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Football Frenzy In D.C. Cuts Across The Generations
Joe Johnson, Vincent Roux, Hampton Logan and Jack Barnes cheer a Redskins touchdown at the Hitching Post, their regular haunt in Northwest Washington.
(Photos By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)
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Burke, along with Nicole Chapman, 18, a linebacker from Fredericksburg, was sitting at a second table with Lareesha Goodman, 19, an offensive blocker from Saginaw, Mich., who was rooting for the Redskins. It was the quiet table. But when the Redskins missed a couple of tackles in the fourth quarter, Chapman jumped up and screamed, "How can you do that?"
"Nicole, you need to take a deep breath," Goodman said.
"That's why I need to watch football at my house," Chapman said.
"That's why I like just playing football," Burke said after the blown tackles. "I never would have missed that."
Savoring Victory Again
The tiny Hitching Post is a down-home friendly sort of place, with shrimp, pork chops and fried chicken on the stove and barbecue chicken on two grills outside. Owner Alvin Carter, 74, a former D.C. police officer, and his wife, Adrienne, have been serving up southern food since 1967. Like the "front four," most of the customers are old-timers.
"It's a nice, quiet, gentle place," Dr. Roux, 68, said during the first quarter, but in the frantic closing minutes of the game, there was nothing gentle about the place or the good doctor. When linebacker Marcus Washington picked off Simms with about a minute to play, the Hitching Post exploded. Roux, a longtime dean at Howard University College of Medicine, pounded the counter in glee.
Logan, a Federal Emergency Management Agency worker and a Hitching Post regular for 25 years, clapped and shook hands with Barnes, a 74-year-old retired Army man. Johnson, 54, pumped his fist in the air. "Who's your daddy now?" he shouted to no one in particular.
While 83-year-old Jose Williams watched quietly from a fuchsia Naugahyde booth, the Hitching Post front four toasted one another with wine and beer.
At the other end of the bar, Byron Reeves, a sales director for Society Financial Group, got back to his plate of barbecue chicken and looked to next week's opponent. "We're going to Seattle," he said happily.
