Commanders Trying to Honor Past While Erasing Redskins Controversy
When Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris was young, the Redskins were one of the most popular and oldest football teams in the world.
Their three Super Bowl titles under Hall-of-Fame coach Joe Gibbs was a reminder of how dominant the team was at the height of their powers. And how low the organization has fallen since.
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Ever since Harris bought the team in 2023, the Commanders have been trying to find a way to not only pay homage to the past, but build towards a new future. That includes a name change and a new stadium on the site of the famous RFK Stadium.
'I remember walking down East Capital Street... being eight years old and feeling the stadium would literally move,' Harris said. 'An amazing day for the city. Amazing day for our franchise.
'I was raised here... watching is special.'
With the return to RFK (that is, the old site, albeit in a new stadium), there were some Commander fans that were hoping they would also return to the organization's old name that had been around for the near 100 years of the franchise.
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That won't be the case, though.
'We're kind of moving forward the Commanders name. Excited about that and not looking back,' Harris said 'We're going to get as close to our heritage as we can.'
That's essentially the tricky part. The Commanders don't want to honor their history. ... fully. They just want to adopt the success the old franchise had before. They'll take the memories built in an old stadium and try to pass that off as an extension into a new stadium.
But you can't have it both ways.
If the Commanders want to honor the past, simply moving into the old stomping grounds, but keeping their name change, isn't really going to do it. It seems like a half-ditch effort to try and appease the diehard fans who never wanted to see the organization's name changed.
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Now, they have a foot on both sides of the aisle - one side wanting a full homage to their past while another wants to move forward with their new identity. ... in the end a controversial decision to essentially erase the idea of having been the "Redskins.'' ... for better or worse.
Related: Commanders Draft Wild-Card Sleeper For Kliff Kingsbury Offense
Related: Commanders Jayden Prediction on Sophomore Slump Gets Scrutiny
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