Minnesota-Oakland AFL Connection

Well here’s a different thought or slant (can I say that without offending?)

Things worked out well for the AFL, Oakland having been the far more successful franchise those 10 years & to date, all considered. They might have been/were almost named Oakland Senors – which reminds me – MIN’s team name and logo, Vikings (latter of which translates ‘member a group Scandinavian people who attacked the coasts Europe the 8th-10th centuries A.D.’ – could be considered (by a Viking, one supposes) to be insensitive, discriminatory and offensive.

What’s in a name? Apparently more than meets the eye, ear, nose, tongue and PC test, 2015.

Raiders sport the logo a helmeted Pirate/Buccaneer… must be murderous criminals – unless they’re swashbucklers. According Merriam-Webster, latter is “a person or an character in a movie, book, etc. very brave and has many exciting adventures” (po-tay-to, po-tah-to.) The
‘Lakers’ another finalist, Oakland team name… what to use for a logo, circa 1960? A body of water? Insensitive, non-forward looking, consideration now drought-stricken California.

If they’d gone with Senors? Would it have to be 86’d, like the Frito Bandito, advertising? Perhaps a generic inference a combination of, oh, say Ricardo Montalban & Cary Grant, sirs and gentlemen their dashing visages, pass muster? Or just a faceless outline a human head, to be safe?

Kansas City Chiefs chose their name either a) in honor a former Mayor nick-name ‘Chief’ or b) in consideration Indian tribes inhabited the general area. Course, using an Indian logo variously throughout the 60’s on letterhead & pennants, tom toms beating sideline, helmet arrowhead, etc. in lieu a picture the former Mayor suggests, well…

They moved into a new stadium 1972 too, Arrowhead the given name. Tends give weight to letter b); claim otherwise, would be as the Washington Redskins claiming they’re named after a peanut, fact the helmet features an Indian, mere coincidence. Here’s something interesting:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/25650/whats-nickname-origins-all-32-nfl-team-names –

“One year aft he acquired an NFL franchise in Boston, George Preston Marshall changed the team’s nickname from Braves to Redskins & kept the new name when they moved to Washington. The nickname was meant honor head coach & Native American William Henry “Lone Star” Dietz, though some question whether Dietz was a Native American.”

His heritage (which is a contentious matter, Indian, or other) aside, “honor” seems to be the operative word, whatever Dietz origin. Common sense suggests a name of dishonor would not be the goal for any team; by the way, the Redskins mascot and logo were created by an former chairman of the Blackfeet nation, for what it’s worth.

According most, Cleveland Browns were named after Paul Brown, original Coach. What if his last name were Wiener? Or White? Or Black? A conundrum accumulates endless possibilities: Cleveland Achromatics, perhaps? Maybe the Monotones. Much offense to be given, and taken.

The Bears? I’m offended – they scare me, way they are depicted, reason afl never goes into the woods, why I never smoked (the thought of Smokey filing a lawsuit for a hate crime too much to ‘bear’, pun intended.) Today, offending no one/nothing in lieu everyone/everything is tantamount finding the solution pi; now, bAck to FootbalL.