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

[ArtMonkWasMyHero]

You weren’t too old school to embrace Redwolves. 😁😁

My support for Redwolves was simple. It appeared to be the name that fans liked the most. That’s it. And I never bought into trademark expenses as an excuse not to use it. This is the NFL after all, a behemoth of power and influence run by billionaires. We joke about Snyder being “broke“, but obviously that’s far from the case.

RedSomething. Redwolves, Redhawks, Red Storm, Red Raiders, Red Whatever.

I was astounded that Snyder did not read the tea leaves, realize the momentum was growing, and get a Plan B ready just in case. Instead he did what he always would do. He fumed, whined, sputtered, and ultimately green lighted the stupidest option. I am even more astounded that the new owner is ok with it.

What is it about burgundy & gold that makes scores of seemingly sane people take leave of their senses?

 

[Faithful Fan]

I still call them Redskins.

Honestly same. People know what I’m talking about and rarely do they even notice or react. Even Google will give me the information I need if I search Redskins. Sometimes a certain kind of person will correct me about the name, but that’s rare.

That said, I am starting to unconsciously use the name Commanders on occasion, and hearing it no longer irks me as much, so I guess I’m getting used to it. It’s a psychological fact that people can get used to almost anything if they are exposed to it enough.

However, I doubt I’ll ever replace the line “Braves on the warpath” with whatever fool lyrics they’ve substituted in the fight song, and judging by what I hear when the song plays on game days, most fans are the same way.

 

[RedWolf]

You weren’t too old school to embrace Redwolves. 😁😁

My support for Redwolves was simple. It appeared to be the name that fans liked the most. That’s it. And I never bought into trademark expenses as an excuse not to use it. This is the NFL after all, a behemoth of power and influence run by billionaires. We joke about Snyder being “broke“, but obviously that’s far from the case.

Who said that I liked Redwolves?

 

[HTTR]

As do I.

And what choice do I have? I was never given any evidence or sound reasoning as to why Redskins was offensive. Had that been made clear, I would have applauded a (sensible) name change.

And Commanders is lame.

Redskins or Skins, the unofficial nickname of the Washington Commanders.

I call them the Skins mostly. But admittedly, now that we’re stuck with the name, I do say commander sometimes. It depends who I’m talking to. If it’s a knowledgeable football fan, it’s the Skins. If not though I may say commanders, just for clarity’s sake. But even then it’s with pause, and the feeling of cringe that comes with saying it doesn’t seem to be going away very quickly.

 

[HTTR]

Who said that I liked Redwolves?

Lucky guess 😎

 

[HurQlez]

My problem with ‘Commanders’ is that it never had any significant fan support or momentum. It was manufactured out of thin air due to Rivera’s odd fixation on the military. It being a ‘top 3 finalist’ is irrelevant because the options were determined arbitrarily by a couple of team front office rentals who made little effort to find a name that would resonate with the fanbase.

I thought Redwolves was dumb from the outset and just a desperate attempt to sub out ‘skins’ for something else. But I would have embraced it because a significant portion of the fanbase liked it. Instead we ended up with what Rivera and Wright liked, which never should’ve been a driving factor.

I understand the copywrite arguments but the truth is, with enough desire and $$ those likely could have been overcome, or a name chosen with slight alterations. I have never bought the idea that would’ve been a insurmountable barrier had they chosen ‘Wolves’ or ‘Warriors’ (there is precedent for using the same sports moniker across different pro sports already).

None of it matters now. However fans feel about it and however long it takes them to be done venting about it - will be tolerated here on this topic.

Exactly. And no point bringing up the “What If” for the name because the owners are not going to go through this again, no matter how many potential ways they can do it.

We are the Commanders and used to be the Redskins. That is it. No one here is the owner, no one here can deny the sale of Commanders merch is enough to satisfy the organization, and no one here has the power to get the sponsors to stop the merch money again.

If people want to be hateful and imagine a future name change scenario that will never happen, it will be annoying on here but it is your right.

I on the other hand want to find a better way to be happy for the team. I want to adapt. I want find a solution that allows me to be COMPLACENT with the name. Expand the Commanders branding while accepting the limitations we have trying to reference the past.

If the colors are all we can officially use to reference the Redskins, so be it. The team can market around that new branding. You can still show off the Redskins past and your fan made hybrid merch. But the team will not cater to every angle of the name debate.

Personally I hope they cater more to who they are now than who they were. They tried to mix the past with Major Tuddy and the fight song and people still hated it.

Please all, and you will please none
-Aesop

 

[Boone]

Only time will resolve the ‘issue’.

 

[SkinsGuy99]

Beats the hell out of Commanders.

I realize it is anecdotal, but I have yet to meet anyone who thinks Commanders is a good name.

Including me.

Both names suck.

 

[SkinsGuy99]

Howl dare you!

Redwolves >>>(x1000) Commanders

I'll agree with that.

Redwolves sucks (somewhat) less than Commanders.

 

[ArtMonkWasMyHero]

I call them the Skins mostly. But admittedly, now that we’re stuck with the name, I do say commander sometimes. It depends who I’m talking to. If it’s a knowledgeable football fan, it’s the Skins. If not though I may say commanders, just for clarity’s sake. But even then it’s with pause, and the feeling of cringe that comes with saying it doesn’t seem to be going away very quickly.

I do the same thing.

Recently we had departmental retreat at my office. Two days of lectures and fun. Lots of folks from our out of state offices (i.e. young women). Most are fascinated to be in DC and would ask me all kinds of questions. Several times, the Skins came up and I prefaced it by asking, "Is it ok if I utter the word Redskins?"

No screams, rendering of garments, pleas for space spaces, calls to the cops or a demands that I receive the Joan of Arc special treatment. All replied sure.

 

[HTTR]

I do the same thing.

Recently we had departmental retreat at my office. Two days of lectures and fun. Lots of folks from our out of state offices (i.e. young women). Most are fascinated to be in DC and would ask me all kinds of questions. Several times, the Skins came up and I prefaced it by asking, "Is it ok if I utter the word Redskins?"

No screams, rendering of garments, pleas for space spaces, calls to the cops or a demands that I receive the Joan of Arc special treatment. All replied sure.

I could be completely wrong here, but I do think the younger crowd (teens and early 20s) is moving away from the offended by everything thing. This is the feedback I’m getting from my high school/college age kids and their friends. Too late to save our beloved team name, but probably for the best overall. I can live with letting Redskins go, but I will always strongly disagree with anyone who tries to cancel it from existence, or label it as offensive. If this is borderline political, I apologize, I won’t go on about it anymore. I’m not really into politics at all, but I am a bit of a grumpy old man so at times it can come across that way 😁

 

[Hailer]

Yeah, I think so too. Not just broke and cheap, but also distracted battling the various scandals, some of which had legal implications for him and all of which combined threatened his ownership of the team. I tend to blame Snyder for picking the name, but it’s entirely possible he stayed away somewhat from the process, and the whole thing was a concoction of Jason Wright and/or Ron Rivera as many of you have suggested.

Regardless, it needed to be fixed, and the new owners should have made that an immediate priority before it started to sink in. Claiming they were busy working on “more important things” was a lame cop out. Just my opinion, I know some people don’t want to criticize the new owners, but nobody’s going to change my mind on this. They’ve done a great job with the team so far, and they saved us from Snyder, so I will be forever grateful. But on this one thing they dropped the ball.

When news of the sale broke, I was hopeful the HOG would make a swift break from the Commanders name. I figured the longer the name lingered, the less likely it would change and I really dislike the name.

But in hindsight, it would have been a truly thoughtless maneuver to buy the team and change its name so quickly. This group is the opposite of thoughtless.. they seem to think everything thru in breadth and depth. Thats great for building a winning football team and a high performance biz operation but the collateral damage is we’re stuck with Commanders.

The more we win under the Commanders moniker, the stupider it becomes to change the name. I’m at peace with that.

In an alternate world, they came out within weeks of the purchase and declared a new name was coming. Then they dump all this time and energy into branding INSTEAD of the areas they have clearly focused their energy (stadium Reno, new stadium, overhauling staff, upgrading workplace resources, fan and alumni engagement). Do all the positive outcomes we’ve seen in those areas happen had they jumped on changing the name as a top priority? I seriously doubt it.

So that’s how I rationalize it. Winning as Commanders > sucking as Redskins. And given how thoughtful this group is, I hold out hope they will help the Commanders brand reach its potential. Better uniforms, better visual everything. In due time. As you can tell, I trust the process

 

[ArtMonkWasMyHero]

I could be completely wrong here, but I do think the younger crowd (teens and early 20s) is moving away from the offended by everything thing. This is the feedback I’m getting from my high school/college age kids and their friends. Too late to save our beloved team name, but probably for the best overall. I can live with letting Redskins go, but I will always strongly disagree with anyone who tries to cancel it from existence, or label it as offensive. If this is borderline political, I apologize, I won’t go on about it anymore. I’m not really into politics at all, but I am a bit of a grumpy old man so at times it can come across that way 😁

I think you are right. I would go further and state that I honestly do not think that many people were ever offended in the first place.

 

[HTTR]

If people want to be hateful and imagine a future name change scenario that will never happen, it will be annoying on here but it is your right.

You completely lost me right here, dude. Hateful???? Really?

We’re going to have to agree to completely disagree, but thank you for acknowledging my right to be annoying.

 

[Busch1724]

RedSomething. Redwolves, Redhawks, Red Storm, Red Raiders, Red Whatever.

You failed to mention Red Commanders...

 

[ArtMonkWasMyHero]

You failed to mention Red Commanders...

Comes under Redwhatever.

 

[Skinfanjon]

The Washington Phoenix was a name that occurred to me awhile back. Thought it was fitting for our rebranded franchise and the color scheme works perfectly with burgundy and gold. I never saw that name get any traction or anything but thought it would be really cool.

 

[Commander PK]

Only time will resolve the ‘issue’.

Correct

Because it’s going to take time for people who refuse to accept the name is changed to accept that it’s not going to change again. The conversation on the name is null and void at this point. As David Lee Roth once said,… “it’s all over but the shouting”

 

[Conn]

Be

I had been braced for a decade for the day the name was changed. I didn't want the change but was comfortable with the "backup" name of Warriors. It sucks that we weren't able to just move to that name, which I found more palatable than Commanders and would not have had Danny involvement. I will never understand all the forced changes yet the Chiefs and the Braves are still acceptable

Because other billionaires have had the bare-minimum savvy to not allow their brand to be tarnished to the point of losing traction and most importantly, money. Snyder is the very rare exception, he lucked and scummed his way into enough money to purchase the golden goose, and then spent 20 years throttling it. It’s really that simple. Against all odds, he made the brand vulnerable.

 

[Conn]

The Washington Phoenix was a name that occurred to me awhile back. Thought it was fitting for our rebranded franchise and the color scheme works perfectly with burgundy and gold. I never saw that name get any traction or anything but thought it would be really cool.

Sounds like a WNBA team name