Redskins Win! Fans Outraged! Wait…What??
If you’re more excited about mock-drafting than winning, leave me alone.
Leave it to Redskins Nation to set twitter afire this morning- because the Redskins WON yesterday. I repeat: the Redskins WON the game yesterday. It’s true. They beat the Seahawks, in Seattle, 23-17 (a team that has already beaten the Ravens at home and the Giants in New York).
But all anybody can seem to talk about today is how the team may have hurt its draft position for next year. Who knew there were so many Mel Kiper, Jr and Todd McShay’s in the world?
Ok, that wasn’t necessarily fair because no one, aside from the obvious Andrew Luck love, is really claiming they’d know exactly who to draft and when. But there have been an overwhelming number of Redskins “fans” that ARE rooting for the best draft position possible, giving us the most options and flexibility.
While all that is true, and would be nice to have, that also means you’re flat-out point-blank rooting for your favorite team to LOSE. I’m as pessimistic of a fan as they come probably, but even that is something I have a hard time doing. I’m not sure if I’ve always been this way, or have recently adopted it, but I still would rather have my favorite team win football games than lose them.
And I’ll do my best to explain in more detail by responding to some of the common responses I’ve seen so far:
This season is over! It’s time to focus on 2012!
Really? The season is over? I could be wrong, but I THINK the Redskins still have 5 games left. And of those 5 games, 3 are at home- including big AFC East matchups against the Jets and Patriots. Just because of those 5 games none of them have any playoff significance for the Skins doesn’t mean they’re not important. Like the old cliché goes, if they didn’t mean something, they wouldn’t play them.
Oh and what if we were to stun one of those AFC East teams and beat them at FedEx? Would those games be meaningless as well? Of course, we probably won’t. But if we do pull off the shocker of the season and beat the Patriots, I hope you guys don’t mind if I’m F’ING HAPPY about it. I’ll be the one saying “Great job, guys” on twitter. Not “Dammit, there goes the top 7”.
But we need the best draft pick we can get so we can get the player we want AND have more flexibility later in the draft!
Easy all you twitter GM’s. When did mock-drafting become more important than wins and losses? Last time I checked you don’t play football to give yourself more options in the draft. Is the draft an important part of building a franchise? Absolutely. Are GM’s and coaches hired to put the team in the best position it can to build through the draft? Yes. But that should NEVER come, in my opinion, at the expense of being a LOSER on the field.
And please, could you stop putting all of the importance and emphasis on some amateur players that COULD be Redskins one day instead of the professional ones that currently are?
It’s nice and easy and cute and special to be all excited for the oh-so-amazing Andrew Luck, but how about we all keep rooting for Anthony Armstrong as well? And London Fletcher. And Santana Moss. Root for these guys also, please. And if you don’t think they want to win games, regardless of the team’s potential draft position in 2012, then stop reading this and go bang your head against a table somewhere. Thanks.
But any more wins in 2011 will be “meaningless” and “hollow”!
You think so? Would you tell some of those guys I just mentioned that to their face? Why don’t you take a couple minutes and read some of their recent tweets if you want proof. This team that we’re all supposedly “fans” of and its players- they WANT TO WIN. It seems insane to me that I even have to type this out: as fans, I feel like you should always want your favorite team to win as well.
Look, the Redskins aren’t making the playoffs and aren’t going to be able to make a run at the ultimate goal- a Super Bowl. I know that. But that doesn’t mean that the coaches and the players and the front office aren’t still in this thing to win the games that are left on the schedule.
As fans, isn’t it our job to support them in that effort? And not hope they “show good effort” but still LOSE the game so we end up getting the 5th pick instead of the 8th? Oh, and the 197th pick instead of the 200th, which also appears to be of vital importance.
If you’re one of the people that think 2011 is over and you’re rooting for the Redskins to lose out for a better draft pick, you’d have every right to feel that way and I couldn’t blame you for having that be your opinion. If you’re one of those people that were UPSET to see the Redskins win yesterday, I’ll be happy to let you swim in your own tears of sadness.
But I sure can disagree with you- and ask that you leave the people who want to keep rooting for THIS team THIS year alone so we can actually enjoy a win if it happens to come our way.
I know at least one person would agree with me. You play to win the game. Crazy thought, huh?
