At the Commanders’ first regular season game since Josh Harris bought the team, fans celebrated, partied and, in some cases, returned after long absences.
After all the buzz, whipped up by investment and talk of change, it seemed for a long stretch of Sunday afternoon as if FedEx Field might in the end look just like it had for years: un-full, unhappy, unburdened of any harbored hope that this season might be different.And then, early in the fourth quarter, quarterback Sam Howell tucked the ball, took off and strode into the end zone and a brand-new reality. The crowd, reignited, belted out its beloved chorus: “Fight! For olllllld D.C.
“You're seeing people hugging in the stands,” broadcaster Adam Amin said. “When was the last time you saw anything like that in the last decade here in Washington?”FedEx Field fulfilled its greatest civic duty Sunday by uniting a community. Legends, corporate suits and VIPs cheered alongside lifelong fans: D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser; Taurean Patterson from Woodbridge; Kevin Durant; the Benggio-Coepedge tailgate from Gloucester County, Va.; Alex Ovechkin; and Joe Clark from Anacostia.
Early that morning, at 6:44 on Arena Drive outside FedEx Field, six trucks of die-hard fans quite literally witnessed the dawn of the new day. “Happy new year,” they told each other, unpacking, and nothing could dim their joy. When a group of plumbers realized they’d forgotten a keg hose, they sawed off the ends of a washing machine hose with pliers and a pocketknife and fashioned it to the coupler.Over the next six hours, cars clogged the four arteries into FedEx.