I knew it would happen when the Washington Redskins football team came to Phoenix recently to play the Arizona Cardinals. Sure enough, there were protestors out in force although not as many as I thought there would be; maybe 100. Maybe it’s because Washington team owner Daniel Snyder has steadfastly repeated that he will never change the name of the team. Good for him; the Washington franchise has been the Redskins since 1932 when they played in Boston. The team was moved to Washington in 1937 and remained the Redskins.
I don’t see what all the controversy is about. A poll taken within the last year said that
79% of those interviewed saw nothing wrong with the name. Plus, the name has been around for a long
time and it is only in recent years that problems have evolved. I would blame a lot of it on the liberal
mentality that we have to put up with in this country; especially since Obama
has become president. Of course, he
dislikes the name as does liberal publications like Slate and Huffington Post. Also, Bob Costas of NBC derided Snyder
last year for not changing the name.
Does anyone care what Bob Costas thinks?
The Arizona Republic has
also joined in with some sportswriters failing to recognize the name so they
just call them the Washington team. It’s
a real mature group down there; aren’t you impressed at what sensitivity they
have?
Smithsonian
linguist Ives Goddard has shown that “European settlers in the 18th century
seem to have adopted the term from Native Americans, who used ‘red skin’ to
describe themselves, and it was generally a descriptor, not an insult.” What do you think of that, Costas?
It seems like sensitivity
rules these days. With the liberal mindset
that has become entrenched in some groups, there is very little that one can
say or do without offending someone else. These people are taking themselves way too seriously. The Cleveland Indians American League baseball team has been under fire
for some time over their depiction of a mascot called “Chief Wahoo.” The Atlanta Braves have had similar
demonstrations over the term “Braves” and many years ago the Stanford
University Indians changed their name to “The Cardinal” to avoid further criticism
from some tribes.
It’s a good thing
these people didn’t live a few years ago when nicknames were given to almost
everyone. The difference between then
and now is that people were a lot more mature in those days and were able to
laugh at themselves. Those who wore
eyeglasses were many times called “4 eyes” or “seal beams” with the latter
referring to a car’s headlights. I heard
those terms aimed at me a lot during Air Force basic training along with other
niceties. Others like me took those
insults like a grain of salt as they were expected. At 6-5 in height I wish I had a dollar for
every time someone asked me how the weather was up there.
If you have a problem with team names, just remember the mascot of the U. of California Santa Cruz. They are called the "Banana Slugs" and I've yet to hear any banana slugs complain.
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