A rose, by any other name...

Living in the Washington DC Metro area, I cannot go a single day without reading something about the controversy of the Washington Redskins team name. I am a voracious reader of the Letters to the Editor in the Washington Post (and an obsessive letter-writer as well), and have read enough letters related to this subject that I feel compelled to throw in my ha'penny. (I don't think my opinion is worth a full 2 cents, especially to Dan Snyder.)

I see this situation as very simple. The name "Redskins" offends some people. The group of people who are directly offended may be very small, but I don't think that matters. I don't want to live in a "tyranny of the majority." If those in the majority never stood up to support those in the minority even though they were not directly affected in a negative way, many of the Washington Redskins this community cheers for would be slaves today. (Please excuse that run-on sentence. I'm too sleepy to fix it.) Changing the name of the team would have absolutely no affect on their ability to play football (which is quite lacking at the moment!). It would not change the experience of the fans at the game. Even all the traditional songs and cheers work well with some of the proposed alternate names. The only reason I can see not to change the name is stubborn pride of the worst kind. Think about it, Dan Snyder. A new name with new logos means that every Redskins fan has to buy new jerseys. How often does doing the right thing make you a fortune? The Washington Wizards have figured that out, changing uniforms and colors almost annually.

The concern that I can imagine Dan Snyder might have is that he will alienate fans by changing the name. I have two responses to that. First, the waiting list for Redskins tickets is decades-long. Some people may give up on the team, but there are plenty more people waiting to fill their slots. Wouldn't that be a horrible thing to lost a bunch of narrow-minded fans who don't care about offending people and replace them with fans who actually care about the team itself more than the name? That leads me to my second response. Really? You would stop supporting the team if they changed their name? What kind of fan are you? I will lose credibility with Redskins fans with this next part. I have been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys since I was four years old and started watching Roger Staubach on TV. I have supported them with equal fervor through the glory days and through the lean times. If the name "Cowboys" were deemed to be offensive to an ethnic group, I would support changing the name 100%. If Jerry Jones agreed to change the name, then I would be an even bigger fan than I have been over the last almost 40 years. I would be the first to go online and buy a new Jason Witten jersey with the new team name and colors. They are my team, no matter what they are called and the last thing I would want is for my team to offend a group of people.

The Oxford English Dictionary (as well as every other dictionary I have checked in my non-scientific, non-exhaustive search) defines the word Redskin as offensive.

1. An American Indian. Now somewhat dated and freq. considered offensive.

It is time for supporters of the name to stop denying that it is offensive and start declaring that they would rather offend people than have to change an extremely unimportant detail of their lives.They keep saying things like, "Let's start worrying about something important." If the team name is that unimportant, then CHANGE IT! Enough said!