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| NCAA - "nicking ourselves to enfeeblement " |
| 2005-08-09 |
| Page forward to Page 16 at the link. Reprinted in its entirety. When Teddy Roosevelt helped assemble a bunch of cowboys and others to fight in the Spanish American War, they did not get called the Cowardly Cusses or the Horseback Hobos. The name that stuck was the Rough Riders, and we all know why, donât we? The name suggested toughness and heroism, the qualities that Roosevelt, other military men and the public hoped the soldiers would exemplify on the battlefield. Sports teams operate the same way. When organizers pick a nickname, a logo and a mascot, they are not aiming to insult the team. They are usually seeking out a symbolic way of suggesting the virtues they hope will be manifested in the games the team plays. That intention is one reason it is so incredibly silly that the NCAA is going to war against the use â by some university teams â of American Indian nicknames, logos and mascots that it considers racially âhostileâ and âabusive.â You are soon going to have to get those nicknames off uniforms in post season tournaments, the NCAA says. You wonât be allowed to show the logos. Let one of those mascots prance across a basketball court on such an occasion, and there will be serious penalties to contemplate. The ban doesnât apply to the regular season, itâs reported, because the NCAA doesnât think it has the authority to enforce it Is that a clue? and it doesnât apply to football games because there is no post season NCAA football tournament. But a committee that recommended the changes would like to see all American Indian nicknames disappear in all NCAA competition. What? The wool blankets didn't go far enough? Now the names hafta go, too? According to an Associated Press story, the committee says schools should imitate Wisconsin and Iowa by shunning games with teams that call themselves Seminoles, Chippewas, Braves, Indians, Fighting Sioux and the like. Whatâs that? A sarcastic chuckle? One is due because Wisconsin and Iowa are among those states â almost half the total â that are named after Indian words and sometimes tribes. If you are going to say the University of Utah cannot have âUtesâ on uniforms in future NCAA tournaments, as the NCAA does, why allow âUtah?â Both words refer just as surely to the same Indian tribe. And why would the simple use of a tribeâs name be regarded as hostile or abusive, anyway? I will grant there might be a couple of team names that are objectionable, such as the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savages, and that some mascots may overdo it. Yet most of these names, logos and mascots are no more disrespectful than references to America as the land of the free and the home of the brave. What we have are simply romantic, adulatory generalizations, which are not so horrible. Even when the mascots seem warlike, the evocation isnât of bloodshed, but of daring, defiance and valiance. Holding these images in mind is not a way of saying a whole people is thus summed up. It is a way of referring to a strong, positive impression out of our history. Florida State, which wants to keep its Seminole name in all games, is said to be considering a suit against the NCAA. I donât blame the university, but canât help thinking that here we Americans go again, nicking ourselves to enfeeblement over petty matters. It too often seems that somewhere, in the vast social change of recent decades, we Americans have misplaced our common sense, thereby opening the doors to would be morality dictators who consistently make false analogies to real issues. There are indeed real issues facing Indians in America today and there are real solutions. Cracking down on nicknames is not one of them. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #10 my alma mater San Diego State just went through this shit with Mexican/Raza activists opposing the "Aztecs" name and "Monty Montezuma" mascot. The socio-liberal arts depts brought out some frootloop in "authentic" plumage to define "Aztec warriors" as an Official Mascot©. He was jeered and booed at every event, and eventually we alumni responded with our own mascot and bought his tickets so the school couldn't eject him. Result - we f*&king won with our alumni $ (threatened to be withheld), students' support, and ridicule of the activists |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-08-09 19:13 |
| #9 Hmmmm... Ya think anybody at NCAA knows the Seminole Nation was never defeated? Maybe that's why FSU likes the name, and the Seminoles don't mind! Best to understand the meaning of Seminole :> Runaway slave is close, Outlaw works too. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-08-09 18:17 |
| #8 Seminoles were beaten in battle - but never defeated as a "nation". The tribe itself has voted to support the name of the FSU mascot associateion with thier tribe. Maybe its because they never surrendered that the Seminole nation doesn't play the "Victim" card. The PC idiots at the NCAA just bit off more than they coudl chew on this one. FSU and the Seminole tribe will chew the NCAA up. And I still got my "Fightin Whities" T-Shirt from the last bout of PC-ness in mascots. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-08-09 17:51 |
| #7 Wetherell says - quote - "This university will forever be associated with the "unconquered" spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida." Hmmmm... Ya think anybody at NCAA knows the Seminole Nation was never defeated? Maybe that's why FSU likes the name, and the Seminoles don't mind! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-08-09 16:30 |
| #6 Update / reminder - FSU will fight back (linky from Sat's thread). |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-08-09 14:27 |
| #5 Why don't the teams form a new league, and tell the NCAA to go take a flying leap? And get cut out of the BCS in football and March Madness for basketball? That ain't gonna happen. |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2005-08-09 12:48 |
| #4 Why don't the teams form a new league, and tell the NCAA to go take a flying leap? |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-08-09 12:32 |
| #3 Florida State, which wants to keep its Seminole name in all games, is said to be considering a suit against the NCAA. Actually, Florida has two Senators and 23 Representatives in Congress. Wonder how many the NCAA has? Hope they already have their travel and hotel reservations [heh] made for Washington. This could be far more entertaining than the Roberts nomination. |
| Posted by: Flash Hupomoling8954 2005-08-09 12:26 |
| #2 "The fightin' Whities" were a group of non-white students trying to make a political point. Of course, no one cared about the supposed negative connotations, and instead started buying merchandise. And, of course, capitalism suddenly seemed to be more important to our young world changers than their original point. |
| Posted by: Doolittle 2005-08-09 12:08 |
| #1 Here in Wisconsin we recently saw a major tempest in a teapot when Marquette went through a name changing episode. We continually see this issue come up with Illinios and Chief what'shsiname. There are a lot more things to worry about than this kind of crap. IIRC Florida State actually has the permission of the Seminole tribe to use the name so just WTF business is it of anybody else? But the best take on the whole thing was the intermural basketball team at North Dakota (?) that called them selves the Fighting Whites/Whities |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2005-08-09 11:50 |