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The 1980's were a magical decade. So magical, in fact, we look upon them with a wonderment of nostalgia like no other decade.
After all some great things came out of the 80's, like, the Transformers, The Empire Strikes Back, Back to the Future, Ronald Regan and most importantly two Super Bowl Victories by the Washington Redskins.
It's not just Washingtonians that look at the 80's with a gleam in their eyes, it's everyone, and I blame this heart-fluttering nostalgia on why the Redskins are in the state they are in.
This past Christmas one of my gifts from my mother was a Washington Redskins desk calender. Everyday I tear a page off to reveal a trivia question (thus far I've only missed one "Who was the only Redskins' Player to rush for three TDs in 2009? Answer later on).
However, Monday's reveal was just a little fact, that in a sense, depressed me more than the past two seasons.
Entering the 2010 season the Washington Redskins' all-time record (including the post-season) is 564-523-27, so after this season that mark stands at 560-533-27.
Sure all-time we're above .500 but not by much. That stat tells me that if it weren't for the Gibbs area of the 1980's this team would be along the lines of the Detroit Lions.
We did have the 80's, though, and the three Lombardi Trophies, but we Skins' fans talk about a storied history that in reality is a bit distorted.
We have the glory years of Sammy Baugh in the late 30's and throughout the 40's then it wasn't until the 70's that the team was relevant under George Allen with Sonny Jurgenson and Billy Killmer at quarterback.
Then the team sank again in the late 70's until Joe Gibbs took over in 1981, finishing 8-8 , which would be his only season of his first go-around that wasn't above .500.
Those were all good years, but the sporadic nature of them hardly translate to a winning tradition.
As a fan base we became spoiled in the 80's. We had a no nonsense owner in Jack Kent Cooke that knew enough about football to know that he didn't know anything and hired smart general managers like Bobby Bethard and Charlie Casserly (the former being more talented than the latter) to run his team.
We also had a coach who (at the time) was an innovator of offense who could take other teams' cast-offs and turn them into champions.
We haven't had that combination since then. Sure we brought back the coach, but without a proper GM to bring in the talent he was less than effective.
As a fanbase we yell a return to a winning tradition, but in reality we are living what this team really is, a mediocre team with flashing of brilliance every couple of decades. The ruse isn't this string of losing, no sir, it was the winning in the 80's.
P.S. I haven't forgotten about the answer to the trivia question, I want to see a few guesses in the comments section before I reveal it.
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