Tag: NFL

  • The Contradictory Nature of Winning and Losing in Sports

    The Contradictory Nature of Winning and Losing in Sports

    This is the time of year where winners and losers are both celebrated and scorned.

    Losers:
    Notre Dame Fighting Irish – College Football National Championship
    Buffalo Bills – NFL AFC Conference title game
    Washington – NFL NFC Conference title game

    Winners:
    Ohio State – College Football National Championship
    Kansas City Chiefs – NFL AFC title game
    Philadelphia Eagles – NGL NFC title game

    People love to give Notre Dame a lot of static since they have not won a national title since 1988 . The fact that they have won 13 national titles means nothing to those that hate Notre Dame. Since it has also been 36 years since their last title, even their fans are not a happy bunch. For winners, ND is labeled losers.

    (Fun Fact: Yale has the most college football national championships with 18. Alabama has 15, Princeton 15 and Notre Dame has 13).

    Winning matters it seems, but it all depends on when you win and what you consider winning.

    The Buffalo Bills made it to four consecutive Super Bowls; 1990 – 1993. No other team has had such a level of success. They can clearly call themselves the greatest team in the history of the AFC. Yet, they have no Super Bowl victories. A Josh Allen quarterbacked team is now 0-4 against KC in the playoffs. This level of success will never erase Wide Right. It also won’t erase losing 7 additional games to teams that were clearly just better than they were (Dallas twice, Washington, and KC).

    The fact that Buffalo won 93 games during their SB streak and being one of the top 4 teams during their run in with KC just doesn’t matter.

    With all their winning, Buffalo is not considered winners.

    Washington made their first NFC Championship game since 1991. Today they were considered winners.

    All Kansas City has done the past 5 years is win. Today they are labeled losers, cheaters and credit for their success is given to the refs and a rigged NFL. With all their winning, they are losers.

    ND lost one game after a 13-game winning streak and put $20 million dollars in their bank account. They are losers.
    Buffalo continues to be one of the best teams in the history of the AFC.
    They are losers.
    Kansas City wins and wins more.
    They are losers.
    Washington has been garbage for over 25 years. They lose a playoff game.
    They are winners.

    In a world where losing makes losers, when winning makes losers, and losing makes winners I do not think anyone really knows what a loser is.

    I will tell you what a loser is. Someone that does not think. Someone that does not show up. Someone that makes no effort. Someone that does not care.

    Approach life with the idea that you will do your best every day; you are winning.

    Do not listen to the noise. Pay no attention to those that criticize your efforts.

    Chances are that the people doing most of the complaining and finger pointing are the real losers.

    Win or lose, as long as you are trying, you are winning.

  • Understanding the NFL Name Change: Perspectives of Fans and Natives

    Understanding the NFL Name Change: Perspectives of Fans and Natives

    I will admit it to many thinks.

    I am a life long fan of the NFL team that plays in the Washington D.C. region. I always will be.

    However, I can not bring myself to say the “C” word. Sorry, I won’t type it either.

    Several years ago, the fuss started about the lack of PC in the old Washington Football Team’s name. I hadn’t ever thought about it. They were called what they were called. I knew the history of the team, the history of the logo, the history of the prejudice in the organization.

    Under Dan Snyder, every fan was aware of how awful his ownership group was. But the team name remained the one thing all fans could still rally around.


    Fans wore the logo, said the name, sang the fight song and participated in cheers. No one was thinking about anything other than celebrating the team that we all loved. Certainly, thoughts were not about insulting Native Americans.

    In fact, real fans knew that Walter “Blackie” Weltzel was a leader of the Blackfeet Nation. He designed the logo. They also knew that the logo was based on Blackfeet Chief John Two Guns White Calf.

    There was never reason to think of the football team’s name as anything other than a tribute. The name honored the Native Americans that once called the D.C area home.

    D.C. sits on the ancestral lands of the Nacotchtank (or Anacostans), and neighbors the ancestral lands of the Piscataway and Pamunkey peoples.

    D.C. is still home to over 4,600 Native American’s.

    Yes, area schools, including the high school I went to, drooped references to Indians as logos, team names and mascots. Some rightfully so, some over reaction to the too sensitive.

    Sure every few years someone would write a story, try to stir the pot. Those stories always has short lives, died easy.

    Somehow, during the two to three years of intense cancel culture, the NFL felt blackmailed. They were forced to implement a name change. It was a change that nobody wanted, except for a handful of non-fans. Some fans described them as a “bunch of white women named Karen.” They said these women had a lot of time on their hands and no sense of history.

    All that was accomplished was canceling of Native American association with the NFL. That cancellation was not called for nor wanted by Native Americans.

    It seems that Washington is getting closer to changing the logo back, or at least using it somehow. Why? Because Native Americans sued, others asked, more demaned.

    I respect your right to be offend by things. Just because you are offended doesn’t mean something is offensive. If something isn’t offensive to those you think SHOULD be offended, perhaps your time and energy are being misspent.

    If you won’t want to use the old Washington team name, please don’t. No one is forcing you.

    If you feel offended by the Washington team name, the logo, it’s best to discuss it with the 90% of Native Americans who support the old team name.

    It really doesn’t seem to be a you problem. Why make it one?