Ready to Believe
As I normally do, I check out the incomparable Official Redskins Blog, written by Matt Terl. Yesterday, on his post regarding Coach Zorn’s press conference, I came across a comment that made me smile. I smiled not because the comments were funny. Rather, I smiled because the comments were eerily familiar.
Gnome said -
I wonder as a cynical fan - when is it okay to believe and start being homerish with team joy? I’m the non-homer type who freaks after every loss and beams after every win, and with our team the last decade it’s been a bi-polar experience.
So at what point do you believe? The kind of belief that even when the team takes a bad loss you still know deep in your heart that the team will win next week.
I want to feel that way right now and I don’t think I ever got there during the Petibon/Turner/Robiskie/Schotty/Ball Coach/Gibbs 2 era because this truly feels like a new era. So what is the threshold for that deep Patriots/Colts/Cowboys kind of confidence in your team?
A win at Philly or a winning season or a playoff trip or back to back winning seasons? I’m thinking maybe it’s a win in Dallas against the pundits’ pick for best team in the NFL. It sure feels like it . . . I’m ready to believe that on any given Sunday the Skins can win - I’m ready!
I don’t know Gnome. I have no idea who he / she may be. But, if I didn’t know any better, I’d guess that this would be my friend, Wayne.
Wayne and I used to have a routine. The Redskins would play their game. During, or immediately thereafter, Wayne would call me to rant and rage. It was a pattern. It didn’t matter if the Redskins won or loss, there was something about the game, or the coaching that Wayne didn’t like.
I, on the other hand, more times than not took the high road. I shared my insight of the game and empathy for the growing pains of the new coach, or a quarterback trying to learn a new system. He, in turn, couldn’t care less. As far as Wayne was concerned, the team we had become was nothing that we should have been. In other words, he wanted a return to the big back, punch the other team in the mouth, physical style of play that Joe Gibbs made so successful in his first stint with the team.
Me? All I wanted were points on the board, and more than the other team.
So, as I read the comments of Gnome, I wonder out load, who does that sound like? But, regardless of who it is, I understand where Gnome is coming from.
I’m ready too, Gnome. I’m ready, too.
