I was born in Washington, D.C., and have always stayed loyal to the football team, no matter the long spans of irrelevance, inconsistent success, shattered hopes and name changes. There have been too many times after games when I’ve shouted, “God, I hate this fucking franchise!”
Of course, I’ve never meant it outside of those many impulsive moments of frustration. Please don’t make me mean it by letting our current leader be involved with the franchise in any way.
The leader should not get the naming rights to the new Commanders’ stadium for one simple reason amongst the various other complicated reasons. When it comes to sports, they do not display the qualities of a leader.
I was a competitive athlete in multiple sports, playing for different coaches and serving as a captain for many of those years. I still play despite what these 40-plus-year-old bones argue after each session, or at least find some new, less-strenuous forms of competition. I’m currently climbing the pickleball rankings at my local recreation center.
As an athlete, you want to fight for your leader, whether that be a captain or coach. You trust them and you follow them, and a good leader shows poise and puts the team in a place to be successful. A leader is equally humble in victory and civil in defeat. A leader does anything to make sure his or her team flourishes as a unit. Most importantly, a leader holds accountability.
Let’s look at the Jayden Daniels injury, as an example. After that gruesome and unfortunate moment happened, people questioned head coach Dan Quinn’s decision to leave the young franchise star in the game. Some even wanted him to lose his job. It was all his fault. So, he did what any good leader would do: he took accountability. He was civil in defeat.
But what if Daniels had scored on that play and finished the game unscathed? He would have been praised for his guts and refusal to quit. Quinn would have never been mentioned in the same sentence if that happened. But, you know what Quinn would have said during this hypothetical postgame press conference? He would have praised Daniels’ grit, will and leadership. He would have remained humble.
Players should still want to play for Quinn. He is a leader. It’s been a bad year, yes, but he has never blamed anyone or anything other than himself for the team’s misfortune and drop in confidence, which has ultimately led to a less-than-ideal performance and failed expectations. Yet, he cares about his players, despite what happened against the Seattle Seahawks; it has proven in the past that that is the type of culture he builds in a locker room and it has led to success.
Now, let’s compare this to the actions of the country’s leader. When they lost the 2020 election, it was at the fault of the voters and party leaders. The economy? The Federal Reserve’s fault. The government shutdown? The democrats’ fault. We could keep going, but we have other things to do. Doesn’t sound like they’re being very civil in defeat. If you’re the leader of the (currently-not-so) free world, eventually you need to take accountability.
Unless things are good, which is when they take all the praise, their ego so bloated that they think they deserve a stadium named after them. Doesn’t sound like they’re being very humble.
And they certainly do not care about their players, the American people in this sense, especially the 41.7 million who struggled to get food from the lapse in SNAP benefits. They would rather let them struggle just to prove their unwarranted point.
Our country is made up of united states. We are a team. When we head to Italy in February to compete in the Winter Olympics, we compete as Team America. On that note, there is no need for politics in sport, especially as it comes to naming things like teams and stadiums. Even more especially when the fanbasse at the center of the decision offers a mixture of lackluster cheers and jeers (that’s right, not cheers) at the direction of the possible buyer in attendance.
Perhaps it is time for a coaching change, come to think of it. As we are seeing now, opportunties for them to be accountable are constantly available.
It is hard to follow this leader into battle, on or off the field, so hopefully said field is not under a future dome donning their name in largest font a structure can allow. They do not belong in the sports realm, because they can’t handle it.
Carl Lawrence Knauf 