*I’ll return to more parenting centric blog items in the coming weeks and months. But I couldn’t let the NFL season start without chiming in on the biggest issue facing my favorite team. How many more seasons will I be able to root for the Washington Redskins as they are known? And by root, I mean inflict the excruciating pain that comes with being a fan of these guys most Sundays. And allowing it to ruin my week when they lose a game they definitely SHOULD have won. Like how I can’t read the sports page, listen to sports radio or watch SportsCenter on Mondays after losses. Yeah, all of that! Can’t wait for opening weekend!

I’m a lifelong Washington Redskins fan. I can’t help it. My family has had season tickets since they moved out to FedEx Field. Before then, the highlight of my year was the one game a year my Dad would take us to at RFK Stadium with tickets from work. I’ve traveled to see the ‘Skins on the road in Tampa, San Diego, Chicago, New York and even Philly (on a Monday night no less!). And I’ve never been offended by the teams nickname. I won’t pretend to be offended now because I’m supposed to be. But I also can understand the other side. I’m not swayed by arguments that bring up other team mascots, or nicknames (Vikings, Fighting Irish, etc). Or if an Indian Reservation somewhere in South Dakota has a high school team with the name “Redskins.” None of that really matters in this case. I don’t think the team has done a good job at all of changing minds. Rather than pick a side and try and shout the loudest, I thought I would try and look ahead and see how this issue may eventually get resolved.

Dan Snyder is really in a no win situation here. Which is too bad for him, but that’s just the way it is. The tide is working against him and it’s just going to get worse. My official stance is that I don’t think the team should be forced to change the name. But I do think that before this decade is out, the team will change their name. Just last year while I was still working at the Associated Press, we did a national poll on the name issue and 79% said not to change it. http://ap-gfkpoll.com/featured/our-latest-story-2 That was just a year and a few months ago. The loud minority has a hold of the issue now, and Snyder is stuck. Politicians, mainstream media types like Peter King and Bob Costas won’t let this go until the NFL demands and enacts change. Exactly how many Native Americans are actually offended, doesn’t really matter anymore.

I’m no PR expert, but I worked in media and have followed sports and politics long enough to have a hunch on how this will all play out. About a year from now The Washington Post will make an announcement that its board has decided to stop using the word “Redskins” in print, online,  in videos or photo captions. Some papers and media organizations have already done this, but it will carry much more weight when The Post decides to do it. In addition to being one of a handful of print outlets that still matters, The Post also covers the team everyday (and famously has feuded with Snyder for years). From there it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the media follows suit, this will include some NFL broadcast partners who will suddenly become uncomfortable using the name on air or in graphics. Business partners and other owners will get in the leagues ear and wallah, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (a lifelong Redskins fan himself) will change course. Leaving Snyder and the team alone on an island. The NFL is, if nothing else, image conscience. This issue can’t remain a black eye for the league much longer.

This leaves Snyder with two choices. Play the long game. He can keep doing tone deaf local interviews where he controls the message and often the messengers. He can keep having Bruce Allen send out press releases and other statements reacting to every story or poll about the name. The team can develop more failing social media strategies and hide behind current and former players whose livelihoods depend on the team keeping the name. Can he risk RG3 eventually giving a contrary opinion on the issue? Or he can use this as leverage to get what he needs from the NFL before “graciously” stepping aside and hammering out a deal that changes the name to “Warriors,” keeps the logo intact, and keeps the rights to the name so he can set up a museum of team history with proceeds benefiting Native American causes. For being such a “great guy” the NFL guarantees him a Super Bowl or two at FedEx Field. And/or helps pull the strings that gets him his own brand new stadium back at the RFK site.

To be clear, I’m not necessarily rooting for this to happen. Is all of this just the PC police run amok? Maybe. It doesn’t help that the teams owner is one of the 10 least likeable people on the planet. Is part of this motivated by hate for Dan Snyder? I think so. All indications so far show that Snyder will likely take the path of fighting until the end. Years in courtrooms with more hastily written, poorly thought out, press releases. I don’t begrudge him that right. I actually believe he believes what he says about the name being intended to honor Native Americans. But I also realize that he and the team aren’t succeeding in changing any minds. The longer he fights, the more people will turn against him. Out of fatigue if nothing else. He probably has as many supporters today as he ever will. Which is why he probably won’t be able to ever win this, and should leverage it as best he can soon. Because eventually that leverage will vanish.

August has been the best time to be a Redskins fan in recent years. For whatever reason we kick butt in the preseason, before crashing down to earth when the real games start. As I sit here monitoring training camp transactions and preseason stats, I do wonder if the Redskins will eventually become the Warriors or some other name. And how that would make me feel, how will I refer to them and what I will tell my son as I show him my DVD collection of Redskins Super Bowl seasons. I don’t really know how I’ll feel, or what I’ll tell him. But I’m getting the feeling that I’m going to have to figure that out pretty soon.

View from brunch at the Castle Hill Inn in Newport.

We leave Maine on Monday and then very quickly pack up and get moved back to Maryland. By the end of next week we will back in our house in Baltimore, almost as if none of this had ever happened. I’ll be without internet next week, so I wanted to take a moment now to say goodbye to our  home of 14 months.

I’d never ever been to Rhode Island before I pulled up with our Budget truck last June. I’d spent exactly one night in the state, a few months prior as we looked for a place to live for the year. We lived in a small house we found on craigslist, sight unseen. I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you can help it. In general the house worked out OK, and was in a great location. But it was SMALL, and lacked certain amenities we are used to (dishwasher, central AC) that made day-to-day living a bit more difficult. We opted to live in Saunderstown, which is a neighboring town to Naragannsett, a popular beach destination. This gave Sara a decent commute up to Providence every day, but allowed us to live in a beach town for a year. Something we’ve always thought of doing, dating back to off-season trips we’d take to my parents’ house in Bethany Beach.

While we didn’t know how long we’d be in Rhode Island when we got here, I don’t think either of us really thought we’d be staying more than the 14 months we signed up for. That made the year a little strange. The last 20 months or so have been a little strange. When you know you are moving away, you can’t ever really get settled. That is how our last six months in Maryland were, and that’s sort of how our entire time in Rhode Island was. You’re waiting for the next thing, while trying to enjoy what you’re doing now.

That said, I really did enjoy our time in Rhode Island. I can say that as a whole, Rhode Islanders were about the nicest people I’ve ever lived around. The whole state is like a little town. Everyone knows everyone. Living near the beach was a nice, needed break from the hustle and bustle of the DC/Baltimore grind. A grind I’m hoping not to immediately rejoin when we get back. But of course the best part of our time here was the addition of Cameron.

We will always be reminded of the nice people of this state when we have to dig out his birth certificate to prove that this moose disguised as a child is really the age we claim he is. But we’re ready to come home. We’re excited to get back to our house, our city, our family and our friends. Cam is a super happy kid already, I think having more friends and family around will only help keep him that way. I know it will make his parents very happy.

As we make one final trip down I-95 about a week from now it won’t feel as stressful. New York City traffic won’t feel quite as crippling. The turnpike will only be really awful, instead of extremely awful. That double-r-bar burger and holster of fries at Roy’s will taste a little better. Because on that trip, we’re coming home. We won’t be making the same trip back 48 hours later. This one is for good.