It takes quite a bit to top a town like Pittsburgh when it comes to the ire of D.C. faithful. Luckily, we've got two towns you should really love to hate. There's been a bit of disagreement with some of our choices to this point, and since this is a pretty subjective list, it's open to criticism. However, it's certainly hard to argue with our runner-up and geographic rival, New York. The Big Apple has five teams that are conference rivals, and four that have been division rivals at some point or another. Not only do they have a lot of teams, but they have historically good teams, and teams that have met ours in the playoffs. That breeds some contempt between the two cities, no matter which way you look at it. Let's get into it.

I've been hesitant to sound off about the cuts that the Redskins made late last week, considering the beginning of free agency. After hearing that Bruce Allen had shed several players over the age of thirty, my initial reaction was that of excitement.

"They're finally doing things the right way," I thought.

But my enthusiasm turned to nervousness as the start of free agency approached. Did Allen shed the salary to go on a spending spree or was he willing to do the right thing and start to develop some in-house talent? As I drove home from the Caps game that night, I wondered whether or not I would wake up to news of shiny new contracts for Julius Peppers, Karlos Dansby or Antrel Rolle. Not this time...THANK GOD.

I'll get into critiquing the free agency period once it settles down, but I feel like we should say goodbye to the guys on their way out of town. There was some good, some bad, and some downright ugly out of the group, so let's give out some superlatives to honor their time in the district and make some predictions about the things to come for the new free agents.

Most Likely to Succeed- Cornelius Griffin, DT

Griff was a guy that always seemed to be banged up throughout his tenure in the district, but he always played well when he made it on the field.  He was one of the most underrated guys on Greg Blache's stout unit last season, and he didn't really show many signs of slowing down. He played in fourteen games and was a reliable block-eater in the middle of the defense. He turns 34 in December, but some team will pick him up for a reasonable price in the coming weeks. Expect him to continue to contribute for at least the next 2+ years. Pray that he doesn't end up in Philly or back in New York as a depth lineman.

Disclaimer: none of these comments refer to my brother-in-law or his family. They're still a little obnoxious, but I don't need a Civil War on my hands.

Now we get to the fun part. Oh Lordy do we HATE Pittsburgh...I mean absolutely HATE. The average outsider might ask "why the heck does D.C. get so pissed off over Pittsburgh? They don't even have any teams in your divisions?" So what? There are thousands of reasons to hate Pittsburgh, from the winning, to the bragging, to the mullets and the "superior people from an inferior city" attitude. It all sucks. Let's do this thing.

Tonight we move onto #4 on the most-hated list for DMV fans: Boston. It's really easy picking to complain about Boston, but we're willing to take the obvious shots. Boston makes the list more on fan reputation and recent success than rivalry for those of us in the DMV. Regardless...I can't freaking stand Boston, and neither should you.

Tonight we begin FFODC's top five hate countdown. I thought before we jump into the fifth most hated city, we should clarify the rules of this little vote. In reading through the comments section of the original post, a lot of people assumed Dallas would make the top five. I just want to clarify that this is a review of all a city's major pro teams as well as their fans. Unfortunately, the Cowboys are the only rival team from the city of Dallas, and the only place where they earned brownie points outside of that rivalry was the huge bandwagon following. On top of that, they haven't been a true NFL "power" in a long time. Therefore, Dallas didn't make my list. I understand if you'd like to crucify me for that, but if you're still interested, let's move on to #5.

Chicago is known for its deep dish pizza, sausages, spontaneous German parades, and sports. Diving even deeper, their pro teams are known as a mix of lovable losers, extreme success, obnoxious accents, and a ton of tradition. All of those things can endear outsiders to Chicago, but it can make opposing fans want to vomit. Here's why we think you should hate Chicago:

With a little free time over the Olympic Break, I thought it might be fun to examine the rival cities D.C. fans find themselves dealing with the most often. Over the last several years, we have seen opposing fans invade our stadiums, call out our loyalty, and rub in their recent success to the District's long-suffering die-hard fans. There are obvious repeat offenders from various cities up and down the East Coast, but who is the worst? Last summer, The North End Zone did a 'Hatefest' feature, where they described all the schools they hated the most and why. I'm taking a different approach to the DMV Hate Scale. I've created a rubric to grade each city on how much their fans and teams piss off the DMV locals. It incorporates several factors, including success, loyalty, how fierce the rivalries are between teams in both cities, fan knowledge, temperament/arrogance, and even away-game travel. I felt that these six categories encompass all of the things we really can't stand about opposing fans from particular cities. I've listed the rubric below:

Two years ago, Redskins Nation felt vindicated when long-time Hall of Fame snub Art Monk was finally given his ticket to Canton. With Art's inclusion that year, along with teammate Darrell Green, the Redskins had four members from their Super Bowl dynasty represented in the Hall (Gibbs and Riggins went in years before). I was there when those two were inducted, and it was an extremely emotional day for the guys, their families, and their fans. However, as great as it was to witness such a historic Redskin event, it certainly felt like something was missing. While those guys played a huge part in the Super Bowl success, the Redskins would not have won a single championship without their prized offensive line.

As the ten-time reigning offseason champs, the Redskins seem to be vulnerable to losing the championship belt this season. There's a new sheriff (and deputy) in town, and the overwhelming perception is that the Redskins will change their free-spending ways. Unlike seasons before, there's an understanding that Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan will enter the 2010 offseason with a plan other than "spend ungodly amounts of cash on guys that don't deserve it and get burned by their laziness." So what is that plan? I have a few guesses of my own. Here is a checklist I've compiled of necessary action for the Redskins front office. We'll address the current roster (who needs to stay/go), the draft and free agency. Keep in mind that all of this is being carried out in preparation for an uncapped 2010 season.

2010 marks a new year but the same old story for the Washington Redskins. Dan Snyder is hot under the collar about his basement-dwelling organization, he's got a "plan," and Redskins One is racking up frequent flyer miles. Should Redskins Nation be pumped about the Mike Shanahan signing? Will he lead the Skins back to the promised land and keep us all from putting bags over our heads? Not so fast my friend.

"It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter." That chant sums up this afternoon's game between the Redskins and Chargers in San Diego. The Chargers have wrapped up the number two seed in the AFC and the Redskins...well...suck. Norv has done pretty well for himself with decent management, eh? The only important outcome will be Bruce Allen's draft position as far as the Skins are concerned. It's hard to really preview this one considering a bunch of players won't dress, and several others won't see time after the first half, regardless of the score. Just take this opportunity to vent about how terrible this season has been.

Redskins 17
Chargers 27