In what has to be one of the stranger stories to come out of the 2014 NFL season so far, over 40,000 Denver Broncos fans and a large number of Washington Redskins fans have signed petitions to keep broadcaster Phil Simms from calling anymore of their games.
In separate petitions posted on the social change based website, Change.org, Broncos fans and Redskins fans have sought to find a way to keep Simms from being in the booth for their games.
The Redskins petition makes the point that Simms is there to offer "unbiased insight to the game", which they assert "time and again he seems incapable of doing". But really it seems to be based mostly on Simms' announced choice to not use the name "Redskins," a point of contention that has amassed questions of political correctness around the league all offseason.
"My very first thought is it will be 'Washington' the whole game," Simms said previously.
Owner Daniel Snyder has vowed not to change the name, even as a variety of publications have gone on record as saying they will no longer use the name that so many Native Americans find offensive.
The petition itself takes a fairly polite tact, stating that, "It is not fair to Redskins' fans and it is not fair to Mr. Simms by putting him in a position when he may have to use a term that he recently decided might not be appropriate. Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter."
The petition has garnered about 7,800 signatures so far.
The Broncos fans on the other hand, while lacking a clear motive other than that, say, "It is sure and complete torture for us Bronco Fans to have to listen to his biased drivel every week", have reached over 42,000 signatures.
The numbers could be boosted by the fact that Denver's quarterback, Peyton Manning, doesn't have the best relationship with Simms after Simms commented that Manning wouldn't allow the Colts to draft Andrew Luck.
"I don't talk to Phil," Manning said. "Phil doesn't talk to me. He did text me after that, saying 'Hey, sorry to drag your name into this.' I wrote back, 'Phil I don't know what you're talking about.' He said, 'Well on my show, "Inside the NFL," I made this statement.' I said, 'Phil, I hate to break it to you, but I don't watch your show, along with a lot of other people that I don't think watch that show.' Giving himself a little more credit than probably was merited."
The Denver petition even has a Facebook page dedicated to discussing whether or not Simms should be allowed to continue announcing games.
To this point there has been no response from Simms or the NFL.
