Braindead NCAA

I'm glad the NCAA finally decided to take time off from figuring out how to not investigate the University of Tennessee football program and concentrate on something really important. Politically correct mascots. Oh, they weren't brave enough to enforce an outright ban on Indian mascots. They just won't let schools that have them bring their mascots to NCAA tournament gamesor where uniforms with an Indian logo on them. Nor will they allow those schools to act as hosts of tournament games. Of course, in true NCAA fashion, the rule is being selectively enforced as the Florida State Seminoles are on the list even though the Seminole tribe of Florida is fine with it, but the North Carolina-Pembroke Braves won't be because 20% of the students are American Indians. The NCAA is also pretty gutless. As Ray Ratto pointed out, if Indian mascots aren't offensive enough to ban them completely, then the NCAA shouldn't be going half-steps.

However, the real problem is this idea that they are "offensive". With the possible exception of the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs whose mascot selection I'm convinced was the result of booze and pot, mascots are picked for a variety of reasons. They could have to do with what the school is known for (MIT Engineers) or something local to the University (Nebraska Cornhuskers) or to the schools history (Washington & Lee Generals). Or it's for the image it projects. Since they are in competition, most schools want a rather fierce mascot. My team, the Louisville Cardinals, picked their mascot because it was the state bird, but on the logos and mascot, they gave it teeth to make it tougher. Look at most of the mascots from the animal kingdom. Most are of the predator variety, and the non-predators are still big and dangerous like Bison, Mustangs and Rams. That's the same reason that Indian names came to be used. Warrior image. The same reason as old European fighters like Vandals, Spartans and Trojans are used. I'm just curious why only one group of people find mascots named after them insulting. Cowboys sure don't, but even religious and other ethnic groups don't. As a non-Catholic Christian descended mainly from English and Scots, I don't have a problem with Emory and Henry College having the nickname Wasps. Greeks don't complain about the Spartans. Scandinavians don't bitch about the Vikings. Irish don't complain about Notre Dame or the Boston Celtics. They embrace them. They didn't even get mad when Notre Dame's leprechaun was a black guy. Quakers are fine with the Penn Quakers. Actually, teams with religious oriented mascots are usually religious affiliated schools - Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops (Methodist), Wake Forest Demon Deacons (Baptist), and Yeshiva University Maccabees (Jewish). That's not to mention all the Crusaders, Friars, and Saints that are nicknames for Catholic Schools.

Is it because some are deemed a slur? I know plenty of people who think the term Yankee as a slur. Is it because Indian mascots look silly? Take a look at the San Diego Padre. Or the goofy ass farm boy who is the Nebraska Cornhusker. Or even worse, the hillbilly in the coonskin cap that runs around as the UT Volunteer. If naming a team the "Indians" is so offensive than why is Jim Thorpe, the greatest athlete of the early 20th Century (and an American Indian), still revered by other American Indians. He founded and played for a team called the Oorang Indians back in the 1920s. This is all just more PC crap that got old a long time ago. Teams with the name Warrior (think Marquette) dumped their nicknames even though Warrior is a generic term that doesn't have to specify an ethnic group. But God forbid someone thinks it can only mean Indian warriors, so change it. I realize many American Indians are unhappy with their lot in life and think this issue is of some importance. Funny. I would have thought American Indian leadership would be more concerned about the high rates of poverty, unemployment and alcoholism in their community. But I guess all that will clear itself up once the Florida State Seminoles become the Florida State Retirees.