When I heard about that I was wondering if Simm's could be in jepardy of losing his job because of stipulations in his contract? I have no idea what would be in his contract or how it would be worded. However, one would think that the NFL would have stipulations regarding a boycot or refusal to say team names or locations, for whatever reason, in a contract with a play by play or on air commentator. Especially when the Network is owned and operated by the NFL.
It's obvious that the NFL is not going to remove the team name at this time. So one would think that they would try to neutralize a situation where a tv commentator employed by the league is bringing extra scrunity to the situation.
Definitely a valid point, but the NFL has had to deal with Redskins boycots already:
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Mike Carey, a recently hired rules analyst for CBS Sports, spent 19 seasons as an NFL referee but did not officiate a Redskins game for nearly all of the last eight years of his career.
That was by request — because he disapproves of their name.
Very different, as Simm's is a public figure making a public stand, and Carey's stance could only be found out by public putting 2 and 2 together. However, the NFL seems to have an understanding and acceptance that people in their league do not like and do not approve of the name. I think Simm's will be very safe. As after the Redskins name is changed it will look VERY bad in the history books when they fired a guy for standing up to racism.
"While we wait for the National Football League to catch up with thoughtful opinion and common decency, we have decided that, except when it is essential for clarity or effect, we will no longer use the slur ourselves. That's the standard we apply to all offensive vocabulary, and the team name unquestionably offends not only many Native Americans but many other Americans, too."
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One of the Washington columnists went to one of the reserves and was stunned by the poor conditions and made a point that here's these people living in deplorable conditions and nobody cares but when a small group of them take offense to a team name it's national news because the real issues like natives living in slums doesn't sell newspapers or make for good news stories. He's right.
Even a Canadian hockey forum has now been talking about racism and the Native Americans on and off for 1,5 years now.
I think it's rather obvious that talking about the Redskins is working as intended.
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Very different, as Simm's is a public figure making a public stand, and Carey's stance could only be found out by public putting 2 and 2 together. However, the NFL seems to have an understanding and acceptance that people in their league do not like and do not approve of the name. I think Simm's will be very safe. As after the Redskins name is changed it will look VERY bad in the history books when they fired a guy for standing up to racism.
Interesting. I was just comparinig it to the company I work for. All employees must sign an agreement that we will never talk negatively about any of the products or brands we sell.
Interesting. I was just comparinig it to the company I work for. All employees must sign an agreement that we will never talk negatively about any of the products or brands we sell.
Most companies will, but the NFL has to be aware that the camp against the 'Redskins' name has a valid argument. The argument against it seems to largely hinge on the history of the name and not that "it isn't racist". As such, any punishment the NFL would try and hand out would be a gigantic PR disaster.
Within your company, my hope would be that they would support you if you no longer wanted to personally handle their work if they made a racist comment you were offended by.
“When the Politically Correct Police bust Ditka, they hope the silent majority will cower under leftist control,” Palin posted to Facebook. “My goodness, Ditka merely spoke his mind.
“He thinks the name should always be Washington Redskins, as a source of pride? Take the word ‘Washington’ out and I’ll agree the team name is a great source of pride.”
I have no idea how anyone can argue with the intellectual heft of Sarah Palin. Game set match on this one. Get rid of Washington and call them the Real Merica Redskins.
Palin is actually a pretty good representation of the average american republican as scary as that is. She might seem like a walking parody but she's really the perfect poster child.
Even a Canadian hockey forum has now been talking about racism and the Native Americans on and off for 1,5 years now.
I think it's rather obvious that talking about the Redskins is working as intended.
I guess it all depends on how you want to spin it. I'd say that it is rather obvious that the point of the article is that talking about the Redskins isn't working.
Dan Snyder has said plans for a new stadium for the Washington football team have begun. DJ Gallo responds:
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They remember how quiet it got when the team had the ball, and then how deafening it was when they scored. The ground beneath them seemed to move and shake, and they reached up to grab their father’s hand. The smiles of their faces … there in FedEx Field, are still with them every day.
That tradition at FedEx Field mattered so much to them as a child, and I know it matters to every other fan in the D.C. area and across the nation.
Your stadium isn’t just where the team plays – it’s who they are.
As you may know, the stadium began 17 years ago — in 1997 – with the name Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. Two years later, the stadium name was changed to FedEx Field. That inaugural FedEx Field team won the division and made the playoffs. It was, and continues to be, a badge of honor.
I guess it all depends on how you want to spin it. I'd say that it is rather obvious that the point of the article is that talking about the Redskins isn't working.
Agreed, and for the record I think it's a fair observation. However, I think it's also a misunderstanding of the real goal of talking about the name of the Redskins. Being "sensitive"is not the goal in itself. I also think it's a fair strategy. After all, without attention it's almost impossible to change anything.
Politics 101 really. People might hate it, but attention-"whoring" works.
Nearly three-fourths of Americans favor letting the Washington Redskins keep their nickname, but the percentage who think it should be changed has tripled in the past two decades, according to a poll conducted by Langer Research for "Outside the Lines."
Nearly a quarter (23 percent) of Americans surveyed now think the name should be changed, up from 8 percent in 1992 and up 9 percentage points in the past year alone.
The poll of 1,019 Americans, conducted on landline and cellular telephones between Aug. 20 and Aug. 24, found that 71 percent favor keeping the nickname -- but that's down from 89 percent when the question was first asked 22 years ago. It also found that 68 percent of people responding believe the nickname is not disrespectful of Native Americans, compared to just 9 percent who say it is "a lot" disrespectful (19 percent said it showed "some" disrespect).
A total of 54 percent of respondents think the name is unlikely to be changed, compared to 42 percent who think it will (the rest had no opinion).
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A non-scientific survey by ESPN's NFL Nation revealed that 58 percent (167) of 286 players questioned say the Redskins should not change their name, but 42 percent (119) said they should. Of 51 Redskins players polled, 26 said the team should keep the name, one said it should be changed, and 24 didn't want to answer.
The polling conducted for "Outside the Lines" showed no difference in attitude between men and women, or whites and non-whites.
Politically, however, 89 percent of Republicans and 88 percent of conservatives say the team should keep its name, compared to just 58 percent for Democrats and 53 percent for people who consider themselves liberal, according to the poll. In terms of political leanings, 83 percent of Republicans see no disrespect in the Redskins name. That drops to 68 percent of independents and 57 percent of Democrats.
"Back in 1992, when about nine in 10 Americans opposed changing the team's name, opinion was basically uniform across groups," according to Langer Research. "The increase since then in support for a change has occurred chiefly among Democrats, younger adults, those living in the Northeast and West, and people with higher incomes and more education."
According to CNN, sales of Redskins items plunged 35 percent in the most recent quarter despite a 3 percent rise overall in sales of NFL merchandise, from statistics gathered by SportsSourceOne, a service that tracks licensed merchandise sales across the country.
The team basically says it is because they suck. But if declining merchandise sales becomes a trend even if the team improves, that will have a material impact on the naming controversy.
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The team basically says it is because they suck. But if declining merchandise sales becomes a trend even if the team improves, that will have a material impact on the naming controversy.
Its because they suck. And also because last year everyone was buying RG3 stuff and he's lost a lot of his luster. I'd bet if you went back pre-RG3 it would be up.
If they win it will go back up.
The Ravens dropped further than they did... for the exact same reason. They were good (won the Super Bowl) and then weren't nearly as good.
Last edited by PeteMoss; 09-05-2014 at 11:27 AM.
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I actually emailed an Inuit organization about the term "Eskimo" and if it should be avoided, and after a bit of a discussion, the respondent's opinion was that while it isn't a hateful word, it should be avoided in most situations.
Basically, he said that the word is equal to the word "Indian" when talking about First Nations people. It's not a word from the Inuit language, it was applied by colonialists and it doesn't describe their culture or who they are. He did acknowledge that "Eskimo" does not carry all the negative stereotypes that the word "Indian" has been burdened with.
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