ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 23, 1996 TAG: 9612230167
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The earth did move.
The halftime ceremony was touching, but to get what many came to RFK Stadium for Sunday, they had to wait.
The Dallas Cowboys had long ago waved the white flag, but for some in the 229th consecutive - and last - NFL sellout crowd at RFK, the game wasn't over even when it was over.
In hundreds, they climbed the low fences that made the old yard one of the sport's cozy yet confining homes. They began scooping up part of what is left of the place besides memories.
Despite the presence of hundreds of men wearing stars and blue - no, not the Cowboys - some took home seats. Others engaged in a turf war.
In the end zone just in front of the tunnel to the Dallas locker room, a middle-aged woman clad in burgundy slacks and a 'Skin-colored jacket, scooped lovingly at the painted grass of the Redskins' logo.
She was using a measuring spoon. She was carefully putting her gatherings in a repository for preservation.
It was Tupperware.
It was the kind of day one might expect for RFK's NFL retirement party. It was loud, emotional and bizarre.
As he waited for the field to clear for the second-half kickoff, Cowboys coach Barry Switzer was high-fiving costumed members of the Redskins Marching Band.
It meant everything to some. It meant nothing to others. Virtually every piece of every yard-line numeral was dug up. It also was another stirring afternoon in a great rivalry.
If it was a Washington monument to this so-long the Redskins' rooters wanted, however, they should have bronzed the scoreboard.
On a day when the notably absent included Troy Aikman (strained neck), Emmitt Smith (sprained right ankle) and Jack Kent Cooke (osteoarthritis), the Redskins' last victory at RFK came against the same team as the first, back in 1961.
Washington tried to put salve on a disappointing season with a 37-10 triumph in a stadium where the Beatles once tried to take a sad song and make it better.
The Redskins (9-7) missed the playoffs after a 7-1 start, but did reach their first winning season since 1992.
Washington played like it was bye-bye day. Dallas, with a fifth straight NFC East title clinched, played like it was a bye day.
``The real emotion is that we won the dang game,'' said cornerback Darrell Green, the only Redskin in uniform introduced at halftime with the greats who brought 173 victories to RFK's history. ``We worked so hard, and we've had so much disappointment, but we were able to come through.
``We did on behalf of ourselves, on behalf of our fans, and we left what we all hoped to leave, a lasting memory for our fans. Today was about us, and about our fans, and it really would have been a painful thing to leave here, to be the team that left RFK and not gotten it done.''
Green, one of the last Redskins introduced at halftime, bounded from the dugout and ran to midfield to join his elder brethren like he was chasing down a ball-carrier.
``It was a very exciting time for me,'' he said. ``It was a special day, being out there, with my friends, my old teammates. And they are older than me.''
Dallas did the Redskins two huge favors, resting Aikman and Smith for the playoffs, which the Cowboys will begin Saturday at Texas Stadium against Minnesota. The quarterback and running back only combined for 4,330 of Dallas' 4,528 yards entering the game.
``The Redskins played well, they were happy and Merry Christmas to them,'' Switzer said.
Washington's margin of victory matched its high in the series, a 41-14 RFK triumph in 1986. It also was Dallas' worst regular-season loss since a 43-3 disaster at Minnesota in 1988, Tom Landry's last season as the Cowboys' coach.
Fittingly in such a close rivalry, the decision brought the 36-year regular-season meetings in RFK to an 18-18 standoff, although the Redskins have NFC championship game wins in 1972 and '82.
It was a historical day at RFK. All of the game programs were sold by one hour before kickoff. Some enterprising fans who had $5 for them before the game were trying to sell them for $10 after - and had takers, too.
As the second half began, golf carts carrying the honored Redskins circled the field. They toted Sonny and Sam and Clark and Monk, Houston and Murphy, and those contrasting defensive linemen, a pony-tailed Ron McDole and a carefully clipped Dave Butz.
It was a day a lot of Washington will be carrying around for a long time, whether or not they have the sod to prove it.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. AP. Former Washington Redskins stars John Rigginsby CNB(left) and Sonny Jurgensen chat Sunday during halftime ceremonies of
the final game at RFK Stadium, a 37-10 victory over Dallas. color.
2. Chart: Hail to RFK. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL