or
Join Now!
|
|
Home/Government/Politics
|
| Forum |
Ask A Question |
Question Board |
FAQs |
Search |
Return to Question Board
| Question Details |
Asked By |
Asked On |
| NCAA finally goes off deep end |
Itsdb |
08/09/05 |
By BEN COOK
Scripps Howard News Service
August 09, 2005
- A month or so ago I wrote a column warning that the NCAA was about to attack nicknames again, and sure enough it has come to pass.
I had hoped that enough people would be up in arms after reading my column and descend on the NCAA with placards and other implements of discord telling the lame brains that run the NCAA to leave well enough alone. But it didn't happen and now teams like the Florida State Seminoles, Illinois Fighting Illini and Utah Utes have been branded by the NCAA as "hostile and abusive" to American Indians.
Except for a handful of people, most native American Indians did not realize these teams were being hostile and abusive; most felt a team carrying a Native American nickname was doing so as a term of honor and respect.
Silly people.
It is a perfect example of a small group of dissenters stirring a pot that's being watched over by a group of people who believe since they have achieved various levels of education that they are therefore smart. But as the NCAA has demonstrated over and over again, one does not necessarily go along with the other.
The directive is aimed at the 18 schools that have Indian nicknames, Florida State and Illinois being two of the most visible. The schools have to either change their name or remove all references to the nickname (such as the spear on the FSU helmets) and keep mascots off the field. The ban also applies to cheerleaders, marching bands and dance teams.
If these schools do not fall in line, they will not be invited to participate in any NCAA-sponsored championship events.
Do you happen to remember who won the most lucrative event in the NCAA last season? It was almost the Illinois Fighting Illini, who lost to North Carolina in the NCAA basketball title game back in April. This decision goes into effect in February. Can you imagine the firestorm that will erupt if the Fighting Illini are in position to win their first NCAA title in men's basketball but the NCAA doesn't invite them to the tournament?
More to the point, can you imagine the Illinois lawyers who will get rich tearing into the NCAA in court like hungry wolves on a wounded animal?
The NCAA also says no team with any Indian name will ever be allowed to host any NCAA championship event, although anything that is already scheduled will be permitted as long as the schools cover anything that refers to its abusive and hostile name.
Presumably, any native American students who attend participating schools will be properly covered and not allowed to show their faces during the championship event.
The Seminole tribe in Florida is as upset over the ruling as Florida State. The two groups have worked together over the years to most accurately show the FSU mascot in a manner that best exemplifies the "spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida," according to FSU president T.K. Wetherell.
Over a dozen schools have changed nicknames and logos over the past 15 or 20 years, bowing to pressure from small groups of protesters. That's fine. If any of the remaining 18 schools want to roll over and fly in the face of their own traditions, that's their business.
What I don't want to see happen, though, is for all 18 to change against their will just because Myles Brand and his uptight band of stuffed shirts held them hostage, which is exactly what they are doing with the threat to withhold the right to participate in NCAA championships.
Universities need to draw the line in sand. It's time to end Myles Brand's era of ineptitude and get the NCAA out of the hands of academicians and put athletic people in charge of college athletics. Let the academicians go back to their classrooms. The business of college athletics is beyond their capabilities.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Florida State didn't take kindly to this:
"That the NCAA would now label our close bond with the Seminole people as culturally 'hostile and abusive' is both outrageous and insulting," Florida State president T.K. Wetherell said in a statement.
"I intend to pursue all legal avenues to ensure that this unacceptable decision is overturned, and that this university will forever be associated with the 'unconquered' spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida," he added.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PC police run amok or good decision by the NCAA? |
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 08/10/05 5:44 am:
lets do away with the
Celtics ;Vikings ;Pirates ;Yankees (a Brit name that insulted the Dutch settlers in NY 'John Cheese')
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 08/10/05 6:03 am:
and let's not forget the Cowboys !
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 08/11/05 3:00 am:
I am 1/2 Irish decendent .I have never heard an Irish American make an issue about the Notre Dame 'Fighting Irish ' name . The thin skins who make issue about these things are in the small minority .
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 08/11/05 5:32 am:
How long will it be before the PETA nutjobs start calling for a ban on the use of animal names? I wonder if the NCAA would object to the name 'LOONYLIB'? Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 08/11/05 7:56 am:
LOONYLIB, I love it. I wonder if the NCAA would change its tune for money? Wouldn't it be interesting to see the reaction if the Seminole nation offered to sponsor a tournament or a bowl game? They could change the name from the "Capital One Bowl" to the "Seminole Citrus Bowl."
|
| |
|
Your Options |
Additional Options are only visible when you login! !
|
|
|
|
