They Command No Respect

 

As anticipated, the NFL's Washington Football Team unveiled their new mascot and logo on February 2. After 18 months of contemplation, a year and a half of brainstorming and vetting ideas, the big brains within the Washington Football Club committed to....

The Commanders

At this point, everyone on Twitter has made the same jokes. But I'm going to put them here too, because they're funny, and this mascot is lame. For starters, team names often have shortened nicknames. The Patriots are known as the Pats, the Packers are called the Pack, the Cavaliers are known as the Cavs, etc, etc. The Commanders...  wearing maroon... The Commies is just too easy!

Also, a name like Commanders is going to invoke allusions to other things....  like commanding organizational skills....

I guess it is an Organized Sport...

Even better than a cheap hook joke, most Gen Xers, and elder Millennials will more than likely make the GI Joe comparison...

Anyway...  I obviously think this choice is a joke. But apparently, I'm not alone. The Washington Post conducted a survey between February 2 and the 14th. As you can see below, fans who like or love the new name account for only 41%. Negative Opinions add up to 49%, and if you include "no opinion" as being apathetic and therefore also negative, that equals 60% of all polled. In addition, it appears most fans would have preferred remaining the Washington Football Team, which was the placeholder name until they came up with a new one. 

Interest level	Percentage points
Love	5%
Like	36%
Dislike	32%
Hate	17%
No Opinion	11%

Team name	Percentage points
Washington Football Team	43%
Commanders	26%
Redskins	22%
Other	5%
No opinion	5%

It seems this franchise can't get a break. But then again, all these investigations into office conduct doesn't really make me sympathetic. In addition to lukewarm response to their new name, the team has also been called out for their new logo (shown above). Apparently they trademarked the dates for the Superbowls, not the championship season. This sounds like semantics (and it is) but the Superbowl played in Febuary of 1983 was for a season mostly played in 1982. This article explains the issue, and its pretty funny, because its such a stupid problem to have. 

At least they are no longer clinging to their old mascot and nickname. And I think most of us can agree on that. And perhaps all these issues they're having now is just karma earned from decades of propping up a racist slur.