Indian names for college sports teams

Some people find repugnant the once common use of Native American names for college sports teams, and the practice is in steep decline: Native American mascot controversy. Here's a 'man bites dog' story, however.

In Twist, Tribe Fights for College Nickname
"Sometime soon, the Fighting Sioux of the University of North Dakota were to be no more, another collegiate nickname dropped after being deemed hostile and abusive to American Indians.
Except that some members of the Spirit Lake Tribe, one of two groups of Sioux in the state, say they consider the nickname an honor and worry that abandoning it would send them one step closer to obscurity.
“When you hear them announce the name at the start of a hockey game, it gives you goose bumps,” said Frank Black Cloud, a tribal member. “They are putting us up on a pinnacle.”
And so, in a legal standoff that has turned some preconceptions upside down, North Dakota’s top state lawyers will be in court on Wednesday to oppose members of the Spirit Lake Tribe who have sued to preserve the Fighting Sioux name and logo, an image of an Indian in profile, feathers draping down."

It looks like the tide will be hard to turn however: Judge Throws Out Lawsuit Seeking to Preserve Fighting Sioux Mascot