Opinion | Sports

Opinion: Reagans - A perfect name for a perfectly bad NFL team

Thursday, June 26, 2014

The late president Ronald Reagan accepted a painting from artist John Nieto on August 5, 1982. Nieto claims Apache ancestry. Photo from Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, National Archives and Records Administration

Writer says Washington Reagans would be an appropriate name for the embattled NFL team:

There was a lighthearted proposal on social media to change the team’s name from “Washington Redskins” to “Washington Reagans.” Andrew Kaczynski, a staff writer for the news and entertainment website BuzzFeed, included a quote from Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist, who called it a “great idea” and “fun to consider,” if nothing else.
This idea isn’t being seriously considered, of course. But if people keep getting their knickers in a knot about the Redskins‘ trademarks every 10 or 15 years, why not change the team’s name to the Reagans?
For one thing, it would be the ultimate tribute to Ronald Reagan. Many Americans, and the vast majority of conservatives, would applaud this decision. He was a great man, a great patriot and a great president. If there was ever a world leader who deserved to have his name associated in a positive fashion with a sports team, it would be Reagan.
There is also a historical tie between the late, great president and the game of football.
In his autobiography “An American Life” (1990), the former president discussed his days as captain of his high school football team. He played tackle and guard, and personally described it as “probably a marriage made in heaven.” In his view, it was “as fundamental as anything in life — a collision between two bodies, one determined to advance, the other determined to resist; one man against another man, blocking, tackling, breaking through the line.”

Get the Story:
Michael Taube: Why not the Washington Reagans? (The Washington Times 6/24)