Soccer? Cricket? They'll Take the Redskins
3 Immigrants, From Worlds Apart, Unite in Playoff Fever
Hailu Dama at his Arlington bakery, a hangout for Redskins fans of Ethiopian descent. "If we win, I will be in heaven," he said of today's playoff game.
(By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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Saturday, January 14, 2006
Hailu Dama is an Ethiopian baker.
Dhiran Patel is an Indian-born computer consultant.
Gustavo Cherquis is an Argentine sports anchor on Spanish-language television.
Normally, the disparate lives of these Washington area immigrants would be a testament to the region's diversity. But lately, all three men have been seized with the same fervent wish, a desire so powerful it has united residents across race, class and -- increasingly, it seems -- country of origin. The Dream of a Redskins Super Bowl Trophy.
"If we win, I will be in heaven," said Dama, 49, contemplating today's playoff game against the Seahawks in Seattle.
And if the Redskins lose? The bakery owner paused. "Well, let's just say there would be a chance of my not showing up for work."
Dama, who has donned his jersey to watch nearly every game since immigrating to Arlington in 1981, was not kidding. Last year he was so distraught over the Redskins' last-minute defeat by the Dallas Cowboys that he refused to leave his house the next day.
Over the years, Dama has tried to pass on his passion for the pigskin to his children and friends. Now his small shop, near the Pentagon, is a haven for Ethiopian fans of the burgundy and gold. On game days, they buy traditional pastries such as deep-fried paste and spongy teff cakes, then crowd around a television set next to a sign reading "Redskins Zone."
Like Dama, nearly everyone in the group grew up loving soccer in Ethiopia. Then, in the late 1970s, communists grabbed power, and the nation erupted in civil war. Several members of Dama's wealthy merchant family were jailed or killed. Dama, then a student, fled to the United States.
In Arlington, Dama's best friend and cousin, Berhanu Nega, introduced his fellow exile to a sport he found even more complex and nail-bitingly exciting than soccer.
Nega, who had lived in Philadelphia first, was a diehard Eagles fan. Dama became just as fanatical in his support of the team in his adopted home town.
The rivalry continued even after Nega returned to Ethiopia and was elected mayor of its capital city, Addis Ababa. If the Redskins were to nab the trophy, Nega is the first person Dama wants to call and taunt, he said.
