How the Chargers Got Their Name

posted by SB Nation NFL Newswire on May 29, 2016

"Team owner Barron Hilton sponsored a name-the-team contest and promised a trip to Mexico City to the winner in 1960. Gerald Courtney submitted "Chargers" and Hilton reportedly liked the name so much that he didn’t open another letter. There are varying accounts as to why Hilton chose Chargers for his franchise, which spent one year in Los Angeles before relocating to San Diego. According to one story, Hilton liked the name, in part, for its affiliation with his new Carte Blanche credit card. The owner also told reporters that he was fond of the "Charge!" bugle cry played at the Los Angeles Coliseum"

The Modern Football Helmet

Football helmets has come a long way.  From tough durable cow leather to mold injected space age plastics. Yet we still haven't developed head gear that will keep the atlete 100% safe from injury?

 

                                                                      

http://dchelmetpipes.com

Inside the Los Angeles Lakers' Locker Room | Sole Access

Rare behind the scene look at one of the NBA's top franchise.

90% of Native Americans Not Offended by Washington Redskins Name

Poll proves Redskins "debate" whipped up by perpetually offended media

Kit Daniels - May 19, 2016
 
Ninety percent of Native Americans aren’t offended by the Washington Redskins name, underscoring how the “issue” has been hyped up by both the perpetually offended media and politicians trying to control free speech.

The Washington Post – a liberal newspaper – conducted a poll of over 500 Native Americans across the country and found that the general population is more concerned about the so-called “racist” Redskins than the group the team is supposedly offending.

Even more, of the Native Americans who identified as being liberal, 80% of them called the name “inoffensive.”

And, giving the poll more credibility, a 2014 ESPN poll found that only 23% of the population supported a name change, and it’s likely only a small percentage of that 23% were Native American.

"The Washington Redskins team, our fans and community have always believed our name represents honor, respect and pride. Today's Washington Post polling shows Native Americans agree," team owner Dan Snyder said in a statement. "We are gratified by this overwhelming support from the Native American community, and the team will proudly carry the Redskins name."

The mainstream media – and politicians such as President Obama – artificially fueled the “outrage” over the name to make racism seem more commonplace than it actually is so the public would be more likely to believe a lie that someone, such as opposition to the status quo, is racist.

And it also served as a chilling effect on free speech because “political correctness” encourages self-censorship by exploiting the human fear of social rejection.

“When a free society falls under the sway of these manufactured cascades, many people stop behaving as free thinkers,” former intelligence insider Stella Morabito said. “People become less focused on truth and more focused on their social survival, and once people perceive the PC view as dominant, many with opposing views remain silent out of fear of social isolation.”

In other words, people will fear sharing their views and opinions out of fear they’ll be socially outcast like a leper due to not being “politically correct.”

This, of course, suppresses civil debate that awakens reason and causes people to challenge the current political system.

dchelmetpipes.com

New OSU Football Helmets Arrive

A New Helmet For The NFL's Concussion Problem

Is it enough? 

What about the all the players who played with little to no protection.  Who is taking care of them?                                                                                                                                                                                

Evolution of the Football Helmet

  

Still have a long way to go.!!!!

DC Helmet Pipes

Racism in Branding.....

Article by Rob Stefanski

Filed Under: Inspiration, branding, graphic design, diversity

 

The Cleveland Indians Logo.....Why Just C?  The C is the safest option for owenership......

 

 

 Each year we seem to hear about the issue of racism in sports brands—par­tic­u­larly those with Native American mas­cots such as the Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Braves, and Kansas City Chiefs. Throughout the his­tory of each of these fran­chises, their logos have been altered. USA Today recently showed the evo­lu­tion of the logos for each team.

You’ll notice how the Atlanta Braves logo has depicted var­i­ous iter­a­tions of a Native American from cherry red-colored skin to a “scream­ing Indian,” and then finally drop­ping the icon alto­gether and replaced with a tom­a­hawk. The team has kept the Braves name which still is offen­sive to many people.

Chicago Blackhawks logo

Washington Redskins logo
Some teams have decided to keep Native American imagery while get­ting rid of red fleshtones.

Cleveland Indians logo

Kansas City chiefs logo
Other teams have replaced offen­sive imagery with other icons or let­ter­ing. But is this enough? In an inter­view with Co. Design, National Congress of American Indians’ Deputy Direc­tor Robert Holden explained that the “neu­tral­ity” of let­ter­ing and icons is purely subjective. “The team still owns the mas­cot or logo. Without a mean­ing­ful dia­logue with Native peo­ples that includes tribal offi­cials, Native edu­ca­tors, and oth­ers, these ‘changes’ are disin­gen­u­ous at best. They cer­tainly have not com­mu­ni­cated a will­ing­ness to broach the sub­ject with Native peo­ples. That gives rea­son to think that they are not vol­un­tar­ily going to change, and believe that their PR and brand­ing team can get away with what they may think is a more benign form of racism and stereotyping.”
This racism in brand­ing presents a unique design chal­lenge and an oppor­tu­nity to solve a prob­lem that has been around for decades. Where do we draw the line between tra­di­tion, her­itage, and racism? Is there a solu­tion that can honor long­time fans yet be respect­ful and non-offensive to Native peo­ples? Who should be involved in the design process if these team logos were to be rebranded? Clearly the con­tro­versy won’t be going away any time soon but thank­fully the con­ver­sa­tion con­tin­ues. It will be inter­est­ing to see how and if these brands will evolve and how design will pro­vide the solu­tion to this impor­tant challenge.