The Washington Redskins are heading into season with very high expectations after quarterback Robert Griffin III led the team to the playoffs as a rookie and after dealing with surgery in the offseason, everyone is wondering what will happen when he takes the field and when exactly that will happen.
Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan has been adamant about Griffin not playing in the preseason and there also is a chance that he could miss the opening game of the season on Monday night in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Redskins have been in the news quite a bit this offseason about their team name and while Daniel Snyder has been adamant about not changing it, there are many who have said that the league and the franchise should consider it.
The website and online magazine Slate wrote last week that they would not use the name "Redskins" anymore and Josh Levin found an interesting article regarding the name from back in 2004. David Plotz originally wrote the article about Slate not using the name and in this one from Tuesday involves the airing of the National Scrabble Championship on the channel. The article writes and mentions an article writer for Slate about the tournament titled "You Can't Spell That on Television," and part of it had to do with the word "Redskins" being banned on the list.
Perhaps not the biggest deal in the world, but it is interesting to note that a network that benefits greatly from the NFL and that name was forced to ban it at one point for a certain broadcast because of what it means, while they also could mention it on many other shows. The article reads: "Perhaps most hilariously, one of the words on the no-no list is REDSKINS, which obviously appears on ESPN dozens of times every week during football season."
The team is dealing with some injuries right now at various positions and one promising player in Phillip Thomas will be done for the year after he suffered a Lisfranc ligament tear of his left foot. Thomas played in the first preseason game and there was a chance he would be able to compete for a starting position during the preseason and now he will be lost for the year.
