Last week, someone with WRAL/WRAZ decided that people in the Triangle rather see the Indianapolis Colts vs. the Cincinnati Bengals than the Washington Redskins vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. This week, someone decided that we’d rather see the Seattle Seahawks vs. the New York Giants rather than the Redskins vs. Atlanta Falcons.

In addition, someone decided that we’d rather see the New Orleans Saints vs. St. Louis Rams than the Green Bay Packers vs. the Dallas Cowboys. Packers-Cowboys!? Did you hear how the Packers won that game late 37-36? Too bad you couldn’t see it on local TV.

Whomever is making the decisions ain’t from around these parts – or either they are simply going with their personal preferences because anyone from the Triangle area knows that people here would rather watch the Redskins, win or lose, than any of those teams.

For years the Redskins were shown each week on North Carolina stations. In fact the Redskins – before the days of the Falcons and the Florida teams – were known as the Team of the South. Each year there used to be a “North Carolina Day” in Washington where a high school band from NC played at halftime of a game and the governor of North Carolina was in attendance. Those on each team from North Carolina were singled out and photographed together.

The argument could be that since Charlotte has a team now that people don’t care about the Redskins here. Well, facts don’t prove that out. The Redskins still have a presence on local radio. Plus, a DirecTV study just a couple of years ago listed the Raleigh/Durham area as having more Redskins fans than any other market in the country (except the DC market of course).

When asked online about the decisions, the response from WRAL/WRAZ was “we air games with potential playoff implications over games of regional interest.”

Well, the Seahawks-Giants game wasn’t exactly a game with playoff implications. The Giants are out of it and the Seahawks are in. Ok, so the Seahawks quarterback is former NC State quarterback Russell Wilson. But that trumps 50+ years of Redskins tradition here? Plus, Wilson’s last team was Wisconsin, not NC State.

While the previous week’s Bengals-Colts game had playoff implications, the Chiefs would argue that their game with the Redskins had playoff implications for them. That game – especially with many big plays in the snow – was at least as interesting as the Bengals two-touchdown win over the Colts, which wasn’t really even that close as the Colts scored late.

And to choose the Saints-Rams over the Packers-Cowboys? The Rams, despite playing well against the Saints, don’t have a chance at the playoffs while the Saints were in win or lose. Meanwhile both the Packers and the Cowboys are fighting for a playoff spot. Plus, it’s Packers-Cowboys. That’s almost like not showing the Redskins-Cowboys game because Arizona is facing Detroit in a game with playoff implications.

I suppose the thinking was that Panthers fans would be interested in the Saints game because a Saints’ loss could help the Panthers get the division lead (but only if the Panthers also defeat the Saints next week). Plus, the Panthers were playing at the same time on their sister station. I don’t think you air a game just so Panthers fans can switch over during commercials to see the score. Besides, the scores run continuously on the screen during all games.

If I had to guess the rankings of the interest from local fans, especially in years when Charlotte’s Panthers aren’t good, there are several teams that would rival the Panthers in number of fans. Not only are there a great number of local fans of the Redskins, Cowboys, Packers, Patriots and Steelers, for instance, their fervency is greater than most Panthers fans in this area. Not sure if it’s because the Panthers are still relatively new and people don’t switch allegiances easily but it just is.

A new generation of young fans in the Triangle likely are following the Panthers but they are statistically less likely to watch the games. Studies show the young kids are playing NFL video games more than they watch the actual games.

I’m not sure how many Falcons fans there are here but it is a regional team and surely has more followers than the St. Louis Rams. In fact, the DirecTV survey showed that the Greenville-Spartanburg, SC / Asheville, NC market is the Falcons top out of market area.

But as it turns out even the beer-bellied football fan who watches whatever game is on would have preferred to see a 27-26 Redskins-Falcons game determined by a failed two-point conversion in the final seconds than a 23-0 Seahawks shellacking of the Giants.

Last week, I asked WRAL/WRAZ if they would share their ratings. I wanted to see how well their decisions were received but I got no response.

By the way, WNCT in Greenville, just to our east, also aired the Seattle-New York game rather than the Skins-Falcons but WNCT did show the Redskins-Chiefs game rather than the Colts-Bengals game the previous week. Perhaps the benching of RG3 entered into their decision this week, not sure.

But I do know fans of the Triangle’s most popular teams better plan on going to sports bars or getting DirecTV Sunday Ticket because the “big-city,” nationally minded folks at WRAL/WRAZ just don’t get it.

Does Fox Sports know anything about history? If so, you’d think they wouldn’t have switched local TV viewers away from the Redskins-Eagles game midway through the third quarter. Regardless, it doesn’t make sense.

The Eagles were beating the Redskins 24-0 so they thought they’d switch us to a “more competitive” game. First of all, Steelers and Lions fans weren’t sitting around hoping Fox Sports might switch to their game if the scheduled game got out of hand. Those fans either have DirecTV Sunday Ticket or they were at a sports bar watching the Lions at Steelers game.

Second, if people start watching a game, they want to finish watching the game. Otherwise, they would have the Red Zone station where they are switched from game to game depending on who is threatening to score.

Third, DirecTV did a study a couple of years ago where they found the most popular out-of-market team for each TV market. The team that was picked for the Triangle area? The Redskins. Therefore, it amounts to switching away from an area’s favorite team in order to show a “better” game.

Redskins and Eagles fans, regardless of how the game is going, want to watch their team play and they made plans based on the the TV schedule showing the Redskins at Eagles game on local TV.

Fourth, has Fox Sports ever heard of comebacks? Earlier in the year the Redskins almost came all the way back against these same Eagles. And had Redskins QB Robert Griffin not thrown a bonehead interception in the end zone with less than a minute to play in Sunday’s game, there would be even more egg on the faces of those experts who know better than us what we want to watch. The Redskins scored twice and converted a pair of two-point conversions to pull the Skins within one score at 24-16. They were driving for the possible tying score when Griffin threw the interception. Meanwhile, the Steelers ended up beating the Lions by 10 points. The Eagles ended up beating the Redskins by eight points.

To make matters worse, those who pay a lot of money to watch every down of every NFL game on DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket were blacked out for about 15 minutes between the time the game was switched on local TV until the time they got around to lifting the blackout on the Sunday Ticket channel so local fans could watch the fourth quarter of the game. I’m sure a lot of people with NFL Sunday Ticket gave up thinking they weren’t going to make the switch.

Was it really worth ticking off a sizable number of people to please a few couch potato football fans who just want to watch the most competitive game possible? Those people had probably changed the channel already anyway – unless they’ve heard of comebacks.

The Washington, DC city council is discussing the name “Redskins” and may consider demanding the Washington Redskins change their name. There have already been comments that the council wants the team to come back inside the district limits but will not allow the organization to build there unless the name is changed.

I sent this letter to each member of the DC council:

I have been a Redskins fan since 1967. I am not a Washington football team fan – I am a Redskins fan and proud of the rich history. The second part of the name means more to many people than the first part. I hope you realize that the majority of Redskins fans do not live in the District of Columbia. If you want the owner to cease using the “Washington” part of the name, I urge you vote on that.

I am part Cherokee. No one in my family is offended by the term Redskins and many of us are and were Redskins fans. My uncle who proudly fought for our country in WWII was a Redskins fan until the day he died. Several years ago I visited with the then chief of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation and he told me that not only was he not offended by Redskins (or any other Indian-related team names) but that he himself was a Redskins fan. Plus, he appreciated them using the name because it brought attention to his people and helped employ his people, some of whom made various paraphernalia for Redskins fans. So, you can’t paint a broad brush by saying it’s offensive to Native Americans. Someone is always going to be offended by something. You have a right to be offended but you don’t have a right to never be offended.

Most Native Americans and most Americans understand that “Redskins” is not derogatory. Studies show this and any real knowledge of the history substantiates that. In 1933, the team was renamed the Boston Redskins in honor of the head coach, William “Lone Star” Dietz, an American Indian. He was honored by it and appreciated it. When the team moved to Washington in 1937 it was renamed the Washington Redskins. Clearly the name was not considered disparaging.

The term redskin of course goes much farther back than 1933. The details of this history were explored by Ives Goddard of the Smithsonian Institution. You can read the study here – http://anthropology.si.edu/goddard/redskin.pdf The term redskin is a translation from native American languages of a term used by native Americans for themselves. The claim that it “had its origins in the practice of presenting bloody red skins and scalps as proof of Indian kill for bounty payments” is unsupported by any evidence.

The term entered popular usage through the novels of James Fenimore Cooper. In the early- to mid-nineteenth century the term was neutral, not pejorative, and indeed was often used in contexts in which whites spoke of Indians in positive terms. Goddard says, “Cooper’s use of redskin as a Native American in-group term was entirely authentic, reflecting both the accurate perception of the Indian self-image and the evolving respect among whites for the Indians’ distinct cultural perspective, whatever its prospects. The descent of this word into obloquy is a phenomenon of more recent times.”

So, the Redskins team, which has done much for the community and for NFL football, has a rich, proud history. Make no mistake, it is the Redskins’ rich history, not the Washington football team’s rich history. The name is the name. And the name was never meant to be negative term and has not and is not taken as a negative term by most Native Americans and most all Americans. In fact, Native Americans helped design the helmet.

Please take no action against the Redskins name. It makes a bad precedence to fold to a small minority of a minority. If this sort of thing is successful, one day a small group of people will change something that you cherish based on false assumptions and political correctness to satisfy those who believe we have a right to never be offended.

Remember, we have a right to be offended but we don’t a have a right to expect to never be offended. Someone will always be offended. Thank you for your time and service.

The Skins signed Nixon, who went to the University of Florida, as an undrafted rookie earlier this year. The 6-6, 320-pounder made the Senior Bowl but he was not a consistent starter for the Gators although he cracked the starting lineup at times throughout his four years. He started five games at left tackle as a freshman while Tim Tebow was the starting QB.

As a result of losing Nixon, the Redskins announced today that they have signed free agent tackle Troy Kropog (Crow-POG) to the team’s practice squad.

Kropog (6-6, 295) was originally drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL Draft (135th overall).

He has appeared in seven NFL games, all with the Titans from 2009-12.

He was acquired on waivers by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 12, 2012, before being released three days later.

He signed to the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad on Sept. 18 that season and was added to their active roster on Dec. 7.

He was released by the Vikings on Sept. 1, 2013.

Kropog, 27, played collegiately at Tulane, where he started 36 games for the Green Wave and was named team captain as a senior.

Sturdivant was drafted by the Cardinals in 2011 in the sixth round but was only a practice squad member. He was released in 2012 and played with the USFL’s Sacramento Mountain Lions before signing with the Chiefs during the 2012 season. He signed with the Skins earlier this year.

The 6-foot-1, 240-pounder was considered a bubble player all along but because of injuries, some thought he would at least make the practice squad. Redskins middle linebacker Keenan Robinson has suffered a season-ending injury.

The Redskins also terminated the contract of veteran receiver Donte Stallworth. That’s good news for East Carolina product Lance Lewis, a receiver and special teams player who recovered a fumble against the Buffalo Bills in a preseason game Saturday.

The Redskins also waived-injured cornerback Richard Crawford, who also returned kicks, and linebacker Jeremy Kimbrough, a rookie from Appalachian State.

The others cut were: LB Ricky Elmore, FB Eric Kettani, K John Potter and WR Chip Reeves.

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.