rif ([info]rifmeister) wrote,
@ 2006-02-20 19:34:00
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Ancient Redskins Information
In 1937, George Preston Marshall moved the Boston Braves football team to Washington DC, and renamed them the Washington Redskins. Marshall, the owner, was a big fan of showmanship --- his Indian-themed teams wore Indian war paint and (in publicity photos) Native American headdresses. The Redskins fans were encouraged to sing "Hail to the Redskins", with lyrics by Marshall's wife:


Hail to the Redskin, hail vic-to-ry,
Braves on the warpath, fight for old D.C.
Scalp 'em, swamp 'em. We will take 'em big score.
Read 'em, weep 'em. Touchdown we want heap more.

Fight on. Fight on til you have won.
Sons of Wash-ing-ton (Rah! Rah! Rah!)
Hail to the Redskins, hail vic-to-ry.
Braves on the warpath. Fight for old DC.


Paraphrased from "Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football", by Robert Peterson. As far as I can tell, the Bears, Giants and Redskins are the oldest surviving NFL franchises.

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[info]mijven
2006-02-21 01:26 am UTC (link)

"We want heap more?" I've certainly never sung that. Or the line before. But I've misplaced my copy of the lyrics, so am willing to believe I don't stay true to form. Anyway, I'm not entirely clear I appreciate the "more heap" image. Eew.

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[info]kirisutogomen
2006-02-21 03:43 am UTC (link)
I would guess that the Packers ought to be added to that list, but I could be wrong.

I also note that the original lyrics had "Fight for old Dixie," rather than "D.C."

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[info]aerynne
2006-02-21 07:20 am UTC (link)
That song's not ancient. It's still around. I've been singing it for as long as I can remember (genetic Redskins fan).

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[info]rifmeister
2006-02-21 12:34 pm UTC (link)
You still sing "Touchdown we want heap more?" I'd somehow imagined that would've been phased out for political-correctness reasons.

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[info]aerynne
2006-02-21 07:18 pm UTC (link)
Hmm. I don't remember, actually. That part of the song was always a little fuzzy on the lyrics. I definitely sang "braves on the warpath", though.

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[info]rifmeister
2006-02-21 12:36 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, the Packers were the other old one. I forgot.

Oh, and in answer to the original question that made me start reading this book, apparently old school football uniforms (turn of the century) did sometimes have handles so that big players could pull smaller players downfield (this was apparently legal then), but there was no mention of specifically designing uniforms with football camouflage and weird bulge padding to disguise who had the ball.

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[info]countertorque
2006-02-21 03:57 pm UTC (link)
Do you recommend the book?

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[info]rifmeister
2006-02-21 05:08 pm UTC (link)
I recommend it, but not strongly. It's amusing and interesting, but not especially well written. I checked it out from the library, and I will read the whole thing, but I certainly won't buy a copy afterward.

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Original and Current versions...
[info]twe
2006-02-21 04:04 pm UTC (link)
... can both be found herehere. (Note that it was "Dixie" rather than "DC.") I think there was a time (back when they were winning Superbowls) when we sang "Skin'em, swamp 'em, Touchdown!"

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[info]twe
2006-02-21 04:11 pm UTC (link)
The lyrics got cleaned up in the 60s.
ESPN has some amusing anecdotes, including an amusing story of how the fight song was held hostage until Marshall agreed to allow an expansion team in Dallas:

http://espn.go.com/page2/wash/s/closer/020315.html

I think the Bears and Giants are a little older than the Redskins, but yeah, that sounds about right.

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(Anonymous)
2006-02-22 07:36 am UTC (link)
the oldest team in the NFL is Vinny Testaverde!

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