Washington Redskins fans know that most Native Americans aren’t offended by the name “Redskins” (studies and polls show that) and they know they aren’t racist against Native Americans, just the opposite, they celebrate and honor them.

But that doesn’t stop a handful of radical extremist Native Americans from having their self-important itch scratched and it doesn’t stop at least some media outlets from proclaiming they won’t refer to the Washington football team as the Redskins.

I hate for this to be a political thing but it does appear that the uproar is coming from one side of the political fence – leftists. MSNBC now refers to “Redskins” as “the R-word.” Last week, the online magazine Slate announced that it will never again refer to the Redskins by their name. (I wonder if any right-leaning magazines still refer to Muhammad Ali as Cassius Clay?)

Columnist Denis Prager, neither a Republican or Democrat, weighs in with a well thought out piece with the provocative title, “The Left vs. the Redskins.” Again, while I don’t think this should be a left or right issue, the article makes some good points.

“If we ceased using all arguments or descriptions because some people feel offended, we would cease using any arguments or descriptions,” Prager writes. “We should use the ‘reasonable person’ test to determine what is offensive, not the ‘some people are offended’ criterion.”

To access Prager’s article, please click here.

Redskins Historian Mike Richman has written an excellent piece titled “Redskins Legacy: Team Of The South” on the Redskins history in the South, even mentioning the Triangle area.

He quoted Hall of Fame receiver Charley Taylor, who said, “We spent a lot of time in North Carolina, and there were a lot of Redskins fans down that way. In cities in North Carolina like Raleigh and Durham, they loved the Redskins, they grew up with the Redskins, they learned football through the Redskins.”

The Redskins were on TV in the Raleigh-Durham market each week for more than 30 years during the football season until the Panthers moved to Charlotte (and unfortunately for Redskins’ fans, the NFC) and started playing in the 1995 season.

The Redskins have also been on the radio in the Triangle area for most of the last 65 years although the signal strength of the stations has diminished over the years. WAUG-750, a 500 watt station on the campus of Saint Augustine’s University, carries the Redskins unless it’s a night game. On a positive note, WAUG carried the pre and post game Redskins shows, unlike the stronger stations that used to carry the games such as 50,000 watt WPTF.

The article notes that Redskins booster clubs popped up in Southern cities, and that caravans of Redskin fans from the North Carolina and elsewhere traveled to see their team play in Washington.

The largest current Redskins fan club in the Triangle area is the Triangle Redskins Fan Club, which meets at Tobacco Road Sports Cafe in Raleigh on game days.

In addition, the article states, sportswriters from southern newspapers, including many in North Carolina, covered the Redskins like a home team.

WSOC-TV in Charlotte has obtained the rights to air three Redskins 2013 pre-season games.

To read the entire Richman article, please click here.