🏈 Redskins no more: NFL retiring Washington franchise name

[rick4bama]

Redskins no more: NFL retiring Washington franchise name

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Oh Yes, Ban the Redskins
I give up. It’s time to ban a lot of really terrible sports-team names. I have a long list.



By
Daniel Henninger
July 15, 2020 7:11 pm ET

The Washington Redskins logo on the team’s home field in Landover, Md., Aug. 28, 2009.
PHOTO: NICK WASS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
For now, the Washington Redskins are just the Washington Something or Others, a team with no name. After holding out for years against the inertial forces of political correctness, the Washington football team caved. Hmm, maybe “caved” is inappropriate language now. They gave up.
You knew the Redskins were done as soon as Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream said it was dropping Eskimo Pie so the company could be “part of the solution on racial equality.” When I was growing up, Eskimo Pie always made me think Eskimos were great. But what did I know?
I’ve been fighting the team-name wars for years, most recently over baseball commissioner Rob Manfred’s goofy suppression of the Cleveland Indians’ Chief Wahoo.

You have to know when you’re licked. Sorry, wrong word. I mean beaten. Double-sorry; no one should be beaten. I mean defeated. I am defeated. Instead of complaining about the Redskins, it’s time to get ahead of the logo posse and eliminate a lot of really terrible sports-team names. Many of these teams probably think there’s no way their names would offend anyone. They are about to find out how wrong they are.

First we get rid of the low-hanging, already rotting fruit: The Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Browns. White, red, brown and black are unspeakable and unthinkable colors now—for anything. The Chicago Green Sox would be ok. Many pro athletes are weirdly attracted to the color pink, so the Boston Pink Sox would work.

Clevelanders will object that even if most people under 20-years-old think the Cleveland Browns offends the race gods, the Browns are named after team founder Paul Brown, who, as luck would have it, was a white guy. The easiest solution would be to abolish the Browns once and for all. Who would notice?

Sing “hey hey, goodbye” to any team whose name suggests centuries of systemic privilege: the Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Kings, Sacramento Kings, Vegas Golden Knights and Cleveland Cavaliers. And hasn’t the moment come for LeBron James to renounce “King James”?
Let’s admit it: Times have changed. The highest value in modern American life is feeling safe. Not “safe” in the sense of not being gunned down tomorrow night. I mean safe the way a college student or street protester feels “unsafe” if bad thoughts are brought to mind.
By this measure, the list of violative professional sports-team names is endless.

The Denver Broncos? Broncos are abused horses forced to buck and then submit by a Dallas Cowboy kicking them with San Antonio Spurs. They’ve all gotta go. Ford Motor just resurrected its Bronco SUV. What terrible timing. Dump it.

Too many teams are still dependent on fossil fuels: the Detroit Pistons, Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Steelers. Let’s clean up the Steelers by renaming them the Pittsburgh Windmills.

The Philadelphia 76ers? Surely they’re already on their way to being rehabilitated as the Philadelphia 1619s.

The Miami Marlins shamelessly expropriated the name of a vulnerable species. They should be renamed the Miami Minnows.

Anyone who thinks names like this honor endangered species doesn’t understand why statues of George Washington have to go. The Minnesota Timberwolves should leave the wolves alone and call themselves the Minnesota Lutefisk.

Names associated with religious belief are also a problem. The New Jersey Devils imply God exists. Ditto the New Orleans Saints, and the Boston Celtics evoke Irish Catholics. Get rid of them.

The Portland Trail Blazers celebrate genocidal pioneers. The San Francisco 49ers are named after 19th-century California gold-diggers who raped the environment.

The Houston Rockets have an impossibly male-sounding name and should compensate by becoming the Houston Rockettes.

The Colorado Avalanche evokes death. The New York Rangers sound like the police. The Texas Rangers are the police. What were the San Diego Padres thinking?

The Chicago Bulls are another team named after an abused animal, not to mention the consumption of animal protein. A new name that comes to mind is the Chicago Jordans in honor of Michael, but that will remind some people of the Jordan River and the plight of the Palestinians.

Don’t get me started on teams who think they’re safe by hiding behind the names of birds or animals. The Toronto Blue Jays are named after a nasty bird. The Atlanta Hawks kill rabbits. Just the words “Miami Dolphins” make me want to cry.

The Miami Heat may be the future, invoking the problem of climate change, and we can’t be reminded of that too often. The about-to-die Cleveland Indians could become the Cleveland Cold.

The team name of the Utah Jazz never made sense to me, but it does suggest that rebranding teams as musical instruments might be safe. The New England Patriots are problematic in so many ways. Patriotism? Are you kidding me? I look forward to them coming back as the New England Trombones.

For now, Washington sits with a nameless football team. How about calling the team in the nation’s capital the Washington Nothings? That sounds like something we could all agree on.

Write henninger@wsj.com.

 

[im4uainva]

The Washington SJWarriors. Their logo can be a raised fist in Rainbow colors (no White, of course). Doesn't matter to me, I'm just a smartarse. I hope the former BAMA players do well for themselves, otherwise, they can take a 'hike' down socialism lane.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Got to be the stupidest thing in my many years i have seen out of this country....
Sec commissioner threatening Mississippi....nfl commish removing Redskins logo
( they could put the peanut thats called redskins out there)....
Stupid mfing idiots....
As the writer above covered.....

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

Perhaps ole Dan has more problems than the name change...

Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder faces sex trafficking allegations; Internet says, 'He was on Epstein's list'

The minority shareholders are apparently looking at bringing him down citing inappropriate and unchaste behavior as one of the major reasons

meaww.com

 

[OldPlayer]

 

[crimsonpirate]

The son of the Native American who designed the logo has a problem with the ownership getting rid of it. And, he's a "Redskin".

Native American son of Redskins logo designer says it's not offensive, calls the change 'hard'

The Redskins logo is a sense of pride to the Native American Tribe who created the team logo, the son of the designer says.

www.wusa9.com

 

[50+yeartidefan]

But ..... but.....
Should ole ms be the "black" bears anymore.....as if they really ever were....

 

[OldPlayer]

But ..... but.....
Should ole ms be the "black" bears anymore.....as if they really ever were....

I thought they were the Landsharks

 

[rick4bama]

I thought they were the Landsharks

Would Ole Pss not let someone in with that Reb--s showing on anything?

 

[50+yeartidefan]

I thought they were the Landsharks

Good question. They may have more mascots than AU

Ole ms. Landsharks Rebels. Black bears
AU. Tigers. Plainsmen ???

 

[crimsonpirate]

Lots of folks don't know where "Plainsmen" came from. There is poem by Oliver Goldsmith entitled The Deserted Village. The first line of the poem is "Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain."