Washington rebrand is deservedly getting blasted

Not in command of the situation

The Washington Football Team Formerly Known As The Redskins And Now Known As The Commanders unveiled their name change this morning. Predictably it did not go over well, because the Daniel Snyder era of Washington football is synonymous with failure. The name is generic and the uniforms are a blend of the worst aspects of Nike’s designs.

The name Commanders sounds like a Madden franchise rebrand name or one from a movie that doesn’t want to pay for NFL licensing. The team in The Replacements was the Washington Sentinels, which is a cooler name, and they had better jerseys.

The unveiling of the new name and jerseys was so exciting that six people lined up to buy merchandise this morning. Count them yourself.

The franchise changed to the temporary “Football Team” two years ago. They had plenty of time to get this right. There was strong fan support for the name Red Wolves, but the team felt that change faced too many legal and financial hurdles since Red Wolves already trademarked. Fair enough.

But many were quick to point out that the name and hashtag slogan #TakeCommand are from the San Antonio Commanders of the now defunct Alliance of American Football. Sorry fans, you can’t have the name you want because someone else already has it, but from the team that sold fans bags of peanuts from an airline that had gone out of business a year prior, here’s a name from a team that doesn’t exist anymore!

Social media, as it is wont to do, was fierce in its criticism. It was all deserved.

If you don’t know the origin of that meme, it’s a picture of a guy who claims he went to the funeral of one of his biggest haters just to make sure he was dead. Every social media department for teams that beat the Commanders has to use that after the game.

Points for consistency?

More stolen valor. The Super Bowls Washington won were played in 1983, 1988, and 1992. But they were of course for the 1982, 1987, and 1991 seasons, the champions for the years the Commanders claim were the Raiders, 49ers, and Cowboys. No one in their right mind would claim the Eagles were 2018 champions.

I’m going to be seeing that one too from now on.

That’s cold. But good.

This pretty much sums up Washington fans reactions.

But hey, things can only go up from here, right?

LOL.