Washington NFL Franchise Retires Name and Logo

[kimball]

I am not a fan of the names floating out there on the internet -- Warriors, Redtails, Red Wolves, etc. -- for a number of reasons. I really like the Redtails name out of the bunch, but as mentioned earlier in the thread it would probably come off as pandering and cause another whole set of issues that could affect the team financially. Could. But, for obvious reasons, I'm not going down that road.

 

I think there are some great names out there for the team to use. I am sure they'll go with Washington as the location identifier, but why not DC? It could work with the right name.

 

DC THEMED NAMES

Americans

Federals

Red Stars/Stars

Monuments

Presidents

Potomacs

Senators

Nationals (it won't happen, but I'd love to see some MLB/NFL teams in the same city share nicknames again).

 

MILITARY THEMED NAMES

Warbirds

Generals

Sentinels

Redtails

Cadets

Warriors (I like this with a military theme, but I'm not sure it would fly under the circumstances).

Braves (same as Warriors, it could work with a patriotic theme, plus it's their previous name, but unlikely).

Defenders (I like it, but obviously from the failed XFL).

 

FRANCHISE THEMED NAMES

Pigskins

Hogs

Warthogs

Redhogs

Radskins (I hate this so much that I almost love it).

Red Wolves (not as bad as Radskins, but not good).

 

UNUSED/UNDER USED NAMES

Avengers

Bulldogs

Rhinos

Bombers

Dragons

Stallions

Spartans

Comets

Wolves

Wildcats

 

My Top 5 Favorite Possible Names

1 - Washington Warbirds / DC Warbirds

2 - Washington Generals / DC Generals

3 - Washington Redtails / DC Redtails

4 - Washington Bulldogs / DC Bulldogs

5 - Washington Stars / DC Red Stars

 

But, then again, who knows? If they were going to keep the native imagery, my money would have been a swap for Warriors. It'll be interesting to see what happens. 

[Sykotyk]

There is no way they'll be named the Generals. Never. 

[GhostOfNormMacdonald]

I'd avoid any name with stars in it just because of Dallas

[Bluefalcon]

10 minutes ago, Sykotyk said:

There is no way they'll be named the Generals. Never. 

 

That's right, all the Navy admirals would complain and threaten not to participate in the national anthem.

[Bluefalcon]

Wasn't Red Clouds a possible name? I think Red Hawks or Wolves are also passable, while Warriors is far too generic.

 

Anything affiliated with our incompetent federal government (Federals, Senators, etc.) is right out. A proud team should not want to be affiliated with greed, avarice, and cronyism.

[henburg]

I hope that they shy away from any generic political names (Americans, Senators, Presidents, Federals, Monuments, etc.) I think that the teams in DC already play that stuff up a bit too much, and it's lead to every team using the same imagery and feeling derivative of each other. That's really just a personal preference though, any of these would still be 100x better than Redskins.

[quantum]

Not diggin the Redtails. It's swapping one minority connotation for another. With the current environment, I'd steer clear of any group that is based on racial or ethnic uniqueness.

 

As for a name, something like Warbirds seems pretty decent. It'd be cool if DefCon could be worked into the name. Maybe Red Menace or DC Marvels (j/k).

[Sykotyk]

14 minutes ago, Bluefalcon said:

 

That's right, all the Navy admirals would complain and threaten not to participate in the national anthem.

Washington Generals are the team the Harlem Globetrotters beat 16,000 times. 

[Tracy Jordan]

31 minutes ago, kimball said:

FRANCHISE THEMED NAMES

Pigskins

Hogs

Warthogs

Redhogs

Radskins (I hate this so much that I almost love it).

Red Wolves (not as bad as Radskins, but not good).

 

 

I actually like Redhogs. Pigskins sounds a little too cute, but Redhogs gives them the ability to come with an identity similar to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Slap some burgundy and gold on a mean pig and you've got a nice primary or secondary logo.

 

[gosioux76]

53 minutes ago, quantum said:

Not diggin the Redtails. It's swapping one minority connotation for another. With the current environment, I'd steer clear of any group that is based on racial or ethnic uniqueness.

 

As for a name, something like Warbirds seems pretty decent. It'd be cool if DefCon could be worked into the name. Maybe Red Menace or DC Marvels (j/k).

 

But is it, really? Red Tails is the nickname for the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of Black military pilots during WWII. While it's referencing something revered in American Black history, it's hardly cultural appropriation to the level of Redskins or Indians or Braves, particularly if the visual iconography centers more on fighter planes. 

[SCL]

11 minutes ago, quantum said:

Not diggin the Redtails. It's swapping one minority connotation for another. With the current environment, I'd steer clear of any group that is based on racial or ethnic uniqueness.

4d chess

[BBTV]

6 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

 

Out of curiosity, how do you see this playing out? I guess what I'm asking it, what would "letting a name emerge organically" look like in this day and age? 

 

It would seem to be that, absent a name for some unprescribed period, the team's original name would fill the vacuum. So even though they'd no longer be the Redskins, they'd still essentially be the Redskins. I can't envision how a new brand would manifest organically in that circumstance. 

 

5 hours ago, OnWis97 said:

That's an interesting question.  It seems like it would be difficult to pre-determine that the name's going to be organic.  My gut reaction to the Browns using the dog logo or this team using Hogs (both are nods to the die-hard fans) has always been negative.  However, that is about as close to a parellel to old "organic" names of the.

 

My take isn't so much that it needs to be organic but that it can't be rushed. So far, Red Tails is my favorite, but it would be crazy to just jump on that (or anything) right now.

 

I don't know.  I guess in 2020 it can't really play out organically.  I was thinking back to how my high school got its name in the early 1900s.  Some sports writer said the team was running up and down the field like whippets, and people just started calling them that since they were fast.  I think old MLB teams got their names either because they were nicknames based on the owner, or (again) sportswriters.  Impossible in 2020, so I withdraw my suggestion.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Volt said:

I would go nameless in 2020...it's going to be a screwed up season anyway...

 

Totally.  Why rush it when it's becoming increasingly likely that there won't even be a season at all?  They might be able to have until the draft to figure this all out.

 

 

3 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

Washington Red Roosters

 

This is the only "Red" name that would get my full support.

 

2 hours ago, goalieboy82 said:

anyway, wouldn't surprise me if they had something in the pipeline already to go in case they needed to change there name at a moment's notice.  

 

I'm sure they've been doing some work over the years, but they can't sink too many resources into a contingency plan because if word got out then the headlines would be that they're planning to change even though they're just really buying some insurance.  

 

You can't always come up with a name first and then solicit the art (I mean yeah it can work that way, but not always.)  Sometimes a branding expert or design firm with the right people might present the art and name as a package, because a name may get discarded at first but when seen in full context, it might be the winner.

[Cujo]

This thread feels like a trap...

[quantum]

1 minute ago, gosioux76 said:

 

But is it, really? Red Tails is the nickname for the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of Black military pilots during WWII. While it's a referencing something revered in American Black history, it's hardly cultural appropriation to the level of Redskins or Indians or Braves, particularly if the visual iconography centers more on fighter planes. 

 

Of course it's not bad like Redskins. All I'm saying is there are plenty of military names that could be used that are more inclusive in its honor.

 

[Gothamite]

But “Redtails” has the benefit honorIng a military unit that long went unsung and ignored, unlike the rest of the military fetishism our country has endured since 1990. 

[ddub53]

I don't get such a push for Red Tails.  The Red Tails from World War II had nothing to do with the DC area.  If it was an NFL team in Montgomery, Alabama or even Birmingham, I could see it do to their location to Tuskegee.  Otherwise it just sounds like something forced.

[Gothamite]

13 minutes ago, ddub53 said:

I don't get such a push for Red Tails.  The Red Tails from World War II had nothing to do with the DC area.

Their commander, who went on to be only the second African-American general, was a born and bred Washingtonian.  That plus the whole “nation’s capital” thing gives them plenty of connection. 

[MCM0313]

2 hours ago, Pharos04 said:

I can see it already detracting into the "what constitutes as a viable Native American mascot name" which is how these get so off topic that threads get shut down.

 

Should really try to keep it on the possible names rather than other teams, the "why" and other things that lead to those conversations.

 

As far as name speculation so far, I do like Warriors even if it's generic/basic/simple/expected.  Redtails just doesn't seem to work for me.  I think Americans could work but you run into the issues bring up about the Nationals existing, why Seattle won't choose Metropolitans, etc. Redwolves is certainly a hot runner that seems to have come out of knowwhere.  It'd be great if they could resurrect Federals.  But being a USFL team, you know there'd be bad blood there due to the lawsuit. Generals would be good and I recall hearing that the Globetrotters would be willing to sell it. But literally being the identity of a team designed to lose, as funny as it'd be, I doubt the NFL team would want that history.

 

Another thought as far as DC-related could be Monuments or Representatives (Reps). As much as Potomacs sounds great, it still leads to Native American territory and they should be as far away from that as possible.

 

It's going to be exciting speculation to see what they come up with!

“Potomacs” reminds me of Gregg Easterbrook and his “Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons”. There’s a name I could get behind!

[RBronish]

4 hours ago, goalieboy82 said:

game intro music.

 

[L10nheart404]

5 hours ago, ScubaSteve said:

 

Please god no. The ONLY thing i want the team to retain is the color scheme and hopefully adopt a name that isn't a bland a$$ MURICA one

Agreed! Why does everything have to be RWB, or patriotic. The Patriots already have a monopoly on that theme. Keep the colors, go with something fresh, in relation to the name.