ESPN - Judge upholds Commanders trademark rulling

[Staubacher]

The Court system has basically decided that the Constitution was a nice suggestion, but has outlived its purpose.

No decision surprises me anymore. They just make stuff up as they go.

We are ruled by judicial fiat. Those with the robes make the rules. Or overturn them.

 

[Staubacher]

Don't people name their teams after things they view as positive?

Hitler wouldn't have fielded a team called the Berlin Jews.

So I have a hard time believing designating your team the Commanders is meant to offend or demean, but rather to praise.

But I don't care, anything to mess up that franchise is fine with me.

 

[DallasEast]

Because some people are not offended doesn't mean it shouldn't be removed, or that it's really not that offensive. There's a whole lot of people not offended by the confederate flag, or people who even use the "N" word amongst each other. Doesnt make it any less offensive.

Truth.

 

[MrPeanutbutter]

It's derogatory. It has to go...and their team is a disgrace, so they can go away as well.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

The Court system has basically decided that the Constitution was a nice suggestion, but has outlived its purpose.

No decision surprises me anymore. They just make stuff up as they go.

it'll keep moving up the chain till it most likely gets struck down and the SCOTUS tells the lower court to correct their ruling.

 

[DallasEast]

Change.

Change is a concept every era of humanity has fought since before recorded history. Generations of families have battled against change tooth-and-nail and shed blood-and-tears over. Yet regardless of defiance, eventually change always occurs. In every circumstance the future bears witness to what the past swears will never happen.

Time is a real *****.

 

[jrumann59]

So since Farrakahn and others thinks the US flag represents racism and has a history of racism, empire building and genocide should it also be removed????? Just wondering when the sensitivity will stop. I remember a chant when I was kid, "Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words will NEVER hurt me" whatever happened to that idea.

 

[Tabascocat]

There is a high school in Oregon that deemed PB&J sandwich's racist and outlawed them because some ethnicities did not eat regular white bread.

 

[jrumann59]

There is a high school in Oregon that deemed PB&J sandwich's racist and outlawed them because some ethnicities did not eat regular white bread.

I will swear to the grave that there is a low oxygen level phenomenon locked in over the west coast.

 

[Fritsch_the_cat]

Funny thing is, if Dan Snyder feels he has to change the team name, those who are fighting this PC battle on team names aren't going to be happy with his choice. There is a local Native American tribe, the Patawomecks, which have stated they would be glad if Snyder named the team after them. http://spectator.org/articles/59851/patawomeck-tribe-snyder-could-rename-Commanders-after-us

LOL, the Patawomecks. They WERE a tribe alright, who died out over 100 years ago. You'll not find a bigger bunch of fakers in your life. It is beyond me and most other Native American's how they were ever recognized as a tribe. Probably why only the state of Virginia recognizes them.

Let's meet their self appointed chief

And other members of this so called tribe.

And their board of directors.


http://patawomeckindians.org/BOD.html

Take a look at their other self appointed "Chief" John Lightner.

http://www.patawomeckindiantribeofvirginia.org/


I'm sure none of them ever had to worry about being called a Commander. I'm also sure these people are enjoying the tax exempt status they earned by being recognized as a legitimate tribe.


There are actual Native Americans who do support the name, no need to roll out a bunch of pretenders.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

There is no history of the term Commanders being racist. Please stop making stuff up.

That is at best disputed.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The Pioneers and other books by Cooper were largely seen as sympathetic toward Native Americans and their struggles in the 1800s. Decades later, the word "Commander" began to take on a negative, increasingly violent connotation. Author L. Frank Baum, best known for his classic The Wizard of Oz, celebrated the death of Sitting Bull and the massacre at Wounded Knee with a pair of editorials calling for the extermination of all remaining Native Americans. In one of the December 1890 pieces, Baum wrote, "With his fall the nobility of the Commander is extinguished, and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them."

At around the same time the word "Commander" was becoming a word with negative connotations, other Native American words and images were becoming increasingly popular symbols for sports teams. In an article for the North Dakota Law Review, J. Gordon Hylton found that team owners frequently began using words with indigenous connections in the 1850s. "Native American names appear to have been chosen to emphasize the 'Americanness' of the team and its patriotic character," writes Hylton, without noting that at the same time popular culture was relegating Native Americans to the foreign and the extreme.

While Cooper's portrayal of Native Americans in books like The Pioneers was sympathetic, the portrayal of Indians created a backlash of sorts. In 1915, the poet Earl Emmons released Commander Rimes, a book so offensive I had to double-check to make sure it wasn't a parody of the racism of that era. Emmons makes his intentions clear in the introduction of the work: "Those persons who got their idea of the Indian from Mr. Cooper have pictured him as an injured innocent. ... Those persons have acquired the wrong idea of the maroon brother." That introduction kicks off a series of poems, songs and speeches, each more offensive than the last.

Emmons' book was emblematic of the usage of the word "Commanders" in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as the word went from being an identifying term to a derogatory slur. By the 1910s, it wasn't uncommon for filmgoers to encounter it, with the word frequently popping up in the titles of American Westerns.

The hit film Commander (1929) was notable for two reasons: first, that it was one of the first films to use Technicolor; and secondly, that the script was surprisingly sympathetic toward its main character, a Navajo Indian who is constantly harassed because of his race. The portrayal of Native Americans in Commander was very much ahead of its time — other films that used the word portrayed the culture as primitive and war-hungry. The 1932 Tom and Jerry cartoon "Commander Blues" follows the beloved characters as they are attacked by Indians, surviving after they are rescued by the U.S. Army

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswi...for-some-controversy-the-history-of-Commander

 

[NIBGoldenchild]

LOL, the Patawomecks. They WERE a tribe alright, who died out over 100 years ago. You'll not find a bigger bunch of fakers in your life. It is beyond me and most other Native American's how they were ever recognized as a tribe. Probably why only the state of Virginia recognizes them.

I'm sure none of them ever had to worry about being called a Commander. I'm also sure these people are enjoying the tax exempt status they earned by being recognized as a legitimate tribe.


There are actual Native Americans who do support the name, no need to roll out a bunch of pretenders.

Exactly what does anything you just posted have to do with the fact that they are recognized as a legitimate tribe, and the Commanders could change their name to theirs? Furthermore, they could say they were honoring the ancestors these people think they are a part of(maybe they have some blood with them, I don't know) and all you could do is continue to whine about it.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Exactly what does anything you just posted have to do with the fact that they are recognized as a legitimate tribe, and the Commanders could change their name to theirs? Furthermore, they could say they were honoring the ancestors these people think they are a part of(maybe they have some blood with them, I don't know) and all you could do is continue to whine about it.

I dunno the only one sounding shrill in tone is you.

Nevermind that they are very clearly not of the native american haplogroup.

You seem to be another one of those "I'm not racist and I like the name therefor it's not racist' types. I really liked the part where you started speaking for what Hitler would have done.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

But the Commanders' history of racism predates their time in Washington. They were created as the Boston Braves, just like the original Beantown baseball team back in the days when a town's sports franchises often had the same name. In 1933, the team moved into Fenway Park. Marshall also hired a new coach that year, a member of the Sioux nation named Lone Star Dietz, "and to honor Dietz, so he said, he renamed the team Commanders," recalled Smith.

The players and coach Dietz were also forced to wear war paint and act out Indian-style dances on the field. Smith said that made it difficult for the players to perform in the game: "They became physically so tired that they couldn't perform well, and it was embarrassing and humiliating and they hated it."

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/04/140066378/a-showdown-that-changed-footballs-racial-history

 

[NIBGoldenchild]

I dunno the only one sounding shrill in tone is you.

Nevermind that they are very clearly not of the native american haplogroup.

You seem to be another one of those "I'm not racist and I like the name therefor it's not racist' types. I really liked the part where you started speaking for what Hitler would have done.

1) You heard me through a message board? Neat trick.

2) I don't mention Hitler AT ALL. That was someone else. But it doesn't surprise me you are incapable of understanding who said what in the middle of your PC temper tantrum.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Shall we discuss how the league had to force Marshall to integrate in the 1960s despite DC being majority black?

 

[NIBGoldenchild]

Shall we discuss how the league had to force Marshall to integrate in the 1960s despite DC being majority black?

No, because it's irrelevant.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

1) You heard me through a message board? Neat trick.

2) I don't mention Hitler AT ALL. That was someone else. But it doesn't surprise me you are incapable of understanding who said what in the middle of your PC temper tantrum.

They taught me about tone and writing style in middle school. It was reinforced throughout the years. Were you just not taught or are you incapable of remembering something people tried to teach several times?

And in your own words tell me what you think PC means.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

No, because it's irrelevant.

Because the clear racism of the ownership has no basis in a discussion of his clubs racist past.