At his annual press conference on the Friday before the Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell found himself defending the Washington Redskins nickname.
One reporter asked Goodell if he “would call a Native American a Redskin to his face,” which the commissioner swiftly avoided. However, Goodell did have this to say about Washington’s team name “This is the name of a football team … [which has been] presented in a way that honors Native Americans.”
Goodell has defended the Redskins name throughout his time as the commissioner of America’s most pristine professional sports league. In June of 2013, Goodell wrote a letter to members of Congress who called for action from the Commissioner in regards to forcing Washington’s owner Dan Snyder to change the name of his franchise.
Photo by Jeff Lewis
Goodell favored on the side of Snyder, writing “The Washington Redskins name has … from its origin represented a positive meaning distinct from any disparagement that could be viewed in some other context…Public opinion aside, the Washington Redskins name has been confirmed in a legal context,” according to deadspin.com who published the letter in full back in June.
Goodell supported Snyder then, and again on Friday.
The commissioner told reporters Friday that 9 out of 10 Native Americans are in favor of the name and don’t have a problem with it.
Another hot topic Goodell addressed on Friday was marijuana. Since its recent legality for use of all purposes in states such as Washington and Denver, a reporter asked Goodell if the NFL has taken any steps towards ending testing for marijuana in their random drug testing of athletes.
“It is still an illegal substance on national basis…I’ve been randomly drug tested and I am happy to say I am clean,” Goodell said.
