THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512030248
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANN G. SJOERDSMA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Art Monk is now a Philadelphia Eagle, and we Redskins fans have become scapegoats for the nattering nabobs of negativism, a.k.a. the Washington sports press. Can it get any worse?
Of course! There's today's demolition in Dallas to enjoy.
Our championship team has been dismantled in the guise of ``rebuilding'' by a miscalculating, cutthroat general manager and two inexperienced head coaches, and we're not supposed to care. We're supposed to like free-agency blunders and deals that go sour. We're supposed to smile and clap, but never, ever boo in sacred RFK Stadium.
I was in the stands Nov. 19 when Norv Turner dispatched a cold Heath Shuler to battle the Seattle Seahawks in a situation that screamed redemption for Gus Frerotte. I understood the boos and joined the chorus of ``We Want Gus.''
Minutes before, with the help of deafening fan support, the defense had crushed the Seahawks - forcing a third and 45 - and the Skins had taken over at the Seattle 28, trailing 17-10. It seemed a great chance for Frerotte to come back after his costly end-zone interception.
Instead, Turner activated Shuler. RFK was electrified: The defense, and the fans, had done it for Gus. But the coach missed it. In came Shuler, a talented quarterback who is not game-ready, and I felt betrayed. I knew then, as did every fan in the stadium, who would start against the Eagles the next week.
But ours is not to wonder why, say the nabobs who denounce us as ``boo birds,'' a ``lynch mob'' and my personal favorite, ``The World's Most Overrated Fans.'' Ours is not to analyze the game, the personnel or the organization. Ours is to die a slow death week after week, in frustrated silence.
We fans didn't ask to have our team decimated for a ``youth movement.'' And we didn't ask for some of our best players to don other teams' uniforms. To blame us now for our vocal displeasure is to blame the victim. What are we supposed to do? Give up wanting to win?
The Redskins won Super Bowl XXVI less than four years ago, but only seven players remain from that team, and two of them, Bobby Wilson and Jim Lachey, are injured. All around the NFL, we see our beloved Redskins suited up - Kurt Gouveia and Raleigh McKenzie in Philly; Mark Schlereth in Denver; Jumpy Geathers in Atlanta; Gary Clark in Miami; Fred Stokes, Martin Mayhew, Earnest Byner, the list goes on - and somehow we're not supposed to care.
Joe Gibbs left us high and dry in 1993, resigning shortly after signing a new five-year contract at a time (March) when team officials were prohibited from talking to NFL assistant coaches. So Richie Petitbon, a superb defensive coordinator, got drafted and ultimately sacrificed. General manager Charley Casserly then botched the Wilber Marshall deal, getting nothing for our $6 million man.
Casserly, alone or with Jack Kent Cooke or Petitbon, jumped the gun on the salary cap, grossly underestimating it. His hard-line cuts drove away the ``Posse'' - wouldn't we love to see Clark spitting fire on the sidelines now? - and key members of the defense. He didn't learn early enough about creative salary packages, like those that enabled the 49ers and the Cowboys to reel in Deion Sanders.
Yet we fans are not supposed to care.
Art Monk might have given us something to cheer the past three years. His mere presence - his work ethic - might have inspired the younger players. He might even have caught that underthrown pass that Shuler intended for double-covered Olanda Truitt last week, another one on the road to 1,000.
Instead, Casserly played hardball and dumped him. The great receiver should have been given a secure offer and encouraged to shop around. Monk deserved that much. So did we.
Money largely has supplanted history, tradition, loyalty, respect and a sense of family in football, and we're supposed to like it. Sorry, nabobs. We don't.
Happy birthday, Art Monk, 12/5/57. May your star continue to flicker. As for the rest of you guys, make it a Cowboys sweep. We may boo, but we still believe. MEMO: Ann G. Sjoerdsma, book editor for The Virginian-Pilot, has been a
Washington Redskins fan for 30 years. by CNB