For a moment, I thought I was watching JTIII getting
introduced at the Verizon Center.
“RG3! RG3! RG3!” Fans
were chanting the initials of Washington’s youngest hero, holding up three
fingers in the air. They were going
crazy for Robert Griffin III, the Redskins’ rookie quarterback. He just scampered down the sideline for a
76-yard touchdown run, sealing an incredible 38-26 win over the Vikings last
weekend. It was just one of many
highlights of a perfect day at FedEx Field.
It was my first football game in ten years. The last time I went was at Ralph Wilson
Stadium in Buffalo, a venue that is dwarfed by the Redskins’ complex. FedEx Field regularly packs in almost 80,000
fans every home game, making it the third-largest stadium in the league.
Being surrounded by so many people dressed in red and gold was
an overwhelming and impressive sight. I’m
not even a Redskins fan, but it definitely felt like I was part of something so
much greater than myself. As long as you
are not wearing the wrong colors, you fit in just fine. People who you don’t even know will give you
high fives and pats on the back. When
the home team is winning, everyone is feeling good.
The only losers are the handful of Vikings fans and that
random guy with the Cowboys’ jersey.
Lesson of the day: do not admit you are a Dallas fan unless you are
prepared for a serious verbal beat-down.
But hey, I guess if you like the Cowboys you really have nothing to lose,
anyway.
While the game is the main event, the real fun begins in the
shadows of the stadium. Forget the field;
the parking lot is the mecca of football fans.
Football is the only sport that worships the tailgate. On Sundays, cars start filing into the
parking lot over four hours before kickoff.
Fans line up side-by-side on the pavement, roll down their windows, turn
on the radio, and fire up the grill.
They open up their coolers, unfold their lawns chairs, and unwrap the
hotdogs and hamburgers. They set up the
corn-hole boards and toss around the football.
On this sunny October day in Landover, MD, everyone has
their own way of showing their fandom.
Most just wear Redskins jerseys, with Sean Taylor and Griffin III being
the most popular. Others get really
intense. An older fan in a wheelchair
wears a full Native American costume, complete with war paint and a headpiece
full of feathers.
Some vehicles are works of art. There is a “Fanbulance” a few cars down from
ours – some crazy fans bought an ambulance, painted it red, installed a giant
flat-screen TV and speakers, and planted a few flagpoles on the roof for good
measure. People are huddled around it
watching the 1 p.m. games. There are a
few converted school buses nearby, and even a row of Redskins tents pitched in
the back of the parking lot. The
tailgate has the atmosphere of a state fair.
At the tailgate, people are completely in their
element. Dress-code is blue jeans,
sneakers, and backwards caps. No suits,
no ties, no high heels. You see nothing
but pick-up trucks and SUVs, with a few ambulances and school buses here and
there. It feels so blue-collar, with
Fords and Chevys dominating the pavement.
It is all casual on Sunday, and I have never seen so many people content
with just eating, drinking, and watching football.
The sport really is remarkable; it is the only one that
turns a 3-hour game into a day-long event.
Tailgating is an amazing part of sports culture that often goes
unnoticed by all those fans staying at home, who only see what goes on inside
the stadium.
Sure, you can buy a nice TV and a comfy couch and still have
a good time. But if you never bother
tailgating, you miss something that is just as integral to the sport as the game
itself.
