The Greatest Year in DC Sports History
Bet you thought this would be a blog about the 2018 Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals.
You are wrong.
You gotta understand, the Washington Redskins still own this town. Football is paramount, and whether that is because of the history of success that this franchise had in the 80’s, or whether it be demographic related reasons, no other team in this town will ever create the buzz that the Skins are capable of creating.
The year was 2012. The year of RG3.
The hype, excitement and true mystery of what would become of the 2nd overall pick in the NFL Draft that year engulfed the DMV. Of course on a national level, skepticism existed, and a general feeling of, “He may be good, but he’ll never be as good as Andrew Luck. And the Skins mortgaged their future for him, it was a horrible move” was commonplace.
Now me, being a blind homer and literally NEVER experiencing a winner in my life as a DC sports fan (I was a year old when we won the Super Bowl in 91, my fandom didn’t really start until I was about 5 or 6), I was calling playoffs, ROY award and Pro Bowl. I am a huge jinx guy, so no Super Bowl predictions, not this guy.
Then this happened week 1:
Consequently, this happened:
(I named my dog Griffin)
All was well in the world. Skins were rolling with that read-option offense. Yeah, Griff was taking big shots and needed to protect himself, but who cares? We’re winning, we have the hype, the league has never seen an Olympic level sprinter playing football.
Then this happened:
Ok, ok, not good, I’ll admit it. But he’s tough. “No Pressure, No Diamonds”, right? He only missed a game or two. A fucking warrior this guy is. Sure enough, just weeks later, he’s running 70 yd sprints up the sideline, outrunning DB’s while he is looking back at them on a gimp leg…
SUPER. BOWL. Sons-a-bitches.
We (I say we because I am part of all of my favorite teams. Kiss my ass.) ended up getting a playoff birth, after a week 17 clincher against the worst franchise on planet earth. We had to face off against the Legion of Boom, the UNSTOPPABLE Seattle Seahawks.
The normal ending to this fairytale in the DC sports world would be a blow-out, a true dose of reality that we are nowhere near as good as our opponent and didn’t belong. But wouldn’t you know it, RG3 took the ball on his first two possessions and led us down, gimp leg and all, to a 2 touchdown lead against the best defense in football.
Let me repeat it again. SUPER. BOWL.
……………………………….
Remember that dose of reality?…………………
There it is.
Needless to say, we all know how that all ended up. But for a quick summary of how the rest unfolded:
Operation Patience —> Operation get Mike Shanahan fired —> Jay Gruden grilling RG3 on the reg —> QB controversy —> Captain Kirk —> RG3 released —> RG3 to QB death row (Cleveland) —> RG3 unemployed —> Redskins creating contract controversy with Kirk Cousins—> Kirk walking, beginning of Alex Smith era.
And that leads us to current day. RG3 is a 3rd stringer in Baltimore, and most surely will be unemployed before week 1. And the Redskins outlook for the upcoming season:
SUPER. BOWL. BOUND.
Shit, I’m supposed to be a jinx guy.
