Daniel Snyder: Washington football team; $1 billion; Potomac, Md.

Yesterday, both Slate and The New Republic announced that they’re removing the Washington football team’s name from their style guides, after Slate editor David Plotz’s essay outlined many great points as to why the issue is both a big deal and not that big of a deal.

As The New Republic editor Franklin Foer said, no, this is not the Moral Issue of the Century. It’s a relatively minor issue compared to many other instances of racism, prejudice, and bigotry that occurs in our country on a day-to-day basis. But it is still an issue and one that has an easy solution for newspapers and publications who are forced to cover the NFL and the inner workings of the Washington football team. As such, there’s an easy solution: Just stop referring to their name.

So, as Slate and The New Republic joined several other publications yesterday—including Washington City Paper and DCist—who’ve officially redacted the team’s name from their pages, Mother Jones joined the ranks this morning and announced they’ll yank the team’s racist name from their style guide.

In a post, Mother Jones copy editor Ian Gordon writes that the team’s name “is an absolute embarrassment—for the NFL, for the nation’s capital, and for nanny-underpayer/owner Dan Snyder, who has stubbornly vowed never to change the team’s name, even in the face of common decency and a federal trademark suit.” And says that “in an admittedly small gesture, Mother Jones is also tweaking our house style guide, joining Slate and a group of other publications, from The New Republic to Washington City Paper.”

In an email, Gordon explained the decision further: “The name is plainly offensive, and it has no business in our most-watched sport. As a copy editor, I always am a bit reluctant to tweak our style guide, and as a former sportswriter, I don’t take this stuff lightly. But when we polled the office, there was overwhelming support for the change.”

While Mother Jones is hardly a go-to source for breaking sports news, it’s nonetheless a small step towards getting the name changed. Mother Jones will now refer to the Washington Football Team as simply “Washington,” “Washington’s pro football team,” or, more cheekily, “the Washington [Redacted].”

“Besides, the [Redacted] has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” Gordon says. Rolls off the tongue beautifully.