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**Thoughts on today’s NFC Championship game**

I watched the 1992 Super Bowl, but it was at a time when I didn’t watch, or care much about, football. My dad was always a massive Redskins fan, so much so that he couldn’t really bear watching the games for fear of how worked up he could get. He continues that restriction today, but I began actually watching football in college in 2002. That’s pretty late, but the real tragedy was to jump on and begin rooting for a miserably-run team in what would become a hopeless situation. As long as Dan Snyder owned the team, they would never have any real or sustained success.

Of course, the unthinkable and unexpected did happen, and Snyder finally investigated selling the team in 2022. The wreckage he left behind by 2023 was both evident and on full display. A hollowed-out fanbase, a stadium mess and, worst of all, a loser name conjured up by drive-by consultants. There’s no question in my mind that despite the tiny amounts of pressure over the years, the team would never have had to change the name if 1) the team had been successful 2) the owner was at all likeable and 3) Snyder had actually paid his limited partners in the team and not turned them against him in the most volatile time in recent memory in regards to race relations. The team never invested in the ways that could have protected the name, never controlled the narrative, so there it went.

In the 90s and early 2000s, it wasn’t uncommon for fans who still clung to the glory years to refer to their (former) arch rival Cowboys as the “Cowgirls.” This has died down in recent years because the rivalry itself has died down, not to mention that there’s probably been some level of awareness that using femininity as a pejorative is both wrong and idiotic. As much as those using the term may have enjoyed it, they really felt the sting after “Redskins” became “Commanders.” It’s one thing to invent a silly name to call a rival, it’s entirely something else to have the actual name of your team be the insult itself.

Rooting for the “Commanders” doesn’t exactly come naturally. With the ownership change, I was sure that there would be another rebranding — perhaps something like going back to Washington Football Team or making the brand “Washington”-centric. That seems less likely with each passing week of this season, however, and for the very best of reasons. Winning solves pretty much everything, and this team is winning again. It’s never going to feel like the glory years of the Redskins again, but it can be something entirely new. This ownership, this GM, this coach, this team, and especially this quarterback are so fun, likeable and easy to root for.

I’m sure that some uniform and brand changes are in order in the future, but right now we’ve got a hell of a game (or two) to get excited about. I think they’re going to the Super Bowl, but to even get this far is nearly as unthinkable and unexpected as the announcement in 2022.

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So this is how we’re starting today? https://www.instagram.com/p/CDB1WiWgObx/?igshid=18iq6i57cpljm

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Still working on the placement of our wildlife camera, but I did catch one specimen. https://www.instagram.com/p/CB0hMmZgP42/?igshid=s6ua87p6a31h

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Still working on the placement of our wildlife camera, but I did catch one specimen. https://www.instagram.com/p/CB0hMmZgP42/?igshid=1xqg8d84f3h2e

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Leg to one side, ear to the other. https://www.instagram.com/p/CBnrSOCA1XG/?igshid=1hjckznbsyy25

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Happy Birthday to Oliver! 5 years in, and he’s just as cute. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9GO1O4A0ax/?igshid=1ub8ezbvl5aga

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Happy Thanksgiving from Oliver! https://www.instagram.com/p/B5dye-XgxVl/?igshid=cy8f6bzv3yr3

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Fall! https://www.instagram.com/p/B5UYGzCA0_J/?igshid=1ax4onimx42c6

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Target, getting ready. https://www.instagram.com/p/B4gKffwgu9C/?igshid=jre8ky2glq7z

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That’s what you want in your hotel stairwell. (at Historic Williamsburg, Williamsburg) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3yMi4PAU9o/?igshid=1fvskn6d815la

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#nats https://www.instagram.com/p/B3iFTF5gS-G/?igshid=1qyq9o99dufgr

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Friends and families. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz7HO5EAcIS/?igshid=1sqtyipv893rn