September 24, 2008
We Want Dallas
That refrain was made famous in 1983, after the Redskins defeated the Vikings and were looking down the pike at our most hated rivals. Since then, it's been a rallying cry amongst fans, amplifying the innate hatred any good 'Skins fan feels for anyone crazy enough to be wearing blue and silver. Dan Steinberg has an interesting story on the refrain, most recently heard this weekend after we beat the Arizona Cardinals, and looked forward to heading to Texas Stadium this weekend. But to quote my own dad, "maybe we don't" want Dallas. They're arguably the best team in the NFL this year, with three weeks of wins under their belts and a roster that boasts some of the league's best players.
Which brings us to this picture. dharmabumx saw this spirited fan's license plate and added the shot to our DCist pool. I laughed out loud, and quickly added it as a favorite. Because, you see, it doesn't matter how good the Cowboys are this year. I don't care that Romo's already got 892 yards this season. Because every time we play Dallas is a chance to beat Dallas. And there's nothing better than that. Steinberg's post says that we should rethink the chant, because based on some Googling, he doesn't think the rivalry goes both ways. That's just not true. I know Dallas fans. I know people whose families pray for the Redskins to be defeated at Sunday dinners. The hate is felt in kind, and the rivalry is real. Teams go through tough times; it wasn't long ago that the Cowboys were pretty terrible. And it was just as much fun to hate them then as it is to hate them now.
For people who don't love a sports team in that intense, blind way, it probably seems silly (or insane, militaristic, unintelligent — pick your diatribe, I've heard them all). But to boil it down to a basic level, having a hated rival makes watching sports a lot more fun. As a little kid, my father told me bed time stories about that 1983 playoff game, where the stands were shaking, it was bitter cold, and the chanting was so loud his ears were ringing the whole ride home. It's just plain exciting to support a team, and know that twice a year you're going to have a day that will be either the deepest agony or the greatest elation you'll feel all season. And when you're looking at going head-to-head with Marrion Barber and Jason Witten, with a home field advantage, when Jason Taylor's not suiting up due to injury... well, you need that intensity to push you through the week. So I say yes, we do want Dallas. And yes, F Romo.
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I can think of no worse punishment than having to listen to Jessica Simpson on a daily basis.
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Why does the Commonwealth of Vagina get those cool Redskins plates, while D.C. is limited to some pretty lame ass options like Fraternal order of Police or some fraternity, when it comes to specialty plates?
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Dallas sucks! Okay, I'm done here.
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As a transplanted Texan and Cowboys homer, I can tell you that DAL's main rivalry is the dreaded and feared Eagles. We do maintain the rivalry with the 'Skins, but for the past decade or so, Cowboys have taken care of that pretty easily. Last year's end of the season give up game not withstanding... and that Parcells messed up game the year before... and...
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i'm with syetemerror. when exactly is the last time a dallas-redskins game has meant anything? the eagles and giants are the main threat to dallas in the east. the redskins have been a joke for a decade or more. as a philly area tramsplant and die-hard eagles fan, i think it's kinda cute when redskins fans get worked up about these divisional games
everyone knows that the redskins don't actually play in the district of columbia, right? maybe that's why you can't get a redskins license plate here.
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JPK, the eagles can take solace in all of those Superbowl Titles they have won...
Its a rivalry because of the HISTORY, early on (for the cowboys, the Redskins are 30 years older, and had a whole deal with the Giants back in the 40's and 50's) between the owners, and later is Landry and Allen.
Also we are 2-0 in the playoffs against the Cowgirls
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Let me tell you as someone born and raised in Dallas, inside the city limits, the son of a man who grew up in the shadow of the Cotton Bowl listening to the crowd roar because he had no tv, that I HATE the Redskins. It is a rivalry like no other in the NFL.
In 1988 we went 1-15, but goddammit we beat the Redskins. You Johnny come lately's that think it's all about the Eagles or Giants or Packers (wtf?) need to get a clue. Take it from someone who's bleed silver and blue form the day he was born: The Cowboys-Redskins rivalry is the best there is.
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JPK- You cannot be serious. Last time the game meant something? Well-- last year it put us in the playoffs. Where were the Eagles?
And the Skins have three rings. How many do the Eagles have? Also-- the Skins played in DC proper for about fifty years...so your argument is way off-base.
Plus, you're an Eagles fan. So you lose. We win.
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warshington, the eagles have not won any super bowls. you're right. congrats on all of those that the landover redskins have won in the past. what i take solace in is the fact that my team has been worth watching, at least, for the past ten years. and in many of those years it has completely dominated the redskins and the rest of the division. they also still play in the city that they claim to be from.
"history" is the key word in your comments. redskins fans are living in the past. they still think it's 1993. the redskins and cowboys used to be great rivals back then. i'm sure the teams and their fans are still not fond of each other, but i'm also pretty sure that the cowboys have had their four games against the giants and eagles circled on their calendars.
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F*ck Dallas
F*ck Philly
I hate how people think rivalries are all about who's good at the moment. As Warshington wrote, they're about a history of great contests and animosity. How about that great Conference Championship win the Eagles had against the girls when Philly won the Super Bowl? Whoops!
And the Skins-Cowgirls has been "easy" for the Girls? Really? The Skins are 4-2 vs the Cowboys in the past 3 years. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in 12 years, so congrats on a great decade Girls. Even the poorly performing Skins have won a couple in that span.
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i agree with kev29 that dallas hasn't exactly had that great of a decade either.
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Against the Redskins, Dallas is 15-5 over the last 10 years. So we've DAL has had a pretty good decade when it comes to beating WAS.
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We hate the Philly Eagles
We hate the Giants, too
But most of all we hate Dallas
Oh, Dallas we hate you
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What's with all this "we" I keep seeing? When's the last time you took the field for or received a paycheck from an NFL organization*? Last I checked, rooting for a professional sports team does not place you on the roster.
*If you are indeed a professional football player, my apologies. Stop posting on DCist on a Wednesday afternoon and get back to practice!
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Is anyone here contesting that Philly's been a better team or a better franchise over the past decade? I've been a die-hard Skins fan since birth but it's been a miserable 15 years.
But anyone with some degree of appreciation (or knowledge) of history respects the rivalry Dallas and the Skins have. And even if Dallas does, at the moment, have a little more bad blood with the Eagles, even if the rivalry has gotten a bit one-sided, it's still a huge game, and a huge one for Skins fans.
And, believe it or not, there was a time when the Giants and Eagles and Cowboys really sucked too.
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GhettoBurbs, without fans to... well, pay for tickets and gear and watch games on tv and otherwise line the league's pockets, there would be no NFL. And, I personally think that The 12th Man is as important as the players on the field. So I don't just say "we" because I love the team, but because the fans are part of it all, in my humble opinion.
Oh, and, in the case of college teams (which also have a huge fan base, and lots of people that refer to their team in the first person plural), where students are as much a part of the greater organization as the players (who are also students), they really are Hokies and Cavaliers, etc., themselves. A team represents a city, a group of fans. I don't think it's far fetched to identify with the team you support.
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As a former Dallas resident, I only heard about this rivalry when I moved to D.C. No big mention of the Redskins on TV or in the paper. Now that I'm here, people hear I'm from Dallas and automatically ask me if I'm a Cowboys fan. Why are there so many Cowboys fans up here and no Redskins fans in Dallas?
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Good question amandahi. I'm 28 and still wonder why so many Cowgirls fans dwell in Redskin Country. My brother (38 y/o)as well as my best man are Cowgirl fans. I respect them though because they've been loyal to that team since birth.
At any rate... SKINS ALL DAY!!!!
GIANTS SUCK!
COWBOYS SWALLOW!
(I don't hate the Eagles) BUT YOU CAN GET SOME TOO!
HTTR.
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@amandahi
Um....maybe because no one wants to live in Dallas and lots of people want to live here?
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Be careful what you wish for...
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Why are there so many Cowboys fans up here and no Redskins fans in Dallas?
Well, there are Skins fans transplanted in Dallas, but quite frankly there are not that many people from here that move to Texas.
And do you have a couple hours to discuss the reasons why there are so many Cowboys "fans" in DC? Basically there are fairly legit reasons (George Preston Marshall was a flaming racist and the Redskins didn't integrate for decades after the rest of the league, setting up a tradition of African-American angst towards the Redskins) - and illegitimate reasons (contrarian haters who think they're bucking the establishment around here). I'd say an overwhelming amount of the Dallas "fans" you see in this area are from... this area.
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I've always thought that there are more Dallas fans due to their dynasty in the 90s. It's pretty standard.. there were a lot of 49ers fans not from SF until they really started sucking around 1999-2002. While Dallas did fade for a bit, they never sucked as bad as the 49ers, so I think they still have a lot of the (for lack of a better term) bandwagon fans.
(JPK - the Cowboys play in Irving, not Dallas)
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Thanks Kev29... good insight.
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There are so many Cowboys fans here and elsewhere throughout the country because Cowboys fans are front-running bandwagon jumpers. See also: Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, etc.
Anyone who picked their favorite team is not a fan. Fandom is bequeathed by heredity and geography. The only fans allowed to change allegiances are those who were screwed by greedy owners. Seattle, Baltimore, and Cleveland fans know what I'm talking about.
Unless you grew up in Texas or had a father who was a Cowboys fan, you're not a fan. You're nothing.
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Good years, down years, good teams, bad teams, mediocre teams, winning streaks, losing streaks...doesn't matter. The rivalry is real and it's a gold standard NFL rivalry. Anyone who knows the League knows this. There was an effing Miller Lite commercial about the Dallas-Washington rivalry, for Pete's sake.
I respect those Dallas fans who own this knowledge and act on it. Yeah, we hate each other like feline AIDS, but we share one thing in common: TO HATE LIKE US IS TO BE HAPPY FOREVER.
Whoever these "our rivalry is with the Eagles" Cowboys fans get the gasface from me. As do any ostensible Redskin fans who think our major beef is with the Eagles or the Giants. Y'all are some seriously phony-a$$, fans. I can't imagine what it must be like, to put on your jeans everyday and now you are filling those pants with a two-legged fake. Y'all are Jessica Effing Simpson.
I'll conclude my remarks by pointing out something that was always deemed too hot for me to say in my Redskins columns by DCist Kyle: Michael Irvin is a coke-snuffling whoremongering cokey-whore McCokehead.
I believe I have made my point.
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1-22-83
I will never forget!
Go Skins!!!
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GhettoBurbs - That raises an interesting question. What if you move? My dad grew up outside Philly, and we moved to north Jersey when I was 2 or something. He claims to be a fan of both the Giants and the Iggles (the Giants get precedence if they play each other). Me and my brother, both 100% Giants fans, still cannot understand this... I lived in DC for 2 years, and now live in Philly, and I could never imagine supporting either the Skins or the Iggles.
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GhettoBurbs wrote: "The only fans allowed to change allegiances are those who were screwed by greedy owners."
Can Redskins fans who've suffered through the Lil' Dan Snyder era qualify here? If not now, when?
Even though the team hasn't fully sucked the past decade or so, I think that a short-sighted team-building strategy has left an air of mediocrity around the 'Skins. Also, you can't deny that the stadium game experience is in the crapper. RFK was AWESOME! Today I get the feeling that the game at FedEx is simply a lure that enables a concerted effort to sell me stuff, rather than a showcase of top-level athletics and competition. Which is why I now watch from the comfort of my La-Z-Boy and shy away from NFL gear.
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What if you move? My dad grew up outside Philly, and we moved to north Jersey when I was 2 or something. He claims to be a fan of both the Giants and the Iggles
My family is similar. My Grandfather was from Philly, moved down here and was an Eagles fan but bought our season tickets for the first time in the 60's. He supported the Redskins when they weren't playing the Eagles. My Dad has Philly sympathies, but is a Redskins fan. My love for Philadelphia begins and ends with sandwiches.
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The Skins are going down like Barbaro.
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@GhettoBurbs - no offense, but you're full of it. You can be a fan for any reason. The only thing needed to qualify as a fan is a history of unqualified support for the team.
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Dallas' local base of fans really started much earlier than the 90's. As i recall it really was noticably disgusting throughout the 69-70-71 seasons when Dallas played in superbowls V & VI. Back then there were many local fans rooting for dallas to beat the colts in superbowl V.
Even earlier in the 60's you could say the rivalry started with the owners of the two clubs. There's always an element of jealousy in rivalries and i think G.P. Marshal's actions really started it all. He fought tooth and nail to keep the Dallas Rangers (kinda remind you of someone in Baltimore?) out of the NFL and soon afterwards the Dallas owners bought the rights to the 'skins fight song. It just kept snowballing after that.
But, i think the 'skins / 'boys rivalry really manifestated from an earlier rivalry of the 50's-60's between the skins and colts A.K.A. the beltway rivalry. In the 50's there had been many local fans who loved the colts and hated the skins - both teams were dominant back then.
I'll say a prayer for you Wallenda.
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My two favorite football teams are the Redskins and whoever is playing Dallas.
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I have never understood how anyone can root for a team representing a city that they have never even visited. But the worst part of D. C. area Cowboys fans is that they are not just rooting for any team, they are rooting for the mortal enemies of the home team. To use an analogy, when in high school or college, would you root for the teams of another school? No, you root for your home team. That's it - bottom line. All those others are just trying to get a reaction by rooting for the other teams. Maybe their parents didn't love them enough.
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Eat a D Dallas fans; eat a D! And just to be sure, you can pass that around to all the Giant and Eagles fans on this thread too!
Hail to the Redskins!