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The national team comes before everything.

Being at NDSU and winning national championships, everyone's gunning for you. You got a big target on your back, and we had to be ready to go week in and week out. I think playing for a program like that, everyone's going to give you their best shot, and we embrace that.

Even at North Dakota State, football is a big deal.

Playing football in Fargo has a total big-time feel. Everyone says it's FCS and it's a smaller school, but in Fargo, North Dakota, and in the state of North Dakota, NDSU football is the real deal.

There are some teams and logos you see, no matter where you are in the world, and you know exactly who they are and what they mean.

All of my Polynesian counterparts in the NFL with roots in American Samoa understand how the values embedded in our South Pacific culture - community, hard work, perseverance, respect - contribute directly to our success.

But with rap music - not just N.W.A. - but rap music in general, seeing these artists wearing these team logos all the time started bringing a synergy and energy about having to rep your city, your team, everywhere and all the time.

I think in the future we need to look at our youth department to provide more players for the first team think it is important for a club to have a good amount of players that have roots with the club and region.

For many Native Americans across the land, the name of the Washington football team is a deeply personal reminder of a legacy of racism and generations of pain.