One of the reasons we started blogging on the Commanders is because we heard a lot of nonsense when reading articles about the Commanders. We honestly feel like a lot of this nonsense wouldn’t exist if there were a more diverse group of writers, editors, sports personalities, etc… working at some of these media outlets.
The USA Today’s Bryan Manning recently wrote this disaster of an article, where he was discussing Jonathan Allen’s comments on the team name, Allen stated they will always be the R word to him. This was disappointing in many ways, but what’s even more comical about the situation is that Manning claimed that using the derogatory slur would endear Allen to Washington fans. While there is a part of the fanbase that longs for the old name, and maybe even a majority, there’s certainly a large constituency that’s glad to be done with it. Manning writes “That should further endear Allen to Washington’s fans.”
Well Bryan, WFT4Life has some bad news for you, some of us fans hate the old name and are glad it’s gone, we’re not cool with racial slurs. Some of us didn’t always hate the old name, but as we were educated on its meaning and history, we evolved. We threw out our old gear and paraphernalia, we chose to not participate in something that was hurtful and or disparaging of others. We’re not alone in that evolution, you can look up former players, Washington all time greats like John Riggins, Darrell Green, etc… and read their well thought out opinions on the name change etc…
Manning wasn’t alone though, some of the local sports radio personalities, Cody Shook and Grant Paulsen from 106.7 the fan, chimed in quoting Allen, with Paulsen calling Allen’s love for the slur the “Highlight of the night.” That sounds like an awful night, but if racial slurs are the highlight of your evenings, we don’t want to know where you spend your free time.
