Washington NFL Franchise Retires Name and Logo

[officeglenn]

5 minutes ago, Sec19Row53 said:

I think the mods have done well so far. [Hat tip]

 

[panthers_2012]

To our dedicated moderating team trying to keep this thread alive

[DEAD!]

I think it is about time a nation's capital, once again, embrace the nickname....

"Rough Riders"

[joekono]

14 minutes ago, IceCap said:

No worries thanks for understanding. The last few days have been intense from a moderating perspective, as you can probably tell.

The moderators have done a great job in cutting these threads off when possible. I come here for enjoyment. So thank you Moderators!!!!

[MCM0313]

57 minutes ago, Digby said:

 

I don't love the color scheme or the Third Reich vibes of the logo, but I have liked that DC United has done this. The eagle and the name are nods to the cliche rah-rah Americanness, but they've utilized the DC flag (one of the better city flags!) to good effect many times over.

 

kinda similar with the Wizards' G-League team, there are many things I don't love about the identity but Capital City Go-Go does well to target the local market and not the national image of DC.

 

Obviously neither of those would work for the Ex-skins, for many reasons. Regardless of what happens on the stadium front, even if they move to a new future RFK, I don't know that they're a team of the city as such, especially not as long as they exist (and specifically play) one of the most suburby markets there is, but the point is there doesn't need to be any reason to keep leaning toward stars-and-stripes stuff.

Ex-skins. Ding ding ding! We have our new name. They can have a big radical X as their new logo. 

 

42 minutes ago, IceCap said:

Gonna break from the mould and disagree on this point specifically, as well as the related point that all instances of the Redskins' logo in the HoF need a disclaimer. Not at all.

I've never been to the football HoF, but I've been to the hockey HoF more times than I can count. There are tons of old, outdated logos on display there. Hell, I think the hockey HoF was where I first became aware of the Windsor Swastikas, which is another logo/name that you're not going to see today.

 

Again, I've never been to the football HoF so I'm not sure how it's structured, but let's say they have Darrell Green's helmet on display. I don't think they need a disclaimer next to it explaining the logo or attempting to shame Dan Snyder. It's just an old logo/name for a team. HoFs are full of that stuff.

Nor do you need to edit old broadcasts.

 

As for modern broadcasts? Just refer to the team as "Washington" if you're talking about it in a historical context, or showing old clips. Again, the old logo's going to be there but old sports footage is filled with old logos that are no longer used.

 

Now if the football HoF wanted to have a dedicated exhibit that focused on Native-themed names, exploring how many of those names have seen as offensive, and how the sport has moved on by eliminated the problematic ones and getting tribal permissions for the rest then by all means. I'd be 100% on board with that.

Disclaimers every time you have a picture of a Washington player though? Nah sorry. That seems ridiculous.

If you’re showing old clips you should still use the old name IMO. Doug Williams won Super Bowl XXII MVP as quarterback of the Washington Redskins, and that will never change. It seems appropriate to use that as a teachable moment, perhaps, but yeah...avoiding saying the name altogether is as dumb as avoiding writing it in my view. 
 

I would be 100% on board with a permanent exhibit on the relationship between sports branding and indigenous peoples, at the HoF or literally anywhere else. That’s an interesting discussion with a lot of history. Some people will get cranky about one thing or another, but it’s too educational to pass up. 

[SFGiants58]

Like, trying to pretend the whole controversy never happened is a fool’s errand.

The Washington NFL team isn’t a “problematic” episode of a show (e.g., “Stark Raving Dad”) or an embarrassing album made during a drug haze (e.g., the Joe Perry-less Aerosmith albums). It’s an important part of the club’s history and the history of the NFL/Native American mascots. It should be acknowledged in full. 

[schlim]

Call them the Statesmen.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

2 hours ago, Oso said:

Call em the Redd Foxxes and have Fred Sanford as the mascot...

 

I'm coming, Elizabeth!

 

  

6 hours ago, LMU said:

WASHINGTON DUKES

 

The idea of alluding to Duke Ellington, a Washington native, is a very good one.  And this would be another nickname that is derived from the arts, just as the Ravens have.  

However, the flaw is that duke is a royal title; indeed Duke Ellington got his nickname because of a play on Duke of Wellington.  And probably the last thing that is appropriate for the capital of a republic is a royal title.

In this long thread, I will reiterate my vote for the name Representatives / Reps.  It keeps the R in there, while avoiding the goofiness of "Red [somethings]".

[Digby]

58 minutes ago, Sec19Row53 said:

Please keep it open as long as it isn't too much work to do so. If individuals can't help themselves, too bad. I'd like us to have this nice thing.

 

I think the mods have done well so far. [Hat tip]

I don’t envy the mods but silver lining is, letting the line run a little slack as is happening here gives you room to find out who you reeeeeally don’t want at your party anyway.

[infrared41]

1 hour ago, dont care said:

I really think we should lock this thread until a name finally gets chosen. We’ve already shown that we can’t be trusted to follow the rules on this issue and is causing too many suspensions. I’ve tried to just avoid commenting on here other than a few here or there and feel fear every time that a mod might take it the wrong way and get suspended for it. 

 

First off, let the mods handle the moderating. Second, it's been four people out of 29 pages of posts who have caused problems. I can't speak for the entire mod squad, but if you had told me going in that we'd hit 29 pages with only four trouble spots in this thread, I would have said you're being ridiculously optimistic. Finally, if you feel you can't contribute to the thread without getting in trouble, that's on you, my friend. We aren't going to lock a thread because one person has concerns about what they might say. If it's any help, use the old adage I learned working in radio - if you're wondering whether or not you should say something, you probably shouldn't say it. You know the rules. Follow them and you'll have nothing to worry about. Fair enough?

[infrared41]

13 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

2 hours ago, Oso said:

Call em the Redd Foxxes and have Fred Sanford as the mascot...

 

I'm coming, Elizabeth!

 

Umm, I think what you meant to say is "Elizabeth, I'm coming to join you, honey." Trust me, my way reads a whole lot better.

[raz]

1 hour ago, MCM0313 said:

Yeah. Many Native Americans aren’t personally offended by the name. That guy specifically has a definite reason to support the current name and logo, but different people think otherwise. Ultimately this is the franchise’s only option moving forward. And our purpose here is to throw out and compare ideas for new names, not to debate opinions on whether the change should be happening in the first place. 

 

I neither meant to argue nor to defend, just thought it was an interesting perspective I wasn't sure everyone saw. 

[infrared41]

1 hour ago, Gothamite said:

I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean it to sound like that. 

 

No worries.

[infrared41]

39 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

or an embarrassing album made during a drug haze (e.g., the Joe Perry-less Aerosmith albums)

 

"Lightning Strikes" wasn't bad, but the rest? Yeah, embarrassing.

[joekono]

5 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

"Lightning Strikes" wasn't bad, but the rest? Yeah, embarrassing.

Oh my god, I remember that video "Lightning Strikes" back in the 80s. It was a pretty good tune. Aaaaaaah 80's MTV how I miss thee.

 

[sportsfan7]

2 hours ago, QCS said:

3 hours ago, disman00911 said:

On a side note, aren’t there a few Native American high schools with the name “Redskins”.  Here’s a 2014 Yahoo article about an Arizona Navajo high school with the “Redskins” name.  Since Washington’s NFL team is now dropping the name, shouldn’t these schools follow suit?

 

11. Yes, absolutely.

I have to disagree here. As far as I can tell, there are 46 High Schools named Redskins, although number is/will be going down because of this name change. One of them is Wellpinit High School in Washington, located on a Reservation and another is the one in the article, Red Mesa, is located in a city (Well, technically a CDP) that is over 95% Native. In general, the rest are mostly White, rural schools (Somehow 9 of the 46 are in Ohio) with a few exceptions. As someone said earlier, this is essentially the Native version of Fighting Irish in the first 2 cases. As far as I can tell, most of the others have been using the Washington team as their justification for keeping the nickname.

[jdavidev]

I am surprised Warthogs hasn't got more discussion.  It ties into military, with the A-10 bomber plane, and the old Hogs nickname for the offensive line.  The alliteration works.  I like it better than Redwolves or Redtails.  And, the imbecile who trademarked all those names, trademarked "War Hogs", not the proper spelling of the name.

[Gothamite]

33 minutes ago, sportsfan7 said:

I have to disagree here. As far as I can tell, there are 46 High Schools named Redskins, although number is/will be going down because of this name change. One of them is Wellpinit High School in Washington, located on a Reservation and another is the one in the article, Red Mesa, is located in a city (Well, technically a CDP) that is over 95% Native. In general, the rest are mostly White, rural schools (Somehow 9 of the 46 are in Ohio) with a few exceptions. As someone said earlier, this is essentially the Native version of Fighting Irish in the first 2 cases. As far as I can tell, most of the others have been using the Washington team as their justification for keeping the nickname.

Then the Washington name change can have beneficial repercussions beyond just the NFL. 

[monkeypower]

MOD EDIT: Let's just keep this to the Washington NFL brand and put that other stuff in the NFL offseason thread.

 

[DCarp1231]

1 hour ago, monkeypower said:

MOD EDIT: Let's just keep this to the Washington NFL brand and put that other stuff in the NFL offseason thread.

I posted it in that thread.