Football Returns to RFK: The EagleBank Bowl

As first-year bowl games played in 33-degree temperatures between mediocre teams that have already played once this season go, the inaugural EagleBank Bowl was as good as it gets. Wake Forest and Navy played a very entertaining game yesterday at RFK in D.C.'s successful bowl debut.
Watching the first football game played at RFK since 1996 was the highlight of the day; the fact that Wake won a well-played, exciting contest was an added benefit. Even when the Deacs were down 13-0, I was pleased to be watching a football game at a place other than FedEx Field.
The Redskins were mentioned a few times before the game, directly and indirectly. There was a nice video montage of highlights from RFK's past that played on the scoreboard. And D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty made repeated references to having football "back in D.C. where it belongs," statements that make me think he's going to lobby hard to get Dan Snyder to move the team back to the RFK site in the next decade.
RFK hasn't lost any of its dated charm. There isn't a bad seat in the house, fans are nearly on top of the field and, most importantly, it feels like a football stadium. FedEx Field is like a movie theater, without the ambience. You feel so detached from the action that it's like watching a game played elsewhere. Even the nicer football stadiums I've been to (Philadelphia, Baltimore) are more stages than stadiums. At RFK, fans feel like a part of the game.
The result was secondary to me, even though I was pleased that Wake Forest came from 13 points down to win. Here are some pictures my cousin Peter snapped during the game.



Navy had some of the brigade march onto the field prior to kickoff. My mom would undoubtedly point out how West Point cadets are much better at marching. (My sister graduated from West Point.)


The announced crowd was 28,000+, which is pretty good for a game played in cold weather involving a team with a small alumni-base. We sat on the 10-yard line in the Darryl Grant end zone.

RFK handled the crowd pretty well. The lines at concession stands were reasonable, they didn't run out of hot chocolate (or the vanilla vodka they were selling with said hot chocolate) and the ushers and employees seemed much more pleasant than when the Nats played there. The weirdest part of the day was buying pre-game beers and having them given to us in glass bottles. Also weird was the 11:00 a.m. kickoff, which means that said beers were consumed at 10:30 a.m. and that halftime came during the noon hour.


We suspected that the field was not in the same exact location as it was during Redskins games. Normally, there were stands behind this endzone and those four marks in the wall were the entrances. They didn't move those stands in for this game, although there were temporary stands in the other end zone. (And for you eagle-eyed observers who also read D.C.-centric sports blogs, that's the Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg standing under the Geico sign.)


That's without much zoom on the camera.


At 13-0, Navy recovered a second Wake fumble for a touchdown to go up 20-0. The play was over ruled though, and Wake drove down the field to get back in the game.


The view from section 538, where my cousins and I used to work at two concession stands my uncle operated.