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