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John Thornton, 30, was born and raised in Salisbury, Md., which means he chose to root for the Redskins before the Ravens came to Baltimore and turned his hometown into purple and black territory.
He stayed true to his roots in the midst of a new fan base and has raised three sons, all of whom, though little, are big Redskins fans.
Thornton just moved to Mechanicsville, Va., and most recently brought one of his sons, Mason, to come with him to watch morning walkthroughs at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center.
"Back when the Redskins won the Super Bowl, both times I was really too young to remember," Thornton said. "I really didn't get into it until I got older. It was the Monday night game with Santana Moss catching two touchdowns -- that was a great memory I have. That's when I started really paying attention."
Those two catches are responsible for a lot of impressionable fan moments it seems. In what was dubbed the "Monday Night Miracle," Moss caught a pair of touchdown passes in the final five minutes of the game to beat the Cowboys 14-13 in September of 2005.
When Moss was interviewed on "Redskins Late Night" a few years ago, he explained how those two catches solidified him as a member of the Redskins and introduced his name to the Redskins faithful.
"It's always somebody, somewhere, anywhere I go, that has that memory. It's still in their head, and they always bring it up to me. So it's a pleasure to be on the other side of that," Moss said.
"That really kind of started my career off here, and all I do is think back about that night, because that night kind of changed everything about who I've become to be a Redskin now."
For Thornton, just old enough to understand the sport and have it mean something, the moment helped solidify his experience as a fan.
"For us to do it against the Cowboys, on Monday night, in Texas Stadium," then-quarterback Mark Brunell said, "for all those reasons it became a special win for us."
It was special for a lot of people.
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