A Farewell to the Redskins

Reflecting on the loss of a favorite team

As the 2022 NFL season begins its starting weeks, I wanted to reflect on the loss of a favorite team. Yes, I know there is a still a Washington team who called themselves “Football Team” for a few years before finally deciding on “Commanders” as a name. This is not a bad name in and of itself, but I cannot accept it as the reasons for making the change were so ugly, so smugly horrible, that I cannot ever stomach it. Of course, they tried to label it in a positive light, calling it in keeping with “inclusivity” or some other such vagary, but we all knew it was a final giving-in to cultural elites and the angry woke mob. They went from a name that honored the fighting spirit of an indigenous tribe of North America, to another non-controversial name choice. Naming them the Washington “Generics” would have at least expressed the true character of the bland names they had to choose from. In doing so, they flushed away the traditions and love of countless fans in the Washington, D.C. area and around the country.

As a youngster growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland in the 1970s, I learned all about the game of professional football by watching the Washington Redskins. Through the Redskins I came to understand why people loved the game, and I experienced the great love the fans had for the team, its great players, and traditions. The Redskins were big part of every fall. They figured greatly at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We knew all of their names, from Billy Kilmer, Joe Theismann, Mark Mosley, Charley Taylor, Ken Houston, and John Riggins just to name a few. My brothers and I would be so pumped up that at halftime we would run outside and play touch football in the empty lot next to our home. RFK stadium was sold-out from time immemorial, but a wonderful neighbor had extra tickets from time-to-time, so we were actually able to attend a few games.

I still remember the explosion of burgundy and gold colors, the uproariously joyful crowds, the cheerleaders, and the Redskins band that broke out in the fight song “Hail to the Redskins!” at each score (a father of a high school friend played trombone). And then we always anticipated the games with their arch-rivals, chiefly the Dallas Cowboys. I came to a realization many years later that the Cowboys were actually not people who belonged in prison, and who would stoop so low as to bribe the referees to make bad calls. They were just gaudy and classless. Being from Texas, they probably just didn’t know any better.

I continued to follow the Redskins through the good times of the 1980s. We left the DC area in the early 90s but we stayed with the Redskins, following them all through the so-so times of the late 90s and beyond. My brothers and our dear old next-door neighbor, Joe, continued to be avid fans, far more than myself. I came only occasionally, but they made a yearly pilgrimage to see a home game. They all purchased the “NFL Ticket” to watch their games, and two of them made Redskin-themed “man caves.” They, not me, could name every active player from every team fielded from those years, and they have continued their interest in spite of the recent name change. After all these years, I’m not sure they would know what to do with themselves if they stopped following the Washington team. I’m sure that’s true for many fans, and I don’t judge them for it.

But after the name change, I could not continue as a fan, and I wanted to outline my reasons why. They are as follows:

The Cultural Elites and Woke Mob Won, not the Fans

The Redskins were part of DC’s culture going back over 85 years, starting in 1937. The American Indian theme was always a part of their tradition; they were originally the Boston Braves, founded in 1932. The helmet logo used from the 1970s onward was designed by an American Indian. The Redskins name was the name of a particular American Indian tribe. Polls of American Indians showed that a great majority didn’t find the name offensive, in fact, many were quite proud of it. (To be fair, a Wikipedia record provides a detailed report on this, including disputes as the polling methods used.) Yet, the material point is this: There was never a ground-swell of support from Redskins fans themselves for changing the name.

Regardless of American Indians and Redskin fan opinions, the elite corporations running the sports media and the establishment in DC itself found it offensive and kept up their pressure, and finally used the completely unrelated death of George Floyd as an excuse to force the change. Tradition and fans be damned.

The Redskins Name Was Meant as an Honor

While the clash of native cultures with the European settlers was often harsh and unjust, American Indians remain a revered part of American culture. If anything, the naming of sports teams after American Indians was a part of a process the culture went through to heal from past wrongs.

Some have criticized the sport team names and logos as being mere caricatures of American Indians, especially the former Cleveland Indians. But as someone smarter than me pointed out, can you identify any sports team mascot who is not a caricature? That’s what they are supposed to be. My wife’s Irish family, for example, is not all offended by the Fighting Irish’s mascot because they understand that concept. Some fine intellect came up with a “Caucasians” logo t-shirt to point out the absurdity of using the Indian name in this way, again, applied more directly to the former Cleveland Indians. Caucasians has never, I presume, been used as a team name because it’s far too broad a category. But many team names are related to fighting traditions of certain Caucasian groups, such as the Vikings, Irish, Romans, and Greeks. So, while the criticism has some sway in that there are also many different tribes of Indians, it certainly doesn’t apply to the Redskins name as that was meant to be a specific tribe.

Intent Matters

Some have suggested that the use of the name Redskins was akin to the “N-word.” Perhaps some people over time used the name as a pejorative, but the assertion that it was somehow equivalent to the N-word is only that, an assertion. It seems to me that in order for the name Redskins to be racist it would have to impart:

1.       A negative intent by the speaker

2.       Shame in having red skin

The Redskins team name has neither one of these qualities. It’s absurd to suggest that the team was named with pejorative intent. Why would fans root for something that they dishonored? And, having a particular skin color is not shameful. It's certainly not suggestive of slavery, which is the offensive part of the N-word, it’s the way God made us.

Labeling the Name Racist is Arrogant and Judgmental, Not Enlightened

Labelling traditionally used names like the Redskins as racist has larger implications. It’s quite arrogant to appoint yourself the modern arbiter of what racism is. You become a dictatorial judge of the past. To point, all those calling the Redskins name racist consider themselves by implication morally superior to generations of fans who had no problem with the name. They are also calling those generations of fans racist for not agreeing with them. Charging past generations with a “recently discerned” form of racism is not enlightened—it’s simply judgmental.

What was accomplished by the name change? Another powerful witness to the bravery of the American Indians has been lost. With the overall campaign of cancelling team names and products, the elites are only taking positive and reverential references to American Indians out of our culture. That’s not progress, it’s just cancelling.

Summing it up, no minority group was remotely improved by this change. No individual’s life was made better, and no actual racists will repent because of it. In the process, our culture lost something good. The traditions of an 85-year-old team were lost, and American Indians have lost another place of reverence in our popular culture. The replacement name was forced, bland, and boring.

It’s just a football team name you may say, and that’s true, life will go on. But a fun and good thing from my childhood is now gone forever, and for no good reason.

Hail and Farewell to the Redskins!