The National Collegiate Athletic Association's executive committee (comprised of 14 white men, 2 white women, and 3 black men) ruled yesterday that athletic team names such as the "Seminoles" of Florida State, the "Illini" of Illinois, the "Fighting Sioux" of North Dakota are hostile and abusive to native Americans, and must be removed by February.

Not having a say though were the... Indians themselves. The Seminole Tribal Council voted in April unaminously that it support's Florida State's use of their name for its mascot. But the NCAA obviously knows whats better for Indians that Indians do, and they were ignored.

Colleges escaping the nickname band were:
-The Indiana University "Hoosiers", whose jerseys read "Indiana", which means "Land of the Indians."

-The University of Oklahoma "Sooners". Sooners were white land owners who settled in Indian land "sooner" than they were supposed to. Aside from that, "Oklahoma" means "Red People."

-The University of North Carolina at Pembroke "Braves", whose name derives from the Indian warriors.

The most ironic thing of all, though, is that the NCAA is headquatered in the city of Indianapolis, which means "City of the Land of Indians". I wonder when they plan to move. The fact of the matter is that athletic teams pick nicknames that have qualities such as; courage, valor, strength, endurance, and bravery. That's how they come up with names like; the Sioux, Braves, Celtics, Vikings, Tigers, Yankees, Pirates. When was the last time you went to a game between the Pigeons and the Weasels?

Racist Paternalism at the NCAA

I believe they are overreacting.

I have a huge problem with this. If they want to play that game, then I can say that as a Christian, I am offended by Duke's Blue Devil Mascot. I have Irsh ancestors. Notre Dame's Fighting Irish? Well, I'm offended by that. (Please note that this is sacrcastic. I would NEVER be that politically correct. It's to draining.) I would like to see them touch Duke or Notre Dame's mascots. If the NCAA goes through with this, I will be forced to write a letter, or even several letters, to inform them that if they wish to be politically correct, many more mascots much change. Otherwise, it's discrimination.
My advise to Florida State, Utah, and the others: leave the NCAA and join another league.
By the way, I'm from Oklahoma. I see no problem with these mascots and believe that they are celebrating the Native American heritage rather than mocking it.
And another intersting fact: A state senator in our state recently pushed for a bill to be passed banning Oklahoman schools from having Indian mascots. I haven't heard anything about the issue in months. I believe it was shot down.

I believe the inicdent that sparked this was the Marquette University debacle in Milwaukee, WI.

Years back, in '92 I believe, the Marquette Unviersity used to be known as the Warriors, with obvious historical tradition. THe storry behind the nickname had to with the university's founder, Father Marquette, and how he befriended indians.
Father Wylde (sp?) and the school's board of directors unanimously approved the name change from 'Warriors' to 'Golden Eagles' sparking a controversy that still ignites fury today.
They did this because it supposedly offended indians, of which no one has seen.
In fact with all of the criticisms of the term Golden Eagles made by Alumni and and current students, the board of directors decided to change from Golden Eagles to 'Gold'.
Well that raised hell on campus. Protests broke out. Certain Alumnus vowed to cut their contributions made to the school.
So what did Father Wylde and his cronies do? They called for a vote. All nicknames would be on the ballot, except for Warriors or anything with the word "war" or anyhing denoting such. It narroweddown to two nicknames.
THe college's nickname before warriors, "HIlltopppers" and "Golden Eagles." Golden Eagles won, but a sizable amount of people still wrote in 'Warriors' in their ballots, although they were not counted.
I would have no problem if indians find the term 'Warriors' offensive. If they do, then it should be rightfully stricken form teh books. But no indian did; save for one way up in northern Wisconsin. But the ones who were directly applied by the term 'Warriors', took not offense at all.
What it really comes down to is the Father Wylde did not like anything to do with war. He is a big anti war liberal and it is said that the school cannot decide for itself the nickname.
For somthing even as trivial a nickname, this guy had to assert his selfish opinions over what the rest of the school wanted. It is truly an abuse of power.

quote:

Originally posted by reactionary05:
The fact of the matter is that athletic teams pick nicknames that have qualities such as; courage, valor, strength, endurance, and bravery. That's how they come up with names like; the Sioux, Braves, Celtics, Vikings, Tigers, Yankees, Pirates. When was the last time you went to a game between the Pigeons and the Weasels?

Perhaps this is why the NY Mets, NJ Nets, NY Knicks, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, Cincinatti Bengals, and Indianapolis Colts all suck. Bad names.

Edit - And the Phillies.

Yes, this is my first "Noiseboard of the Day".

i heard this story in the UK, its political correctness gone mad, we have so many faceless buerocrats in this country who make up ridiculous things, heres a few:

you cannot refer to asians as asians anymore, it has to be Pakistani-british etc.

a child can no longer be given a FAIL grade under new plans, instead it has to read DEFFERED SUCCESS.

And the stupidest, a set of over 10 rules when police break into suspected islamic terrorists homes to make an arrest, of which some are:

do not look at the women if they are uncovered

take off your shoes before entering

wait for suspect to finish prayer before arrest

do not touch the koran

try not to use firearms

bloody ridiculous!


perhaps we shouldnt refer to them as terrorists, perhaps as 'people with different political goals'?