This might be one of the best Redskins-related articles of all-time. Thanks to monk81 for passing it along (again). If there's any person that thinks that moving the Redskins training camp out of Redskins Park doesn't matter, this is proof it needs to happen. Team chemistry.
Here are a few of the stories, but I HIGHLY recommend reading the entire article. It's from 2002 when Bill Simmons to got spend the day with the Hogs at RFK and re-live old times.
Starke remembered the playoff game with the Rams in '83, when 'Skins offensive line coach Joe Bugel told the team that the Rams players had wrapped up a Saturday practice by peeing on the Redskins emblem on the 50-yard-line. Incensed, the defending champs decided to hand out an obligatory butt-whupping. "We won that game something like 52-7," Starke said. "They never had a chance." Of course, Bugel made up the story ... but the players didn't find that out until later.
That [82 NFC Championship Game versus Dallas] sparked more memories than just about anything. Starke remembered how Bugel had quit smoking that season, but as the game grew closer and closer, he suddenly slipped off the wagon and became a chain-smoking maniac: "All week, Buges had been urging us to keep our composure, stay in control, and then by the third quarter, he's holding up both middle fingers, pointing them across the sideline and telling (Cowboys defensive coach Ernie) Stautner, 'F--- you!!!!!' He was more out of control than anybody!"
"I don't think people realize how close we were," Walker said, his fellow Hogs nodding in agreement. "We hung around for three hours after each practice, we knew each other's families, we hung out during the offseasons. And that stuff transfers to the field. So when Jake (Jacoby) comes back to the huddle all pissed-off and saying, 'We gotta get this guy,' it was all over. Everyone on the team went after that guy on the next play."
Seriously, a pre-season game at RFK needs to happen. Mr. Snyder, this will go a long way in helping re-build the trust that was lost over the past ten years.
Image via portsmouthsportsclub.org
