The Josh Harris/HOG Thread

From one perspective it is crazy just how money Harris has laid out in just a few years. I mean there was the extraordinary price for the team itself, but then tens of millions on stadium repair, tens or hundreds more on players, and now he's investing 2.7B more towards a new stadium.

And while Harris is a billionaire, he is nowhere near this level of billionaire.
 
I keep coming back to the initial roll out.

Am i a huge fan of commanders? No. But i've gotten to the point now that i'm not embarrassed to say I root for the team. For the first 2 years, when someone asked who I rooted for, the answer was "Washington." I'm not saying I'm walking the streets screaming "I'm a Commander!" But it doesn't sour my mouth anymore.

Had the roll out been less cringy, I wonder how fans would feel. If they had held an event where there's smoke coming out of the tunnel while the inflated helmet is covered by a tarp, the band in the stands, fans in the stands of the stadium. A video montage starts to play on the jumbotron. Out walks Joe GIbbs and other Redskins greats. The focus then goes back to the tunnel and out walks Tress Way wearing the entire White version of the uniform. Next walks out Jon Allen wearing the Burgundy Version... Followed by Terry McLaurin wearing the alternate version. Then starts another video montage with highlights and plays of players currently (in 2022) on the team, narrated by the players themselves, escalating up to the final scene where all 4 or 5 of them say at the same time "We Are..... THE COMMANDERS"

The way it rolled out was shockingly bad and I think it's had an underlying effect on how people receive the name.... Unfortunately the whole process was managed and put together by people who clearly had no actual investment in THIS team. It was a job. The current ownership / front office / team clearly have an investment HERE and for them it's a calling..



This particular group is creating something regarding what it is to be a "Commander." They've made the decision to remain The Commanders. In 10 years from now, if the success of the team (and ownership group) continues, looking back these last three years around the name will become something we talk about saying 'do you remember.'
 
The opinions of us crusty old farts don't matter. The current generation of 8 year olds having their fandom formed around the current name and jd5 playing in the nfccg, just like mine was formed around redskins and art/Darrell/joe/diesel in 1983 is the future.
 
I can’t speak for anyone else, but it had nothing to do with the rollout for me. Don’t care about that. No amount of bells and whistles involved in the rollout would have made any difference to me. The problem was that the name was selected by Snyder, and that he picked a name that literally not a single fan was asking for. The implication was that we would get the most popular name and instead we got the least popular choice, handpicked and foisted on us by the despicable tyrant that thankfully no longer owns the team.

Sure eight year old kids will grow up only knowing us as commanders. I agree in a couple of decades it’ll just be a footnote like many other former sports team names. And that’s part of why they’re sticking with it. But you can say that about any new name. It has nothing to do with how bad the choice was and that Harris could have fixed it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to kill Harris for this, and it doesn’t change my opinion of him being a great owner. He was the guy I wanted from the beginning, even when others were screaming for Bezos. And he’s lived up to everything I hoped he would be. But no one’s perfect, and I’m not going to pretend to like how he handled the name situation.
 
pwyl said:
The opinions of us crusty old farts don't matter. The current generation of 8 year olds having their fandom formed around the current name and jd5 playing in the nfccg, just like mine was formed around redskins and art/Darrell/joe/diesel in 1983 is the future.
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Yep. My kids will never forget this season and clamored for Commanders jerseys. They have a few -with very little to cheer for-years of being "Redskins fans." Those years are already eclipsed by one season.
 
You know, one of the things that has become to resonate with me is their use of the phrase "The Commander Way." Harris, when responding to whether they would change the name, invoked that - he said they had established something this year. The name Commanders had a meaning in the locker room, it was embraced as emblematic of the culture they were establishing. Sure, Snyder owned the team as Commanders but that time was a blip compared to the barren wasteland of him trashing our beloved team in the previous many years.

So soon, Harris' tenure will dwarf that blip. Right now - I do see them establishing identity and culture. I have to say, I like that, and I do see what Harris is talking about. I don't think he was just selling nonsense; I do see what he was saying in practice.
 
Voice_of_Reason said:
I don’t blame Fred Smith at all.

I blame Snyder entirely.

It reminds me a little bit of the scene in Star Wars A New Hope where the Admiral is telling Darth Vader, and being rather aggressive and snarky, the Force is an ancient religion and not important.

Is it really wise to pick a fight with a 7 foot tall masked space wizard who can kill you with his brain.

Snyder picking a fight with the FedEx founder and CEO was so unimaginably stupid.

And Fred Smith force choked him.
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Smith could have done much more damage with out destroying the name. He could have pulled the stadium name, he could have with the other minority owners gone to the League and given them the data to remove snyder. There was zero reason to go after the name
 
As has been said the name itself doesn't actually matter, over time anything will become legendary especially if the team has success.
Packers is the stupidest name ever but the franchise is legendary and historic so the name is cemented and nobody would dream of changing it. (And yes I know of green bays history but it would still sound incredibly stupid if it was suggested today)
If we win 3 to 5 out of the next 20 superbowls and are perennial contenders commanders will become a great name as would almost anything.
This is why they aren't changing the name because any new name will suck until it becomes part of our core identity and that takes time and winning and since that process has already begun there's no reason to start it over.

Ps, I still despise that snyder gets his legacy, that's by far and away my biggest problem with the name.
 
Snyder’s legacy is forever negatively cemented in a plethora of ways. I doubt that even he thinks that the name sanitizes any of the stink he earned. His only positive is that he can dry his tears with the dollar bills he acquired through nothing more than being in the right investment at the right time. Talk about failing upwards.
 
heisenberg said:
As has been said the name itself doesn't actually matter, over time anything will become legendary especially if the team has success.
Packers is the stupidest name ever but the franchise is legendary and historic so the name is cemented and nobody would dream of changing it. (And yes I know of green bays history but it would still sound incredibly stupid if it was suggested today)
If we win 3 to 5 out of the next 20 superbowls and are perennial contenders commanders will become a great name as would almost anything.
This is why they aren't changing the name because any new name will suck until it becomes part of our core identity and that takes time and winning and since that process has already begun there's no reason to start it over.

Ps, I still despise that snyder gets his legacy, that's by far and away my biggest problem with the name.
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Why so bearish on our SB wins? More like 8+ Over the next 15 years!! 😍
 
Chris said:
Snyder’s legacy is forever negatively cemented in a plethora of ways. I doubt that even he thinks that the name sanitizes any of the stink he earned. His only positive is that he can dry his tears with the dollar bills he acquired through nothing more than being in the right investment at the right time. Talk about failing upwards.
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Not reputation, you're right that's in the toilet permanently but he'll forever be the guy who named our football team.

Even a hundred years from now when we're all gone he'll still be the guy who gave us all the Commanders name.

Whenever someone says commanders forever and ever it'll be because of him.

George Preston Marshall's reputation was that of a vile racist but he had the legacy of being the one who gave us the redskins name, in fact it was a point brought up often by the people who wanted it changed.

Snyder will always have that legacy and be able to relish in it for the rest of his life when all he should be is a bad footnote in our history.

Let me put it another way, if they named the new stadium snyder field it wouldn't change the way we feel about him ever but he'd have a legacy at least until the stadium was torn down, that's kind of what he has with commanders except it's not his name personally just his choice of name.
 
Yeah, the name will technically be a part of his ‘legacy’ but it will be forever stained by that action and 100 others that he will be remembered for. Even his Redskins belt-buckle won’t save him and he probably puts ketchup on hot dogs.
 
Chris said:
Yeah, the name will technically be a part of his ‘legacy’ but it will be forever stained by that action and 100 others that he will be remembered for. Even his Redskins belt-buckle won’t save him and he probably puts ketchup on hot dogs.
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Yup, and that stain is one of the many reasons why I'd prefer a different name.
But as with all things as time passes it'll become less and less relevant to the point where it hardly matters at all I just wish it didn't matter now.
 
When I hear commander I think of Snyder dressed in a Napoleon outfit doing that salute with his hand in his shirt.

Snyder: we’re going to invade Russia

Vinny: but, sir, they are calling for below zero temps. The troops are going to freeze to death.

Snyder: I DONT CARE I SAID SEND THEM!! And don’t ever look me in the eye again or you’re fired.
 
Nah, Snyder was more like a Michael Dukakis playing soldier in a tank kind of Commander.

This guy is Napoleon.

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I thought of Snyder as more of this Napoleon

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