The Washington Team Formerly Known As [REDACTED]
GOOD
I didn’t think it would happen. I figured Snyder would wallow and moan for a while until the discussion just moved on again but NOPE! IT HAPPENED! IT’S OVER! THE SKINS WILL RECEIVE NO MORE OFFICIAL HAILING. Unless I do a relevant historical comic, this is officially going to be the last “Redskins” comic. I can’t believe it.
They haven’t announced what the new name will be yet. Many have speculated the official preferred name was bought up by one of those copyright squatters. They probably have to clear it. I don’t have high hopes for the name and I’m expecting something generic like “Generals”. I will miss the name in that one single respect. It was unique. It wasn’t generic, and sports teams with less generic names are always a welcome change. Out of the options I’ve been seeing floated I personally really like Redwolves or Redtails. I’m surprised we don’t have a wolf team yet and Redwolves is unique enough to sound cool. Redtails would also offer pretty nice older jet imagery to play with for a logo and offer a bit of a nice nod to the Tuskegee Airmen. If there is a Native American theme that could use red but be a cultural homage/reference of some sort (that ISN’T offensive) I could also get behind that. What I absolutely do not want is a change of color scheme. The Washington Football Team has always had one of the best looks in the game. Burgundy and Gold needs to stay.
It also goes to show you that Snyder never gave much of a damn about the history or “honor” of the name. He cared about the brand until the brand officially became toxic enough to effect his pocketbook. We can point out that Nike and FedEx aren’t saints themselves but I thank them for finally forcing an overdue upgrade. I’m so happy to see Dan Snyder lose this fight after so many years of touting “tradition” and “honor” in the name, saying he’d never change it. He showed his true motives when in the farewell statement to the name, he listed pleasing his sponsors before fans. It was never about honor. It was never about the fans desires. You didn’t matter. The Native peoples didn’t matter. His pocketbook mattered. So fuck him, I’m glad we get a new name and Redskins goes down into history as the relic it deserves to be.
I do wish to say that despite being happy the name is changing and that Dan Snyder eats poop, I do have sympathy for the fans. Especially the longer tenured ones. As I said in the last post, I grew up in Skins territory and I understand how ingrained that name is to people, and how for most of the fanbase it was never a negative or derogatory term but only the name of their favorite team. Even all these years later after coming to terms with it as a slur I still use the name casually by accident sometimes, despite a conscious effort to stop. It’ll be the hardest for these folks to move on. They will still call them the Skins out of defiance. They will still proudly display their merchandise and wear the old brand to games and get-togethers. I won’t even judge them too harshly for it, even if I do believe they are wrong. But time will heal this. The younger generations are less tied to the name (especially since the Skins haven’t been worth a shit since the early 90’s) and I think in less than a decade people who still defiantly use Skins will be the rare relics of the fanbase. The weird uncles who have some stories but also kind of scare you.
Please not the Generals or another angry animal head. We are losing one of the more unique brands. Lets try to make it special, but now with less offensiveness.
I still like the Natives as it would be respectful I think as long as Natives agree
They started out as the Braves and I would have gone back to that. Of course I also do Photoshops of modern day Dayton Triangle uniforms so..
God, what if he names it the Trumps.
It would be perfect. When they lose, they can just tweet and yell really loudly that they won, and their hardcore fans will believe it.
It’s a definite possibility. They wouldn’t even have to change the color scheme.
Or the Orangeskins.
I’m down with the Redtails. We don’t have many aviation idents – only ones that spring to mind are the Iowa Barnstormers (half-decent, saved Kurt Warner’s career) and Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks (shit, ruined Roman Gabriel’s career, 0-10)…
Actually, reading further, Gabriel was the kiss of death for a football team. He was the last coach of Cal Poly Pomona, and the ONLY coach of the Skyhawks; his record is 8-34.
J
E
T
S
JETS JETS JETS!
Many, not any.
Roman Gabriel was a lot of things. A great QB for the Rams in the 60’s. The first Asian-American starting QB in the NFL (he was half-Filipino).
Unfortunately, it seems like he wasn’t a good coach.
Proves that on-field success doesn’t always translate to the sidelines.
I’m of the mind that if the team spent 80 years crapping on Native Americans, the team can spend the next 80 years building them up. If Snyder wants to make things right – and he clearly doesn’t – he would let the Native American tribes pick the name, design their own logo, and give them 5% ownership shares (or whatever amount is closely attributed to the damages wrought by his ongoing asshattery).
Obviously, none of that will happen. My alma mater was almost the same exact shade of burgundy and gold, so I don’t find it to be especially unique, outside of the NFL at least, and unless they pivot to a pro-Native American theme, I’m actually in favor of them changing the color scheme entirely. Start over with a blank slate.
thats a fuckin beautiful idea. god, what a world if the team did that
one can dream, i guess
In fact a Native American designed the last logo.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/sports/nfl/redskins/washington-redskins-name-change-bittersweet-for-family-of-logo-creator/65-bf85b9b8-fa48-48dc-a3d2-3f03326cc338
You make a rather excellent point, and I will ashamedly admit I didn’t know that. How did I not know that? =/ Anyway, it explains why that particular logo wasn’t as overtly offensive as some other Native American sports logos out there.
So I’ll amend my initial comment. If Snyder gets high and wants to make amends, he needs to let the Native Americans design the logo AGAIN, but as a more collaborative effort than just hiring one guy, and this time they get to pick the name and gain ownership. Hell, let’s just throw him out and give ownership of the team ENTIRELY to the Native American tribes.
We need to get them to name the team the Sentinels.
My favorite is Admirals, which would be fairly unique even though it sounds like a bland name. They’d never do it though, because they’d almost have to change the colors and they said they don’t want to do that. Besides, there’s already two blue teams in that division.
Here’s an unpopular idea – how about it gets legit renamed as the Washington [Redacted]’s? After all, it does honour the legacy of redacting and massaging of facts and reality in DC, plus people can reuse old team gear by just buying a 10 pack of [RedacteD] iron-on stickers from the fanshop š
I thought maybe they could go with āAmericansā, but instead of the usual red/white/blue, still keep the burgundy and gold and maybe have a logo that could display Native American culture without being offensive (sort of how the Chiefs have the arrowhead maybe). Just a thought I had and I hadnāt seen it suggested in the usual Redwolves/Redtails names.
I saw one trademark register to name the team RedGiants, and I thought that would be awesome if only to piss off all of the Giants fans. :’D
I can’t speak for any other Giants fans, but if they did that, I would point at them and laugh MERCILESSLY. Because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I might even start referring to them as “Junior”. X’D
Ladies and gentlemen…make some noise as YOUR Washington Lobbyists take the field!
Found out what the new name will be:
https://sports.theonion.com/washington-redskins-change-their-name-to-the-d-c-redsk-1819575691
Pigskins are still my favorite new team. Doesn’t really honor anything other than football but the nickname is still pretty much the same, keep the color scheme, lean into “The Hogs” tradition.
Pigskin is a great name or just flat out āHogs,ā it would honor the fans, traditionally great lines in Washington as well as be very football-centric. They could keep their colors and even have a competition among fans for the new logo.
What about red tails, with the feathers of the old logo as the new logo?
Why the hell would Washington name its team after a basketball team that is only known as the eternal loser to the Globetrotters??
Most of the unique suggestions are just bad and often too specific. Because of that, and it’s Snyder, I’m sure we’ll get the most generic name possible. I’ve seen Warriors thrown around a lot so it’ll probably be that.
Just changing the mascot to a potato would have been the the most efficient course of action! In 2015 they could have gotten away with it, but it’s too late now.
I really like Red Tails. I’ve heard people act like that’s controversial – I don’t know why. It’s not like alt-righters and racists are angry at one of the most successful air units in WW2. If someone is that racist, they probably only watch college so they can enjoy legal slavery.
I also can’t wait for the name change to backfire. Like – wouldn’t finding a name honoring the people we offended in the first place be the most prudent course of action. Erasing Redskins with something not related is effectively just another example of us covering up history and erasing a culture of people instead of honoring it? If we pick the Red Tails are we ignoring the Navajo Code Breakers in World War 2?
“REDISKN”
Could you make a comic about Nascar?
Deadskins.
Well, they were originally called the Braves, but I’m guessing that won’t quite work now between its continued implications of American Indian identity and its popular use by the baseball team that the football team was originally named after. The silly cheering for the word “brave” in the national anthem would perhaps seem less silly in DC. Maybe. On the flipside, taking up the current Washington baseball team’s name for a Washington football Nationals would be a fun historical nod that has a 0% chance of happening.
Red Tails is solid, though the Tuskegee Airmen are more specifically associated with other locations around the country than with Washington DC. I do like that it hasn’t really been used before as far as I can tell.
Red Wolves was Arkansas State University’s replacement for “Indians”. Cool name, but the idea has been done just like Redhawks, Red Storm, etc.
I’m glad to see that Federals hasn’t appeared to have gotten much traction. For one thing, it was the name of the DC USFL team that employed Craig James and had the league’s lamest helmets. For another, it would sound more than a bit like the team was named after big sponsor FedEx, much like the nixed proposal to rename the Memphis Grizzlies as the Memphis Express.
One that hasn’t been suggested much and surely won’t happen but is kind of fun (or stupid), the Maul. A pun on the National Mall. Very arena league-y, but it’s a new day, right?
The Washington Tribe would be cool.
Then have special uniforms, helmet designs, or patches that honor different native American tribes. You could do it for years.
Donate a small portion of sales to that tribe. Nike could stop milking the overdone throwback stuff.
I’d be fine with anything that sounds like it could beat the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys on a regular basis.
The DC referees?
I’m still partial to Washington Insiders. The helmet logo could be a big bag of money.
I like it, but I’m still pulling for the Washington Corruption. The logo being an outstretch hand receiving a bride/kickback.
Eh, I think you might be underestimating how much people will latch onto a name.
Take the University of North Dakota. They retired their old nickname, the Fighting Sioux, back in 2012. Picked the name of Fighting Hawks in 2015. The vast majority of the apparel worn by their fans is either pre-2012 or non-official knockoff gear, and the crowd still uses the “Sioux” nickname.
Not just a name, traditions as well. Braves fans did the Tomahawk Chop in last year’s playoffs despite the team claiming they weren’t going to officially encourage it.
Formerly*
I wouldn’t put it past Snyder to sell the naming rights like they do with stadiums.
The Washington Walmarts
The Washington Googles
The Washington Pornhubs
Here are my suggestions:
Washington Rednecks…. think of the comedy of people trying to argue it is or isn’t offensive. You get Bubba who ha been arguing to kerp the skins name for a decade trying to back pedal.
Washington Red Rockets. Again, so fitting…
Ah how naive you are, can’t wait to see your last last series of Redskins comics when this big story breaks before a new name is selected.
No Native Mascots, EVER AGAIN. You can call it the Washington Clams for all I care, and if you want to reconcile with Tribe, then give them proceeds as part of your charitables. But don’t bring us down this path again. The only appropriate Native Mascot is the Florida State Seminoles where the Tribe participates culturally by throwing a spear on the field and garnering some monetary benefit from having the mascot. That’s probably the only way you can do it, but not with the Washington Team. It is unsacred ground and probably just needs to be some random animal at this point.
keep the red and gold, name them the 72ers