NEW YORK -- More people, including native Americans, support the Washington Redskins keeping their controversial name, said National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday.

Goodell took on the touchy subject during his pre-Super Bowl state of the league address and attempted to defuse the issue by claiming that the vast of majority of football fans, and the American public in general, have no problem with the Redskins name that generated protests last season at stadiums across the league.

“Let me remind you this is the name of a football team, a football team that has had that name for 80 years and has presented the name in a way that has honored Native Americans,” said Goodell. “We recognize that there are some who don't agree with the name and we have listened and respected them.

”But if you look at the numbers, including native American communities, nine out of 10 supported the name. Eight out of 10 in the general American population would not like us to change the name.“

However, Oneida Indian Nation representative Ray Halbritter strongly disagreed with Goodell's assessment.

”It is deeply troubling that with the Super Bowl happening on lands that were once home to native Americans, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would use the event as a platform to insist that the dictionary-defined R-word racial slur against Native Americans is somehow a sign of honor,“ Halbritter in a statement.

For the past 14 years, Dan Snyder, principal owner of the Washington Redskins franchise, has defied calls from activists and journalists to change his team's name and Indian logo to something less ”offensive.“

Even President Barack Obama has waded into the debate saying that if he owned the team, he would consider changing the name, which American Indians and others have long pilloried as racist.

Native American groups have fought the name in court and through advertising campaigns but Goodell pointed polls that seem to indicate that the outrage is not widespread.

Goodell's comments on Friday are far different from last year when the NFL commissioner told a Washington radio audience, ”If one person is offended, we have to listen.“

”I've been spending the last year talking many of the leaders in native American communities, we are listening,“ said Goodell. ”We are trying to make sure we understand the issues.“

The Oneida Indian Nation, which leads the national Change the Mascot campaign, insists that Goodell is not listening to them.

”Commissioner Goodell represents a $9 billion brand with global reach, yet insists that it is somehow no big deal that his league uses those vast resources to promote this slur,“ Oneida Indian Nation representative Halbritter said.

”In the process, he conveniently ignores all the social science research showing that the NFL's promotion of this word has serious cultural and psychological effects on native peoples.“

Copyright © 2014 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Washington Arrows sounds good to me.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

There is nothing likeable (or respectable) about Goodell imo.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Washington Buffalo Jockeys

But what about the Bro Hugs on draft day?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Every time I see or hear the name Oneida, I instantly want to have tater tots.

They were also the preferred silversmiths for the Price is Right and Lets Make A Deal

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I am not signing up under a new name once they inevitably change it.

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-- source

If they want to keep the name at all costs, how about they change the logo to a picture of some steamed red potatoes?

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http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11004747&categoryid=2378529

The case is closed. Original, primary, and decisive evidence is now on the record. The Washington football team's name has nothing to do with Native Americans. Keith Olbermann explains.

Olbermann fucking excoriates Snyder, Goodell, etc. Worth a few minutes of your time, I would opine.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

That actually sickens me. It's so Bernstein-ian.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Impressive, but I think it's misleading to say the name has nothing to do with Native Americans when it's a variation on the original Boston Braves, which did have something to do with Native Americans. And if it has nothing to do with Native Americans, then it's a neologism that is not an ethnic slur and is instead just the name of a sports team, like Knicks.

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jesus christ almighty this political correctness shit has to go..... i mean look at the kind of crap that's coming down the pike >> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 9277.story

now granted, that's still not as bad as the UK where you'll get arrested and hauled to court if you talk shit about a footballer on twitter well enough (and i mean a proper criminal arrest, not even one of their little anti-social behaviour) thingys but still.... don't you see a slippery slope where ppl spout something off on facebook/twitter and there's official fines being levied?

yeah well, this whole redskins thing seems like a massive case of SJW-propagated white guilt coming out where some people who check their privilege in going out of the way to get offended for other people (in this case, native americans.... who in their list of problems with americans and american society as a whole surely have "call a sports team the redskins" listed in the top-3) and now we've got the endless 24/7 spin cycle of this crap swooshing round and round and round as AMERICA DEMANDS JUSTICE FOR THE REDSKINS, ERM, NATIVE AMERICANS!!!!!!! yet i guarantee you that upwards of 95% of americans and native americans don't care.... it's just that tiny minority who seek validation/litigation out of this beating the drums so those people in the media pick up on it and keep writing about it like it's THE PULSE..... or something, but it's not (mainly because laurence hasn't said it is, like when COLON WE DO WHAT WE WANT in the people's hour)

it's just SJW crap gone wild... and when you combine that creeping aspect of internet litigation coming ASAP (cuz i'm sure bernstein would tell you that in the quest to MONATIZE EVERYTHING lawyers are just drooling waiting for there to be omnipresent litigation about internet comments so they can get some more billable hours. plus it'll be hard for me to keep on bothering you guys with my posts when i can't post in jail) this is just gonna be terrible.

and nobody cares about the redskins.... and i submit that anyone who does is full of shit outside of like, say, some honorable native american who prolly runs a telemarketing/payday-loans empire out of his out-of-police-jurisdiction-reservation. you know, the good honest people whose good names are being slandered by having a football team called the redskins.

btw, why is RED MAN chewing tobacco still on the market? what the fuck is going on here? why is redman still allowed to rap as redman? someone get me a petition to sign.

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Goodell is such a shitheel.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

Yeah, obviously I understand the problem in calling a team the Redskins, but I just don't care. I don't care at all. Unlike other slurs, you don't hear about anyone using "redskin" in any context but for the team. I can't get worked up. It's just football.

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Football= Evil

I agree. I hear all kinds of worse racial slurs on TV all the time.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

There's an interesting correlation between people who don't think the name is a big deal and people who don't think the team's name should be changed. I have trouble seeing the argument there, but I guess it's basically that if we can't have a team called the Redskins, then the liberals win, or something.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

fuck the indians. nobody's ever given a shit about them anyway. how they managed to avoid extermination is beyond me.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

...

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This is my signature...

I'm in the camp of not giving a shit. Change the name, change the logo, hang Snyder and Goodell from their toes and rip their bowels from their living bodies... Whatever you decide to do, just do it and shut the ever loving fuck up about it.

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Any sort of racist name for a sports team is stupid and outdated. Regardless of how many people "care" or not.

Why not The Skins? As in pigskins, or something? Seems like a pretty shitty thing to fight for.

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This is my signature...

Washington Monuments

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This.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

And I am sure some organization would have a pissy fit about that also.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Yeah. Those PC idiots should just deal with the racial slur and get over it. I'm with ya...

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This is my signature...

I knew you would be.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins