While some NFL announcers have bowed to the PC police , ESPN analyst and former coach of the Chicago Bears Mike Ditka has made it clear that he will not shy away from using the Washington Redskins name.
“What’s all the stink over the Redskin name? It’s so much bull—t it’s incredible,” Ditka said in an interview with RedskinsHistorian.com. “We’re going to let the liberals of the world run this world. It was said out of reverence, out of pride to the American Indian.”
He argued in the interview that the name is a part of the history of the game and shouldn’t be considered offensive.
“This is so stupid it’s appalling and I hope that owner keeps fighting for it and never changes it, because the Redskins are part of an American football history, and it should never be anything but the Washington Redskins. That’s the way it is,” Ditka said.
Ditka said that he admired efforts on the part of Redskins owner Dan Synder to fight the name change and blamed political correctness for the sudden attempt to force Synder to change the team’s name.
“It’s all the politically correct idiots in America, that’s all it is,” he said. “It’s got nothing to do with anything else. We’re going to change something because we can. Hey listen, I went through it in the 60s, too. I mean, come on. Everybody lined up, did this. It’s fine to protest. That’s your right, if you don’t like it, protest. You have a right to do that, but to change the name, that’s ridiculous. Change the Constitution — we’ve got people trying to do that, too, and they’re doing a pretty good job.”
The Redskins name has been a subject of controversy all summer. The team lost its trademark registration in a decision by the U.S. Patent office, some television networks decided to warn viewers before speaking the team name on air, and numerous elected officials have called for a name change.
