This post probably belongs in V&N, not here, and I know I'm arguing against no one, but whatever.
I saw this story this morning and it got me thinking about how it is possible that people (myself included) aren't outraged about the name all the time. I mean, I've long been against it, but 99.9% of the time I'm watching football I don't even think about the racism implicit in using "Redskins" as the team name. In contrast, imagine if there was a San Francisco Yellowskins team, with a picture of an asian on the helmet, or the Cleveland Brownskins with a picture of a black person on the helmet. No one would stand for it. So, why do we put up with the Washington Redskins with a picture of a American Indian on the helmet?
Then it occurred to me. Asian American and African Americans (as well as Asians and black people in general) are integrated into our culture, are our peers, people who we interact with everyday -- or to put in another way, are part of the "we". That wasn't always the case - there was certainly a time that few people would have been outraged at my hypothetical mascots/helmets - but it is now. If there were team names that were racist against those groups, we'd have constant reminders of that racism in our everyday life and our consciences would not let us stand for it. The native Americans, on the other hand, were herded onto reservations and forgotten about. I bet I'd think about the racism implicit in the "Redskins" name a lot more that 0.1% of the time if I got together with a bunch of native American buddies every Sunday to watch football. This saddens me about myself and our culture.
Anyhow, sorry for the rambling, depressing rant. You can go back to enjoying the NFL now.
Also, raise your If you think the name wouldn't have been changed long ago if ~13% of the NFL's market was native American.