Are you ready for some football?

Speaking of fall,are you ready for some football?I sure am. Cornhuskers on Saturday.Packers on Sunday.

But there is an ongoing outrage in the NFL,and it's time it was resolved once and for all.It involves the team in Washington D.C.that I refuse to call by the name that owner Dan Snyder insists on using despite pressure to mend his ways.It's time the NFL either brings Snyder into line,or relives him of his franchise and manages it on his behalf. Neither tradition nor just plain stubbornness on the owner's,or fan's part is sufficient reason to continue with this racist name.

Washington is perhaps not the only team that should change it's team name.There are teams out there called The Black Hawks,The Seminoles,The Ragin' Cajuns,The Mohawks,The Utes,The Aztecs,The Fighting Irish and The Chippawas,among others.A few years back I was living in Calgary, Alberta.Western High School changed their long standing name,The Redmen,in favor of doing the right thing.I commended them then and I continue to hold them up as an example today.It's a shame one of the more storied franchises has to be beaten to the punch by a high school team in Western Canada,but,when you have a neanderthal for an owner...It's time to lay down the ego.

Most of the comments I've heard on this long running issue tend to focus on team names like The Braves,The Chiefs,or,of course The...oops,I said I wouldn't honor that name with a mention,so I won't.I have never heard much complaint about the Seminoles,for instance.That may be that I'm not a local of Florida and am not really up on the issue,or it may be that there is nothing as offensive about using that name as opposed to the one used in Washington,which is clearly a racial slur,and,as a word,has never existed to any other purpose.So,I wonder,would it be acceptable if Washington were to name their team after a particular tribe of the region,who could be portrayed in an honorable and historically significant way? That does seem slightly exploitative to my thinking,but perhaps it would be acceptable if some means of improving the lot of that particular tribe could be tied to team revenues.

All of that aside,however,the R word needs to go.In fact,notwithstanding the great wrong done to Americans of African decent,it's a worse word that the more famously offensive N word.Don't misquote me here,I'm not suggesting you should use the N word.Certainly were it up to me I would gladly cause it to cease to exist.I do note however,that the N word has,at different points in history,and in different contexts existed with a less offensive meaning than it currently does.For instance,some Africans have undertaken efforts to take ownership of,and re-define the use of that particular word. Nothing of a similar nature can be said of Mr.Snyder's R word-it is and always has been derogatory,a means of inciting fear and hatred,and has never in the history of it's usage been anything other that racist.Except,it is argued by some in the context of it's usage as the team name in Washington.But,if you could not,and should not name a team,The N-----S,you likewise cannot rightly continue to use any other purely racist name.

There really is no such thing as practicing racism,or indeed any other form of discrimination solely against one race.Discrimination can really only be an affront to all of humanity.It is just simply discrimination,always wrong,always requiring correction.In fact,it dehumanizes it's practitioners as well as those against whom it is being undertaken.

Every year I take a good look at every NFL team,as many true fans do.In the past I've looked at the team in Washington and thought they really should do better than they usually seem to.Having once been involved in coaching football,in a rather minor capacity,I often suspect a problem of organizational culture when a team continues to under perform year after year despite having decent talent.And I wonder if that is not what has been happening in Washington.The attitude starts at the top,or,at least accountability for the attitude should.It rolls downhill like you know full well what else does until everyone from the coaches,to the star players to the maintenance staff really don't want to be there,and consequently don't put in the effort anymore. Nobody usually says much when this is happening,but it can become the malignant reality just the same.

A few days ago,Colin Kaepernick decided to protest by sitting down during the playing of the National Anthem.I wonder if the ongoing atrocity in Washington figures in even some small way to the stand he took.And to be clear,I would not have pursued similar action to Kaepernick.However I continue to commend him for taking an unpopular stand.But it's time some others did likewise.So,if Dan Snyder is determined to be the next Marg Schotz,the NFL needs to step up and follow MLB's lead in that respect.Somebody stand up and right this wrong,because it continues to cheapen a game that many of us hold dear

                                                              blyndpapaya.