Outrageous NCAA

Brave. Strong. Courageous. Relentless. Warriors. Proud. Fearsome.

All of these describe characteristics you want in your sports teams. The team mascot is generally chosen to embody these characteristics, so many sports teams have taken on American Indian inspired names, such as Warriors, Indians, Braves, Redskins, Seminoles, Illini, Utes.

Now the NCAA has decided that these names are "hostile" and "abusive", and colleges which use American Indian models for their sports teams will be banned from using those names and mascots in all NCAA-sanctioned tournaments.

Small wonder, given the President of the NCAA is Myles Brand, who brings with him a legacy of being the past president of Indiana University, recognized as the best party school in the nation, one of the most liberal campuses in the nation, and home of the Kinsey Institute for Sexual Deviance.

The very terms used to explain this decision, "hostile and abusive", are all we need to understand the intellectual vacuum in which these people exist. Has anyone ever in recent memory been "hostile" or "abusive" to any tribal member anywhere, because the way their race is represented by some sports mascot? Has any tribal member alive experienced hostility or abuse of any kind because of their tribal or ethnic status? Never, as far as I can tell.

If we're going to decide that for some reason using American Indian icons for sports teams is disrespectful, then I suppose Myles' former university should also be sanctioned. After all, isn't "Hoosier" based on a derogatory term for hicks from Indiana? What about Irish People, who might be offended at Notre Dame's leprechaun and the stereotypical term "Fighting Irish"? How about the brothers in Catholic monastic life, should they be offended by the Providence "Friars"? How about PETA, surely they find the use of animals like Lions, Tigers, and Bears (Oh My!) objectionable.

Watch out Wisconsin and Iowa, schools who announced that they will refuse to schedule any teams with American Indian nicknames. How hypocritical, when they are hostile and abusive to Badgers and Hawks!

Even in the story, the Seminole Tribe in Florida is proud to be represented by Florida State. I believe it is because they have embraced the characteristics I listed at the top of this story and abandoned the silliness of those few always on the lookout for something that offends. Even our nation's capital has an NFL team called the "Redskins"!

I'm disgusted and outraged. Colleges have always been the primary refuge for the wierd and disaffected, but now things have gone way over the edge. Not only have the eccentricities of academia spilled over to take control of the institutions themselves, but they have succeeded in implementing a liberal fascism that is revealing the tip of the iceberg in this crazy and stupid NCAA ruling.