‘Redskins’ are now called ‘Pigskins’ in Washington newspaper

Washington loves its Pigskins.

Pigskins? Yes, a Washington newspaper has dropped the use of Redskins in referring to the town’s pro football team.

After surveying readers, the Washington City Paper came up with Pigskins over names such as the Washington Monuments, Washington Half-Smokes and Washington Washingtons.

The name of the team, which actually plays in Maryland, has long been the subject of debate. But the weekly D.C. paper polled its readers after the Kansas City Star public editor recently defended his publication’s long-standing policy of referring to the Redskins in stories as “the Washington team.”

“I remain unconvinced by every argument I’ve ever heard that the name is not a racial epithet, plain and simple,’’ the public editor, Derek Donovan, blogged. “And I’ll even break my usual rule about commenting on issues outside the Star’s journalism to say that I find it inconceivable that the NFL still allows such a patently offensive name and mascot to represent the league in 2012.’’

Although Kansas City is home to the Chiefs, Donovan said the name isn’t a reference to skin color or race.

Washington City Paper editor Mike Madden blogged that Pigskins was a nod to the Hogs, the “team’s great offensive line of the first Joe Gibbs era.”

The Redskins declined comment.

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