Just before the opening of the 1996 NFL season, a co-worker and fellow Redskins fan asked me if I was looking forward to the upcoming season. He seemed to be a bit taken aback when I replied that I really wasn't, due to the fact that the Redskins had been projected by the prognosticators to perform very well that season. I explained that it would really not be any fun if the Redskins did well that season, since they were expected to do so. As it turned out, they played very well early in that season, only to pull one of their patented late season collapses and miss the playoffs.

I like it better when my favorite teams are expected to do poorly. That way, they have everything to gain and nothing to lose (while just the opposite is true when they are supposed to do well). If they have a tough season, they (and their fans) can always come back with the excuse that nothing was expected from them anyway, so what's the big deal? If they do well, they (and their fans) can brag that they surpassed their expectations for the season.

When Tom Landry was nearing the end of his illustrious career as the great and only (at that time) head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, he was asked a pointed question by a reporter. The question was something like this: "Of the four Super Bowls you led your team to, which one was the most fun for you?" Without hesitating, Landry replied, "The one after the 1975 season, because we weren't supposed to be there." Even though I'm a Redskins fan, I can identify with Landry's remarks, as I believe winning is always more fun when you have no business doing so!