A Bird in the Hand....

Week 5

Skins at Philly

After many years of frustration, impossible losses, penalties at critical times, etc. etc., a Redskins fan can sometimes be hesitant to take that leap. You know, the leap that allows you to believe that the team you've loved for so long, has finally, seemingly started to click on all cylinders. We were coming off of the high of beating "America's Ho's"(did I just type that?) in their backyard. We all heard the dismissiveness from all of the "ho" fans: "You only won by 2 points", "you guys cheated", "you got lucky", blah blah blah. I sat and watched that game. Saw every down, every pass, every score! Celebrated with my fellow skins fans. Pranced around all week, waiting, wishing, wanting a Cowboy fan, any Cowboy fan, to approach me and say something stupid(and they inevitably did). After that game, the family and I talked about how cool it would be to go into Philly this coming week and steal this game. How awesome would that be? VERY AWESOME! We all agreed. But years of being conditioned by this team to not take anything for granted, I couldn't bring myself to actually even fathom that a win in Philly was remotely possible. I couldn't even allow myself to think it much less believe it! Hoped it could happen. Wanted it to happen but not actually believe it! Not in my Redskins scarred heart! So...I wake up Sunday morning feeling excited but scared. Waiting for that other shoe to drop. For the Redskins of 2007 to somehow resurrect themselves in the bodies of the 2008 Redskins. I go to church...say a prayer for them (yes..I pray for them), leave early, rush home, change clothes (attire for the day: Redskins baseball jersey, Redskins shorts, new $5 Wal Mart Skins hat, new reebok Skins socks and my ever present Skins clogs), gave my hubby his lunch (BBQ chicken, mac & cheese and biscuits), ran out the front door, set out for the in-law's house. Got caught in some kind of traffic jam. Got upset because I didn't know what the hold up was and got to the in-law's and they're not home! YES...NOT HOME! What kind of jack legged set up was this? I text him and he said.."I'm on the way". So I waited for the hosts and it got a little warm..so I ran over to the local drug store to get an iced tea (Gold peak...sweet w/no lemon..this is good bottled tea), turned on the radio upon returning to the parking lot, ate some peanuts, got out the Redskins camping chair and had a mini, solo tailgate. That's the way you improvise if you're a real fan! It was fun..even if I was all by myself. I could have stayed there for the remainder of the game. FLASHBACKS - The first 5 or so minutes of this game had me reeling back to those days of yore and by yore I mean last season. Playing lights out one week , playing in the dipsy dumpster the next. 14 - 0 right out of the gate! But wait! What is this funny feeling I'm having? There's no gastric upset, there's no gnashing of teeth, no feeling of doom. I have a vision. A vision of a world with no panic. I'm calm and cool and hear myself say, out loud mind you, "it's early yet, 1st quarter, we have time". As soon as I said it, I looked around to see who said it. 2nd quarter - Things began to look a little better. "We can still pull this out" I hear myself say. Half time - The first half went by so quickly. 3 field goals..uuuggghhh! 14 - 9. Within reach. Not bad. 3rd quarter - Wow! Wow! Wow! 4th quarter - Wish we could have scored a few more TD's. But the bad guys never got a chance to make a run for it. We didn't allow them back on the field. We took over with a little over 7 minutes on the clock and ran it out. 4th & 1 - got it! I liked it! The whole team, with a few exceptions here and there, played very well. We have ourselves a real football team here ladies and gents! It felt good! It felt invigorating! Free to believe in this team again. To allow myself to believe the dream that I thought was still a few seasons away. They're impressing everyone with their confidence, composure and execution. Good, solid football is what I'm seeing. Get punt coverage beefed a little, get the punter to kick it up a notch, give Randel-El some sticky for his hands and we'll be set! So what did we learn from this game? Let me tell you what I learned. WHEN YOU HAVE A BIRD IN THE HAND....YOU CRUSH IT! Especially when it's of the Philly variety. 4-1, back home to face the lowly Rams. Can we look ahead yet? Ummmm ....no! Old habits are hard to break.