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Columnist John Kelly: Redskins' Play Is as Offensive as Name
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"Well, yeah."
He rolled his eyes.
Just then a stout woman hiked up, a baby on her back. She, too, was Native American. I recognized her from the dollar coin.
"Sacagawea," I said. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm on my way to see Jim Zorn."
"Jim Zorn? Why?"
"To give him some play-calling advice."
I chuckled at the prospect. "Jim Zorn is a former pro quarterback who coaches at the highest level of professional sports. What makes you think he needs advice from you?"
"Look," Sacagawea said. "I helped Lewis and Clark find the Pacific. I think I can help Jim Zorn find the end zone."
Off she hiked toward Ashburn, the no-longer-crying Indian walking beside her.
Name Check
Perhaps Dan Snyder is holding onto the name out of spite or to protect the value of the trademark -- a trademark that is being challenged by a group of Native Americans. Or maybe he simply believes keeping the name is the best way to honor the traditions of a team he's followed since he was a boy.
Except those old traditions are being replaced by new traditions. On the field, a mediocre product. Off the field, lawsuits against fans. You would think at this point Snyder would want to change the name, the way the owners of ValuJet changed the airline's name to AirTran after a few crashes.
What could the new name be? When you think about it, "Redskins" doesn't have much to do with Washington. The name's a holdover from the team's Boston days, where it started as the Boston Braves, a name that apparently echoed one of that city's baseball teams, not its aboriginal population.
The fact that "Redskins" has no connection to Washington frees the team from having to replace it with a D.C.-centric moniker. They could pick a name that was cool but didn't have any connection to the capital. That is, you could go the Wizards route.
You want a Washington connection? There are the silly -- Lobbyists, Beltway Bandits, Filibusters, Pentagons, Disenfranchised Voters -- and the less-silly. I've always been partial to the Washington Monuments, the perfect name for a team with hulking, granite-like players. Rename the team the Washington Giant Pandas and you'd build a new fan base among both 8-year-old American girls and 1.3 billion Chinese. (Do the math, Dan. Think of all those T-shirts you could sell if you positioned the Giant Pandas as the first NFL team to conquer China.)
How about the Washington Natives? People say there's no such thing, that everyone in D.C. comes from somewhere else. But we natives know that's not true. Let's be proud of our Washington roots, proud of our team. And anyway, wouldn't that name honor our country's indigenous people more than "Redskins"?
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