And speaking of sports (to borrow a phrase from the late Howard Cosell)…
How eager is The Washington Post to bully the owner of the local pro football team whose name is so cringeworthy that it dare not be spoken? So much so that the paper inspired a contest for possible replacement logos/names for the Redskins. (Oops.)
If you think that’s silly, consider that the column, by former Metro section editor Robert McCartney, never uses the word Redskins. (In the title, he refers to the franchise as “Washington’s pro football team.”)
Tim Graham of Newsbusters explains that the contest, which was web-based, was overseen by 99designs, a San Francisco design firm. McCartney was one of the judges, along with Slate’s David Plotz.
The Envelope, Please…
The first-place finisher was a logo to accompany the team name Washington Warriors that features a stylized Pentagon (the warrior part) and obelisk (the Washington part). The submission, by a Serbian freelance artist, also contains a ghosted image, which seems a little ongepotchket for an NFL logo. A larger concern that seems lost on McCartney is the subliminal risk the name poses for our impressionable youth. If a child can be inspired to acts of violence by the sight of a toaster pastry bitten into the shape a gun, think what bellicose impulses the name warrior might spark.
Far and away the most PC name — not to mention one of the funniest — was Washington Redtails, inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen, who were black. Again, the image of a World War II-era fighter plane is supposed to carry the theme, but the name in isolation calls to mind a bird or a fish. But the red-tailed hawk is known colloquially in the U.S. as “chickenhawk.” Who wants to root for the chickenhawks?
Actually, one of the logos — that of the Washington Griffins — looks like a bird. In fact, with its color scheme, it looks like a logo for a fast-food fried chicken chain. The Washington Fried Chicken(s)? Nah.
Here’s a thought: Why not give the team a name that honors Americans Indians? After all, if Amerindians have suffered the ignominy of “Redskins” for so many decades, why not make a gesture toward undoing the damage? Among the names worth considering is the “Oklahomas.” Yes, I understand that Oklahoma is already the name of a state some 1,300 miles to the west of where the D.C. footballers play. But it is at least an Indian word. Its meaning, in the language of the Choctaw? “Red people.”
On to the next problem.
Related Articles
- When did sports fans become such huge jerks?
- American Indian rights group receives unexpected reaction to thought experiment
- Obama: I’d consider changing Redskins’ name
- University refuses to find replacement for non-PC white male mascot
- For Slate mum’s the word (when it comes to the Washington Redskins)
- Journalist upset real Indians aren’t offended by ‘Redskins’
- Congress vexed about name Washington ‘Redskins’ (again)
- Politically correct new team names for the Washington Redskins
- Pranked CA TV station IDs pilots of doomed Asiana flight as ‘Wi Tu Lo,’ ‘Ho Lee Fuk,’ etc. (Updated)
- Chicago-Sun Times accused of Asian racial stereotype in headline
- Oh, goody! Another city bans ‘potentially offensive’ language
- NYC Dept of Ed publishes its list of 50 ‘forbidden words’
- Time to ethnically cleanse English? Not a Chinaman’s chance
- Chicago-Sun Times accused of Asian racial stereotype in headline
- Meet the newest ‘diverse’ group needing your pity: Asian Americans
- School claims 7-year-old is racist for asking classmate about skin color
