Mascots, beer and peanuts: Check the expiration dates

A concern of mine is expiration dates. There is hardly a can or bag that I don’t look for the “use by” date before I buy it. Who among us will pick the expired goods over the newer stuff? I read recently that it’s okay to go beyond this date but it’s a dilemma that irks me. Some manufacturers say that the date is only a guideline and that the contents are usable for up to a couple of years more. Give or take.

With that in mind, I saw an online blip of a story about how the Washington Redsk*ns stadium, the FedEx Field, caused a bit of a roil by serving beer in canisters that had been packaged to celebrate the World Cup, which took place in Summer 2014 and already eclipsed. It was undoubtedly a case of stale beer.

Someone obviously thought that the beer was still potable despite the fact it went beyond the expiration date. The blip mentioned that the same stadium vendors had ruffled fans’ feathers before by selling peanuts that had expired dates as well. I can imagine only vigilant consumers noticed at the time. Still, it’s clear the FedEx Field vendors have no qualms about shilling an inferior product. 

I read the peanut and beer blip casually then read it closer. It is indulgence in this world to think that anything happens by coincidences (something I have already tapped into). But I add this caveat to my personal code: What happens in the physical is merely a reflection of the spiritual. I’ve seen it too many times to protest.

Using that logic, one could safely state that the Washington Redsk*ns have questionable judgment by hawking outdated products. Read that again. They are selling a shoddy product to unsuspecting people to make a buck. And to those who think I am trying to make nooses out of twine, let’s look at what recently happened.

In a gem of a ruling, the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board opted not to renew the team’s claim on the trademark citing that it was disparaging to American Indians. The team’s attorneys sought redress by filing a suit against five Indians who apparently appealed to the federal board to discontinue the Washington pro football team’s trademark in the first place.

The attorneys assert they are in the right court to fight this issue as they seek to bring suit in Alexandria, Va., just a hop, skip and jump from the stadium in Prince George County, Maryland. Attorneys for the Indians hold that any lawsuit should be brought against the federal board instead. This will eventually boil down to some elaborate semantics, I’m guessing.

And the fight goes on with both sides digging in. A high school editor who refused to use the word “redsk*n” was threatened with suspension if the mascot name was not used. The plucky editor maintained that it was a racial slur that had no place in their publication. Some organizations have begun to eschew printing the offending word in headlines or saying it in broadcast.

Meanwhile, the pro-Indians-as-mascots people cleave onto the name because they say it shows pride and “noble” support for an entire race of people. They contend that the use of the word “Redsk*n” is not meant to be offensive although its very syntax was brought into existence as a bounty on Indian epidermis. Those who favor keeping the name say the team began to use the name some 80 years ago all in the good spirit of celebrating Indians.

Eighty years ago is a long time. The team’s own history says it was established in 1932. So let’s see what was happening in 1932 when the word redsk*ns morphed from a racial epithet into the calling card of the fledgling pro football team in Boston. The team moved to Washington, D.C., the nation’s capitol and kept the name (Oh, the irony!).

In that time, Chicago gangster Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion, all of the country was fully in the Great Depression, new cars were averaging $610, gas cost ten cents a gallon and a loaf of bread was seven cents. Today, those prices seem far away and incredible but also incredibly outdated. It’s simple; most of what was acceptable business back in the day no longer has a place in 2014.

Now go back to the expired peanuts and beer that FedEx Field was selling patrons. Football fans are not responsible for the quality of the product they are sold when in the stadium--the organization is. If a stadium keeps selling outdated goods, then it is up to the owner to dispense of the product that has passed a reasonable expiration date. 

When the goods are questionable they are usually wisely thrown out; lest they ruin the respectable reputation of the seller. I’d say it’s time to chuck an outdated mascot name and get a new one in Washington.

S.E. Ruckman is a member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes of OK. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s (OU) school of journalism and was recently named as a 2014 National Health Journalism Fellow by the University of Southern California’s (USC) Annenberg School of Journalism.