This is an issue that has be prevalent for a long time in sports but it has really picked up traction over the past couple of years. Many modern day Native American tribes are offended by the mascot of the Washington Redskins. Not only is the name of the team offensive to Native Americans themselves, the representation of these people by their mascot and memorabilia can also be seen as offensive to this group of people. What if their name was the “Whiteskins” or the “Blackskins”. The name is clearly racist to the group it is attempting to portray. There are two sides to the argument and those who wish to change the name want it to change because of its racial indications and the fact that so many people in the Redskins organization are profiting off of this racial slur. On the other hand, many people say that the name has been in place for too long and the history of it is more important than the injustice that is going on.

Via Michael Konik

As an avid sports fan, I follow all of the NFL teams and while the Redskins are not by any means my favorite team, I am from the D.C area from a town that was majority redskins fans. I grew up under the impression that the name really wasn’t hurting anybody and it was a name that everyone recognized. But as a grew older and followed sports more and more, I was able to see the protests and the tribes standing up to the Redskins’ organization and speaking up. People say that historically the word “redskin” did not have racist connotation as it was supposedly what Native Americans called themselves to differentiate themselves when the European settlers came to their homeland. But even if the name is not historically used as a racist term, people are being offended and the name is hurting people and they have to sit back and watch people profit off of this disrespectful name. We cannot sit here and decided what is or is not offensive to a group of people. If they are beinf hurt and feel disrespected by the actions of the Redskins organization, they should be able to have their voices heard.

The message that the Redskins organization is sending is one of enablement, showing that it is ok to continue to disrespect this group of people, completely disregarding the feelings of others. No fan wants to see the name of their favorite team be completely changed and the uproar that changing the name of the team would cause would be undoubtedly horrendous but, the fan base is simply arguing that they should continue to use this name for that very reason. “They have always been the Redskins.” That somehow is a valid argument here in the United States. If ethnic group was being racially offended by something as big as a professional sports team, no doubt that action would take place right away. But the fact that the Native American population is so small here in comparison to other groups, people overlook them and are willing to take advantage of their small and quiet voice and of course make a profit off of it.

How hard would it be to change the name? I am as avid a sports fan as you can find and if the name of my favorite football team was offending a significant amount of people, I would be on board to change it right away. It is just a name. It does not define your team. I think that the Redskins organization could be able to make a positive and profitable change if they did change the name. Obviously the fans would be devastated by the idea of changing the name but they have released everything from concept names to concept uniforms with ideas of what the new team could possibly look like and I think their are many better mascots that they could choose even if the name was not offensive. Personally, my favorite is the Washington Warriors which I think would be very suitable but even minor changes could go a long way with helping to be aware of a community that feels it is being disrespected. In fact, the Redskins owner, Dan Snyder had already trademarked the name “Washington Warriors” over ten years ago. Names like the Redhawks or even simply the skins would hopefully appeal to the fan base and even with just a minor adjustment we could make it one step closer to making the world a happier place.

Washington Warriors Concept Uniforms         Via Behance

Honestly, it is just the name of a football team. People are being hurt by it and changing the name of it to avoid this problem is really a simple solution. Whether they change the name or not, the Redskins do need to make an attempt to meet with the modern Native Americans and decide what might be a course of action that could make both parties happy.

When we all sat down around our dinner table with our families to make the life changing decision of what to university to continue our education at we weighed factors like quality of education, location, cost and many of other factors but the key factor that it all comes down to in the end: college athletics (ok maybe not everyone’s key factor but its a benefit for sure). Having a good football team or basketball team creates a exciting culture around campus and its something that very few would not want to be a part of. College athletics can define an entire school and are often a major source of revenue for many schools. It is reported that college sports generates over 11 billion dollars of annual revenue. In a market that is so filled with money, the people who are bring in that revenue are getting none of the money. Some people argue that these athletes are being exploited in order to continue raking massive amounts of revenue and are not being compensated appropriately for the time that they dedicate to their craft. Others argue that earning a scholarship and free room and board and a meal plan and other benefits is more than enough of a payment for what they do.

The rules on this concept of players not being allowed to accept any sort of money is very strictly enforced by the NCAA. Two of the most notable occurrences  of these rules being broken include two of the best college football players to ever player the game: Cam Newton at the Auburn University and Reggie Bush at the University of Southern California. While these rules crack down on issues as small as players accepting money for autographs these high profile incidents involved directly paying players in order to influence them. It was uncovered that before Cam Newton had decided to play his college career at Auburn, his father has demanded that the competing school of Mississippi State give him $180,000 for him to take his talents there. This is obviously a direct rules violation and scandals like this play a big role in why college athletes are not allowed to accept money, so that they do not find loop holes that would encourage such behavior.

Via Orange County Register

Then there is the Reggie Bush scandal that rocked the world while USC was dominating the college football world in the mid-2000s. This scandal is not like the blunt, demanding of money that took place with Cam Newton. Reggie Bush was an outstanding college football player. The star running back for what seemed to be becoming on of college football’s great dynasties. After Reggie Bush walked away with the 2004 Heisman Trophy, it was uncovered that him and his family had accepted over $100,000 worth of illegal payments. These payments obviously violated the NCAA rules but if you look at what the payments received were, you can understand why so many players accept payment “under the table” like this. Some of the payments that Bush accepted were for things like airplane tickets and rental cars for his family who was very poor to be able to travel to games to be able to watch their sun play as well as paying the rent on his family’s house as they were threatened to be evicted. The money even went to buying suits for Bush’s stepdad and brother so that they could wear them to the Heisman Trophy presentation where Bush would go on to bring home the award. Now, Bush has returned his Heisman Trophy due to his violations.

Many players out there today are in a similar situation that Bush and his family came from. Living paycheck to paycheck in neighborhoods that are often not suitable for a child to be raised in. Many young boys in this situation dream of playing in the NFL where they can be making millions of dollars to play the game that they love. Football and sports are an escape and an opportunity for many young boys and girls who want to be able to provide for themselves and their families. It is often argued that for this reason players should be able to accept money. Players playing at the college level are not able to work a job in order to make money whenever they are dedicating countless hours to on the field and in the weight room when they are not working on the same course load that we all have as college students. Money can be a problem for student athletes who are provided with a meal plan and housing but there are so many other things that we as humans require that costs money that can often be difficult for some of these student athletes to afford.

On the other side of the debate, people argue that if they athletes were allowed to accept money, many players would try to make money off of their own brand and universities may have even more of a reason to exploit athletes by selling autographs and other such practices. Also, it is not like these kids are not being compensated at all, the cost of tuition can be as much as an annual salary for them and to have their education completely paid for is worth a lot. Whether or not players are paid in order to play this game that they love, they have the opportunity to play at this level for free and are given the chance to prove themselves and play in the pros but even if they do not make it there, they will walk away with a degree and completely debt free primed for success in the real world.

Via NESN.com

Should top tier high school athletes have to go play a year (3 years for the NFL) at the college level before the can declare for the professional draft? This question has been disputed for some time now and there seems to be no solution to the issue. Consciously it only makes sense for these young talents to take a year to mature and grow before they jump right into the big leagues but with this requirement also come consequences that can ultimately hurt players who intended on playing professionally at the highest level. Possibilities of career ending injuries and lack of financial compensation are just a couple of the negatives that can arise when forcing players to go to college. The opinions of players can be mixed as well on this subject but in the end, the sooner they can get to the league, the more money they are going to make and that idea can be very enticing for young men as young as 17 years old.

Via USA Today

As we have all found out, the college experience is something that not only educates you on the intellectual concepts of science or business or whatever field you are studying, but it also teaches you independence and maturity and time management along with other skills that are necessary to carry into the adult world. With 17 year olds, jumping into a world of stardom with millions of dollars at their disposal, a little foundation and experience handling life on your own only makes sense. It is only a year or so that you have to spend in college and with that, it can really go a long way in teaching the future generations of players how to conduct themselves on and off the field.

While a forcing players to attend a single year of college can help to improve players skills on the court and improve themselves off of the court, the opposing argument is that it is only a single year that may not make a huge impact in the grand scheme of things. Why go to a year of college and take only a handful of classes so that you can just leave when spring comes around. Player’s view on the situation is often that this time period does not do a lot to add to their stock as a draft prospect and it only opens up the opportunity for injuries which could cost athletes millions of dollars in the future (yeah as if professional athletes don’t make enough money as it is, but that’s another blog post in itself) as well as risk having a career ending injury which could jeopardize a players entire future.

To exemplify a situation where a players draft stock is not affected by not attending college come in the likes of legendary players such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett who entered the draft before this rule came into play. Each of them turned out alright didn’t they? Each are future locks for the basketball Hall of Fame and have accumulated millions of dollars over the span of their careers and they never even attended college. Current players look at player like this and think “If some of the best basketball players in history never went to college, I can be great without going to college too.”

Another situation that is going on today involves 2017’s number one high school recruit, Michael Porter Jr. Michael Porter Jr. came out of high school as the top ranked high school recruit and decided that he was going to commit to play basketball at the University of Missouri. Entering the preseason weeks of college basketball, Porter was projected to go first overall in the NBA draft even without showing  his skills on the college level for a single minute. Then when the regular season came around and it came time for him to showcase his talents against Iowa State in his first colligate basketball game, he left the game with a gruesome injury that was soon revealed to be a lower back injury that would leave him needing season ending surgery. Now you would think this would hurt his draft stock and leave him with no option but to return for his sophomore year in order to prove himself, but if you look at current mock drafts, they are still projecting him as a lock for a top 5 pick. Nbadraft.net has him projected going fourth overall and he has not even played a full game in college. Even without playing a game, he will have fulfilled his college requirement and will be eligible for the draft.

Via SI.com

Situations like this are a bad example for young players today. Young talents see all these players going to the league with minimal college experience and players like the Ball brothers are filling their college requirement by playing overseas in international basketball leauges where they are also financially compensated for their play unlike college where players often cant afford to buy their own meals (again, another whole blog post for another time). Players look to these guys as a positive example but what you don’t here about are all of the guys who came out of high school back before the rule was enacted and became huge busts and were left with nothing once they were left without a job in the league and had no college education.  Players often see this requirement as a bad thing but in the end, I believe that it leads them to holistically, a better life on the professional level and a successful life when they finish their careers.