The Washington Redskins have announced the dates for their 2013 training camp in Richmond, Virginia. Training camp will begin on July 25 and end on August 16, with 17 days of practice open to the public and Fan Appreciation Day on August 3, a Saturday. Admission is free and two practices are scheduled for each day of training camp.  

As we know, the name Washington Redskins is a controversial one, even if the vast majority of Americans are not offended by it right now. Washington D.C. Council Member David Grosso [I-At Large] is introducing a non-binding resolution calling on the Redskins to change their name to the Washington Redtails because he believes Redskins is "derogatory" and "racist." 

“It’s been a long time that we’ve had this name associated with Washington, and I think its time we take a stand and change it,” Grosso said.

I'm a bit late to this, but I wanted to address the recent Associated Press poll which found the vast majority of Americans have no objection to the team name Washington Redskins. 

The survey indicates 79 percent of Americans favor keeping the "Redskins" name, which some American Indian groups, in particular, consider offensive. Eleven percent believe the name should be changed; 8 percent were unsure; and 2 percent didn’t answer, according to the report.

The last national poll on the subject showed 89 percent support of the name. That survey was conducted in 1992 by The Washington Post and ABC News, the AP reported.

Opponents of the name have spearheaded a legal challenge to strip the franchise of trademark protection for the Redskins name.

Losing such protection could have significantly negative financial consequences for the team, which opponents hope would prompt the club to change its nickname.

Redskins general manager Bruce Allen has insisted the team will not consider changing the nickname.

Four things. First, it does not surprise me that most Americans do not object to the name. What I have found in 10.5 years of running a website that covers the Redskins is that most people like the name and want to keep it. They are not offended by it and are, often, offended by people who do want it changed. A great many football fans regard calls to change the name as political correctness gone amok and proponents of change as liberal do-gooders. 

Secondly, I do believe the name should be changed. I think the name is patently offensive [get it? -- patently offensive -- see what I did there?] and I think future generations will regard us as bonkers for not changing it a long time ago. I admit, I don't often think of Amerindians when I think of the Redskins [a team I usually call "the Skins" anyway], but when I do think about the name, I don't like it. I understand the name was originally intended to be complimentary, but times change over 7+ decades and this name has not aged well at all. 

Thirdly, the name isn't changing any time soon. GM Bruce Allen has made it clear the team name isn't changing. Owner Dan Snyder does not want the name changed and since his is the final voice on this matter, that's the end of it. Snyder would only change the team name if the name became a financial albatross and since almost 80 percent of Americans don't object to the name, it's obvious the name isn't a public relations problem for the franchise. 

Fourth and finally, I notice support for the team name has dropped 10 percentage points in the last 20 years. I expect that support to continue to drop, probably at an accelerated rate as the population of the country becomes far less white than it was in the early 1990s. The name change is coming. I don't know when, but it'll happen. 

Back on February 15 of this year I participated in a panel discussion of the Redskins team name on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt. The other panelists were American Univ. journalism professor and scholar Angie Chuang, Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney. Watch it below...

Talking to MLive.com about having a gay teammate: 

I think we need to show love to every single person on this Earth,” he said. “Jesus showed love to everybody, and whether it was Mary Magdalene, who was a prostitute had seven demons inside her, he showed love to her, and he didn’t have a problem with her.

“Jesus called on a tax collector, Matthew, to be one of his disciples, and while many Jewish people had a problem with Matthew, Jesus didn’t have a problem with Matthew. What Jesus wanted was for Matthew to grow.

“At the end of the day, anybody in our locker room who is struggling with something and isn’t perfect - which would be everybody in the locker room – my attitude would be that I want to show love to them in a way that shows them Jesus, and hope that they can encounter the same love that I encountered from Jesus that saved my life.”

-- Washington Redskins QB Kirk Cousins

The Washington Nationals took two of three on the road in Pittsburgh, winding up the Pittsburgh trip with a 6-2 win.  Gio Gonzalez (3-2) pitched 6 innings and allowed 5 hits and 2 runs while fanning 5 batters.  He finished the game with 102 pitches, 63 for strikes.  Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard, and Rafael Soraino combined for 3 innings of 1 hit, no run relief work from the Nats bullpen.   

Tyler Moore took offense to an intentional walk of Adam LaRoche and smacked a three run home run in the eighth inning to seal the Nats 6-2 win.  It was Moore's first round tripper of the season.  Danny Espinosa hit a 2 run homer in the fourth inning and drove in 3 runs.  Espinosa's two run bomb put the Nats up 3-1, a lead they would not relinquish.  Wilson Ramos went 3 for 4 at the plate. 

The series finale also featured the Nats' star outfielder Bryce Harper getting ejected in the first inning from the game.  Harper disputed a checked-swing third strike.  After a check to third base umpire John Hirshbeck upheld the third strike, Harper stood outside the batter's box and started at Hirschbeck before dropping his bat. Hirschbeck then tossed Harper from the game. 

The Nationals now head home for a short two game series against the Detroit Tigers, beginning on Tuesday. 

Post-Game Notes:

*  After starting the season just 1 for 25 start at the plate, Roger Bernadina went 2 for 4 today, subbing in for Bryce Harper.

*  After sitting out his first game of the season with a bruised left foot, CF Denard Span returned to the lineup today. 

*  OF Jayson Werth is expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday after missing the last three games with a strained hamstring.

*  Adam LaRoche finished the three game series against Pittsburgh going 4 for 7 at the plate.  In the series, he also drew 5 walks. 

*  Rafael Soraino extended his scoreless streak to ten straight games. 

Wins don't have to be pretty.  Wins don't have to include tons of offense. Wins just have to include scoring the last goal.  And in the case of the Washington Capitals, scoring the winning goal equated to the only goal.

Although the Caps played the better game on ice for three periods, Game Two between the Caps and New York Rangers ended up in an overtime period with no goals on the score board.  The Caps got the big win in overtime on a huge power play goal by Mike Green, reminiscent of years past, to lead the Caps to a 1-0 win and a 2-0 series lead. 

Late in the game, the Caps suffered a delay of game penalty that led to a Ranger power play with under 4 minutes left in regulation.  However, as they have done so far in this series, the Caps penalty kill unit rose to the challenge and blanked the Ranger on the power play leading to a thunderous ovation from the Verizon Center faithful.  That forced the game to a scoreless overtime.  Nearly seven minutes into overtime, Ryan McDonagh was called for a delay of game penalty that gave the Washington Capitals the man advantage.  At the 8 minute mark in overtime, Mike Ribeiro fed Mike Green at the point, and Green slapped a shot that appeared to be deflected by a defender stick past Rangers' goalie Henrik Lunqvist to lift the Cap to the win.    It was Green's 8th overtime goal of his career and first overtime tally in the playoffs. 

Braden Holtby was magnificant again, stopping all 24 shots on net to post another playoff shutout. 

The Caps face the Rangers in Game Three in the Big Apple on Monday. 

Washington Nationals pitcher Dan Haren was tiring in the bottom of the 8th inning when Manager Davey Johnson strolled out to the mound, thinking he might need to send in reliever Dreew Storen, who was warming up in the bullpen. But Haren told Johnson he was feeling great and the 70-year-old manager turned on his heel and went back to the bullpen. Haren got out of the inning with no damage by striking out Chris Johnson, handing a 3-1 lead to closer Rafael Soriano, who did what closers are supposed to do and the Nats defeated the Atlanta Braves 3-1 in Georgia. Haren has now won his last two starts, improving his record to 3-3. Soriano now has 9 saves.

It was a masterful performance from Dan Haren, who started the season so poorly the team must have wondered how long it could continue to put him out there. Haren pitched 8 innings of one-run ball, giving up four hits, striking out four and walking only one. The lone run scored came from a Dan Uggla homer to left field in the bottom of the 7th inning. Otherwise, Haren was virtually untouchable, helping his Nats get back above .500 at 15-14. 

The win drops the Braves to 17-11 and cuts their NL East division lead over the Nats to 2.5 games. These last two wins by the Nats over the Braves are a welcome change after the team dropped 9 straight games to their division rival. 

The Nationals got their scoring in early, with leadoff hitter Denard Span slapping a double in the first inning and then scoring when Steve Lombardozzi singled him across. In the second inning, with Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos on base, Span came up again and doubled once more, plating his two teammates to put the Nats up 3-0. 

From there, the Nats bats fell mostly silent, but that was all Haren needed, as he followed up on Jordan Zimmerman's dominant pitching performance the night before. Span finished 3-4 with a run, a walk and 2 RBI. Anthony Rendon went 2-3, with a run and a walk. Other than that, no Nats hitter could manage more than one hit, with Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Roger Bernadina unable to manage anything on offense apart from a walk for Harper. 

"We needed this game. We needed it bad," Haren said. "And we needed yesterday, and Jordan [Zimmermann] stepped up, so I wanted to do my part. I'm happy obviously with the way I threw the ball, but I'm happy for the team. We have a good flight to Pittsburgh, everyone with a good feeling going into what's going to be a fun series over there."

The Washington Capitals took a 1-0 playoff series lead over the New York Rangers behind a 3 goal second  period.  The Caps downed the Rangers 3-1 in Game One of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

Carl Hagelin scored the game's first goal at the 16:44 mark of the first period, deflecting a wrap around shot off the skate of Caps' defenseman John Erskine.  The Caps couldn't get on the board in the first period, even though they out shot the Rangers 14-8 and had a 9-1 shot advantage at one point. 

Alex Ovechkin started the Caps three goal second period with a power play marker at the 7 minute mark. Ovechkin's goal came from a rebound off a Mike Green shot on Henry Lundqvist.  Green and Nicklas Backstrom got the helpers.  The Caps second goal was created by a perfect pass from Steve Oleksy to an open Marcus Johansson, who split defenders for a mini-breakaway goal.  Oleksy had the lone assist, his first NHL playoff point of his NHL career.  Less than a minute later, Jason Chimera scored on a turn around slapped that trickled under Lundqvist's pads.  Washington took the 3-1 lead into the second intermission.

Caps and Rangers skated to a tough, but scoreless third period.  

Braden Holtby saved the Caps several times tonight on Ranger breakaways caused by defensive collapses.  Holtby turned in another outstanding playoff performance, just like last season.  Holtby stopped 35 of 36 Rangers shots on net.  The Caps penalty kill unit was also heroic tonight, killing off a 5 on 3 opportunity and three other man advantages.  

Caps and Rangers returned to the Verizon Center for Game Two on Saturday at 12:30.  

The talk of the Washington Nationals for the past two seasons with regards to starting pitching has been Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez, a lethal one-two punch.  Reality is a bit different.  Dating back to mid to late last season, the best pitcher in the Nationals rotation has been Jordan Zimmermann.  Last night's pitching performance by Zimmermann did nothing but back up that assertion. 

Having lost two in a row to the NL East Division leading Atlanta Braves and having lost eight straight to Atlanta, the Nationals needed a quality starting performance.  They got better than that.  They got a gem.  Zimmermann threw 8 shutout innings allowing just 2 hits all night to lead the Nats to a 2-0 shutout win in Atlanta.  Zimmermann sat down 8 Braves to strikeouts including a stretch of four consecutive strikeouts in the heart of the potent Braves lineup.  On the night, Zimmermann faced 26 batters and threw 107 pitches, 72 for strikes.  He improved overall to a healthy 5-1 with an ERA of 1.64.  Rafael Soriano sat the Braves down 1-2-3 in the ninth to preserve the shutout win and earn his 8th save of the season.  

The Nats needed the gem of a pitching performance as the Nats offense continues to struggle, managing just 3 hits on the night.  The damage came from a two run home run by Ian Desmond in the fourth inning.  It was homer number 4 for Desmond. 

Dan Haren will face Kris Medlin tonight to try and leave Atlanta with a four games series split.

Zimmermann's mound dominance ... Jordan Zimmermann's 8 shutout innings last night moved his streak to 18 consecutive innings without yielding a run.  In his last two starts, Zimmermann has only allowed 3 hits and 0 runs over 17 innings.  That's incredible pitching folks.  He has not put up these gaudy numbers against weak lineups either.  He threw shutout innings against the Braves and Reds.  He has now made three consecutive starts in which he has not allowed more than two hits.  Even more impressive, in his 6 starts this season, Zimmermann has allowed a .168 batting average against him. 

Any question on who is the 2013 staff ace?

Injuries mount . . .  Already missing Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman in the lineup, the Nats lost Bryce Harper in the sixth inning with soreness to his side, one day after colliding with the right field wall and bruising his side.  Werth is out with a swollen ankle and the fact it was still swollen as of Wednesday does not appear to be postive news that he will return tonight.   Ryan Zimmerman will come off the DL today, after a rehab assignment in Potomac.