Goodbye, RFK
May 6, 2024
by Steve Thomas
I’ll get back to my regular debates over draft picks, the salary cap, analysis of players, and all of my other normal topics next week. As a matter of fact, this week, we’re starting our annual Position Group Breakdown series on both The Hog Sty Podcast and in our written products, so be on the lookout for those. Today, however, I wanted to spend some time on the past. This isn’t something I normally do, because, honestly, there’s nothing any of us can do about the times and events that are behind us. However, in this instance, circumstances compel me to spend just a little bit of time and energy on nostalgia. You see, the National Park Service announced last week that the District of Columbia is now cleared to demolish RFK Stadium. You can read NBC4’s report here. Apparently, the hold up has been the results an environmental assessment, which is now completed. This means that RFK’s days are officially numbered.
As is the case for many of you – at least the ones who are over the age of 45 or so – RFK Stadium was the embodiment of everything that we loved about Redskins football. It was never a beautiful, fancy structure. Even back in the 1980s, it looked a bit rickety and old, but it got the job done, much like the team itself. The Redskins teams of the glory years were mostly grinders with blue collar football pedigrees, and that’s exactly what RFK was to those of us who had the fortune to be there in its hayday. It wasn’t great, but it was a home, our home, and it was the source of some wonderful times for the fans.
For me, when I was very young, my father was able to get season tickets from co-workers for a couple of seasons, including the strike-shortened 1982 Super Bowl year. Sitting in RFK watching our team with my father are great memories for us both, even today. I remember following Mark Moseley’s field goal streak that year, including his game-winning kick against the Giants late in the season that broke the then-standing record for most consecutive field goals made in a row. What few people remember is that Moseley actually missed his first attempt, but then got a reprieve thanks to a penalty on the Giants.
I still vividly recall the “We Want Dallas” chants during the playoffs – I screamed my head off along with them, and remember the stands shaking due to the crowd jumping up and down. I remember watching the legendary interception-pick 6 by Darryl Grant against the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game that sealed the win for the home team happen right in front of me, which in my mind is the greatest play in RFK in the 1980s through the end in 1996. I had many, many good times there.
My dad and I weren’t regulars every year, so the times we had in the stadium were very special for me. I’m not going to repeat every memory I have of the stadium here; suffice to say that it was, and remains an important part of my childhood, as I’m sure it is for some of you. Millions of people have similar stories from other stadiums all around the world – they are the settings for bonding with family and friends, time to forget about the struggles of life for a few hours, and a chance to feel like you belong with thousands of other, excited fans. That’s what’s great about sports in general, not just football, and not just RFK Stadium. The old place was our place, warts and all, the home of our team during the best of times, and I, for one, will also remember it fondly.
Today, though, RFK is a sad, decrepit shell of itself, decades past the point at which it should have been demolished. The replacement, the former Jack Kent Cooke Stadium and the former Fed Ex Field, now the C-Words Stadium – no, I still can’t bring myself to use that horrible name for the expansion team currently residing there – never came close to recreating the magic of RFK. It was the source for mostly heartache and bad feelings, brought on by decades of bad teams and the specter of the terrible former owner who ruined everything for us all. None of wonderful character of RFK Stadium translated into the new facility. The younger crowd may never truly understand what it was like to be a fan at RFK in comparison to Fed Ex Field. While I miss RFK, and will be sad to soon watch it be demolished, I can assure you that no “Remember Fed Ex Field” column will never grace these electronic pages.
The Washington team will be in a new stadium in a few years, one way or the other, and I, for one don’t particularly care if the team manages to build it on the graveyard of RFK Stadium. It isn’t going to recreate the magic of the old stadium. That will only come from sustained success on the field. It doesn’t matter much if the new stadium is in Maryland, Virginia, or the District, except for people’s commute times.
In the end, I’m going to miss the place, even just knowing that it is no longer standing. Something about it being destroyed soon brings back all of those memories, even though it hasn’t been in use for a long time. Time, and progress marches on for everyone, though, including stadiums.
Goodbye RFK.