With Regards to Mike Wise's Column About the Fans
Gary Cope, SkinsGridiron.com, Aug. 25, 2005

I'm not sure Mr. Mike Wise thought his Aug. 20 column (Booing Won't Make It Better, Hopefully Time Will) through very thoroughly. He paints Redskins fans with a very broad brush, thus generalizing us all as fair-weather fans, or "pathetic lot," who will turn on a guy if he throws a lone incompletion in an otherwise flawless performance. Maybe we would, considering what we've had to put up with the last 12 years. To be completely honest, I think we've earned that luxury.

Let's kick around some facts. Patrick Ramsey has had three years to prove he can play in this league. Granted, he's shown some ability, but then again, even Heath Shuler didn't look like a complete bust some times. I know all you Wise guys out there are going to defend Ramsey because he's had two coaches in three years, and is now on his fourth system and blah, blah, blah. Stop it. I mean it, stop kidding yourselves. No! Bad fan, BAD fan! The kid hasn't proved himself when he's had the chance. Great players make the most of opportunities, no matter how small. Nice kid, but he's had TWO training camps in which he's had a chance to step up and he hasn't done that.

How long have Redskin fans suffered? Our patience is exhausted. We're tired. Our tolerance for losing, sadly, keeps increasing each season. "We'll be better next year," we tell ourselves. We've bought the best players, and failed. We traded for the best players, and failed. Every year, we seem to mortgage our future for glory today, and every year, we have failed. Wise seems to insinuate that we, the fans, should be held to a higher standard than the players. I get the sense that he believes that when we pay the outrageous ticket and concession prices, that we, should somehow be obligated to constantly reassure players, who make millions of dollars. "Hey, you're oh-for-11 with three interceptions returned for touchdowns and we haven't attempt a pass longer than six yards, but it's okay, guy. Cheer up, bucko! It's just a game and you'll still get your millions."

Well hell, I feel better already!

We deserve better. And yet we still we come to the games in mass. We buy merchandize of players who won't be with the team next season (i.e. Coles, Smoot, Bailey). We pay $8 for a beer and $6 for a hot dog. We helped Danny Boy turn a $300 million profit on this team and what has he given us in return; heartache, disappointment and the right to bitch and moan about it. If he really cared so much about the team, he'd bring in a competent general manager and let him run the team, not the coach. There's a quote uttered by many coaches, past and present, that goes "coaches coach, players play." Maybe owners should just stick to owning and not interfering. With the Redskins, it's more like, "Coaches are GMs, GMs are puppets, players are underachievers and blame the system, and owners get in the way." Yep, one big happy family.

I love Joe Gibbs just like the rest of you Skins fans, but let's face facts, when it comes to seeing talent, he just doesn't have it. Need I recite the horrible picks (Desmond Howard) he made after he assumed control of player personnel decisions from Bobby Beathard. Which in itself is ironic, because Beathard won a power struggle with Jack Pardee in 1981 that led to Pardee's firing and Beathard hiring his guy Gibbs. How's that for a "thank you?" Beathard knew talent.

Mediocrity and underachievement have become the hallmarks of this Redskins franchise. If they're going to continue to put a below average and inconsistent product on the field, then they should fully expect the reaction from the fans to be of the same ilk.