Josh Harris Speaks... Commanders is permanent name.

[Riggo44]

All part of my "don't stick my head in the sand" approach to gathering information.

But then again, I am not interested in the crazy person on the street corner's opinion--you clearly have a wider net.

 

[formerly4skins]

you clearly have a wider net.

I suspected as much, but you never know.

 

[NickyJ]

I think it's easy to know. Is the team still in Washington, and does the team win more than it loses under his ownership? At present, the answer to both is yes. Until those answers change, there's nothing important say on the quality of his ownership.

How long must Harris treat the left behind Redskins fans with kid gloves and pretend that the NFL and it's official partners are going to reverse their monumental decisions about team branding from 5 years ago? Because that's what it would take to reverse it. And I don't see anyone in this thread making a push for a particular name to take its place, which makes it all the weirder of a decision to replace a name that has finally become associated with success and dumpster it in favor of "something".

I loved the Redwolves name dearly. On ES, I even had an avatar with a logo I really liked because it resembled the old Redskins logo. But it's over. The new name got chosen, nobody is proposing a certainty for a new one and the sideshow of selecting a new one is pointless controversy for a team that is already being embraced by fans again, and the Redskins aren't coming back. The NFL said it's history. Nike said it's history. The current sponsors of the team who would face the likely small but most definitely loud backlash of media producers calling for boycotts against their products would have a say. And then comes Harris. He could do all that, sure. And lose, but still fight the "good fight". Or he could spin his wheels in public while picking the second most popular name with the small handful of people who cast votes on anything. Oooorrrrrrr..... He can take his Commanders conference round appearance, call it his team, and be done with it.

I'm kind of lost on how that makes him a hypocrite, but okay. If hypocrites can own playoff teams, then I'm game.

 

[Mark The Homer]

... And I don't see anyone in this thread making a push for a particular name to take its place, which makes it all the weirder of a decision to replace a name that has finally become associated with success and dumpster it in favor of "something".

Apparently, there's at least a small group of native Americans who aren't happy about the new name, which is extremely ironic. Whether it could be a large group or a majority, I don't know. Whether they have a valid reason to be unhappy, I don't know. Whether it matters, I don't know. Whether the PC people will eventually get involved, I don't know.

 

[burgold]

Outside the purview of this thread, there is a small group unhappy about everything. It's tiresome.

 

[Chris]

No matter how one feels about the name-change, Harris did the fans a favor by addressing it at a time when there is nothing important happening Washington football wise to discuss. I know that there are many that are totally into prospective free agent and draft additions but Peters and staff obviously aren’t depending on fan’s opinions or scouring through social media & message boards for input or ideas.

 

[Boone]

Thank God he just finally answered the damned question. No matter how you feel about the outcome, it's a relief to know so we can all move forward.

 

[Chris]

Obviously. (PSA- I’m going to start putting that word into every sentence. Sometimes twice.) 😉

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

Apparently, there's at least a small group of native Americans who aren't happy about the new name, which is extremely ironic. Whether it could be a large group or a majority, I don't know. Whether they have a valid reason to be unhappy, I don't know. Whether it matters, I don't know. Whether the PC people will eventually get involved, I don't know.

I’ve seen this stuff online for a while now. Some Native American group finds it disrespectful
To change the name from Redskins. Not that the name Commanders in itself is disrespectful. I chalked it up to you “you can find anything on the internet”.

Nothing could be as disrespectful as Dan’s farce of a Native American foundation. A bogus foundation with large salaries, very little if any meaningful contributions to “the mission” dependent upon the year. That damn video where he cherry picked native Americans to support the name and pretend Dan was going to help their communities.

Just another on the long list of reasons why it’s Dan’s fault we lost the name.

 

[Little Piggy]

I am a very young fan and am 11 years old.

Even though my dad hates the name Commanders young kids like me love it.

Jayden Daniels is making the Commanders a winner and that all that matters!

 

[Chris]

I am a very young fan and am 11 years old.

Even though my dad hates the name Commanders young kids like me love it.

Jayden Daniels is making the Commanders a winner and that all that matters!

Your love for it will bring your Dad around. 😉

 

[Mark The Homer]

I am a very young fan and am 11 years old.

Even though my dad hates the name Commanders young kids like me love it.

Jayden Daniels is making the Commanders a winner and that all that matters!

This might be the most important post in the thread

 

[Spearfeather]

Even though my dad hates the name Commanders young kids like me love it.

Just curious, what makes you like the name so much ?

 

[hail2skins]

Outside the purview of this thread, there is a small group unhappy about everything. It's tiresome.

Unrelated to the Skinmanders, but does the whining about being "sick of the Chiefs" seem exponentially worse than "we're sick of the Pats" was? And the Brady run was two decades.

 

[Letthepointssoar]

Thank God he just finally answered the damned question. No matter how you feel about the outcome, it's a relief to know so we can all move forward.

And thank God the reporter actually badgered him enough to FORCE him to answer it. That's one of many gripes I still have - he had NO desire to answer it. This is an important enough issue to the fanbase that even if the intent was to keep this God awful name, it deserved an official statement or press conference.

At least have the balls to address the portions of the fanbase you know won't be pleased and express why you felt this was the best decision for the franchise moving forward. While I still wouldn't like it, I'd at least be able to respect it and try to move forward.

But he took the cowards way out and dodged the question for 18 months until one reporter finally hounded him enough to get clarity where they stand.

I get that they've made wonderful on field decisions, and I'm not denying that. But this was too important for the way they handled it. We deserved better.

 

[DieselPwr44]

Ehhh...the whole "We're gonna get back to our brand" statement is BS too. I mean how do they get back to their brand without the logo or name...or a name that gets them close(Warriors)?

Just a constant run around.

 

[burgold]

I don't really blame Harris. There's nothing positive he can get from answering it in the negative. Look at the overall tenor in this thread. Before Harris answered, everyone was excited about the team and 90% of the posts were positive. When we talked about the name, we mostly joked about it knowing it was unlikely or maybe it would happen five years from now with a new stadium. The reality is, if you look back at the thread, most of us really didn't believe a name change was coming, but we had fun daydreaming. So in forcing the answer, he made the hardcore, old school fans very unhappy and probably presented a nothing burger to the new fans and bandwagon fans. For the more casual fans, I doubt Harris saying what we knew basically changed much.

And the reality is, we did know. Oh, we parced words to create hope, but it was never likely. It certainly was never likely coming off a 12 win season and our first trip to the Championship Game. That's not when you upend everything. That's when you build.

 

[Boone]

Honestly burgold, that’s fine. But not everyone feels as you do. We didn’t ’parse words’… that’s revisionism. Harris’ primary response to the name change questions all along has been ‘that’s not a priority but we are looking at everything. Everything is on the table’. He never once shut down or closed the door on the possibility. And knowing how big a deal the issue was for the fanbase, not shutting it down was a big deal.

It wasn’t handled well. If it had been, there wouldnt be the uproar here and elsewhere.

 

[burgold]

Honestly burgold, that’s fine. But not everyone feels as you do. We didn’t ’parse words’… that’s revisionism. Harris’ primary response to the name change questions all along has been ‘that’s not a priority but we are looking at everything. Everything is on the table’. He never once shut down or closed the door on the possibility. And knowing how big a deal the issue was for the fanbase, not shutting it down was a big deal.

It wasn’t handled well. If it had been, there would t be the uproar here and elsewhere.

To me, even "that’s not a priority but we are looking at everything. Everything is on the table." can be translated as "It ain't happening, but you never say never."

Maybe I was alone in hearing it that way, but that's how I heard it. Even when I had fun daydreaming about Werewolves I cautioned that against believing the name change was likely although I'll admit I did occassionally get swept up in the dream of it because at its best Commanders is meh.

 

[Boone]

We don’t have comprehensive polling to know definitively where the fanbase stood on name change and/or how they’ve interpreted Harris’ previous comments. But at least online it is clear there is a significant portion of fans who were not happy this week with his clumsily verbalized decision.

For folks who never cared much about the issue - I would say that’s great. Then this week is no big deal for you. But for those it was a big deal to, they deserve the opportunity to reflect on the news and express their disappointment without being marginalized as unrealistic, delusional, or over-emotional.

That’s not directed at you - I’m just saying to folks, if you don’t care, good for you, move on. But get off the backs of fellow fans that are upset by it.