| Shakespeare could wax poetic about 'What's in a | | | | minority involvement in major sports as the great |
| Name?' because he didn't have to contend with | | | | Jackie Robinson was fifty years later.Yes, the team |
| sports mascots ...It's the politically-correct issue in | | | | uses a caricature of a Native American as its logo |
| America that refuses to subside. I consider myself to | | | | now. In fact, Chief Wahoo is perenially one of the |
| be an enlightened cyberbeing, but I contend there | | | | hottest-selling logos on sports merchandise. It far |
| are just some topics that blur the bigger picture of | | | | outsells the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets orginal logo, |
| an ethically responsible society, and complaining that | | | | which is honoring the valiant Ohio battalion that |
| mascots can be degrading is near the top of the | | | | fought so honorably in the Civil War. We haven't |
| list.A quick check of Webster's Twentieth Century | | | | heard historical societies from that great state |
| Unabridged Dictionary defines 'mascot' as 'any person, | | | | howling with indignation that this is done by putting a |
| animal or thing supposed to bring good luck by being | | | | green insect in a Union soldier's uniform. Instead, the |
| present.' So, it would seem that a team mascot is an | | | | odds are they're pleased that more of the North |
| honorable title. Most mascots in American sports had | | | | American public has become aware of the Blue |
| their origins in the early 1900s. Back then, teams | | | | Jacket history than ever before, just as the |
| fumbled around with quaint monickers until they | | | | Cleveland Indians can keep alive the memory of |
| gradually realized the tremendous marketing value | | | | Sockalexis. |
| they carried. The New York Highlanders became the | | | | Some protestors say Chief Wahoo has 'shifty' eyes |
| more regionally-identifiable Yankees, for instance, and | | | | and that makes him even more demeaning. I, for |
| the Chicago Cubs took their nickname so newspaper | | | | one, never drew that connection, but if anyone else |
| editors could more easily fit it into headlines. | | | | did, why wouldn't they be laughing and demeaning |
| Distinguished symbols like Tigers and Giants appeared. | | | | the Oklahoma University Sooners? After all, that |
| Unique features like White Stockings and Red | | | | term originally implied cheaters getting a jump on |
| Stockings evolved into the more headline-friendly and | | | | staking claims to land being opened for |
| spelling-special White Sox and Red Sox.One of the | | | | settlement.There are many more examples. I simply |
| earliest attempts at humor in mascot-anointing was | | | | don't see Native Americans being unduly isolated in |
| made by the Brooklyn nine of baseball's National | | | | this context, and no one else involved is feeling |
| League. Urban legend wasn't a known phrase back | | | | belittled.The Washington Redskins originated in |
| then, but it farily describes the allusion to fans who | | | | Boston, home of baseball's Red Sox and Braves in |
| 'dodged' trolley fares to get a free ride to Ebbetts | | | | the 1930s. They were also called the Braves back |
| Field and watch the game. Those 'bums' were called | | | | then, because they played in that team's stadium. |
| Dodgers, and their favorite team became christened | | | | However, when they wound up getting better terms |
| as such.Ironically, that drift toward the whimsical --- | | | | to locate in Fenway Park, they didn't want to |
| probably intended to portray sports in its proper | | | | confuse the paying public by being Braves but playing |
| context as a divertissement of life --- may have | | | | in the Red Sox stadium. Their solution made sense: |
| been the root of indignation two generations | | | | they incorporated references to their origins and their |
| later.The social upheavals of the 1960s and early | | | | new game site by changing their name to Redskins. |
| 1970s were certainly justified, in my view. Civil rights | | | | The logic apparently didn't register with enough fans, |
| needed to come to the fore, and the resultant | | | | though, and the team soon exited to the nation's |
| improvement in how all peoples were perceived was | | | | capital.The point here is that the Redskins name |
| a great step forward for mankind. Still, there's a | | | | wasn't derived as a slur, but as a facilitation to |
| difference between significant awareness and | | | | distinguish the team's new --- albeit transitional --- |
| pedantic perception in any movement. Thus, in my | | | | home. Furthermore, to be fair, the Redskins |
| view, when certain Native Americans first raised the | | | | organization has only used a noble image as a symbol |
| mascot controversy in headlines of the time, the | | | | of the name. Washington DC is one of the most |
| attention afforded was only due to its being sucked | | | | liberal cities in North America, with its population's |
| into the backdraft of searing human rights | | | | majority consisting of minorities. The connotation of |
| campaigns.Personally, I've always thought the issue | | | | that nickname being demeaning, as in the Cleveland |
| had as much relevance to their legitimate concerns as | | | | Indians case, just doesn't emerge from its |
| bra-burning did for women's rights.Think about it. | | | | context.My impression, then, remains that the mascot |
| Native Americans aren't alone in being designated as | | | | controversy has its sole value in the publicity it gives |
| mascots. In accordance with Webster's Dictionary | | | | those organizations who are raising it. Pro and college |
| definition, other persons given the distinction include | | | | sports are more visible than ever in the USA, and |
| the Irish (University of Notre Dame) and | | | | what better way is there to affix one's organization |
| Scandinavians (Minnesota Vikings). Both of these | | | | to higher 'page rankings' than making headlines in the |
| ethnic groups endured their moments of | | | | Sports section of newspapers and broadcasts?The |
| discrimination in the annals of American history, too. | | | | matter isn't going away anytime soon. Now the |
| So far, neither has mounted a protest about being | | | | NCAA --- college sports' governing body --- has |
| characterized as a good luck symbol for a sporting | | | | decreed that any university with a Native American |
| organization.Don't even try to broach the 'caricature' | | | | mascot can neither host a championship event nor |
| argument as a reason why the Native American | | | | use their mascot in any championship event. Some |
| situation is different. Perhaps Notre Dame uses a | | | | schools have successfully been granted exceptions, |
| leprechaun logo now, but the term 'Fighting Irish' was | | | | which makes even less sense to me. Does this mean |
| a clear reference to barroom brawlers, a | | | | that Florida State's Seminoles, for example, are less |
| stereotypical low-life trait at which immigrants from | | | | demeaning to Native Americans than North Dakota's |
| the Emerald Isle were perceived to be quite | | | | Fighting Sioux (a traditional college hockey power)? |
| proficient. As to the Scandinavians, there is no | | | | How hypocritical is that? If they're contending that |
| evidence that even one Viking was ever so dim as | | | | degrees of discrimination exist due to local |
| to go into battle with a set of heavy horns on his | | | | circumstances, then they're admitting to a targeted |
| helmet; why would any warrior charge into a | | | | sensitivity beyond society's pale, which is |
| kill-or-be-killed scenario wearing anything that could | | | | discriminatory in itself. How can such a position be |
| directly impede his ability to win? (The image of | | | | rationalized with a clear conscience?Mascots, no |
| horns came from priests' drawings of Viking attacks, | | | | matter how commercialized, are still nothing more |
| attempting to equate them to the Devil incarnate, | | | | than whimsical symbols. Society as a whole |
| and it was Wagner who popularized this image when | | | | understands that, just as it realizes the stylized |
| he staged his epic Ring of the Niebelung.)Cleveland's | | | | violence in Grimm's Fairy Tales leaves no lasting scars |
| baseball team sorted through a number of mascots in | | | | on the psyches of children who innocently absorb |
| their early days. 'Spiders' just didn't have that 'je ne | | | | them. Those who claim to the contrary only risk |
| sais crois' of marketing sizzle. They were the 'Naps' | | | | trivializing themselves and the credibility of their |
| for a while, in honor of their star player-manager, | | | | greater cause.Nowhere in the country do such topics |
| Napoleon Lajoie. So, when they finally settled on | | | | remain in a lighthearted perspective more than in |
| 'Indians' in correlation to one of their first star players | | | | Orofino, Idaho. That's the site of the state's mental |
| --- Louis Sockalexis, a Native American --- the | | | | hospital. The local high school's teams are called the |
| monicker may not have begun as a tribute to him, | | | | Maniacs.No one protests, unless the teams don't play |
| but it has since memorialized his legacy. The evidence | | | | hard.J Square Humboldt is the featured columnist at |
| indicates the term was derogatorily applied to all | | | | the Longer Life website, which is dedicated to |
| members of the Cleveland team in the 1890s | | | | providing information, strategies, analysis and |
| because it dared to have the fortitude to allow an | | | | commentary devoted to improving the quality of |
| Indian to play for them. Since then, Sockalexis has | | | | living. His page can be found at and his observations |
| been recognized as being as much of a pioneer for | | | | are published three times per week. |