Dan Snyder’s Latest Ludicrous Play

jamin | December 23, 2013 | 0 Comments

While driving into work today on this day before Christmas Eve (because: productivity), I heard about Dan Snyder’s latest attempt to garner support for his adamant refusal to change the name of the Washington Redskins to something that won’t offend Native Americans. Essentially, he owns the Washington Niggers, if we had the Harlem Globetrotters based in Washington, DC, instead of Harlem, NY, and were talking basketball.

So, Dan Snyder secretly met with Native American groups to participate in some meetings and see how they are living. While this seems like a stunt to see how he can help the communities, it’s really nothing more than a PR stunt aimed at getting 5-20 Native Americans to work at FedEx Field selling popcorn while Dan makes a couple of donations to the Native American groups so they can turn around and say that the team name isn’t so bad.

Dan Snyder is shady, y’all.

What Snyder is refusing to do after all of this is change the name of the team. He hasn’t said why aside from that’s how the team was always known in Washington. That’s not good enough, Snyder. Native American groups (just about all of them, actually) said that the name is offensive and is akin to calling it the Washington Niggers, the Washington Wetbacks, Washington Chinks, or the Washington Kikes. We wouldn’t allow that, so I don’t know why it’s a problem to change the name when a large majority of the offended group is telling you that it’s offensive.

Look, Dan, I know you’re a billionaire, but it would be nice if you wouldn’t act like the stereotypical out-of-touch oligarch that you’re sadly proving to be. You’re not even 50 yet, so this rigidity doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not like we can wait for you to die because you’re, like, 85 or something. We still have a long time with your closed-minded ownership of the team.

Yesterday, the Washington Redskins played the Dallas Cowboys and were winning until there was about 1:38 seconds left in the 4th quarter. The the Cowboys got a touchdown and a successful field goal to win the game 24-23. Aside from Shanahan’s abysmal coaching this year and Robert Griffin III needing to rest this season to heal properly, maybe the team could have knocked off Dallas from the playoffs if the owner had done right by a minority group. Maybe.

“‘Til you do right by me, everything you think about is gonna crumble.”

What do you think? Should the team change the name if all groups representing Native Americans are saying it’s an offensive name? Why is Dan Snyder being intentionally obtuse about this? Is he a heartless billionaire like the Walton family (the owners of Wal-Mart)? Will the Redskins ever prosper? It’s been over 20 years since they’ve done anything worthwhile.