"Washington Federals" (Now Redskins name discussion)

[DeFrank]

What do you all think about the name "Washington Federals"? The concept that got me thinking was from today's UniWatch NBA redesign. He replaced the Wizards with the Federals, and although I'm not totally for the entire concept, the name and colors really struck me. Washington Federals

As a fanatical Redskins fan, and one who rejects the idea of renaming our team anything like the Warriors or Indians, the name Federals actually would be acceptable. If we had to change, I could see the Washington Federals (The Feds) as the team I support.

What do you all think of the name and the issue of the Redskins name as a whole? Should it be RWB like other DC teams, or another scheme like green and white?

[AnythingChicago]

The Federals concept on UniWatch was one of my least favorite of that set.

[DeFrank]

The Federals concept on UniWatch was one of my least favorite of that set.

I thought the logo and design wasn't great, but the name and colors were what got me thinking.

[AnythingChicago]

The Federals concept on UniWatch was one of my least favorite of that set.

I thought the logo and design wasn't great, but the name and colors were what got me thinking.

I mean, it could work. But the design would have to be much better.

[Gothamite]

The name is potentially great, paired with a "monument" style scheme, like the Nats would still be wearing today had they not been talked into adopting the silly Walgreens cap.

[Lights Out]

With the looks of that uniform, the Federals would give a new meaning to the phrase "money from three."

[the admiral]

The self-evident but ultimately unused nature of "Washington Federals" means it's forever consigned to fantasy sports team/dummy team in television drama status. The fact that I could theoretically take it seriously means that I could never actually take it seriously. Am I making any sense?

[DeFrank]

The name is potentially great, paired with a "monument" style scheme, like the Nats would still be wearing today had they not been talked into adopting the silly Walgreens cap.

I'm a proud wearer of the Curly W! It's distinctive and just a great logo.

The self-evident but ultimately unused nature of "Washington Federals" means it's forever consigned to fantasy sports team/dummy team in television drama status. The fact that I could theoretically take it seriously means that I could never actually take it seriously. Am I making any sense?

I do get what you're saying. It's like the Washington Sentinels or something.

[GeorgesL]

I was never a Redskins fan, and still ain't one. But I would support a name change to Federals if they need to do so. It makes more sense for a team in Washington, I mean, were there ever any Indian tribes in the D.C. Area? Probably before Columbus discovered America, I'm sure of it.

[Lights Out]

The self-evident but ultimately unused nature of "Washington Federals" means it's forever consigned to fantasy sports team/dummy team in television drama status.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/usfl/federals.htm

[ARTnSocal]

I think the Washington REDSKINS should remain just that ... and not give in to pressure like Stanford, Miami of O, St Johns and several others did.

The WIZARDS should go back to being the BULLETS

The Washington FEDERALS were a USFL team, and one of the worst ones too.

[DeFrank]

I think the Washington REDSKINS should remain just that ... and not give in to pressure like Stanford, Miami of O, St Johns and several others did.

The WIZARDS should go back to being the BULLETS

The Washington FEDERALS were a USFL team, and one of the worst ones too.

I want my team to stay the Redskins no doubt.

But the name hit me as a possibility for the Skins if they ever are forced to change it.

[BBTV]

Really though - what is a "Federal"? Who uses that term in contemporary vernacular to describe anyone, or even a collective? (I don't consider it to be the same as "Feds" as in "the Feds are on the case".)

Those names were fine 600 years ago, but if a group of people were just starting a team from scratch today, would they ever say "dude, we should totally call ourselves the Federals." I think not. (Same for Nationals.) I get that sports nicknames don't always have to make sense, but Federals just sounds like one of those names that's retro for the sake of being retro. There's a balance between going with something "XTREME!!!" (like Washington... well, XTREME!!!!) and something generic (Washington Eagles) but IMO the answer isn't to go back in time 200 years and name the team as if it was owned by a bunch of powdered-wig wearing white guys.

[NatsFan2004]

It's an okay name, but I don't really see it working for the Wizards. No doubt that name sorely needs to be changed - no one really likes it and it's never been popular in DC. It really has nothing to do with Washington in the first place. (Personally, I always thought one of the 5 original finalists - Dragons - would have made a lot of sense given that the team plays in Chinatown. On the other hand, "Sea Dogs", "Stallions" and "Express" would have been FAR worse.)

As others have pointed out, Federals has been used before but the stigma of being associated with a miserable football team isn't exactly encouraging. Sure, not a whole lot of people remember that awful team in DC but some do.

Personally, I really don't get why the team doesn't just go back to the Bullets. Yes, it's a somewhat violent name but so are a lot of other sports team names. The fans want it and really don't care about the symbolism of "Bullets" - the only one who ever really did was Abe Pollin and he's six feet under at this point.

Also, that UniWatch concept is just hideous. It stabs my eyeballs every time I look at it. If I wanted to see a dollar bill, I'd open my wallet. And if I want to watch a basketball team, I want to see something that doesn't remind me how much more the guys I'm watching on the floor are making than I am.

[Gothamite]

I think the Washington REDSKINS should remain just that ... and not give in to pressure like Stanford, Miami of O, St Johns and several others did.

The WIZARDS should go back to being the BULLETS

The Washington FEDERALS were a USFL team, and one of the worst ones too.

I want my team to stay the Redskins no doubt.

But the name hit me as a possibility for the Skins if they ever are forced to change it.

They won't be forced to change it as NCAA teams were, but they very well might lose the ability to trademark it.

[NatsFan2004]

Those names were fine 600 years ago, but if a group of people were just starting a team from scratch today, would they ever say "dude, we should totally call ourselves the Federals." I think not. (Same for Nationals.)

The difference between Federals and Nationals is that Nationals has a long major league history behind it, while Federals doesn't. I think it's perfectly appropriate to use Nationals today in the same way it's appropriate to use Yankees or Giants, for example - those are similarly meaningless names but they have baseball history behind them.

[DeFrank]

Good discussion going.

I do see how the name is associated with fantasy teams and the like, and I agree, the concept is pretty bad!

[loogodude90]

It's an okay name, but I don't really see it working for the Wizards. No doubt that name sorely needs to be changed - no one really likes it and it's never been popular in DC. It really has nothing to do with Washington in the first place. (Personally, I always thought one of the 5 original finalists - Dragons - would have made a lot of sense given that the team plays in Chinatown. On the other hand, "Sea Dogs", "Stallions" and "Express" would have been FAR worse.)

As others have pointed out, Federals has been used before but the stigma of being associated with a miserable football team isn't exactly encouraging. Sure, not a whole lot of people remember that awful team in DC but some do.

Personally, I really don't get why the team doesn't just go back to the Bullets. Yes, it's a somewhat violent name but so are a lot of other sports team names. The fans want it and really don't care about the symbolism of "Bullets" - the only one who ever really did was Abe Pollin and he's six feet under at this point.

Also, that UniWatch concept is just hideous. It stabs my eyeballs every time I look at it. If I wanted to see a dollar bill, I'd open my wallet. And if I want to watch a basketball team, I want to see something that doesn't remind me how much more the guys I'm watching on the floor are making than I am.

I'm a Wizards fan who is ok with the name Wizards. If they were a better team, no one would really criticize them about their name. They are an easy target because they are bad. If they were a championship team, I bet the Wizards would actually be thought of as a cool name. It does make sense for a basketball team, the same way Magic and Jazz sound good (but again - only because they are very respected ON the court, or have been in recent decades). I think most DC sports "fans" who complain about the Wizards name are the fairweather type fans who hate on their home teams when they suck. And I don't think a team name has to be uniquely associated with the city its in, to be good and work.

[the admiral]

If they were a championship team, I bet the Wizards would actually be thought of as a cool name.

Insofar as all team names seem sort of cool when the team is winning, I suppose, but isn't this just the nomenclatural equivalent of "but we come out big for a winner"? In the absence of such a championship tradition, however, what we do have is a crappy team represented by a bearded old man. Now, you can't change the name of every team when it puts together a stretch so sad it has to make We Won The First Round t-shirts, and in fact you shouldn't change the name of a team at all, so reverting to Bullets in this case would only be righting a wrong.

"Washington Bullets" was a terrible Clash song, by the way. That ruined the team name more than Rabin's murder, inner-city violence, and poor merchandise sales combined. Ugh.

[Saintsfan]

How about Washington Monuments for the NBA team? The name kind of brings to mind size, so would have marketing potential. Although on the reverse, 'monuments' tend to be associated with dead things!