Twice on Sunday, President Donald Trump took to his social-media account on his social-media platform to insist that two skilled sports activities groups restore Native American-based names they’d beforehand deserted.
Each the Washington Commanders and the Cleveland Guardians turned the targets for an all-caps tirade (SAD!). He finally threatened the Commanders with the chance that the Commander-in-Chief gained’t assist them get a D.C. stadium deal finished in the event that they don’t re-embrace the nickname that’s broadly thought to be a racial slur.
And whereas the Guardians stood up and responded to Trump, the Commanders are hiding underneath the mattress. With the NFL proper subsequent to them.
We’ve despatched a number of emails to each the staff and the league looking for touch upon one of many greatest tales in all of sports activities. Nobody has responded.
It’s a standard, low-tech, P.R. play. Ignore the request, and perhaps the reporter will overlook about it. Power the reporter to recollect, and to ask once more. And perhaps once more.
That stated, it’s straightforward to know the paralysis that the Commanders and the NFL could also be feeling. They’re in a minefield on this one. In the event that they make one false transfer, they’ll be on the incorrect finish of an govt order. Or perhaps a red-state, Bud Mild-style boycott.
Then there’s the chance that the strategic silence comes from the truth that, deep down, the Commanders (and perhaps the NFL) wish to convey the identify again.
Regardless, it’s honest to count on the staff and/or the league to have a response to the chief of the free world’s effort to rescind the staff’s free will with regards to what it is going to identify itself. And it’s honest to wonder if the rationale for no response is so simple as this — the Commanders are being cowardly.
