Hail (and Farewell) to the Redskins

Were the Washington Redskins right to ditch their longstanding team name in favor of an as-yet-to-be-revealed substitute? While the Redskins name has been discussed for the better part of a decade, the debate is part of the broader question of the current madness for tearing down history of all kinds. Is the wiser approach to resist the woke mob at all points (the Texas Rangers are already in the mob’s sights, on logic opposite to the objection to Redskins), or is it to seek more reasoned distinctions? Whichever approach you prefer, let me offer some perspective and my own proposed replacement.

There really is a lot of football history at stake. The Redskins acquired their team name in 1933. That was their second year of operation, in Boston. They moved to Washington in 1937. Pro football began with the American Professional Football Association in 1920, a child of the First World War; this is its centennial. Its successor, the NFL, was founded in 1922. Just five other NFL franchises date as far back as 1932: