Wilbert Montgomery and I went to game thirteen at Redskins Stadium this past Sunday, making this 15 of the past 16 Redskins-Eagles games, a streak dating back to 1999. The weather was excellent, almost too hot at times (a good problem to have in December), the food and booze were filling, we met lots of nice people and the game was good. Too bad the Redskins didn't win it...
There was a holiday party in my neighborhood the night before this game, and I stayed out, er, late. Wilbert Montgomery had also been out late the night before, at some hoity-toity black tie affair, probly an NRA fundraiser where you pay $1000 to see Dick Cheney shoot a Susan Sarandon cutout in the face. He arrived at my house, we coffeed up and left. After misadventures including a forgotten wallet and Munchos for breakfast, we hit the Beltway for the game. Traffic was really bad and we actually never connected with friends because of it. We arrived at ours spot around 11:30, about an hour later than we wanted to, and set up our tailgate.
Our tailgate. Wilbert Montgomery already has the brats on the grill.
Look at those. Those are gonna be gooood, especially since I'm sitting on two handfuls of Combos, a bag of Munchos and a bourbon for the day so far.
We asked the seemingly nice people rocking out in the minivan across from us to take a picture for the record. Apparently they had a hard time with the view finder.
Me and Wilbert Montgomery. Note the hat. Although my burgundy hat was stolen by a drunken Eagles fan at the Eagles game on October 12, I had a backup in black. The original hat has since karmically returned to me.
Those seemingly nice people that agreed to take our picture then approached us, and that is when we met Mary Anne from South Jersey and her brother, Mike from South Jersey. They had to know about Wilbert Montgomery's Dono jersey and proceeded to tell us they were from Jersey and were raised Eagles fans but became Redskins fans when they moved to the area (in 1982?) and saw a great Redskins-Eagles game ans just decided thereafter they would be Redskins fans but secretly were still Eagles fans but not really. Wilbert Montgomery was not buying it.
I challenged Mary Anne from South Jersey on her Redskins beliefs and she would not have it. At left, Wilbert Montgomery attempts to out her as an Eagles fan. He does that to me almost every week.
That crewe wandered back to their minivan to rock out to Bon Jovi and continue to party extremely hard. It was a little Pennsauken heaven right here in PG County. Meanwhile, Wilbert Montgomery had prepared the boil for the brats.
There is nothing like lips and assholes shoved into an intestine and boiled in ferment. Those Germans man, can't keep that treat secret!
Wilbert Montgomery attends to the lips and assholes boiling in beer.
That's a tailgate right there. Beer brats, German potato salad, kraut and the 12 yr old Elijah. If only we had remembered the mustard, and no one around us had mustard. Something about the sodium content.
Finally, we packed it up and headed in. On the way in, we passed the greatest tailgate van ever. It had a platform built on the bumper that held a burgundy and gold bar complete with kegerator. When you're ready to go into the game or pass out in the lot, you just heft the bar up on the platform, lash it and when the Maryland State Trooper pulls you over on the way home from the game, you just say, what? Oh, that. It pumps Za-Rex at Joe Gibb's pregame prayer meeting. Will you pray with me now Officer Friendly?
The greatest tailgate aid ever, a portable and fully functional bar. Don't forget the Twinkies for when you really don't want food to get in the way of your drinking. After all, you have three hours to sober up, unless you don't.
The view from our seats. Play by play here if you want to follow along at home.
3:24 left 1st qtr, Eagles 2nd & 6, Redskins 15. Jeff Garcia is dropping back to pass to Donte Stallworth in the middle and it falls incomplete but if you blow it up you will see Brian Westbrook on the left signaling for the ball. He appears open and would have been much more open had Carlos Rogers not held him off the line. The Eagles would score on the next play.
We had dressed for dry and possible cold, and Wilbert Montgomery and I both wore multiple layers. Up in section 422, the sun was well above the stadium and was warm, warm enough for me to lose the long sleeve thermal and the fleece. Just tremendous weather for December and if we have to pay for it with a few biblical floods in the area in May and June, maybe that's ok.
The Naughty Santa cheerleaders were out, how timely for this family season. Those jackets and hats were probably uncomfortably warm.
1:42 left 1st qtr, Redskins 1st & 10, Eagles 48, Ladell Betts goes over left tackle for 4 yards. Eight plays and 28 yards later, Jason Campbell throws an interception to Michael Lewis, who takes it 84 yards for the touchdown:
It's not looking great at this point. I have also been notified by the team that this photo establishes a new record low for advertisements in frame with five.
5:33 left 2nd qtr, Eagles 1st & goal, Redskins 6. Brian Westbrook goes right for three here and two plays later Donte Stallworth catches the TD, and Marcus Washington is called for roughing the passer.
We'll pause here for more Naughty Santa Redskins cheerleaders. I think this is Sabrina:
Unless it's Brittany, Chelsea, Courtney, Crystal H., Ginger, Jennifer, Jessica, Kelley, Kimberly or Tiffani.
Shaun (did anyone else notice the Redskins have all three spellings of /shon/ on the roster? Sean, Shawn and Shaun) Suisham kicks a field goal with one minute left in the half, bringing the Redskins to within two scores, 21-6 Eagles.
At the half, we wanted to get out of the heat (in December!), so we walked out to the concourse. I looked over the rail and these two sad lil Eagles fans. The one wearing Reggie White's jersey was severely listing and Wilbert Montgomery and I surmised they had been booted from Redskins Stadium.
Looking north down Redskins Road toward Brightseat Road, this doesn't look right. As 
Wilbert Montgomery and I can attest to the hassle of trying to get into a Redskins game in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, it seems to me that if there really was a concern about, oh, I don't know a bomb or an anthrax attack, that having transit buses block 6 of the 8 lanes on the main access to the Beltway would be a bad idea.
Two random buddy-dudes we met at the half. We met a large number of mixed couples, and The Curly R salutes all those with the courage to cross cultural and social borders to be together.
At this point, Wilbert Montgomery mumbles something about 'beers' and wanders off...
...to buy beers from the cute beer guy. Wilbert Montgomery always abuses Washington's hospitality. In Philadelphia, if you hit on the beer guys they just pummel you, even if it's a woman.
When we got back to our seats, the bald guy in front of us had gotten comfortable. We will refer to him only as the 80 Dollar Nap.
10:50 left 3rd qtr, Redskins 3rd & 12, Eagles 24. Jason would be forced to scramble right for ten yards. Shaun Suisham would then kick a field goal to bring the Redskins to within 12, 21-9 Eagles.
80 Dollar Nap's reaction:
As ever, the Redskins Band Funky Four came out midway through the third quarter.
80 Dollar Nap was unmoved by this gritty performance.
5:51 left 3rd qtr, Eagles 3rd & 14, Redskins 36. Jeff would throw it incomplete. The Eagles would punt and the Redskins would mount an excellent drive.
80 Dollar Nap stirred long enough during this drive to adorn himself in some sort of headscarf which is funny because 80 Dollar Nap didn't look ethnic unless Michael Stipeishness qualifies as an ethnicity.
The bigscreen replay of the Antwaan Randle El touchdown catch with 30 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. It was a 34 yard hit, all in the air and it was beautiful.
21-16 Eagles heading into the 4th quarter. The Redskins have reeled off three strainght scores to bring the game within five points. Could the Redskins mount a comeback?
80 Dollar Nap appears to be manifesting a hangover.
8:26 left 4th qtr, Redskins 1st & 10, Eagles 18. Betts would hit for a 3 yard loss.
6:15 left 4th, plenty of time to win the game. So much time that you almost wish you could have driven down to the Eagles 3 a little slower, since big back TJ Duckett is in and he'll go 3 yards to daylight on first down easy, right?
Wrong. The Redskins settle for three points and give the ball back to the Eagles, down two points with 4:52 left in the game. The Eagles then proceed to get three first downs and kneel it out.
Wilbert Montgomery and I leaving the game. Our section did not cross into shade literally until the final minute of the game. Excellent weather for viewing an outdoor sporting event.
The Redskins Chefs didn't cook up much for us today.
Sun sets on another Redskins loss.
There was supposed to be a postgame rager down there but Dan Snyder canceled it in a petulant rage and fired Norv Turner again.
We saw some fun jerseys on our way out. Here's Jaws.
Wilbert Montgomery.
I hope this guy got this on sale.
Redskins Stadium, a wonderful terrible place.
Mmmm....hot pretzels...
After the game, we set the tailgate back up, as the traffic was bad getting out of the lot and we were in no hurry. Eventually, Mary Anne from South Jersey, her brother Mike from South Jersey and Joan the Random Giants Fan staggered back to their minivan. They were not even close to done partying.
Your blogger with Mary Anne from South Jersey and Wilbert Montgomery.
Mary Anne from South Jersey's brother Mike from South Jersey and Mary Anne from South Jersey.
Your blogger and Joan the Random Giants Fan, who had not prepared adequately for the weather. Before the game we had witnessed her putting on a Redskins sweatshirt belonging to Mary Anne from South Jersey. Realizing with disgust that she was wearing Redskins paraphernalia, she removed it and turned it inside out.
My new friend, Mary Anne from South Jersey. Our postgame discussion was, ah, spirited and covered a wide range of topics.
If all former Eagles fans from South Jersey that were now Redskins fans were this nice, the world would be a better place.
Not pictured: realizing that by running my radio before and after the game I had worn my battery down and did not have jumper cables as the final cars began swarming out of the lot; our inability to find anyone with jumper cables; my inability to get the car pop-started on an incline in the lot; me approaching the Maryland SHA trucks that were busy turning Redskins Road back to two-way after the rush and asking them if they could take a minute to give me a jump; them agreeing and the senior guy telling the junior guy to give me a hand; watching as Wilbert Montgomery lets some random drunk guy from another tailgate get in the car and try and pop-start it again to no avail, spilling his beer into the passenger seat in the process; me watching as the Maryland SHA trucks not only do not come over to help the driver in distress but actually drive away; the kind family in the pickup truck coming to the rescue with jumper cables; getting the car started finally; Wilbert Montgomery laying out a plastic grocery bag to sit on so his ass won't get wet from the beer seeping into the passenger seat; getting home to watch the second half of the ass-beating the Cowboys took at the hands of the Saints; staying up wayyyyy too late playing Gears of War on Xbox 360; driving around for three days in a car stinking like a fraternity basement before finally putting the Oxyclean and cedar incense solution into place.
Wilbert Montgomery and I will be attending this weekend's New Year's Eve matchup in Philadelphia between the Falcons and Eagles, marking the first time I will have returned to Philadelphia since the hat theft in week 10. The Eagles have secured a playoff spot and are fighting to win the division, and they control their own destiny in this regard. Your intrepid blogger will be snapping pictures and taking in the local color, and The Curly R will produce a very special game journal of the experience.
All photos: me
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