The presidents and chancellors who serve on the NCAA Executive Committee have adopted a new policy to prohibit NCAA colleges and universities from displaying hostile and abusive racial/ethnic/national origin mascots, nicknames or imagery at any of the 88 NCAA championships.Obviously, no college or university in the U.S. is hostile toward Native Americans or any other group of persons that isn't white, male, and heterosexual. So what's the problem?
The Executive Committee, meeting Thursday in Indianapolis, also approved recommended best practices for schools who continue to use Native American mascots, nicknames and imagery in their intercollegiate athletic programs.
"Colleges and universities may adopt any mascot that they wish, as that is an institutional matter," said Walter Harrison, chair of the Executive Committee and president at the University of Hartford. "But as a national association, we believe that mascots, nicknames or images deemed hostile or abusive in terms of race, ethnicity or national origin should not be visible at the championship events that we control."
Why aren't the Greeks and Turks upset about all those teams of Spartans and Trojans dotted around the country?
If livestock could vote, the NCAA certainly would be riding herd on Mustangs and Broncos, and all of those other rampaging animals. Though I doubt that anyone would stick up for the Mud Hens (the nickname of a minor league baseball team).
Speaking of baseball -- my favorite sport -- why aren't New Englanders up in arms about the New York Yankees when most New Englanders (the original Yankees) are fans of the Boston Red Sox.
I guess it's okay to call a team the Sox (the Red of Boston or White of Chicago) because there are few textile and hosiery manufacturers still operating in the U.S. We still have a lot of mountains, though, so I do have to wonder about the Colorado Rockies.
Why aren't matched siblings and extra-large persons upset about the Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants?
Why aren't professional groups of various sorts marching against the Houston Astros (for astronauts), Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles (trolley) Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers?
Birds should sue the Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Cardinals, and Toronto Blue Jays. And there are the beasts of land and sea who must be offended by the likes of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Then there are those pesky Native American teams, the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians. Why haven't they wised up yet?
So we're right back where we started. I guess what we need are more teams with innocuous names like the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, and Washington Nationals.
Come to think of it, I doubt that any self-respecting PC policeperson would object to the Cincinnati Reds. I mean, aren't socialism and communism far more enlightened systems than free-market capitalism?
Technorati tag: Political Correctness
