I think it's safe to say at this point that Washington, D.C., is functionally illiterate.

At least when it comes to sports and uniforms--no matter what studies show.

For the third time we have a report of some team in the DC area misspelling its own name. The guilty party this time? Theodore Roosevelt High School. In reality, can we blame a school for misspellings? After all, among other things, they're in school to learn all the the wonderful possibilities vowels offer.

The school goes by the nickname "The Rough Riders"--taken from Teddy Roosevelt's own nickname. Their uniforms now read "Ryders" for reasons the school blames on the uniform vendor.

The school complained to the vendor, who replied that "Ryder" was the cool way to spell it.

Because, you know, telling a school to spell something the cool way is always going to fly.



Photo: Washington Post