From the sidelines
By Marty Gordon
I have been a Washington Redskin football fan all my life, so I am torn on the recent decision to change their name. I understand how the recent public events have forced the ownership to consider changing things, but I will also be sad to see the old logo and name go.
There are so many reasons to change it, and so many ways it could go. Let’s take a look at the past that includes a movie with its own Washington football franchise that could be a great name to use.
Remember the Washington Sentinels? It was a comedy based on the 1987 professional football players’ strike. Gene Hackman played the coach of the team, Jack Warden was the owner, Brett Cullen was the All-Pro quarterback who goes on strike and Keanu Reeves is the “scab” who replaces the star QB.
The Washington Senators, also referred to as the Washington Pros or Washington Presidents, were a professional football club from D.C. The team played in the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League) during the 1921 season and continued to operate as a football club until 1941.
Of course, this controversy hits close to home and reminds area residents of the “Blacksburg High School Indian” saga from the early 2000‘s. When the dust cleared in 2002, the school had dropped its longtime mascot and changed it to Bruins.
Again, there was concern the name was an unfair stereotype of a particular segment of our society. I didn’t agree with it then and still don’t. But again, it’s tough to deal with the feeling of “injustice.”
Who‘s next? The Florida State Seminoles, the Atlanta Braves, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Cleveland Indians or the Chicago Blackhawks?
As a fellow reporter in Florida recently said, the difference, of course, is blatantly obvious to most right-thinking Americans. Florida State’s “Seminoles” pay tribute to Osceola, who led a tribe that is a celebrated part of the state’s history.
In so many ways, I felt the Redskins and even the Blacksburg Indians honored Native Americans. I never had a problem with it, but the tide has changed and so are the names.