How the Redskins & Ping Pong Became a Thing

A monster was born in 2016 and every time I went into the Redskins locker room or even when I didn't - it always had legs. It was always there. What is it? A ping-pong table.

It all started like this:

“I’ve said this for a while: I think that locker room, I think that building, I think that organization is way too easy on players,” Dan Steinberg wrote in the popular D.C. Sports Bog in December of 2016. my pal Chris Russell said this week on 106.7 The Fan. “And players would disagree with this: I think they have every comfort of home. . . . I think it’s a pampering of players. And I know other teams do it, but I’m just saying, from being in that building for 275 out of 365 days a year for a five-year period, I’ve seen security guards just stand there and open doors for players so that they don’t have to open up a door. I mean, we know about the ridiculous executive chefs and all of that."

It continued and grew into a monster:

“Then they do the locker room [makeover] and they’ve got all the new equipment and they’ve got all the ping-pong tables and the shuffleboard. You’re at work, man. I know you want a football team to be relaxed and happy and this isn’t Bill Parcells, but what I’m trying to point out is I think there’s often too many times where winning and losing, in that particular locker room and that organization, doesn’t mean as much — as much — as I think it means in other organizations.”

That was the birth of ping-pong mania in the Redskins locker room.

It died on Thursday when Redskins long-snapper Nick Sundberg sent out a tweet directed at me, because he knows it was a thing.

I’m sad to say, but @Russellmania621 will be happy to hear, the table is officially out of the locker room. It’s been donated to a sheep farm where it has lots of space to run, just like where @staciesundberg took our black lab Prince when I was 7.#WPMOYchallenge SUNDBERG https://t.co/8vTzMXGElw
— Nick Sundberg (@NickSundberg) January 3, 2020

The thread of comments is something for sure. As it was when my colleague at 106.7 The FAN Grant Paulsen mentioned it as well.

Ron Rivera bas been on the job about 20 hours and he has already made a couple changes at Redskins Park. He got rid of the ping pong and shuffle board tables that were in the locker room for player use.
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) January 3, 2020

Ohhh the personalized tributes and reaction!

@Russellmania621 be like pic.twitter.com/cVsf7NTENt
— (re)tweets about baseball (@CheeseTweeted22) January 3, 2020

Man, do I need to get back to the gym. This team is killing me. Oh and ping-pong has no place at work.

My final picture of the ping pong table. Captured because @Russellmania621 used for a coaster. pic.twitter.com/xENrAH6V29
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) January 3, 2020

That's what that table had to do before it suffered a cruel death. Serve as a desk for cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee and other paraphernalia.

Meanwhile at @Russellmania621 's house. pic.twitter.com/0c8JtopSDW
— Ron Burgundy & Gold (@RBG_DMC73) January 3, 2020

If you really want and need more coverage and reasoning behind why this is a happy day (sort of), please listen to this:

Took me 10 years to oust Bruce..4 years to get rid of the ping-png table. Who's next? https://t.co/dON0NYNiP3
— Chris Russell AKA the 🐓🐓! (@Russellmania621) January 3, 2020

So there you go. The ping-pong table is dead. RIP Mr. ping-pong table.

Chris Russell is the Publisher of Maven & Sports Illustrated's Washington Redskins channel. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Redskins" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621.