The Washington "Redskins" Nickname Is NOT Offensive!

Pass the Jergens, please.  And the Cetaphil.  Heavy on the Ben-Gay, too.  This country has gotten so freaking sensitive and thin-skinned it’s a wonder that hospitals haven’t been over-run with patients screaming for medication to cure their cuts and bruises!  Political correctness and it’s chumpions, err, champions continue to bullhorn their ridiculous calls to reform.  As an example, liberal politicians and their all too closely aligned allies in the mainstream media are calling out anyone of us as “racist” and “hate mongers” if we refer to a person in this country illegally as “illegal immigrant” or “illegal alien”.  Isn’t that what they are?  As opposed to their politically-correct, inert, non-discriminatory terms of “undocumented migrant” or “unauthorized citizen”?  Examples such as this are revolting enough, but now this entire race re-branding has slithered it’s way into professional sports, and thankfully, some franchise owners are ignoring the sense-less clamor.

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is fast becoming one of my favorite people in all of professional sports.  Snyder purchased the Redskins (yes, I’m going to continue to refer to the team by their nickname) in 1999, and since Day 1 he has had to constantly address calls from activist groups, media outlets, and politicians across the country to change the team’s nickname.  Somehow, the word “Redskin” has become offensive, and just because the NCAA and universities throughout the nation have buckled to this so-called “sensitivity awareness” and abolished their long-traditional Native American team names, Snyder is by their reasoning supposed to acquiesce as well.

To steal a line from Colonel Sherman Potter from the TV series M*A*S*H*…….I say, ”bull feathers!”

The list of appeasers to political correctness is long.  Stanford went from Indians to Cardinal.  Eastern Michigan gave up the name of the long-respected native tribe in the Ypsilanti area, Hurons, and flew off to become Eagles.  St. John’s University, known for over 50 years as the “Redmen” due to the red uniforms donned by their football team during the 1940’s, begrudgingly exchanged “men” for “storm” because outside activists and the NCAA claimed it was a racist reference to Native Americans!  An even more incredible example is illustrated by the University of North Dakota.  They had to drop “Fighting Sioux” due to being placed on a list of schools with American Indian nicknames that the NCAA deemed hostile and abusive. Those colleges were told to dump the names or risk sanctions against their athletic teams.  Leave it to the NCAA, the most unaccountable oversight organization in this country outside of Washington DC, to force such injustice!

If the NCAA were consistent about it’s call for “sensitivity” to race, then why hasn’t it insisted that Notre Dame drop  Fighting Irish, USC erase Trojans, and Michigan State and San Jose State to find another name for Spartans?  How about UNLV and Ole Miss, who both use the nickname Rebels, which conjures up memories of the Confederate Army and the South’s support of slavery?  Indiana University and the state itself is synonymous with their nickname “Hoosiers” despite the fact it’s a centuries-old a term for “hick” or “white trash.”  Where’s the pressure to banish that name?  Bobby Knight isn’t around Bloomington anymore tossing chairs, so why is the NCAA not inside Assembly Hall prodding the administration as they have so many others?  What a pile of hot, steaming waste this nonsense has become!

Getting back to the Redskins, it’s gotten so bad that even Peter King of Sports Illustrated, who in the opinion of many, myself included, is the pre-eminent NFL writer on the planet, recently came out and stated he will now only refer to the Redskins as “Washington”.  I hope Snyder remains adamant and keeps the Redskins the Redskins.  If he succumbs, it’s only a matter of time before Cleveland loses it’s Indians, Atlanta’s Braves go bye-bye, and Chicago’s Stanley Cup champion BlackHawks get de-feathered.  Pardon the pun, but their fans will go on war path!  Revisionist historians have perverted enough of our nation’s heritage.  Let’s hope they are defeated in their attempts to obliterate the history and fan appeal of our professional sports teams.  Enough already.