by Chamberlain Zulauf
As a lifelong fan of the Washington blank-blanks, February second was a huge day for me. The thing with this team is that I was born into it: Sibley Memorial Hospital is right there next to American University. I’ve lived in prime Washington football territory my whole life so even if we’ve been horrible inside and out this whole time- they are my team. Somewhat unfortunately. There’s been a lot of heartbreak in being a Commanders fan, particularly in the quarterback position. The latest blow, aside from Ryan Fitzpatrick’s single glorious snap on FedEx Field in our season opener, has been the controversy over our name.
For the past two years, we’ve had no name, essentially. Though, in the time that we’ve had no name I’ve been to and watched more Washington football than I ever have in my life. I really want this team to turn themselves around. The only problem is Dan Schneider and the rest of our front office. And our field. And our quarterback situation. And our stadium. But mostly the front office.
Clearly, I’m deeply invested in this football team so when we were to get our new name last Wednesday, I was also deeply nervous. I could hardly sleep the night before and the first thing I did when I woke up was check Instagram to get the big reveal.
The Commanders. Woo.
I can honestly live with it- at least our name isn’t literally a racial slur anymore and finally we can build around a new identity.
