Football Fandom in the Internet Age, Pt.2

By Todd L. Frank  |   Thursday, May 27, 2010  |  Comments( 0 )

Washington Redskins
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We’re taking a look at how football fandom has changed in the internet age. If you missed part 1, check it out here. For part 2, we talk to MattyK, Site Administrator of The Warpath, as well as Mike Perdue of Hail Redskins, a site he co-owns with Mike Dorsey and Kenny Scott.

Real Football 365: How would you best sum up the biggest difference in football fandom in the internet age vs. the old days? Or even in 2010 internet era vs. just several years ago when the internet existed but wasn’t yet being leveraged in such a revolutionary way by social media and bloggers outside of the mainstream sports media?

Hail Redskins: For me, the biggest difference is meeting people that I would not have met if not for the internet. The friendships you make on a message board are truly remarkable. As for coverage, that's hard to say. The internet has allowed me to keep current with the Redskins and NFL daily. In the old days, I would have to subscribe to the old WarPath newsletter to find out in-depth info on the Redskins.

The Warpath: Today’s fan is more informed than ever before because of the internet, sports radio, and television. I remember growing up in the 80s and 90s, most information would be dated by the time you would read it in magazines, or you might get a snippet or two about your team on Sports Center. Today, information is constantly flowing and is instantaneous. It’s quite remarkable how far we’ve come just in the past couple of years. We’ve really seen an explosion in how the league, teams and even the players utilize message boards, websites, blogs, Twitter, etc. It’s really changed the game as to how information is delivered to the fans. In many ways, traditional media such as newspapers and magazines have been cut out of the picture and as a result they’ve had to quickly reinvent themselves to keep up.

RF365: The Washington Redskins have always had a passionate fan base. While they’ve certainly struggled over the last decade or so and the Wizards had some moments a few years back and the Capitals have been the best team lately, this is and always be a Redskins town. How have you seen that passion come through online?

WP: The passion of the Redskins fan base definitely shines strong online. Occasionally I’ll scan the Internet looking at other team’s fan sites and I’ve yet to find another team that has so many strong and active communities online. If you want to see how passionate the fans can be, check in during a game or the Monday after. The traffic on the site will literally double and it’s not uncommon for the increased traffic to crash the site at times.

HR: The things that intrigues me are the differences among the fans after a win or a loss. As for HR, when the Redskins win, we may average around 60 or 70 fans to show up and talk about the win. But after a loss? I've seen 140 people show up to bitch and moan and the quick way to fix things. We need a new QB. We need a new Coach. Redskin fans are a passionate bunch. We have a member on HR who moved to Tampa Bay, FL, several years ago. Yet, he flies up to DC for every home game. The amount of money and time he spends away from his family is amazing. That's how much he loves his Redskins. Even in trying times, he has kept his love for the Redskins. And to do that 8 times a year... That's passion folks.

RF365: Blogs and message boards have changed how sports fans “meet up” and interact. How would you say that affects (positively and/or negatively) the fan experience?

HR: Well, as I said earlier, depending on if the Redskins win or lose, the differences are astounding. The positives are the online friends I've been able to make. I'm "friends" with a guy who lives in Italy. Never met him, but I consider him a good friend. Same goes to a member who lives in France. I have several friends now throughout Europe. If not for the message boards, there's no way I'd know them. As for the negatives, I'd have to say putting up with other team fans that you regularly wouldn't have to deal with.

WP: I think blogs and message boards only enhance the fan experience. These outlets give fans from across the country and even the world the chance to interact and form friendships. Growing up in NY I can relate to the “out of town” fan who doesn’t get all the local coverage that a fan located in the D.C. area gets. Blogs and message boards help to level the playing field as far as the news and information that the out of town fans get compared to the hometown fans.

RF365: The internet makes it possible for a Redskins fan in Prague or Portland (Oregon or Maine) read the Washington Post and interact with other diehard Redskin fans on your site and others. What have you seen on your site that made you shake your head in amazement about how the internet can bring these people together?

WP: Expanding on what I was saying above, as an out of town fan myself, the internet has exposed me to fans from all over the world. It still amazes me when someone signs up for The Warpath from a country halfway around the world. It’s just crazy to imagine someone sitting in a cafe in Italy checking out The Warpath.

HR: I believe one of our first new members to HR was a guy from France. When I saw where he was from, it really hit me how big the internet really is. Up to that point it amazed me if I saw a member from California, Arizona, or even Texas. When Seebs showed up from France, it was really shocking.

RF365: Anonymity on the internet can turn anyone into a tough guy or alleged expert. Now, instead of risking walking into a stadium in Dallas or Philly, Redskin fans can just hop over to a Cowboys or Eagles message board and mix it up with rival fans from the comfort of their own home. Has this altered the nature of sports rivalries and trash talk, and have you seen much of this as far as fans of other teams frequenting your site?

HR: We have had trolls from all of the NFC East teams. And as you'd think, some teams outside of our division as game time nears. With the exception of a few, we've pretty fortunate in that area. We have a Dallas fan who posts more than some Redskins fans do. We have also banned our share of Dallas fans. We've had a couple of Eagle fans to become frequent posters on HR, but they haven't been around in a few years. On HR, we have always set out to be a family oriented message board. We keep cussing to minimum and have zero tolerance on trolls. If you want to show up and talk football, you're more than welcomed. You want to show up talk smack about the Redskins their fans, HR is not the place for you.

WP: We have a few fans of other teams that frequent our site, but generally speaking they are respectful and usually have something worthwhile to offer in discussing our respective teams. Sure you get the occasional troll, but they don’t get the chance to stick around very long. I can’t speak for what happens on other sites, but on our site we do our best to keep meaningless trash talk to a minimum.

RF365: Beyond interacting on message boards, fans now have unprecedented access to information about the Redskins. Just like any other subject, more information doesn’t mean that all of it is accurate, reliable, or even entertaining. How have the Redskins as an organization utilized new technologies to their advantage and would you say they are ahead or behind the curve on that compared to other sports organizations?

WP: The Redskins were an early adapter I believe in regard to trying to control the information that comes out of Redskins Park as far as creating Redskins TV, acquiring their own message board, etc. And then there was the spat with the Washington Post, and in the end I think their desire for more control has reflected very poorly on them. I mean does anyone take what Larry Michael has to say seriously? And then you had Vinny Cerrato doing a radio show… fans can see right through stuff like this and the Redskins have certainly done a good job at pumping out some serious BS over the past few years.

HR: I really don't know the answer to that as I don't work for the Redskins. It seemed that they tried too hard this past season to keep their image in a positive light by not allowing fans to voice their displeasure at games (not allowing signs). Anything further than that, I don't know.

RF365: You happen to have a site dedicated to a team in the Redskins that has an owner who’s received a large share of much deserved criticism over the years from both the local and national media as well as the fan base. He’s also someone who owns radio stations and likes to control the message.

HR: We had a pretty good boycott thread on HR created by one of our moderators. He did very detailed research on all things that Snyder had his money invested in. We as a board boycotted all things related to Dan Snyder. In the end, I'm sure it wasn't felt by Snyder. But it made us feel good as a community to support one another. Some members are still boycotting Snyder while others have seen changes that we all wanted.

RF365: In politics, sports, and entertainment, more and more blogs and independent websites have started to be recognized and granted press credentials. Has your site been granted access to the Redskins like a legitimate news organization or do you feel you are still marginalized for not being “mainstream” since you don’t have the official backing of ESPN, or one of the major TV networks and/or news organizations?

WP: I believe The Warpath was one of the first fan websites to be granted access to training camp with press credentials. I believe it was in 2003 when we attended our first training camp and honestly I think we were surprised that we were given access in the first place. Regardless, we had a couple of years where we were granted credentials and in 2005 we were abruptly denied. Not sure if it was because they were receiving requests from every blogger, message board, etc., in existence, but either way we got cut off quite abruptly and this was also about the time the Redskins acquired ExtremeSkins and made them their official message board, so I’m sure that had something to do with it. We’re not a news organization and have never tried to be. I see sites out there that try to take that route, but all long we’ve stuck to our roots, which is a message board. We’ve had our share of publicity from media outlets such as NBC-4 in DC, and we’ve been mentioned in Sports Illustrated as well.

HR: We have never had press credentials to the Redskins. We're just a fan site ran by fans, for the fans of the Washington Redskins.

RF365: Have you had any situation where players came to your site to interact with fans? Obviously the active players are mostly in their 20’s and early 30’s and some are active on Twitter, Facebook, or their own blogs. How has this sped along the transformation of sports media and do you think that has pushed sports owners/management to get with the program sooner?

HR: A couple of years ago we were able to work out a deal with Rick "Doc" Walker where he would answer questions from our members once a week. I know that Brian Mitchell is a member (he doesn't post very often but I see him online often). There was one instance where we had a wife of a player show up and defend her husband. I can't remember who the player was, but it was good times.

WP: We’ve had quite a few player interactions with the site. We had a Q&A with Chris Cooley when he was a rookie, and during the season we have a weekly Q&A with former Redskin Tony McGee. Once in a while someone will drop in and promote whatever they have going on, Renaldo Wynn, Brian Mitchell, Gary Clark, etc. There are plenty of players that sign up but don’t interact; maybe they’re just curious what the fans are saying about them.

RF365: There are several Redskins message boards and blogs. Do you see yourselves as rivals competing for active members and page views, or is it more like an extended family assuming their own personalities?

WP: Personally I don’t see other sites or message boards as rivals. We’re all Redskins fans, and I frequent other sites and have fun doing so. I’m not sure other sites see it the same way as I do, and that’s too bad. But I will say that I’ve had plenty of positive interactions with other site administrators, so it’s not all bad.

HR: That's a tricky question. We have had our run-ins with other Redskins message boards over the years. It had nothing to do with recruiting members though (well, there is this one board but I'm not going there). For the most part it has had to do with our policies and those policies not being followed. The one thing about belonging to a message board community is it's just that: a community. And when one community puts down another community, you're going to bickering going back and forth. I'd hope at the end of the day though that it would all be put to rest since we're all Redskin fans. Some cases it happens and some cases it doesn't. You just have to move on and not worry about the small stuff.

RF365: Can you point to any particular moment, either on your site or perhaps something that you experienced, that made you feel like being a Redskins fan in the Internet Age was now drastically different and that things will never be the same as they once were?

HR: When I bought my first computer back in '96. The first place I went to was the Washington Post and read up on all things Redskins related. From that moment on I was hooked, and I also knew that things were never going to be the same again. And then once HR was created in '03 and I was able to become part owner in my own Redskins related message board... man, it didn't get any better than that.

WP: Growing up in NY as a Redskins fan was quite lonely, lol. When the internet age came about I knew right away that I wanted to create my own little corner on the net to discuss the Redskins. I think once The Warpath started taking off I could feel that being a Redskins fan and a football fan in general was never going to be the same again.
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