(New Poll) The Washington Commanders Brand 2.0: Beer Drinkers and Hail Raisers

[Maglite to the Face]

Yeah, that one really ticked me off...

What made it worse was that Wright tried to defend it instead of immediately admitting the error. I've heard McKinsey trains people to never admit to mistakes, so that's not surprising.

 

[Conn]

Feels like we’re now going from slyly side-eyeing political topics (which to be fair are hard to avoid in this discussion) to jumping straight into the politics puddle without waterproof shoes

 

[Riggo44]

not a big fan of totalitarianism, starvation, and genocide

Ok, but really, who is?

 

[Riggo44]

but, but, but.... the little squares on the numbers represent the original shape of DC... 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

It's actually the original shape of Arizona. Tanya bought knock off Cardinals uniforms to save time and money. TA-DAAAA!

 

[Commander PK]

Yeah, that one really ticked me off...

I try to be even keeled when it comes to most of this stuff, but that one really did piss me off. Especially when one of the championship years you were claiming was your biggest rival’s third Super Bowl win.

1983, 1988, and 1992 being on the original crest was unforgivable.

 

[Commander PK]

Feels like we’re now going from slyly side-eyeing political topics (which to be fair are hard to avoid in this discussion) to jumping straight into the politics puddle without waterproof shoes

Agreed, time to shut down Commies for being anything other than a mocking nickname for Commanders.

 

[Maglite to the Face]

I try to be even keeled when it comes to most of this stuff, but that one really did piss me off. Especially when one of the championship years you were claiming was your biggest rival’s third Super Bowl win.

1983, 1988, and 1992 being on the original crest was unforgivable.

It almost made me wonder if Wright had ever even watched football in his life...

 

[Commander PK]

It almost made me wonder if Wright had ever even watched football in his life...

At one time he was a player, but this was a basic housekeeping rule that should’ve been caught by someone other than him.

The excuse they made at the time was that was how the championships are recorded in some kind of official NFL record, but the lion’s share of any championship gear the NFL produces is from the seasons where a team wins not the year the Super Bowl game was actually played in.

Everybody knows the 1991 Redskins were the greatest team ever not the 1992.

 

[AngryChuckT]

I don’t like the current name but I like it more than I do the wife’s uniform abominations.

The name has been a proverbial turd in the punch bowl, but those uniforms especially the white abominations are unforgivable. They are so bad I feel like it was a troll job on the fans. My hatred of them run so deep my blood pressure rises every time I think of them no matter how many years pass.

 

[Commander PK]

My hatred of them run so deep my blood pressure rises every time I think of them no matter how many years pass.

Well, it appears we don’t have to wait too much longer for that to be set right my friend.

I really REALLY hope the uniforms they reveal on April 15 are universally praised. Kind of like the way the stadium renderings have been praised, so 90% or higher approval strictly of the new uniforms. If they manage to achieve that I will be ecstatic.

You don’t have to like the name of the team for the uniforms to be great.

 

[Commander PK]

And that day, I will create a new poll for this thread that gives everybody a chance to weigh in on the new.

 

[Maglite to the Face]

The name has been a proverbial turd in the punch bowl, but those uniforms especially the white abominations are unforgivable. They are so bad I feel like it was a troll job on the fans. My hatred of them run so deep my blood pressure rises every time I think of them no matter how many years pass.

I've wondered the same thing, about everything being a troll job. It's hard to believe people can be so incompetent, which is why the trolling seems to make more sense.

 

[Single-Bar Facemask]

You don’t have to like the name of the team for the uniforms to be great.

Fair point.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

This isn’t crazy surprising only bc lots of people immediately labeled Wright with his scummy McKinsey background as being a league plant, meant to move things in the right direction with Snyder in regards to a future sale, while keeping a close eye on him. It’s why a lot of us at the time said him being bad at the other aspects of his job wasn’t really the point, if that theory was true.

So if that extends to a really boring, non-controversial but clearly not focus-grouped from Washington fans name like Commanders, it wouldn’t be that shocking I guess.

Well, one thing we agree on, McKinsey is a viper pit.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I also hate Commies for related reasons—not a big fan of totalitarianism, starvation, and genocide. So it’s not just your own issue. At this point the “commies” thing is probably my biggest gripe with the new name.

As for how to shorten Commanders, I hear people say ‘manders, which I like better.

I have heard that, I can't quite get into it. I do like the Commmander-Lorian.

I (very sarcastically) use 'ders.

I don't use Commies. But not for any particular reason.

I generally just say Commanders or Washington.

I might be on an island, but the name doesn't really bother me. I don't like it. But there isn't anything they could have chosen which I did like. I didn't like WFT. I REALLY didn't like Red Wolves. (I know, I'm in the minority there.) I didn't like Warriors because there is already a professional sports team with Warriors. I didn't want anything government related like Presidents or Senators (granted, bringing back the baseball name would have had some nostalgia). Ironically, I liked Defenders, but there is already team named the defenders. I didn't want anything specific to a branch of the military (General, Admiral, Commander (it's a rank!), Captain, Sargent, etc.) I didn't like Monuments, or Armada, or anything else I heard. I was pretty much resigned they were going to choose something I didn't like (and they did.)

I kindof wish they would have found out how to do something related to George Washington as a play on the city name. But nothing really fit. Minute Men is just a mouthful. Colonials has 4 syllables. The Washington George's? chuckle.

So, since there wasn't going to be anything I liked, and the name was going to change, I guess I just accepted whatever it was I wasn't going to like and I just moved on. Others can't do that, maybe because they had a name they liked (Red Wolves or Warriors for most). But since I didn't like either of those names either, I was kindof ambivalent.

Where they completely screwed up was the rollout of the name. It was so unplanned, budget, low energy and poorly planned, it was an unmitigated disaster. I think the rollout was SO bad and the uniforms were SO bad that there was no chance of successful adoption.

The best they could have hoped for was a neutral reaction to whatever name they chose. The way they could have achieved that was with some really good merch, good logo, good uniforms, and a really well done launch. They butchered all of it. Including somehow getting the years wrong on the damn crest. How do you do that? skinsinparadise knows that I'm not a huge fan (anymore) of Sheehan, but he had Jason Wright on when Wright was defending the years, and Sheehan asked him, "go ask your head coach what Superbowl Team he played on. He's going to say the '85 Bears. AH HA!" And that was brilliant. Wright was blathering on about "how they record it in the annals of history" (I'll never forget that phrasing, he used it several times) and Sheehan didn't let him get away with it. THAT was good radio.

As for the uniforms, everybody hated something about them. I personally like the black uniforms, though not the helmets, and despise the ketchup and mustard uniforms and the white tops with "burgundy" pants are the wrong colors and look like a bad HS ripoff uniform. And I might be one of the folks who hates the least about them.

Literally everything they did with the rollout was wrong.

Whether Snyder picked the name or not, I don't know and don't care. It was Jason Wrights ONLY JOB to get the rollout right, and he failed spectacularly. He was an incompetent nincompoop.

 

[Maglite to the Face]

They won't ever change to anything that makes people think of the colonial days or George Washington because not everyone who lived in that era was treated equally. I don't really think teams should be named after people since people are flawed and there's always going to be a significant number of people who object.

Hmmm...maybe Commanders really is the best name after all.

Personally I like Redwolves and they could tweak their old logo to boot...but it doesn't sound like Harris wants to change the name so we're stuck.

 

[Commander PK]

What shocked me at the time…and still does to some extent was how it was so “matter-of-fact” the day of. The sense I got was that they knew it wasn’t going to land. Maybe it wasn’t even their first choice… but maybe they didn’t really HAVE a choice? I tend to be a bit of an apologist for the organization sometimes, but even I can acknowledge the rollout was pretty much a disaster.

I did have fun with my wife and kid at the announcement party at the stadium, so there’s that nice memory at least.

 

[Discobob]

I have heard that, I can't quite get into it. I do like the Commmander-Lorian.

I (very sarcastically) use 'ders.

I don't use Commies. But not for any particular reason.

I generally just say Commanders or Washington.

I might be on an island, but the name doesn't really bother me. I don't like it. But there isn't anything they could have chosen which I did like. I didn't like WFT. I REALLY didn't like Red Wolves. (I know, I'm in the minority there.) I didn't like Warriors because there is already a professional sports team with Warriors. I didn't want anything government related like Presidents or Senators (granted, bringing back the baseball name would have had some nostalgia). Ironically, I liked Defenders, but there is already team named the defenders. I didn't want anything specific to a branch of the military (General, Admiral, Commander (it's a rank!), Captain, Sargent, etc.) I didn't like Monuments, or Armada, or anything else I heard. I was pretty much resigned they were going to choose something I didn't like (and they did.)

I kindof wish they would have found out how to do something related to George Washington as a play on the city name. But nothing really fit. Minute Men is just a mouthful. Colonials has 4 syllables. The Washington George's? chuckle.

So, since there wasn't going to be anything I liked, and the name was going to change, I guess I just accepted whatever it was I wasn't going to like and I just moved on. Others can't do that, maybe because they had a name they liked (Red Wolves or Warriors for most). But since I didn't like either of those names either, I was kindof ambivalent.

Where they completely screwed up was the rollout of the name. It was so unplanned, budget, low energy and poorly planned, it was an unmitigated disaster. I think the rollout was SO bad and the uniforms were SO bad that there was no chance of successful adoption.

The best they could have hoped for was a neutral reaction to whatever name they chose. The way they could have achieved that was with some really good merch, good logo, good uniforms, and a really well done launch. They butchered all of it. Including somehow getting the years wrong on the damn crest. How do you do that? skinsinparadise knows that I'm not a huge fan (anymore) of Sheehan, but he had Jason Wright on when Wright was defending the years, and Sheehan asked him, "go ask your head coach what Superbowl Team he played on. He's going to say the '85 Bears. AH HA!" And that was brilliant. Wright was blathering on about "how they record it in the annals of history" (I'll never forget that phrasing, he used it several times) and Sheehan didn't let him get away with it. THAT was good radio.

As for the uniforms, everybody hated something about them. I personally like the black uniforms, though not the helmets, and despise the ketchup and mustard uniforms and the white tops with "burgundy" pants are the wrong colors and look like a bad HS ripoff uniform. And I might be one of the folks who hates the least about them.

Literally everything they did with the rollout was wrong.

Whether Snyder picked the name or not, I don't know and don't care. It was Jason Wrights ONLY JOB to get the rollout right, and he failed spectacularly. He was an incompetent nincompoop.

*** I know I'm beating a dead horse here ***

If we could go back in time, I think there was a way to "thread the needle" with the rebrand. IF you assume that Redskins had to go, just go with something like...

District Football Club (DFC)
Football Club of D.C. (FCDC)

Keep the uniforms, keep the logo, just swap out Redskins for Washington. Go out and get public support from the Wetzel family and the Blackfoot tribe... add small Blackfoot tribal patch to the jersey.

I think Wright / Snyder saw this as their opportunity to sell new merch, and never realized that there was no name that would please the longtime fans... and they picked something that floats somewhere between strong dislike and 'meh'

 

[Conn]

The only name that REALLY would have hit for me, if I’m being honest, is Sentinels.

And that didn’t feel likely at all due to The Replacements movie, even though I don’t care about that.

It was still adjacent to the dumb military/warrior thing they seemed stuck on, but could have been really cool. Sounds cool, despite still being fairly generic, could’ve kept the colors but gone with a centurion/shield + spear thing like they’re leaning into anyways.

Too late now.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

*** I know I'm beating a dead horse here ***

If we could go back in time, I think there was a way to "thread the needle" with the rebrand. IF you assume that Redskins had to go, just go with something like...

District Football Club (DFC)
Football Club of D.C. (FCDC)

Keep the uniforms, keep the logo, just swap out Redskins for Washington. Go out and get public support from the Wetzel family and the Blackfoot tribe... add small Blackfoot tribal patch to the jersey.

I think Wright / Snyder saw this as their opportunity to sell new merch, and never realized that there was no name that would please the longtime fans... and they picked something that floats somewhere between strong dislike and 'meh'

I don't like either of those.

I wanted a name. I just knew I wasn't going to like any name. It's the same as the Washington Football Team, just somewhat easier to say.

I think they could have kept the logo with the Commanders if they wanted to. But I think they were SO over having the Native American discussion, they were going to get rid of everything. And on that point, at that time, I don't blame them.