Playoffs return to Washington with D.C. Defenders and a lot of beer
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This spring, a playoff game in the District looks and feels different. And different doesn’t have to be a bad thing, because different can be a husband and father who has a government clearance but who also spends his weekends in a silver wig and some kind of knight outfit he found on sale at Party City.
It also can look like a younger man who journeys an hour on the Metro just to get to Audi Field and turn a drizzly afternoon into his arm day — by volunteering to hold the base of hundreds of stacked plastic cups that snake up the stands.
On Sunday, the XFL North Division title game looked a lot like a beer-drenched repast held by D.C.’s grieving fans — the die-hards who love the teams here, even though the teams don’t always love them back. But with those social climbers called the D.C. Defenders, who advanced to the XFL title game with a 37-21 win over the Seattle Sea Dragons, the first postseason experience in this area in more than a year felt more substantive.
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They provided a soothing balm for this major market that had suddenly entered a postseason drought, as well as a template that their big brothers can follow. The Capitals missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014. The Commanders could have new ownership soon but had little to cheer on the field last year. The Nationals are on track to lose 100 games again. And the Wizards can find relevance only by firing their general manager.
“For this specific season,” said Evan Diaz, the unofficial handler of the notorious beer snake in Section 137, “the Defenders have been our shining light.”
Want to build loyalty without brand recognition? Follow the XFL’s playbook. All eight franchises are based in Arlington, Tex. Players and coaches fly into the city they represent the day before games. Yet the league still pulls in fans. In Week 9 of the regular season, home attendance across the XFL reached an average high of 18,954. In St. Louis, the XFL clearly has found a home — the Battlehawks drew 33,034 fans for their regular season finale in Week 10.
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In six home games this season, the Defenders averaged 15,005 fans, team officials said. Winning helps. They put a good product on the field, including the league’s best running back, Abram Smith, and a stout defense that punished opponents even before they signed longtime NFL pro D.J. Swearinger.
Though Swearinger has recognition in this city, having spent two seasons with Washington’s NFL team, and D.C. quarterback Jordan Ta’amu has appeared on several NFL practice squads, the Defenders are not household names. Yet despite having a superficial connection to this team, fans have shown up. Let’s just say the fans in Section 137 weren’t studying the players’ bios while chugging beer. Still, that didn’t stop them from being loud and loyal.
When the Defenders’ Matthew McCrane booted practice kicks through the uprights in front of their section, the fans didn’t know his name, so they started chanting his number. The only thing that could stop them was the sight of the Sea Dragons’ kicker, who had the audacity to warm up as well.
Thirty-four! Thirty-four! Thirty-four! … Boooooooooo!
It stayed like this before kickoff, a boozy pendulum of emotions for people such as Brent Whelan. He was easy to spot in the maze of red and white — the man with a good government job and a party-store gothic costume. Why anyone would spend a rainy Sunday cheering on a bunch of anonymous players who unceremoniously dropped out of the NFL or never even made it there? Whelan tried his best to explain. Well, when he could.
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Chants of “Chug! Chug! Chug!” broke out every time someone swallowed their last drops of beer. They were followed, of course, by “Feed the snake!” so the drinker could responsibly recycle the plastic cup into the growing beer snake. Every new entry went to Diaz and his right shoulder. He only had three more hours of this.
“What matters is that there’s football in D.C.,” Whelan said, explaining why he cares.
“Good football in D.C.,” interrupted Chris Nolan, who was standing in the row ahead.
“What matters is that it’s affordable,” Whelan continued before a roar of boos cut him short again as his Section 137 friends directed their ire toward another Sea Dragons player.
“It’s more intimate here. FedEx [Field] is too big,” Whelan said, finally finishing his thought. “This is a closer community, much more fun.”
Fans such as Diaz, Whelan and Nolan, who wears a lemon head hat as an homage to the fans’ penchant for tossing citrus fruit on the field, have fully embraced this team. Still, the stands are filled by those who rock “Fight Finished” tees, Commanders jerseys and Capitals attire. It hasn’t been easy wearing those clothes this year.
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“Brutal!” Nick Wozny, 18, said in describing his year as a D.C. sports fan. He wore his black Alex Ovechkin jersey to the game anyway. “Brutal, to say the absolute least, but we’ve got faith in D.C. sports. It’s going to get better, rebuilding. Just a lot of faith down the road.”
While those fans wait, some have found a happy distraction with the Defenders.
“The Caps missing the playoffs for the first time in eight years, the Wizards being the Wizards, the Nats not really looking good,” Diaz said, over chants of “Chug! Chug! Chug!” “This is where you want to be. This is great.”
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Source: The Washington Post
