I have noticed two seperate mentalities, or schools-of-thought on HH when it comes to ways of improving our football team. I do not know the demographics of our fan base(minus a few), so I'm curious to see if those mentalities correlate with age, and the era in which you began following the Redskins.

I became a Redskins fan in the early 80's, at the age of 5. I didn't understand the game from a nuts and bolts standpoint, so I followed the team for the same reasons most young kids do - They were close to where I lived(I had recently moved to WV for my dads job), I liked their unifarms, and they were fun to watch on offense. I didn't understand the offensive line blocking scheme, or the defensive line's stunts and blitzeses. All I knew was we won, we scored a lot of points, and we had a defense that sacked the opposing QB, and forced turnovers.

It wasn't until the early 90's that I started to understand the game in its entirety. I began to form my own opinions on what made this team great, and what improvements could be made, and where we needed to make them.

In the early 2000's, I became a students of the game. I studied philosopohies, tendencies, schemes, players and coaches. I adapted my own model of preceived success, and began to piece together the changes I would have liked to see/have seen the Redskins make.

When I joined HH a few years ago, it became quite apparent to me that there were two completely different sides, or "schools of thought". For the sake of this article, I'll use the terms "Old School", and "New School". I'll attempt to define each below.

Old School - Sound line play, both offensively and defensively, wins games. The "old" approach that the game is won in the trenches holds true. The mentality here is the team should be build up front first, and the emphasis should be put on a sound running game, good pass protection, and great defense. Fans who may fall into this catagory, may also lean more heavily on the "defense wins chanpionships" mentality. The skill positions do not have to be flashy, but rather solid, and the lack of big-time playmakers can be off-set with solid positional players who excell in fundamentals. If you can't protect your QB, and open up lanes for your RB, than all else will fail.

New School - Dynamic playmakers in the skill positions may hide some of the weaknesses of a team up front. This mentality may hold true for both sides of the ball, although it is more prevalent on offense. Fans who fall in this catagory put a greater emphasis on big playmakers, and believe the offensively line does not have to be great, but able to get the job done. This is a high-risk, high-reward type of mantality. Some of the fams of this approach would rather watch a game in which their team wins 35-30, vs. a game where the team wins 17-10. The team may not be as fundamentality sound as some would like, but the big plays the team is capable of producing off-set the slight deficiencies. Fans of this approach may favor the new "passing NFL" to your fathers old school, grind-it-out mentality.

Which school of thought are you closer to? Obviously, many will want to say they fall somewhere in the middle, but for this post, try and see what approach you favor most, and place youself into that school. Tell us where you fit and why. If you are comfortable sharing, tell the readers when you became a Redskins fan, and who were some of the players you idolized. Add your age if you wish.