Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Offensive/Aggressive Team Names - double standard ?

The NCAA seems to have a double standard when it comes to offensive/aggressive team names
using North American Indian imagery. Some schools(St. Johns, Marquette) went so far as to change their team names to avoid post season tournament bans.

The Fighting Illini was an unacceptable name and deemed offensive but the Fighting Irish depicted by a Leprechaun with raised fists has not drawn any scrutiny. The Illini ,at least, have a historical basis for their name, while Notre Dame du Lac founded and named by the french have no historical association with the entire nationality of the fine Irish people who they mimic with a cartoon like tourist symbol in a fighting pose totally ignoring their great cultural heritage -Irish Playwrights ? Irish Authors ? Irish Statesmen ? Irish Musicians ? Irish Artists, Irish Heroes ?

Does the NCAA have a double standard ? If you think so, Charlotte Westerhaus who heads the NCAA Office for Diversity and Inclusion needs to hear from you:

http://www.ncaa.org/cgi-bin/staffmailform2.pl?id=odi%40ncaa.org&name=Charlotte+Westerhaus

If the NCAA wants to honor the North American Indians, they shoud require the schools to give the Indians their land back or at a minimum share the gate receipts as back rent. Those schools in Manhattan should save up now.

Since there is no division 1A post season football tournament, the NCAA ban would not apply
to football teams. Maybe the NCAA could focus their efforts (they seem to have a lot of time ) on creating a post season 1A football playoff to insure the determination of a real National Champion as opposed to a team that plays a light schedule and gets the luck of the draw in a Bowl Game.

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