Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid revealed that he, like so many others, he doesn’t like the Washington football team’s name and thinks Dan Snyder should change it. In an interview with The Hill, he said “I think [Snyder] is so shortsighted on this. We live in a society where you can’t denigrate a race of people. And that’s what that is. I mean, you can’t have the Washington Blackskins. I think it’s so shortsighted.”

And now, the Washington football team has fired back, saying that while they “respect Senator Reid,” they “strongly disagree based on what we are hearing from Native Americans and based on the generations of pride and heritage that our name represents.”

Here’s the full statement from the team:

“The [Washington football team] respect Senator Reid, and he is, of course, entitled to his opinion. However, we strongly disagree based on what we are hearing from Native Americans and based on the generations of pride and heritage that our name represents.

As we heard from Andy Block, a former constituent of Senator Reid, who wrote us to say he lived and worked on the Shoshone-Paiute reservation in Owyhee, Nev., ‘The [Washington football team] are by far the favorite franchise of any sport. The offices of both hospital administrators at the Indian Health Service hospital were covered in [team] posters, calendars and gear…The first day of work several laborers showed up wearing [team] shirts and/or hats. They loved the team as much as I did…Hail to the [Washington football team]!’

We agree with Andy Block and we are proud of the tradition, passion and heritage for which the [team] name stands.”

“We strongly disagree based on what we are hearing from Native Americans.” Oh, you mean these ones?