LIke It Was

By Ronald N. Guy Jr.

A loyal reader noted a conspicuous silence - an astute observation.  The first edition of this column covered the second retirement of Washington head coach Joe Gibbs in January of 2008.  In the seventeen years and over 400 “Views” since, it is safe to say that D.C.’s football team has been the most frequent subject.  In that time, many coaches and quarterbacks have come gone, many more football games have been lost than won, and off the field the team devolved into a petri dish of unethical bacteria that eventually led to a merciful ownership change. 

The road traveled by ardent Washington football fans over the last quarter century is unprecedented in professional sports.  Normally statements like that include a dash of hyperbole; in this case it an undeniable fact.  Washington was once not only among the league’s best on the field, it was model sports organization, an entity respected as much for its success as the way in which it conducted its business.

It took 25 years, but former owner Dan Snyder ruined it all.  He destroyed a passionate fan base and wounded a second form of Sunday religion that had been passed through generations of fans and provided a shared passion that brought family members, friends, and even complete strangers from the DMV closer together.  The Burgundy and Gold was more than a football team; it was the tightest of fraternities and a source of shared civic pride that was a bright light in the shared human experience of its loyalist.

Much of that has been lost: the passion has been sapped from many supporters, some completely abandoning the team, and a generation of new fans is adrift, wondering if they can or should adopt the team of their family’s elders. 

Trust that this opening was typed with a heavy heart and lingering anger for the person who oversaw it all, his only consequence being that he was finally forced to sell the franchise for $6 billion.  That hardly feels like justice; but freedom from his darkest was a priceless gift.

Then a new owner arrived (Josh Harris).  And a new General Manager (Adam Peters).  And a new coach (Dan Quinn).  Intriguing moves were made in the offseason – veteran free agents and a promising young quarterback via the draft.  There was a detectable professionalism, decency and competence from the new leaders.  Still, justified skepticism remained.   

Then the season played out like a dream.  The quarterback, Jayden Daniels, was a sensation.  The parts all seemed to fit.  And not once was the team or its quarterback featured in this column.

I was spooked; Snyder’s residual emotional scarring is thick.  I watched waiting for the Thanos of football to deliver an inevitable demise.  So, give me a minute, or a few years, to sort this out.  My pessimism is entrenched after 25 years of programming. 

Here’s what I will say: The last 18 months have exceeded even the optimist’s imagination.  I take my kid to school in the mornings and during the winter months, the sun is blinding through the windshield.  That’s what it feels like – from complete darkness and hopelessness to the brightest possible light. 

Where this goes is anyone’s guess; sustained success in the NFL is an incredibly difficult reality to achieve.  Every team is year to year.  But what has happened in Washington is instructive.  It’s not owner Harris’s handywork.  Or Peters’s.  Or Quinn’s.  Or Daniels’s.  It’s all of that.  A team goes from 4-13 and completely adrift, to 14-5 and on the cusp of the Super Bowl, in one season, only through complete organizational alignment.  Top to bottom.  One vision.  One mission.  Every person supporting the success of the other - coaches, players, veterans and rookies.  Complimentary parts fitting together like a puzzle.  That’s a must-have formula for elite teams, regardless of professional endeavor. 

The future, the great unknown, will write the ending to this magical year.  Part of that story will include this: generations of families huddled together, passionately pulling for Old D.C. – like it was, like it is again.  Snyder took a lot from us, but he didn’t get that. Hail!