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Sports

Washington DE Jason Hatcher Thinks Refs are Biased Against Racist Name

He thinks someone is out to get them. Who that is is anyone's guess.

MUST WATCH- #Redskins Jason Hatcher on his frustration with refs & how it feels personal because of the team's name pic.twitter.com/lswvyP5FW4
— Carol Maloney (@carolmaloney4) November 22, 2015

Losing sucks—and talking to people sticking microphones and cameras in your face when you lose is worse—but even with that bit of context, this is a little too much to handle. Washington defensive end Jason Hatcher vented some to media following a 44-16 drubbing from the Carolina Panthers and his primary concern seemed to be the officiating. To hear Hatcher tell it, much of Washington's strife this year can be attributed to the referees unwillingness to call penalties in Washington's favor or, alternatively, their willingness to call penalties against Washington, because of the team's racist slur of a nickname.

"I don't know, is it about the name or what? But you know at the same time, we play football too, we work our butt off, too. Don't single us out, at the end of the day, it's the name, don't worry about the name. We're players and we work our butt off, too. So I'm just frustrated with it…we shouldn't have to be punished for that."

This is 100 percent fair. No team should be singled out because of the racist name on its jersey. The players can only play, they can't be held accountable for every thing their owner does or doesn't do. This is also almost certainly not the case for Washington. Roger Goodell, the marmalade-topped face of the NFL, has defended the name any chance he gets. Prior to the 2015 NFL draft, Goodell was emphatic: "It's the name of a football team…I grew up as a Washington Redskins fan. I always looked at that as something we were proud of. In that context, it's not being used as a racial slur." See?? In the context of him not thinking it's racist, it is not racist.

So, unless Hatcher is suggesting some kind of loose association of referees gone rogue to punish Washington ownership for unapologetically defending its racist name, I'm not really sure he's thought this one through.