Rediculous..
Apparently the NCAA is banning the use of Indian mascots in postseason tournaments. This of course is utterly rediculous. Ray Ratto apparently agrees.
First of all, every single school on the planet takes pride in their mascot. It’s hard to imagine a better way to carry on the memory of many of these tribes than by teaching it to millions of college students or exposing it to hundreds of millions of fans.
Secondly, at this point tradition is a huge part of the schools that are using these mascots. College is all about tradition. College sports are even moreso about tradition. It’s simply not fair to require these schools to change their tradition so they can take part in postseason play.
Thirdly, if the US Government doesn’t require states like Indiana and Illinois or cities like Miami to change their names because it’s insulting and racist to have them named after Native American tribes, then I don’t see where the NCAA gets the authority to force changes in mascots based on the same reasoning.
What happened to Native Americans is really horrific, but I find it hard to see how it’s racist to use their tribal names as a mascot.
Posted: August 5th, 2005 under Sports.
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