Thanks for making this easy

Names are powerful things. It doesn't really matter when you are first born and your parents lay some pretentious handle on you like Gertrude or Edward. What do you know about power then? You know if you cry someone will fix what is bothering you, be it a soiled diaper or a hunger pain. No, the power of a name comes along a bit later when you get used to answering to it and other people give you power by depending on you linking that name to real things, be it an enlistment contract with the Army, a marriage license, or a loan for a car or home.

For that reason changing a name is kinda a big deal. It says you are no longer that thing you were before but a new person. This is not a new concept. For centuries, when priest are ordained, they usually adopt a new name so they internalize the changed creature they have become. The old id is dead, the new has become something else. I guess that is really what the "cancel culture" is all about now really. Pulling down things, renaming them, so that all that past history can be forgotten and become emptiness. That leaves a mark.

Which brings me to my main point. While reading through the Instapundit this morning I saw where a certain local team will be known as the "Warriors". For the record, I had already decided to stop watching football when I heard Adrian Peterson had decided to bring back the kneeling disrespect to every veteran who had ever served. I felt better about this decision when I read where the NFL had decided to play a made up national anthem in place of the real one.  But the name change? That sealed the deal. The weight of all those old traditions and trappings of history are now cast on the wind and are gone. That good for some, sad for others.

Thus, in my mind, they are no longer playing football. They are doing something else which has no meaning for me. Professional football had a good run though.. 52 years of people cheering for teams they would never see in person just because they happened to represent your town. Now that's over. This name change is the end of the end and there really is no going back. So be it.

Do I have any right to object? Not really. I assume they are making these decisions based on their target market. I am just not in that demographic anymore. I wish them well, but I won't watch it.. just like I don't watch much of what passes for live entertainment anymore. I do appreciate them making this easy for me. Once again I will pursuing those things which I enjoy instead of plopping down in front of the TV on a Sunday afternoon or evening. That too can be a good thing. Life is all about change, but mostly about how we adapt to it. I hope that goes well for us.