Every sports venue has its quirks, and RFK Stadium was certainly no different.
They may not have all been distinctly lovable, but throughout the stadium's 60-plus years of history as the home of the Burgundy & Gold, players, coaches, fans, media members and more came to understand and appreciate each of these memorable features.
In "The Last Game at RFK," episode one of the newest season of "Hail Tales: Stories from Washington Football History," many reminisced on what stood out to the senses at Washington's old stomping grounds.
When it came to what would hit your ears at RFK, there was one sound that reigned supreme, no matter where you were located.
"The first thing is the noise," said former general manager Charley Casserly. "The roof was an overhang roof, so it was almost like an indoor stadium outdoors and the noise was unbelievable. It was deafening."
RFK's "intimacy," as three-time Super Bowl champion Charles Mann described it, also meant that a familiar gameday sound would be the voices of the same fans. Over and over.
"We would work out pregame in the end zone, and there was always this one fan, 'Bring it home, Charles! Bring it home!'" Mann said. "I mean, that's all you could hear; the voices. It was the same voices."
Horns and drums were also seemingly up close to the players.
"The band would be right there on you," said Super Bowl champion Brian Mitchell.
Then there were the sights. From the most zoomed out point of view, RFK provided "amazing vistas" in the words of former Washington Post beat reporter Christine Brennan.
"Those camera shots from outside the stadium looking down all the way to the capital because it was perfectly symmetrical, the line to the capital and then to the Washington Monument and then to the Lincoln Memorial [were] amazing," Brennan said. "Everything about it just screamed out, 'This is the nation's capital,' and, 'This is Washington,' and, 'This is Washington's team.'"
From the players' perspective on gameday, certain images sit on replay. For one, heading out for kickoff at RFK could at times feel like you were getting ready to play an entirely different sport.
"You're coming out of a dugout like you're going onto a baseball field," Mitchell said with a laugh.
Once the game started, players could look slightly up for one of the venue's most iconic Burgundy & Gold visuals.
"You look across the field and you see the stadium was actively rocking," Mitchell said.
That rocking stands image is really seared into the brain.
"You saw that bottom tier rocking and shaking. When I played in Arizona, we played against them, and I got to experience being an enemy and the feeling of knowing the fans were like a step away from jumping out and attacking you," former linebacker Ken Harvey said.
Like really seared.
"The stands rocking, I mean that just juiced us up, if you can't get excited about that, you need to be on IV and maybe get some oxygen. You may be comatose," Mann said.
Longtime season ticket member Paul Butler even has fond memories of the smells of RFK Stadium.
"It smelled the same way every time you went. You'd park out in the grass parking lot and walk through the tunnel where everyone who thought that they were the funniest people on earth would moo like cattle," Butler said. "Inside, it was popcorn, spilled beer. You could smoke then so a lot of people smoking cigarettes or men with cigars."
Scores may have been unpredictable, and which players would have a superstar outing could be unknown, but there was never a doubt that the senses would come alive at RFK Stadium.
