I find it puzzling that so many people are up in arms over the name of the Washington Redskins football team ("A painful past," Oct. 24). "Redskin" may have been a racial slur at one time, but now it's really just the name of a football team.

But if it still manages to offend some especially sensitive individuals, they can dry their little eyes. I am offering my own ethnic groups as a source for a new name for the D.C. football team.

How about: The Swedish Square-Heads or The Norgies or The Krauts or The English Sissy-Nannies?

Any one of those is fine with me. And if anyone can come up with some more offensive names for people of northern European descent, you have my blessing. It doesn't bother me what offensive label for blond-haired, blue-eyed people you use, because — and I know this sounds incredible — I understand that when people talk about a football team, they are talking about a football team and not passing judgment on my ethnicity.

If only everyone understood the obvious.

William Smith, Baltimore