Debates continue regarding the name of the NFL’s franchise in the national capital. Daniel Snyder has called for a meeting to examine the possibility of a name change for his NFL franchise. Most people feel that this is only a form of dragging his feet before the inevitable happens, and the team changes their name, even though Snyder himself swore that that would never happen. But when sponsors begin to pull out and want to put significant room between them and the team, it forced Snyder’s hand, and he then had to take action.
For two decades, ever since he became the owner of the franchise, Snyder has held firm about the team’s name, stating point blank that he would not change the name, and in fact, would never even consider it. He has claimed that the team is actually honoring Native Americans with the name and with their traditions.
However, that thinking is unlikely to stand the test. Snyder might not want to change the team name, but it will almost assuredly change now. When sponsors begin to pull out, and obviously pull their money out with them, then you just know action will be taken.
In the debate show, Pardon the Interruption, with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, there was no real debate. They both agreed that the name change is necessary. In fact, the name Redskins was equated to be the sports equivalent of the Confederate flag. Snyder already took down the monument to George Preston Marshall, who was a known racist.
They also stated their cynicism towards Snyder’s approach, saying basically that he was leveraging. He was stalling with a name change that everyone knows, by now, is going to happen. And he will sell merchandise with the old Redskins name, and then he will sell merchandise with the new team name.
Plus, predictably, he is talking about trying to get a new stadium deal inside of the city of the District of Columbia itself, even though their present stadium is, frankly, not that old. Sports and greed. Yawn. These incredibly shrewd and self-serving billionaire owners always whining about how outdated their current stadiums are have grown more than a little tiresome, if you ask me. Not long ago, Snyder swore that he would never - NEVER! (all caps) - entertain changing the team name. Now, not only is he likely to go ahead and change the franchise name and logo, and doing so because money suddenly was being sucked out of it, but he is using the opportunity, quite cynically, as leverage to hold up the community for another stadium, even though the current stadium opened as recently as the fall of 1997, and hardly seems outdated.
But I digress.
Indeed, it now appears probable that Washington's NFL franchise will get the name change, and it appears that they may even do so before the opening of this coming season. That seems incredibly fast, but there has been some discussion on it. Others are saying that doing so would be virtually impossible, as the official start of the season (not the preseason) is coming up in about two months.
Predictably, President Trump likes the current name, and is criticizing the franchise, as well as the Cleveland Indians, for going ahead with franchise name changes. But since Trump increasingly seems out of touch with the people of the country that he supposedly is the leader of, this is neither surprising nor particularly interesting. So moving on...
Whenever it happens, Washington's NFL franchise will almost assuredly be known by another franchise name. It might happen by this season, although if it does not, and cannot be done before, say, the 2021 season, the writing is clearly on the wall. And it is not urging this franchise, or any franchise, to continue playing under a name that is quite blatantly a racial slur.
There are some - especially including the whiny Trump-supporting type - who whine and complain about everything including the Washington franchise name change. They are angry about the Redskins changing their name, even though this has no real impact on their lives whatsoever, at least on any meaningful level. Many of them are the same people whining and crying about Confederate statues being taken down, or claiming that Christians are being persecuted whenever someone says "Happy Holidays." Many of these people are making news everyday by seeming to suggest - without an sense of irony, mind you - that wearing the face mask to try and contain the spread of Covid-19 is almost tantamount to Jews being forced to wear the Star of David during Nazi days. Except that the Star of David was designed to make Jews stand out and isolate them as objects of hatred and, eventually, of genocide. By contrast, wearing masks is about saving lives, not ending them. Similarly, taking down statues of racist traitors, and/or changing the name of a sports franchise from a racial slur is not about demonizing anybody or losing history, but simply not glorifying horrors of the past, or making light of racism, which is what having a racial slur for the NFL franchise in our nation's capital amounts to. These people will whine and cry, and when they are done, they will find something else to whine and cry about. It's their specialty. Let's move on and progress without them, since they drag their feet about any kind of social progress to begin with. They'll come around, or they won't. Frankly, it does not matter. They are on the wrong side of history.
This thing sure seems like it is actually happening this time around.
Frankly, it's about damn time.
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