[The Washington Post]
Fred Smoot is fairly unusual among modern-era Redskins, in that the hate he spews toward the Cowboys mirrors that spewed by his burgundy-and-gold predecessors.
“We hate Dallas,” he once told me. “We hate Dallas. It’s just been like that, and it’s always gonna be like that. I got family members that love Dallas so I don’t even talk to them during the week. That’s just what it is. I literally don’t talk to them….You know, I was in that Mississippi [State]-Ole Miss hatred battle, and once I got here and Darrell Green kind of sat me down and said look here, this is how it is, this is your Ole Miss now. And I kind of bought into it….I can be around the players off the field and stuff, but when it’s time, it’s time. Usually I’m one of the guys that come out early before the game to talk to players that I know off the other team. I never do that against Dallas. Ever. Never.”
So maybe his response on a recent podcast when Emmitt Smith’s name was raised shouldn’t be surprising. Maybe. But it’s still not the kind of thing you hear every day.
“Nobody that meets Emmitt Smith likes Emmitt Smith,” Smoot said. “Have you ever heard anybody say, hey man, I met that Emmitt Smith and I really love him? Nobody likes Emmitt Smith. I don’t know if he’s just a jerk because he’s a Cowboy. I don’t know. He be rubbing people the wrong way.”