Tank McNamara by Bill Hinds for July 14, 2020

Balderdash……………

I wonder how many really were offended and how many are offended because they have been told they were offended?

So if “Chicago Blackhawks” and “Atlanta Braves” are fine and not racist, why can’t the “Washington Redskins” just change their name to “Washington Lenapes” and keep the colors and logo?

A simple way to remove a lot of controversy in professional sport, or any level of sport: Each pro team gets called by their municipality, such as they do in MLS. Toronto FC (Football Club). The Montreal Canadiens logo has a stylized CH which means Club de Hockey (use an outrageous French accent and you’ll get my drift), not Centre Hice. Also, eliminate the national anthem at the beginning of the game. That was started during WWII to crank up patriotism. Now all it does is cause friction. Take it for what it’s worth.

Rip is not all I would like to call you.

“Orangutangs are skeptical of changes in their cages, …” I wouldn’t be too surprised if “Rip” there couldn’t say who Kenesaw Mountain Landis was.

(First Major League Commissioner of Baseball, appointed as a result of the Black Sox scandal of 1919 to repair the game’s respectability. But you knew that.)

Rip Van Winkle was an old white guy. The difference between him and “Rip” here is that when Rip Van Winkle woke up after a hundred years, he noticed things had changed. This guy wakes up every day and remains 100% clueless.

In recent news, the Redskins are changing their name, mascot and logo because of the outdated ness of their old one.

All well and good, but if your going to erase history, you need to do it across the board. This will include the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument and sundry other slave owner monuments.

I can only say that only recently have I even known that the award was named after judge Landis and I have never heard it referred to as the Kenisaw Mountain Landis MVP Award. While he did help baseball his determination to keep the game white is not the best chapter in the story of the professional game. The Frank Robinson MVP Award is a fitting tribute to the first person to win it in both leagues.

So is Kennesaw Mountain Landis named after the geographical feature or the Civil War battle? I don’t feel like researching this, thought someone would know. Either way seems strange, like having Mt. Rainier Smith or Gettysburg Jones. Why does the MVP award have to be named after anyone anyway (I didn’t even know it was so named)? It’s the Writer’s decision either way (if it must be named, I do like the idea of naming for Frank Robinson).

My opinion (since I don’t know where else to easily express this) is that “Redskins” is clearly offensive. Seems to me there is nothing wrong with “Warriors”, or “Braves”, or “Blackhawks”, and “Seminoles” is fine as long as the tribal members are OK with it. After all, we have “Vikings”, “Trojans”, “Spartans”, “Highlanders”, “Vandals”, etc. from high school on up. Personally I favor “Redtails” or “Redhawks” for the Washington team, but no one asked me. I’m not sure how I feel about “Indians”: at least it isn’t “Injuns”, but I’m a bit uncomfortable with it (it would go with teams called the “Europeans” or “South Asians” or something along those lines).

So, players making hundreds of millions of dollars a year are worried about an award’s name?

Nope – still wrong. Landis didn’t oppose integrating baseball, he just wasn’t going to force the owners to do so. His history as a jurist backs this too.