Last March, as the Caps were on the road to their second consecutive division title and playoff appearance, some fans began booing the team during particularly lackluster home appearances.
"Fans are getting fanatic," Donald Brashear told me, with a laugh, at the time. "They know what we're capable of, and they want to see us perform."
At the time, I spoke out against the booing, since the Caps were an elite and entertaining team that I felt deserved the benefit of the doubt. But booing the Redskins on Sunday, after a drab first half against a bad Rams team...I'm just not exactly sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it was the first half of the first home game, which seems a tad premature. On the other hand, after a decade-long drought of mediocrity, D.C. football fans just don't have a reservoir of patience any more. It's all dry and scaly, with the faint whiff of rust and decay. (Also: read a history of D.C. fans booing the home teams here).
So while I'd probably wait until the team had actually lost before unleashing the most powerful weapon in the fan's arsenal (possibly besides a beer bong), I can go either way on the halftime booing. But booing the team after they actually won the game, as Redskins fans did on Sunday? Even as the team was in victory formation on the field, loudly expressing your guttural unhappiness. That I just don't get.
"I thought it was a shame, to be honest with you," said Chrisey, arguably the team's most popular player. "You take a win when you can get it. And there's a lot of good players, and there's a lot of good teams in this league. I think Washington prides themselves on being the best fans, and I think that they should try to be the best fans. We won. I understand they wanted us to beat the Rams by 40, but we still won, and we if we continue to win games, that's great. Booing's unnecessary."
This was both the most passionate and the best-expressed version of this argument that I heard, and frankly, I agree. Other players seemed more surprised than annoyed.
"Fans are hardcore over here," Andre Carter told Mike Wise. "I understand. Still, a win is a win. That's a first, unfortunately, for me. To be booed after a game we won? That's a first."
"We appreciate them, and everyone has freedom of choice," Antwaan Randle El said, "but for us as a team, we play better when you don't [boo]."
Perhaps the most animated player was backup linebacker Robert Henson, who took to Twitter to repeatedly criticize the home crowd, saying he had never been booed at home like that before, and that his friends on the Rams were also surprised.
"All you fake half hearted Skins fan can .. I won't go there but I dislike you very strongly, don't come to Fed Ex to boo dim wits!!" he wrote, among many other jabs. "The question is who are you to say you know what's best for the team and you work 9 to 5 at Mcdonalds," he wrote later.
But a few players on the team took a completely different approach, saying that the booing was actually justified and understandable.
"They just want a better output in some areas," Phil Daniels said. "I understand it. I understand the booing. I understand why they're booing. I mean, it ain't the first time."
"They're the fans; if they want to boo, let them boo," Fred Smoot said. "They should have booed."
I asked why he thought fans should boo; "because they wanted to," Smoot said. "You can't control them, you can just control what we did on the field."
And many others on the team sort of shrugged off the question, saying it doesn't really matter to them what fans decide to do.
"I don't pay attention to that stuff," Mike Sellers said. "It's not gonna make us lose the game. It's on us."
"You hear it, but you don't know who they're booing, so I don't really get into it," Santana Moss said. "It's not my say-so to tell em what to do, you know what I mean? If you're gonna be with us, you be with us; if you ain't...." and here he shrugged his shoulders. "I've got to play my game. I'm not out there worrying about what's going on in the stands or worrying about what's being said. I'm out there to do my job."
"Yeah, we'd like to run for 300 yards and pass for 600 yards and win by 50, but we moved the ball effectively, we just didn't produce in the red zone, and a win's a win...." Casey Rabach said. "I've been here five years and like I said, it's not the first time I've heard it. it is what it is. The fans are showing their disapproval, and everyone's entitled to their opinion. We're just gonna keep on working hard."
At the end of the day, the players and the fans probably largely feel the same. I'm not sure when I've been in so depressing a winning locker room. Several players were extremely agitated, and the news about Randy Thomas's potentially season-ending injury didn't help. There was hardly any laughing or joking or gloating, but there were plenty of players who were grateful that their record is now 1-1.
"Hey, fans gonna be fans, you know?" DeAngelo Hall said of the boos. "They love you when you're up, they have their opinions when you're down. But we've still got great fans, man. We've got to give them something to be happy about. I'm happy we got a win. We could have played a hell of a lot better though."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/09/so_is_it_really_time_to_boo_th_1.html
