say something like that, I promise you I will mock them. Someone who says that cannot say "I told you so" when the Skins win, because they really had no idea.

But if you say I think we'll win because (take your pick), Joe Gibbs' record in December is awesome, Al Saunders can plan a better strategic gameplan with Collins at the helm, Jason Fabini and Stephon Heyer are run blocking well enough for us to run to either side effectively, Portis and Moss are playing their best football for Sean Taylor's memory, Reed Doughty is playing well enough to allow Landry to roam at FS, our defensive line is playing the run extremely well, etc. etc., then you've got a valid argument and nobody can mock you. You've participated in knowledgeable discussion.

Now I know most of you, especially you SS so this is in no way directed at you, provide that rational thought and knowledgeable discussion. And yet there are a few morons who still mock you. That makes no sense. Those morons should get negative rep points, and I'd cheer you as mods if you banned them, quite frankly.

I'm on neither side. I only want knowledgeable discussion. If you come around saying things with no meat or substance to them, you deserve to be mocked, no matter which side of the fence (Kool Aid or Hater) you live on.

What the heck is wrong with a fan picking his team just becasue he believes they will win. Why does someone always have to have a reason for picking their team to win? I could never pick another team to beat the skins NO MATTER WHAT. I always believe that if we put a team on the field we have a chance to win, period. Yes there are games like last week against the Vikes I said if we stop the run their QB cannot beat us and we have a big win. There are some games that I think will be very tough for us to win and we are out matched in ever part of the game but I still would not pick the other team to beat us. I think that we see people on this site who try and play Mr Know It All and pick against their team followed by a long list of reasons. Thats what I don't get. I don't care what the reasons are for us to loose as a fan I still always believe we can win.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by firstdown

What the heck is wrong with a fan picking his team just becasue he believes they will win. Why does someone always have to have a reason for picking their team to win? I could never pick another team to beat the skins NO MATTER WHAT. I always believe that if we put a team on the field we have a chance to win, period. Yes there are games like last week against the Vikes I said if we stop the run their QB cannot beat us and we have a big win. There are some games that I think will be very tough for us to win and we are out matched in ever part of the game but I still would not pick the other team to beat us. I think that we see people on this site who try and play Mr Know It All and pick against their team followed by a long list of reasons. Thats what I don't get. I don't care what the reasons are for us to loose as a fan I still always believe we can win.

That's not making a pick. That's rooting. Making a pick is saying what you THINK will happen. Rooting is what you WANT to happen. If you think we're outmatched in every phase of the game, then you think we're not likely to win the game. You just won't say so publicly because for some strange reason you tie fanhood to positive thinking. That makes no sense.

If you can't give an honest assessment of the team, and you're just going to express hope all the time, why should your opinions be considered relevant? You're just blowing hot air on the boards.

[skinsguy]

Actually, the only opinions about my posts here that I'm really concerned with are the opinions of the moderators and administrators. If others don't like the contents therein, then well, they can skip over it. Most of the time I believe I post pretty good reasons for my point. They might only make sense to me, but honestly, #1 is who I'm concerned about first anyways..lol!

[birdz4gibbs]

it hasn,t been easy but in the end i know that joe wil direct and guide this team and organization when times are tough such as this year and i couldn,t be happier to see our skins be right in the hunt for the postseason.

[724Skinsfan]

I take it "Redskins rool, [Opponents] drulel!" doesn't cut it? :cheeky-sm

Sometimes the old gut feeling is all I have to go on. I watch every game and can see how good we can be, but upon further analysis the stats can show that we are subpar. When I make a prediction it's based what I think we are capable of, but not based on what we have accomplished statistically. I realize that stats aren't the only variables used to make a prediction formula, but they're used more often than not as reasoning behind predictive behavior. As a fan of my team, I throw out the logical analysis for a more skewed fanatical perspective. I see teams that lead the the league in rushing, but quickly recall some amazingly long runs that supports those stats. I see a QB who's accuracy % stinks, but then remember that the game was very cold and windy, thus effecting his accuracy and catchability...

I have no idea where I was going with this post...

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by jsarno

The Redskins have rewarded our faith with an intensely important game in week 17. There have not been many of us that remained faithful and believed in the 07 Skins, but those that have...pat yourselves on the back. You are a solid reason why the Skins have been successful lately. Faith is a powerful thing.
I'm going to take the high road here. I could write a list of people (a long list mind you) that gave up on this team, and some that made threads about our demise, but instead of dwelling on that, I am inviting everyone to enjoy where we are RIGHT NOW. We have a chance to make the playoffs with only 1 more win. Win and you're in. It doesn't get much better than this. For as corny as this sounds, let's all join together and enjoy this as a whole as only we can do as the best fans on the planet.
I forgo any grudges I have on posters here that have been less than optimistic, and I look forward to ALL OF US enjoying a victory over hated Dallas to get into the playoffs. Who's with me?

I threw in the towel after the Buffalo game. I didn't even care anymore about this season after what happened to ST. But now I don't want it to end. I guess faith is a powerful thing and I can't wait until Sun. I think the guys are playing on pure emotion right now.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I'm going to go ahead and call this thread retarded.

What so many people fail to realize - and it's the reason we've had this stupid divide on the site between "Kool Aid drinkers" and "Haterade drinkers" - is that there is a huge distinction between what you THINK will happen and what you WANT (or hope) to happen.

There's not a single one of us who stopped watching the games, stopped reading everything we could about the team, stopped discussing the team, or started cheering for another team. We all remained devoted fans. That's the one thing we all have in common here.

Our only differences throughout the year were in our opinions of how good the team was. Being a fan does not mean you think they're always going to win. Being a fan means you love them, whether they win or lose.

Retarded thread. Please start getting what it means to be a fan.

I think you are generalizing hope with being a homer.

It doesn't take a whole lot of intelligence to sit back after the Bills loss and be like "if we beat a bad Bears team, a reeling Giants team, and a Vikings team that lacks balance, we will be 8-7 and in great playoff position." However, there were only a handful of people on this fourm who had the aptitude/foresight to think ahead to that point. Those who did (I am one of the ones who did) really aren't all that surprised at the outcome. Fortunate this team has been in recent weeks, but this was not a miracle.

A lot of fourm members deemed the Redskins out of it for certain. I'm not talking about making an educated guess that these guys werent a playoff team, I mean they were very adament and vicious in making sure each and every one of the playoff hopefuls were admonished.

The bottom line of this thread is those people were wrong, ignorant, and stupid in their line of thinking as football fans, and more specifically Redskin fans. This isn't about the people who made a prediction that we would miss the playoffs. This is about those who tried to take solitude in us missing the playoffs and just generally being asses.

They know who they are, but this thread is not stupid.

[EternalEnigma21]

I think this thread, and so many others, is just another hammer strike driving a wedge between people who come to a virtual place to share and discuss feelings about a team. It's just done in a manner that can easily be defended by aloofness.

I'm not a hater or a blind homer, but more of a realist and a very dedicated fan, but I have got to say I'm personally getting sick of the bickering and snide comments going on on this forum. I think its getting out of hand and I am starting to feel alienated by the whole conflict.

A difference in opinions is fine, and I would expect it is welcome, but by classifying people in 2 categories and dismissing someone else's statement based on where you associate their loyalites (hater-ade, kool-aid, etc...) you exercise a prejudice that limits what you can take away from a site like this. My feeling is that when people partake in this, they tend to get caught up in more and more personal attacking and bickering, which clutters an otherwise top notch fan discussion board.

I also seem to take more offense to the threads that get started after positive things happen with the team. I kind of expect that there will be ignorant reactionary threads and posts from people speaking from emotion after they are hurt by their team losing. I don't agree with it, but I understand that a lot more than someone waiting for a win or a streak so that they can call out those people, and further drive the divide because they've got a grudge, and I hate that when I get on this site to discuss exciting things about my team I have to read garbage posts and threads calling other fans out for not believing enough, or not being right in their predictions... Maybe it just blindsides me, I don't know... I don't understand the idea that because someone didn't predict a win they can't enjoy it.

On the flip side, I don't understand why after every loss some jack ass starts a new thread with a title like, "Gibbs must go" or "Fire Gibbs", but doesn't back up his assertion with any kind of poignant observations, and quickly leads to . That crap absolutely unnerves me, but I expect it more, I guess.

Anyhow, I just want to ask anyone that cares or feels the same way to take a moment before you post or start a thread and ask, "How does this contribute to the content on this site?"

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by canthetuna

I think this thread, and so many others, is just another hammer strike driving a wedge between people who come to a virtual place to share and discuss feelings about a team. It's just done in a manner that can easily be defended by aloofness.

I'm not a hater or a blind homer, but more of a realist and a very dedicated fan, but I have got to say I'm personally getting sick of the bickering and snide comments going on on this forum. I think its getting out of hand and I am starting to feel alienated by the whole conflict.

A difference in opinions is fine, and I would expect it is welcome, but by classifying people in 2 categories and dismissing someone else's statement based on where you associate their loyalites (hater-ade, kool-aid, etc...) you exercise a prejudice that limits what you can take away from a site like this. My feeling is that when people partake in this, they tend to get caught up in more and more personal attacking and bickering, which clutters an otherwise top notch fan discussion board.

I also seem to take more offense to the threads that get started after positive things happen with the team. I kind of expect that there will be ignorant reactionary threads and posts from people speaking from emotion after they are hurt by their team losing. I don't agree with it, but I understand that a lot more than someone waiting for a win or a streak so that they can call out those people, and further drive the divide because they've got a grudge, and I hate that when I get on this site to discuss exciting things about my team I have to read garbage posts and threads calling other fans out for not believing enough, or not being right in their predictions... Maybe it just blindsides me, I don't know... I don't understand the idea that because someone didn't predict a win they can't enjoy it.

On the flip side, I don't understand why after every loss some jack ass starts a new thread with a title like, "Gibbs must go" or "Fire Gibbs", but doesn't back up his assertion with any kind of poignant observations, and quickly leads to . That crap absolutely unnerves me, but I expect it more, I guess.

Anyhow, I just want to ask anyone that cares or feels the same way to take a moment before you post or start a thread and ask, "How does this contribute to the content on this site?"

What a tremendous post, canthetuna.

You pretty much touched on a lot of my sentiments that I probably didn't put into words so well. It's disappointing to see the site go this route with such a divide. In 2005, we were 5-6, many of us thinking the team was dead. Then they reeled off the five straight wins. But never during that season did we have such a divide on the site, with people pointing fingers back and forth at each other, insisting that one side is all about blind faith and the other side is all about being negative all the time.

It's disappointing to see the pointless bickering, and disappointing to see threads started like this one where the author takes a passive aggressive approach to basically saying if you didn't believe the Skins could win, he'll "forego any grudges on posters here that have been less than optimistic." To me, that essentially says if you didn't believe they could win, you're less of a fan than him.

And to see the moderators, in any way shape or form, defend the author of this post is extremely disappointing. I understand the point of the mods throughout this thread: people who predicted the demise of the Skins were wrong. But go back and read the first post in this thread. That was not the point of the thread. The point was to be passively derisive of anyone with a negative viewpoint:

There have not been many of us that remained faithful and believed in the 07 Skins, but those that have...pat yourselves on the back...

I'm going to take the high road here. I could write a list of people (a long list mind you) that gave up on this team, and some that made threads about our demise...

I forgo any grudges I have on posters here that have been less than optimistic.

Gave up on the team? Last I checked, nobody stopped being a fan just because they thought the team wouldn't do well.

Would have been nice to see the mods take leadership to strike down this type of instigation. A bit disappointing and alienating, as ctt mentioned.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I think you are generalizing hope with being a homer.

No I'm not, just the opposite in fact. I'm saying we all had hope that the team would win. We just didn't all agree that the team would win.

[MTK]

Kinda funny that the people that are against this 'divide' amongst the fans aren't doing much to help things by shooting down this thread as being stupid and/or retarded.

[MTK]

I think there's some legit discussion going on here. Perhaps it didn't start off on the right foot, but for the most part it's swung away from the extreme that it started off on.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Kinda funny that the people that are against this 'divide' amongst the fans aren't doing much to help things by shooting down this thread as being stupid and/or retarded.

Any thread contributing to, or causing, a divide between fans is retarded.

You know well and good I've hit people on both side of the fence with the "retarded thread" label.

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Kinda funny that the people that are against this 'divide' amongst the fans aren't doing much to help things by shooting down this thread as being stupid and/or retarded.

Fortunately this thread seems to have progressed with some thoughtful discussion.

It started out "retarded" for sure, but we're now actually talking about some of the problems and discussing it in a rather productive way.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Any thread contributing to, or causing, a divide between fans is retarded.

You know well and good I've hit people on both side of the fence with the "retarded thread" label.

And I'm saying bashing on a thread contributing to, or causing, a divide between fans is also retarded and in the end is only contributing to the problem.

Let's face it the divide isn't going to change. Rather than sweeping it under the rug and pretending it's not there, why not get it out in the open and figure out why people think the way they do?