So the football team in Washington has been forced into the reality of moving one step closer to being called something other than the name it brought down with them from Boston nearly 80 years ago — the Redskins.
U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee upheld the decision the by federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to cancel the Redskins name, on the basis that it was offensive to Native Americans and in violation of the Lanham Act as part of federal trademark law.
There will likely be an appeal by the team, but there can be no denying that the ruling is a serious setback to the franchise and its fans who use it to describe the football team they root for — not as the offensive slur that critics have waged the fight against.