Washington Redskins. The mere mention of the team name either takes you to RG3 OR the most recent controversy over the team name. For this post, I’m going to talk about the latter.

The Washington Redskins, according to the owner, was originally named with the intention of honoring Native American tribes. However, a lot of heat has developed in recent years, and most recently, the U.S. Trademark Office said they will not back the team’s name and struck down their trademark paperwork.

Now, I know what you’re wondering: Why does the Redskins take all the blame, and yet teams like the Seminoles don’t?

I’ll give you a reason why: The message the NFL sends resonates beyond the NFL.

There is a big reason why people who are trying to strike down team names like the Redskins start with them: If they can make the Redskins name topple, the next thing to go is college and high school team names, next thing you know, all teams are named the Tigers.

Here’s why I believe the Redskins name needs to go: While I understand the Redskins have been around awhile, history tells us that we as a country have treated Native Americans poorly. When an NFL team is named the Redskins, it basically is encouraging the discrimination against Native Americans, which means the owner is basically doing the opposite of what he intended. It is this ambiguity that means the team name should be changed.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Wouldn’t that be costly?” Well, a high school did that experiment for us: On suggestions from students, they changed the team name. Initially, the cost was high. Administration wanted to switch back to the original suggestion. But then, sales skyrocketed for games and the like, more than enough to make up the earlier cost and they stuck with the name. So, yeah, initially, costs are high, but eventually, it would do a lot of good.

What the owner fails to see is the long run. He’s too focused on the short run costs, and not enough on the long run profit. Perhaps he should take a course on Economics.

Hmmm…maybe I ought to extend this topic discussion for next time…well, I got more sources to gather. Catch you all next week.