Introducing the Washington Commanders

After playing their last two seasons without an actual name, Washington, D.C.'s NFL franchise delivered as promised and announced a new name for their team: the Commanders. The name was announced early on February 2, 2022, though it was leaked on social media on the day before. "Commanders" had been a finalist in name choices from the start, with other suggestions including "Red Hogs" and "Admirals." It was a very long road to get to this point, but before I give my thoughts on the new name, I have to detail the history, as ugly as it is.

The team was founded in 1932 as the Boston Braves (back then it was commonplace for NFL and MLB teams to have the same names) by George Preston Marshall, who rechristened the team with its long infamous name: Redskins. The name change came a year later in 1933, and many modern fans weren't surprised at this. Marshall was a known racist; he was heavily in favor of racial segregation, and he was the last owner to integrate Black players to his team's roster, doing so in 1962. In addition, the team originated in Boston, which has a terrible history regarding racism, especially in sports. The Boston Red Sox were the last MLB franchise to integrate, doing so in 1959, twelve years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier (ironically, Willie O'Ree broke the NHL's color barrier a year prior when he joined the Boston Bruins).

The team moved to Washington, D.C. in 1937, which saw them win their first NFL Championship (pre-Super Bowl era). They added a second in 1942, and since the introduction of Super Bowls that also led to the 1970 merger, the Washington Redskins reached the Super Bowl five times. Their first trip saw them as the last piece of the Miami Dolphins' perfect season in 1972, but they would win Super Bowls XVII, XXII, and XXVI, with their only other loss being the blowout at the hands of the Los Angeles Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII. However, there was one thing looming over the franchise's head: justifiable outrage against their name.

I've been well aware of the protests since my childhood, basically 30 years! Though the protests had to be longer than that. "Redskins" is a racial slur; it was then and it is now, yet the team insistently played under that name in response to the the protests. The resistance to the protests became worse when Daniel Snyder became the team's owner in 1999, and I still remember the two most egregious defenses of the name in the last two decades. Current NFL commissioner Roger Goodell actually referred to "Redskins" as, and I'm not making this up, "a term of endearment." Really?! As for Snyder, he was all in on his refusal to change the name, even going as far to say "Put it in all caps," in defense of his defiance.

By the latter half of the 2010s, the outrage against the name reached a point where NFL fans (myself included) refused to say it, and even a vast number of talking heads simply referred to them as "Washington." In 2020, the racially-charged murder of George Floyd led to massive protests and an increase of awareness of racism and racial issues. This included an increase to the already immense outrage against the team name, with "Redskins" finally being gone after the team played under that name for 87 seasons. Though, let's clarify something; the name wasn't eliminated out of altruism. It took the loss of several sponsors for Snyder to get rid of the name.

The team played simply as the Washington Football Team in 2020 and 2021, but they were in the process of getting an official team name, leading to the current name: Commanders. Regarding my thoughts, I like the name; it's strong, it fits the sport, and more importantly, it's not controversial. I myself used to call them the Washington Senators (at times) as an alternate, mainly because I'm a big sports enthusiast, and there were two Washington Senators franchises in baseball. I also like how the "W" looks; it's absolutely amazing!

Despite the long outrage, the Washington Commanders were the second team to change their controversial name. Before the end of the 2021 MLB season, Cleveland announced that they would eliminate "Indians" and be known as the "Guardians" beginning with the 2022 season. And yes, you still have some who are against the change and think that they should have kept "Redskins"; I once read delusional comments stating that the team's bad 2021 season was due to them "giving in to wokeness." Yeah, because the team being terrible (especially on defense) had nothing to do with it, it's solely because they got rid of their historically racist name. Yikes. As I said before, I do love the Commanders name, and I am looking forward to hearing that name in the 2022 season and beyond.

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Check out my story about the renamed Cleveland Guardians!