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A Stupid Idea from the NCAA

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Twenty years ago the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) came up with one
of the most stupid and hypocritical ideas of the century – so far, at least. (And there has been a
tidal wave of stupid ideas floated by all sorts of individuals, organizations, and groups since
then.) The NCAA’s stupid idea was to ban the use of any Native American name or imagery as
the school’s mascot. They said such use of Native American mascots was offensive because it
violated an “atmosphere of respect for and sensitivity to the dignity of every person.” Okay, never
mind that a bunch of pencil pushers at the NCAA headquarters located in (of all places)
Indianapolis, Indiana decided that the rest of the country was offended by a few Indian-sounding
names as school mascots. One might ask if they are hypocrites or just plain dumb not to notice the
names of the city and state that they are located in. (And yes, Mrs. Mohundro and Mrs. Speer I
know I should not end a sentence with a preposition – but it sounds right.) I suppose this was the
first shot of the so-called “cancel culture” wars – certainly of the “politically correct” wars – that
have raged ever since.
Quite a number of colleges and universities knuckled under and changed their names.
Dartmouth College (an Ivy League school in New Hampshire) changed its mascot from “Indians”
to “Big Green.” If you know what a Big Green is please drop me a line because I have no clue.
As it turns out, Dartmouth was one of seven schools scattered from Louisiana and Texas all the
way to Pennsylvania and New Hampshire that dropped “Indians” as the mascot and changed to
“Red Wolves,” “Mustangs,” and “War Hawks” among others. Several other schools dropped
“Redskins,” “Redmen,” “Orangemen,” “Braves,” “Chiefs,” and “Savages” and changed to
“Crimson Hawks,” “Skyhawks,” “River Hawks,” and well, you get the picture. Interestingly, the
NCAA let San Diego State University off the hook even though their mascot was (and still is)
“Aztecs.” The NCAA’s reasoning, if you can call it that, was that the Aztecs were not a Native
American tribe with any living descendants. It sounds to me like the lawyers got involved in
splitting those hairs. Likewise, NCAA gave the University of Illinois a pass because their mascot,
the “Fighting Illini” referred to the state, not to Native Americans in spite of the fact that they
used a man dressed up as an Indian chief on the sidelines. Florida State University pushed back
against the NCAA. Their mascot is the Seminoles. The NCAA said using Seminoles as a mascot
is “hostile and abusive.” Then the Seminole Nation General Council, the governing body for the
Seminole Nation, voted 18–2 to allow Florida State to continue to use their tribal name; end of
argument.
I suppose there are two ways to look at most everything. The way I look at all this stuff, is
the principle that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Personally I think it’s great that the
tribal names of native people are kept alive and in our current culture. Look at the mess we would
be in if we decided that we need to erase every Indian name because we have appropriated its use
150 years after the end of Indian uprisings. A quick review of the names of states is a good start.
Tennessee is named after a Cherokee village, Tanasse. Is this a tribute to the Cherokee people or
an insult? I certainly don’t think it is insulting. The word we know as Michigan came from the
Algonquin word for “big lake.” Minnesota comes from a Sioux word meaning “cloudy water.”
Iowa comes from the tribal name, "Ah-hee-oo-ba.” Illinois comes from the Illini Indian word
meaning "men," or “warriors.” Ohio comes from an Iroquois word meaning “beautiful river.”
North and South Dakota get their names from the Dakota Indian tribe. Utah comes from the Ute
Indians. Wisconsin comes from an Indian word meaning “wild rushing channel.” Kansas,
Nebraska, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Mississippi each come from
Indian words. If we started eliminating Indian words from the place names across our country
there are a lot of cities that would have to re-name themselves including: Chattanooga, Paducah,
Osceola, Biloxi, Cheyenne, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, and even
Chicago and Manhattan among many others. I say leave them all alone, it’s a tribute to the past.
Plus, we have better things to do. I’ll see you on down the trail.