If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Whether Dan Snyder likes it or not, his team's name is a living reminder of this barbaric, genocidal practice.
Native American groups continue their losing streak in the courtroom as well as in the court of public opinion, likely due to the fact that such behavior has been part of the American sports fabric for so many years that we have fallen ignorant to its harmful effects.
This isn't even a borderline case, guys. Given our long history of mistreatment of Native Americans naming a team with any reference to that culture is a ballsy proposition. But to not only do that, but to make the name a straight-up derogatory slur, is just completely absurd.
Writer Sherman Alexie, who was born on a Native American reservation, talks with me about feeling "lost and insignificant inside the larger culture," and how his culture's "lack of power" is very apparent in stereotypical sports mascots, like that of the Cleveland Indians.
Fellow Republicans: As you know, our party is in a wilderness right now so it is incumbent upon us to blast our way out of this jungle of doom with a veritable buckshot spray of repackaged ideas.
Judges in Washington are mulling over the complaints that the Redskin trademark is offensive to Native Americans. And if it is indeed offensive it should be removed. Once Washington selects a new name, we might have to investigate the New Orleans Saints. It has a religious ring to it.
If we can agree that I should not be called a "redskin" because that would be racist, then isn't it obvious that the Washington NFL team should not use the name? Eighty years' use of a racist term does not make a racist practice a legitimate tradition. It makes it 80 years overdue for a change.
Without question this town has a problem with racism. It's evident in how white the branches of the federal government remain, how geographically divided D.C. is along racial lines. Few of these inequities, however, can be as quickly corrected as the Washington Redskins' racist moniker.
RG3's injury is serious -- his recovery formidable and full of uncertainty. What will his teammates do to support him? What will coaches and management do to get better? How will the culture of the organization evolve? That's where we'll learn what this team is made of.
It goes without saying that it would be a genuine tragedy if a player of RGIII's caliber were lost to injury. After all, quarterbacks as extraordinarily versatile and dangerous as Griffin don't come along very often. Or do they?
As a sleep researcher who focuses on how sleep affects elite athlete, I have studied the effects of travel and disrupted sleep on athletes for many years. The combination of cross-country travel and athletic performance is not pretty. Travel and circadian timing matter.
RG3 wasn't taken out by a rabid, rushing Seattle defense. RG3 was taken out by a different kind of "D," one I see in my counseling practice all the time.
People value professional athletes based off of winning and their respect for the game that gets them paid. Robert Griffin III has shown his understanding of that, whereas Royce White has simply looked like an immature kid in a grown man's world.
Griffin's injury wasn't directly related to the controversy surrounding defenseless receivers and helmet-to-helmet hits, but it was connected to that topic. It was about the culture. Should he have played through the pain, or should he have stayed on the bench?
Wilson, a dark horse for Rookie of the Year, controlled the tempo with mostly sound decisions through the air and another 67 yards on the ground, showing that the read-option duo of him and Pro Bowl running back Marshawn Lynch is as good as advertised. Lynch, for the 11th time this season, topped the 100-yard mark, including a fantastic go-ahead 27-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter
The Redskins' offense has been a powerhouse at times this season, but the unit opens the playoffs against the defense perhaps best suited to stop it. And the Redskins' defense is at its worst when defending against the type of things the Seahawks are capable of doing best.
