Majority of American's Okay With Washington Football Team's Name

In other breaking news, water is wet and the sky is blue.

DUH AP! I could have freaking told you that!

The poll taken by AP shows that about 79% of those polled are okay with the name "Redskins". Which, the last poll taken in 1992, shows a 10% drop in name support for Washington. Which is good news for the pro-namechange crowd (which doesn't include RGIII, I presume).

In other words, this process, unless shot in the ass, will take years. No freakin' duh! The biggest worry is in fact, the theoretical shot in the ass.

Let me put it this way: what kind of backlash would have happened if, say, slavery was abolished ten years earlier? Or Civil Rights? Or if in 1996, instead of passing DOMA, Congress legalized gay marriage? You might be thinking "well, it should be done, and better sooner than later, amirite?" No, you are not right.

When it comes to societal changes, like civil liberties, or convincing an entire group of people that something is racist, you need to take your time. A lot of time. Estimates in the pro-namechange crowd (namely Paul Lukas of Uni Watch) range to about fifteen years before real change happens.

That lines up with Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Football Team, hinting at a new stadium when his current stadium is only reaching adulthood and can't even drink yet. Snyder has said before that he believes that a stadiums shelf life isn't much different than a nuclear power plants'--about thirty years. Snyder also wants to move Washington back into, y'know, Washington D.C., where we already heard comedic plans to rename the team.

(Even though Redtails fits into the fight song like a glove, and even with the Tuskegee Airmen as the basis, it's still a comedic name change. C'mon, we have the Cardinals already, you want me to be intimidated by Redtails? At least use Washington Warriors, and make Methacton fit to a pro football team already.)

The name change, I predict, will coincide with the team moving back to D.C., mostly because you'll see a resolution come from city council  "The Redskins can't play here, however, if we called them something else, we'll talk". Even if the Washington Football Team keeps the same helmet/jersey/pants/socks, the re-branding will be a long, tedious, and expensive process. But not too expensive for the fifth wealthiest team in the world.

We get it; most people are okay with "Redskins", but way back when, most people were okay with segregation. Times do change: just let it happen on it's own.

Uphill Battle: Xbox Edition

With the Wii U out, and Sony already gave all of us the heads up of what they're doing, Microsoft finally announced a date for when the details of the next Xbox is going to drop.

And they already have an uphill battle against the two Japanese consoles.

It's no secret that the NeXbox (new name) is rumored to have Always Online DRM (and a Microsoft Exec has responded with class), which allows Mircosoft to give a big middle finger to gamers who are on a budget and play used games--which includes me. Oh, and as of right now, Xbox Live is still a paid membership to play online, although with a Silver Membership, I can be online for free. Just not able to t-bag my friends in Halo.

So, to recap, Xbox wants you to buy a new system, always have it online, you have to play new games, and then charge you to play multiplayer. It's no wonder they're waiting to drop the details!

As of right now, the PS4 is winning and the system isn't even out yet. PSN allows you to be online and play for free, and you still can play used games. Sony realizes that there is a core of gamers who play used games, and if Microsoft bans used games, Sony seem to be welcoming used game players with open arms, even though developers lose money on used games.

The solution with that is to open up a first-party used game service, probably internet-based, and gamers can buy physical copies of used games in the mail, while Sony gets paid for the used game, and in turn, orchestrates a deal with developers and publishers too. Or, gamers can buy digital copies of games on their system when there is a sale.

But it's easier or Micorsoft to shun used games altogether, and risk making a nucleus of gamers hop ship to go to Sony. I'm not going to lie, I like Xbox. I love the Halo series. I don't love it enough to get the new Xbox, and I'd rather get the PS4. Right now, I love my PS3, because it isn't $5/month for online multiplayer that I may never use.

The reason Microsoft "won" in the beginning of this generation was because the Xbox was hundreds of dollars cheaper than PS3. Even when it would red-ring, Xbox was still the go-to system. Now that PS3 is cheaper, people are tired of Xbox's chronic problems, as evidenced by Sony's slight pickup in sales. Now Sony seems like the long-term economical model as opposed to Microsoft. So when May 21st comes, unless Microsoft changes it's tune, I think there will be a lot of unhappy gamers. And the only American game company is going to have a serious black eye.

CISPA Passes The House

On April 18, the House of Representatives approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, known as CISPA, for the second year in a row.

Remember the SOPA/PIPA shenanigans? CISPA is the younger brother, but much, much worse. The U.S. Government would be able to take all of your information off of the internet--for no reason if they wanted--and use it with no legal consequence. And this doesn't just apply to the good ol' U.S. of A., it applies to anyone on the internet, anywhere, at any time.

The EFF has already condemned the passing of it, while President Obama has publicly stated that he would veto this bill. In the last round, the Senate, being surprisingly useful, shot the bill down.

This goes to show, again, that the lawmakers who we put in charge are making decisions about security in fields they know nothing about. If there was a poster child for the generation gap, it would be Congress and SOPA/PIPA/CISPA.

If you don't want this bill to see the light of day, I don't blame you. You do have a voice; call up or email your local Senators (for PA, it's Bob Casey (D) and Pat Toomey (R)), and bug the living shit out of them. Get informed on CISPA, and make damn sure your voice is heard. Just don't be surprised if there are website blackouts again.

Let the System Run

I try not to get too political on /rage (which is why I have my own blog devoted to my thoughts on local politics) because politics is great at pissing people off and starting flame wars and such. But with almost every tragedy nowadays, politics rears it's ugly, fat face and shoves it so it's right in the middle of things. And most recently, we had the Boston Marathon Bombing.

First off, it's a shame we can't try the older Tsarnaev, after he was turned into Chechnyan Swiss Cheese, but thank our fifty stars that we got Dzhokhar in custody. And of course we've heard about how Dzhokhar wasn't read his Miranda rights (claimed under public safety exception), or about how he may have been a radical Muslim, although he was a normal college student on the surface, and any other news we have to hear. But then you get a New York State Senator asking "can we torture this guy?" on Twitter, or Senator Lindsay Graham jumping right to We Have To Defend Against Radical Islam mode. We need to collectively take a breath here.

My thing is, yes, the Tsarnaev brothers are scumbag-status, and yes, they need to be taken care of. Let the Justice System run it's course. Do everything we're supposed to, even though we can suspend a suspect's Miranda rights, read it to 'em anyway. Let him lawyer up. What can he do? We can try the motherfucker for treason because he is a U.S. Citizen if we deem his crime as such.

I know everyone would rather shoot the bastard and get it over with, but true punishment is the bureaucratic deliberation that is our justice system. I bet you Dzhokhar is gonna get the electric chair firing squad hung at the gallows however 21st Century 'Murica kills people nowadays, because of the sheer amount of people dismembered at Boston. Because of how cruel and random the attack was. Because it literally united a nation that can't even seem to agree on anything anymore.

Let the Justice System run. He will suffer in the end.

Sorta Makes Sense Now

Remember when Chip said he was returning to Oregon, then he suddenly went "We're Philadelphia Now" on everyone?

Now we (kinda) know why.

With reports that the University of Nike Oregon had at least one major NCAA violation involving recruiting between 2008 to 2011--that doesn't involve those uniforms, apparently--Chip Kelly did the logical thing any self respecting man in his position would do; hop ship while it's sinking, then refuse to elaborate on what happened. 

I would guess the revolving door uniforms would be a minor infraction, hm?

I like Chip Kelly so far, but these reported sanctions during his tenure make me weary. The same time that THE Ohio State former head coach, Jim "Rick Santorum Stole My Look" Tressel, played avoid NCAA hopscotch, the Colts went 2-14. When coaches are in hot water in college, the answer seems to be to find a position within the NFL, even if it's something dumb, like what Tressel did.

With all this crap banter about what kind of offense Kelly will run, I got hopeful when Kelly stated he'd build the offense around the Quarterback, and Kelly is the kind of guy who adapts his gameplan to the surroundings. Still, I keep myself hoping that the Eagles go 8-8, or somewhere close to that. Here's to hoping Kelly didn't just hop to Philly to avoid the NCAA banhammer.