What A Fool Believes

"What’s all the stink over the Redskin name?” Ditka said. “It’s so much [expletive] it’s incredible. We’re going to let the liberals of the world run this world. It was said out of reverence, out of pride to the American Indian. Even though it was called a Redskin, what are you going to call them, a Proudskin? This is so stupid it’s appalling, and I hope that owner keeps fighting for it and never changes it, because the Redskins are part of an American football history, and it should never be anything but the Washington Redskins. That’s the way it is. "  -- former NFL player and coach and current ESPN analyst "Iron Head" Mike Ditka, in an interview with RedskinsHistorian.com's Mike Richman.  Ditka once said not running as a Republican (what else?) against Barack Obama when Obama ran for the Senate was the "biggest mistake" he ever made.  We recommend the forehead-challenged Ditka, who is intimately associated with the terms "stupid" and "appalling," go to the nearest gathering of Native Americans and greet them with, "Hi, Redskins!" to see how they take it. That might turn out to be the "biggest mistake" he ever made.

BONUS:  True to form, fellow nitwit and word salad chef Sarah "Winky" Palin chimes in =tinkle=tinkle=

(Photo: Iron Head Mike with fellow nitwit Sarah "Winky" Palin.)

Letters We Wish We'd Written Dept. - The "R" Word Edition

From yesterday's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, William Ade writes regarding a letter sent by the president and general manager of Washington's football team (i.e., Bruce Allen, brother of former Republican Sen. George "Macaca" Allen) to Sen. Harry Reid on May 23.  Reid and 49 other Democratic senators had previously written the NFL asking the league to endorse a team name change:

I wonder if Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and General Manager Bruce Allen and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell address Native Americans in person as “our honorable redskin friends.” When handing out tablet computers to Native American children, does Mr. Snyder tell them that being called a “redskin” is something they should be proud of, that having their heritage serve a sports brand worth millions to Mr. Snyder and his partners has “deep and purposeful meaning”?  

I don’t expect those gentlemen to admit the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of their arguments; there is just too much money involved. But for the rest of us, this argument that a group of wealthy, white sports executives are honest arbiters of how Native Americans should feel is a charade. 

William Ade, Burke

Mr. Ade is correct in saying Li'l Danny Snyder, his butt-boy Bruce Allen, and Commissioner Goodfella Goodell would never admit the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of their arguments. Frankly, it's long been obvious that the only color that gets their attention is green.  If Li'l Danny could profitably own and market a team named the Washington Shitsacks, he would vow to never change that name either.

Today, Native American, civil rights and religious leaders are sending a letter to every NFL player asking them to add their voices to the campaign to get the team's name changed.  Maybe shaming will lead to shunning, and shunning will lead to the change needed.

(Image:  Li'l Danny Snyder, ethically but not financially bankrupt.)

Onion Headline of the Week

This is mostly for Washington Redskins fans (we're not really, ever since Li'l Danny Snyder took over), from The Onion about the past and future Redskins quarterbacks:

Rex Grossman Happy To Take An Afternoon To Teach Robert Griffin III Everything He Knows

This headline also has potential application in politics. For example:

Willard Romney Happy To Take A Minute To Teach President Obama Everything He Knows About Job Creation

Asshat of the Month

Why it's Redskins owner Li'l Danny Snyder! Never a favorite of ours, the amoral little shit is now trying to get a reporter fired for writing an unflattering profile about him (BTW, is there any kind of profile one could write about Li'l Danny that could be anything but unflattering?).

One more reason we proudly say, Go Packers!

UPDATE: Dave Zirin has a great piece on Li'l Danny here.

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Some may have thought with the departure of Jim Zorn and Vinnie "The Ninny" Cerrato, and the hiring of Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen that Redskins genius owner Li'l Danny Snyder was finally willing to admit the Redskins were in a long-term rebuilding mode -- which would have demonstrated heretofore unseen maturity and impulse-control on Li'l Danny's part. And they would be WRONG!

As Mike Wise ably notes in today's Kaplan Daily:

"Daniel Snyder can bring in a new regime. The owner can say he's ceding authority in football decisions to Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen like never before. But the delusion ultimately continues. They still are in the business of selling hope more than harsh truth, hyperbole more than reality."

The acquisition of 33 year old Donovan McNabb occasions this melancholy assessment. And it's not just the fact of the acquisition, for me. It's also the shabby way Jason Campbell has been treated (again!) by Redskins management - not being told about the deal and finding out about it from a local reporter! Stay classy, 'Skins!

Wise's best point boils down to this: in parsing why McNabb was allowed by the Eagles to go to a rival division team for a paltry second round choice, think about who, over the past decade, has made better personnel decisions -- the Eagles or Redskins?