Washington Football Team is now the Washington Commanders

GoDa

New Member
Sep 25, 2017
962
I'm probably the only one in this thread that didn't know the origin of the team's name.

Originally the Boston Braves... played at the Boston Braves baseball team's field. Football team moves to Fenway where the Red Sox played. Football team name is changed to "fit" - following move. Original manager even had a very suspicious Sioux background. So... maybe not the most PC team name for the late 20th/early 21st century, but perhaps not forged in the hottest fires of racism.

Having said that... as new names are considered, shouldn't they be looking at options to honor the aggrieved? If I'm a Native American and the new name is honoring African American WWII fighter pilots... or an animal... I'm doing a little head scratching.
 

SumnerH

Malt Liquor Picker
Dope
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
31,893
Alexandria, VA
Original manager even had a very suspicious Sioux background.
Very suspicious in that he was a European who adopted the identity of a dead Sioux in order to dodge the draft in WWI. Everyone from his childhood friends to the actual sister of the dead Sioux in question confirmed that he wasn't the real Lone Star/One Star, nor Sioux at all.

It's discussed in some detail further back in the thread.
 

Winger 03

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 15, 2003
1,673
Frederick, MD
Just a note, the two words are unrelated. Niggard comes from Anglo-Frisian (you can find related words across Scandinavian and low German dialects) and the latter word is simply an anglicized pronunciation of the French word for black (neger) and was used by English speakers in the late 16th/early 17th century to refer to Africans.
My apologies if I implied that they were related. Perhaps derivation was the wrong word to use. However, the confusion between the two leads to trouble.


and I ran across this today.....

https://t.co/qaFCq7yU0A?amp=1
This is an article in the Washington Post regarding changing the Texas Rangers name.
 
Last edited:

djbayko

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
25,895
Los Angeles, CA
I now see that they have also filed for trademark protection on "Red Wolves."
The chart below shows recent trademark application filings. Many were filed by the same attorney in VA on July 6th. ("The Washington Herald" was filed by the Washington Herald, of course, and Radskins, Braves, Potomacs, and War Hogs seem to have been made by filers unrelated to the Washington professional football team.)

[TH] Serial Number[/TH] [TH]Reg. Number[/TH] [TH]Word Mark[/TH] [TH]Check Status[/TH] [TH]Live/Dead[/TH] [TH][/TH]
1 90036691 WASHINGTON MONUMENTS TSDR LIVE
2 90036682 WASHINGTON VETERANS TSDR LIVE
3 90036672 WASHINGTON RENEGADES GRIDIRON FOOTBALL TSDR LIVE
4 90036282 WASHINGTON BRAVES PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM TSDR LIVE
5 90036248 WASHINGTON REDTAILS TSDR LIVE
6 90036108 WASHINGTON FREEDOM FIGHTERS (WFF) TSDR LIVE
7 90036103 WASHINGTON FREEDOM FIGHTERS TSDR LIVE
8 90036057 WASHINGTON WAR HOGS TSDR LIVE
9 90035687 WASHINGTON RADSKINS TSDR LIVE
10 90035600 WASHINGTON RED-TAILED HAWKS TSDR LIVE
11 90035054 WASHINGTON POTOMACS TSDR LIVE
12 90023930 THE WASHINGTON HERALD TSDR LIVE
13 90009366 WASHINGTON AMERICANS TSDR LIVE



BTW - The "they" is not the Redskins. This McCaualy fella is a trademark speculator/squatter.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/07/12/washington-trademark-squatter-adds-to-his-portfolio/
 

Murderer's Crow

Dragon Wangler 216
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
23,480
Garden City
Mad Dog just had a caller who asked Mad Dog to describe why Redskins is a racist term (it was a good and long call) and Mad Dog responded by asking the caller to explain it to the audience and then the caller said he thinks it should come from Mad Dog to explain to the audience because its important for people to hear. Neither of them answered the question because I don't think they actually know. If you're on Sirius, just rewind to 3:25pm est
 

8slim

has trust issues
SoSH Member
Nov 6, 2001
24,829
Unreal America
Mad Dog just had a caller who asked Mad Dog to describe why Redskins is a racist term (it was a good and long call) and Mad Dog responded by asking the caller to explain it to the audience and then the caller said he thinks it should come from Mad Dog to explain to the audience because its important for people to hear. Neither of them answered the question because I don't think they actually know. If you're on Sirius, just rewind to 3:25pm est
I must not be following... why was this a good call? Two people, speaking at length, unable to explain why a nickname about the skin color of a historically oppressed people isn't racist, sounds tedious and awful.
 

Murderer's Crow

Dragon Wangler 216
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
23,480
Garden City
I must not be following... why was this a good call? Two people, speaking at length, unable to explain why a nickname about the skin color of a historically oppressed people isn't racist, sounds tedious and awful.
Sorry what I meant by that was that the caller wasn't really at fault and he was a good caller. The call itself was bad because Russo couldn't handle it well. The caller was talking about the importance of the issue and explaining that people need to be more educated on the term and why its racist. Which was when he passed the ball back to Dog who had no idea what to say, punted back to the caller, who punted back to CR. Was just obvious they didn't really know how to handle it.
 

8slim

has trust issues
SoSH Member
Nov 6, 2001
24,829
Unreal America
Sorry what I meant by that was that the caller wasn't really at fault and he was a good caller. The call itself was bad because Russo couldn't handle it well. The caller was talking about the importance of the issue and explaining that people need to be more educated on the term and why its racist. Which was when he passed the ball back to Dog who had no idea what to say, punted back to the caller, who punted back to CR. Was just obvious they didn't really know how to handle it.
Ahhh, got it.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

Homeland Security
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2005
19,615
Portsmouth, NH
I like Pig Skins. Hogs and Skins still work as nicknames with the same cool logo potentials.
View attachment 32535View attachment 32536
Like the name but neither of these logos. The first one looks like a video game that wouldn’t pay for nfl or nflpa rights to use anything; perhaps the nfl version of a minor league baseball team. Second one is cool and all but what are you doing for colors? And it’s probably way too detailed - if they can’t handle Pat the Patriot, I cant see them doing that justice.

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/wild-boar-head-logo-template-wild-boar-head-logo-template-too-label-printing-sticke-t-shirt-designs-sport-team-club-132637758.jpg
not sure if that link will work I’m on mobile
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,730
Wow, there are more good options than I thought. I think I like Washington Gridlock, especially if you consider it short for ‘Gridiron Lock’, a great thing for a defense to aspire to, but Red Tails or Hogs or Pigskins are all good too. Hogs I might update to Speed Hogs, different game now.
 

Lose Remerswaal

Experiencing Furry Panic
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
I'm no IP lawyer, but I've taken enough classes to know that filing with an obvious lack of intention to use in commerce is going to lose and lose quickly. The guy will probably be presented with the choice of taking $10k to go away, or spending many times that to fight in court and lose and get nothing.
$10K isn't a bad return on investment. Probably the plan all along
 

dixoncox

New Member
Jun 11, 2019
30
I'm no IP lawyer, but I've taken enough classes to know that filing with an obvious lack of intention to use in commerce is going to lose and lose quickly. The guy will probably be presented with the choice of taking $10k to go away, or spending many times that to fight in court and lose and get nothing.
He claims that his goal is to facilitate the name change and would allow them to have it for free.
 

shaggydog2000

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 5, 2007
11,483
Wow, there are more good options than I thought. I think I like Washington Gridlock, especially if you consider it short for ‘Gridiron Lock’, a great thing for a defense to aspire to, but Red Tails or Hogs or Pigskins are all good too. Hogs I might update to Speed Hogs, different game now.
No love for the Radskins?
 

Harry Hooper

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jan 4, 2002
34,368
They wanted to keep "Red" in the name, but there was a sizable faction pushing for "Warthogs." The compromise nominee "Red Warts" didn't get much support, however.
 

SJMDownunder

New Member
Feb 13, 2014
13
I like the idea of keeping”skins” as shorthand, and want to show support for the fans as well. I vote “4Skins”.