After Sunday, it's RIP RFK

By DENNE H. FREEMAN / AP Sports Writer (Dec. 19, 1996)

IRVING, Texas (AP) - There are some players on the Dallas Cowboys who will actually miss RFK Stadium.

The Cowboys play the Washington Redskins on Sunday in the final game at RFK. And Bill Bates, a 14-year veteran, will miss the grass field, the atmosphere and, yes, even the bellicose fans.

"It's my favorite stadium in the NFL," he said. "I played in my very first NFL game there on Monday night football. We won 31-30 and I'll never forget it."

Bates won't get to play Sunday because of a groin injury.

"I think of old-time football when I think of RFK," he said. "The stands are packed. There's a lot of enthusiasm. People are almost on top of you."

He said there is no place he would rather win because "the fans hate us so. It's a tough place to play but there's no greater satisfaction than shutting the fans up. They'll cuss you. They'll do anything."

Even Bates' wife, Denise, got a taste on how tough RFK fans can be. She made the mistake of wearing a Cowboys jacket in the stands.

"When she got home there were a lot of cigarette burns in the back of her jacket where the fans put their butts out," Bates said. "Now, that's good old-fashioned hate."

Bates has been in charge of coaching rookies on what to expect on their first visit to RFK.

"I told Larry Brown when he was a rookie that he was about to experience one of the greatest football moments of his life when he played at RFK," Bates said. "I told him to enjoy it. To take in everything that happened and relish it. "

The day after the game, Brown told him: "You were right. It was the craziest football scene I had ever been a part of."

Even quarterback Troy Aikman will think of the place fondly even though he was knocked out of games there twice.

"There is a lot of history in that place," Aikman said. "I think it will be tough going to Washington and not playing there. I enjoyed going to the stadium even though I've been hurt there a lot."

Dallas coach Barry Switzer remembers RFK for a different reason.

"It's the only stadium where I had to leave the sidelines to go to the bathroom," Switzer said.

Owner Jerry Jones said the biggest thing he remembers about RFK is that Dallas got its only win there in a 1-15 season the year he and Jimmy Johnson took over the Cowboys.

"I'll always remember the only game we won in 1989," Jones said. "And I'll remember some of the things said to me in the stands as I went down on the field."