Josh Harris announced today that the Washington Commanders name is here to stay, and we discuss that to open the show.
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00:00We've got to start with the news that came out of Josh Harris's press conference today.
00:06Harris, the majority owner of your commanders, did an end-of-year presser and took 20 minutes
00:11worth of questions, which, by the way, is how it's supposed to work.
00:15This never happened year after year after year with Dan Snyder.
00:19He went over a decade, probably closer to 15 years at the end of his time, owning the
00:24team without a single presser where he took any questions.
00:28That's not how Harris operates.
00:30He obviously spoke and took questions before the preseason game in Landover, before the
00:34year kicked off, and then kind of steps back and lets the GM and the head coach handle
00:38it during the year.
00:39But he, for the first time in several months, did speak and answer some questions today.
00:44And the first question that came up was the name.
00:47And as the press conference went on, the name came up again and then again.
00:52But we now know you can put any kind of speculation to bed.
00:57This was Josh Harris today saying that the name Commanders is here to stay.
01:02Josh, Steve Weiner from the Associated Press, following up on John's question earlier, is
01:05it safe to say the Commanders name is around just to stay?
01:08Is that safe to say from your standpoint?
01:10Yes.
01:11And we're actually, I think it's now being embraced by our team, by our culture, by our
01:15coaching staff.
01:17And so, you know, we're going with that.
01:22It is hard to take anything out of that answer, Danny, other than the Washington Commanders
01:30is the current team name and the Washington Commanders will be the team name for the foreseeable
01:35future.
01:36Yeah.
01:37So a couple of things.
01:38Thank you, Josh Harris.
01:40I'm going to be upset.
01:42So this is my warning in advance.
01:44I hate this.
01:45I think it's the wrong decision.
01:47I'm bummed about it.
01:48OK, but before I get there, this is what should happen.
01:52This is how it goes.
01:53OK, I know a lot of people are a little irritated because of the timing or they're annoyed because
01:56the most recent thing we've seen is them get the brakes put off by Philadelphia.
02:00And now you're telling me that, you know, any hope I have for something that I really
02:03want isn't coming.
02:04But the grousing will be short term, OK, at least for most rational folks.
02:10What I mean by that is you tell me the news straight, you give it to me straight, you
02:14rip my Band-Aid right off.
02:15I'm going to kvetch.
02:16I'm going to be annoyed.
02:18I'm going to grouse and hit my hand on the table a couple of different times.
02:21Talk about how frustrating this all is.
02:23But this is what you do.
02:24You give the adults the news.
02:26You don't hem and haw.
02:27You don't, you know, back off for seven more years and talk about it's on the table, but
02:31it's not.
02:32And lead to weird speculation and kind of endless stuff.
02:34We'll have the discussion now and then everybody can kind of go about their day.
02:37So I hate this.
02:38I think it sucks.
02:40I understand his point.
02:41And I think it's a frankly a piece.
02:45He's not the right word, but it's a more servable, more palatable way to say, yeah, we've got
02:50a bunch of jerseys sold and our stands were packed and people like it, you know, people
02:55like us.
02:56Now going through a rebrand, going for a full new team name again is a tremendous hassle
03:02and an expense and something where now the juice is no longer worth the squeeze.
03:06It might've been if this group was five and 12 and Daniels was hurt a bunch and it was
03:10the normal first year of a new regime, we could have that carrot to dangle in front
03:15of fans and try to get them back.
03:16Fans are back.
03:17The Daniels jersey sold more than any other.
03:19You can't find the, the, the black jerseys cause they're sold out everywhere at all times.
03:24So instead of just saying that we made a bunch of money doing it this way, so we're going
03:28to stay with it.
03:29Instead of saying that he spoke about the team, you know, rallied around it and it was
03:33sort of built into their culture and Adam Peters and company.
03:35When they talk about players they're looking for, they're looking for guys with that tag
03:39using the dumb name.
03:40So the fact that it's here to stay sucks, I think it's really disappointing, but I understand.
03:44I get it.
03:45I'm an adult.
03:46But to me it was the trade off to having the season we just had.
03:50I'll take it.
03:51You know what I mean?
03:52I'll, I'll take that season.
03:53Was it worth it?
03:54Yeah, probably.
03:55I mean, I'll, I'll, what I'll do is I'll just work around it for the rest of my days and
03:59eventually it might wear me down the way stupid wizards has, you know, like the wizards eventually
04:04won.
04:05Right?
04:06Like the name sucks.
04:07It's dumb.
04:08That never should have changed in the first place.
04:09It was, the logic is stupid.
04:10It makes no sense.
04:11I want everyone to admit that, but the fact is it's been that way for long enough where
04:15it's now like an error if I call them the bullets and no, and like, wait, what?
04:19Like enough young people have never seen it.
04:21So maybe it'll wear me down in decades or whatever, but I'm going to work around it.
04:25I hate it.
04:26It's Snyder.
04:27It's a bunch of tourists.
04:28I'm a consultant type guys who've already moved on to different gigs who gave me a disaster.
04:33I hate it so much.
04:34The name reminds me of an aptitude, but I get it.
04:37I understand why we're here and it just sucks.
04:39That's all.
04:40Yeah.
04:41I think you said this a little bit ago in that angry soliloquy, I guess we'll call it
04:46whatever that was that you just did.
04:50The fact that he actually gave an opinion finally was a win for me, even if it's not
04:58what I wanted to hear, right?
05:00Like the idea of just allowing this to continue to fester and never commenting and doing what
05:06they were doing, Danny kicking the can down the road.
05:10How many times did they do that where they said, hey, right now our focus is this?
05:15That was not his answer today.
05:16He initially, and we're going to play the clip in a moment from his first answer about
05:20the name, kind of went that route and I was like, oh, he's going to do the same thing
05:23that they've been doing for a year and a half where he's just going to say, we have other
05:26things we're focusing on right now, but what we just played for you is clearly not the
05:30same thing.
05:32He talked about the fact that the name now means something in the building.
05:36That is him acknowledging that what you and I speculated on, Danny, is completely true.
05:42When you and I were suggesting all year with each of these wins, it's going to get harder
05:45to change this thing and then they make the playoffs, it's going to get harder to change
05:48and then they beat the Lions.
05:49It's over.
05:50It feels like that was actually what happened, but let's play the first clip.
05:54This is the first presser question of the day shocker.
05:58By the way, the first thing that came up with the owner after they made the NFC championship
06:01game was about the name and this is what he said because this was actually a longer winded
06:05answer, even if it was not quite as definitive.
06:08Josh, over here, John Kime, ESPN.
06:10So may as well get this one out of the way first has become a topic again.
06:14But what plans, if any, do you have about with rebranding, whether it's name, jersey
06:18and how does winning impact how you view that situation?
06:22Yeah.
06:23So just to hit the name first, like we're focused on, we're back to saying, you know,
06:28what we said all last year, which is focused on winning football games and getting prepared
06:31for next year on fixing up Ashburn and the stadium.
06:37We could talk about that.
06:38And then on engaging with the community of Washington.
06:42And so right now and now in this building, the name commanders mean something.
06:49It means that, you know, it's about players who, you know, are love football, are great
06:58at football, hit hard, mentally tough, great teammates.
07:02And so it's really meaningful that that name is growing in meaning.
07:08And so but as far as rebranding and bringing our past, you know, which obviously I grew
07:13up with and all the Super Bowl championships and our future together, you're going to see
07:18us head back towards, you know, honoring our past and bringing together their future.
07:25So a couple of things there, Danny, number one, without confirming, I think he corroborated
07:30what we talked about last week, where he talked about the rebrand and honoring the past.
07:35We already told you they're going to change the uniforms.
07:38They're going to look like the old Super Bowl, Joe Gibbs era uniforms, a lot more like that.
07:42They're going to do some throwback jerseys, probably that honor the past Redskins look.
07:47There will not be any use of the logo.
07:49So I know everyone keeps thinking that's going to be the case.
07:51It's just not happening.
07:53The jerseys look a lot more like the old stuff, and they'll have the correct colors, which
07:57I know is a win for Danny Ruyeh.
07:59Yes.
08:00Yeah.
08:01It's a small victory.
08:02It's, you know, winning the battle while my entire government is collapsed.
08:05My whole thing, my country is gone.
08:07You have lost your territory.
08:08But I got you did win that one battle.
08:10I get to keep the cul-de-sac.
08:11You know what I mean?
08:12It's like my my farm is OK, but I no longer live in the country.
08:16I want to call home.
08:17You have to learn a new language now.
08:19Yeah, pretty much.
08:20And your boss is a boss from another land.
08:22You can have your condo, but specific to the name.
08:25He started his answer there going the same path they did for the year and a half.
08:30He started his answer by saying, we're back to last year's messaging.
08:34Here are our goals.
08:35Here's what we're focused on.
08:36And so I don't know about you, but were you like me where you thought, OK, here we go
08:39again.
08:40We're doing this.
08:41We're not.
08:42I thought we're not going to get an answer here.
08:43And then it was like a shift.
08:45He pivoted and he said the name is Noah.
08:47I'm paraphrasing.
08:48The name is no longer bad.
08:50There are no longer negative connotations.
08:52The name now means something positive.
08:54It now means good players, physical players, mentally tough players.
08:59There's a positive identity and association with this name now.
09:03And that's why we like the name more.
09:05But make no mistake, Danny Ruey, the owner of the commanders, Josh Harris, who used to
09:10not say commanders, if you remember, would never really wear commander stuff.
09:13It was pretty clear he and the ownership group didn't love the new name.
09:16It has grown on him enough that he said today, point blank.
09:20Yeah, we're keeping the name.
09:23Yep, I don't there's no way around that as far as I can tell.
09:26Right. I mean, the again, I'm maybe it's my cynicism and I'm not again, it sounds like
09:32I'm being critical of Josh Harris.
09:33I'm not at all.
09:34I understand it.
09:35I'm again, I'm a grown up.
09:36I was there, too, man.
09:37I'm watching and rooting and hollering and screaming and having fun like everybody else
09:41was.
09:42And when I look in there's Jaden Daniels's jersey, the number one since this time, here's
09:46this amount of merchandise that's been sold.
09:47I see the new gear.
09:49A lot of people walk around with fresh stuff with their tags on it.
09:51That stupid clip art, black W and everything under the sun that has to do with the current
09:56deal.
09:57By the way, that's what happened.
09:58Right.
09:59What happened?
10:00What happened was they won football games and a lot of diehard stopped caring because
10:05they were winning.
10:06It said, OK, well, I guess I'm in on commanders.
10:08And then for the people that didn't, which was still the majority, I think you might
10:12have still made a purchase.
10:13You might have still gotten your kid that Jaden Daniels jersey.
10:16Right.
10:17You might have still bought that hoodie that you weren't going to buy a year ago because
10:21they just whooped Detroit's ass in the playoffs.
10:23Like that is what happened here.
10:25Yeah.
10:26It was a game.
10:27And now they can justify not having to do the thing that takes all of the money and
10:31all the time and all the energy and still probably does not net a perfect result.
10:35That's right.
10:36Yeah.
10:37I mean, it does.
10:38You know, the the all the usual caveats apply.
10:39You got to pay all the consultants, do all the surveys, do all the engagements and put
10:42on a big show.
10:44You know, if you already know what the name is going to be or whatever, you go through
10:46the expense and the paperwork and everything.
10:48Now, to me, it's worth doing because I just think this is so improvable, not fixable,
10:52improvable.
10:53We should always try to do better.
10:54Right.
10:55Like I lost five pounds.
10:56We'll try to lose six.
10:57You know what I mean?
10:58Like, let's keep going.
10:59Let's keep doing the best we can.
11:00And to me, this is not the best we can.
11:01This is settling.
11:02But I understand that these are business people and this is this is a sound business decision.
11:07He's got.
11:08And again, it sounds like I'm ripping him.
11:09I'm not at all.
11:10But to me, I kind of roll my eyes at the it meant something to the to the group, to the
11:15team.
11:16And you've got a couple of catchphrases here and there.
11:18And maybe they round around it, maybe not.
11:19I don't know.
11:20But it's it to me, it's like a line of defense, which basically is cover for.
11:24Yeah, we made a bunch of money doing it this way.
11:26And changing is not worth it anymore.
11:29I think that's what happened.
11:30And that's OK.