Letters: Football mascots confuse woman

Just wondering!

Call me curious, but please don’t kill the cat. I spent parts of this past weekend watching football on TV, and a couple of things caught my attention.

First, many women do try to keep up with the various teams; however, it seems the teams change mascots like women change shoes, making it difficult to know who the current mascot is for team.

ULM, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, is now the politically correct Warhawks instead of its former Indians. Is this the warhawks of fictional Batman multiplayer Playstation fame or a warhawk of 1812 fame? The 1812 warhawk was someone favoring war in a debate over whether to actually go to war. Variations on the use of “hawk” are evident in modern U.S. usage that refer to any fierce advocate for a cause or policy. Pardon me, I digress.

Ole Miss now has the Rebel Black Bear as their “on-the-field mascot.” Why does it have to be about color? Why not just the Ole Miss Bears. Personally, or figuratively, I don’t know bears of any color to be rebels. Then there is confusion about whether Auburn may have three mascots. I took a poll Saturday night and asked, “What’s up with that?”The majority stated, “well they are dazed and confused.”Again I digress.

What really prompted me to write, was that while watching the New Orleans vs. Washington game on Sunday, the Saints playing, out of our nation’s capital, the Redskins. Surely in order to be politically correct, the Redskins mascot really is a potato!

Lisa Sanders

wife/mother (part-time RN)

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by spqr - 15/09/2012

DMJ...90% of Southerners did not own slaves. "Slave-owning" soldiers. Stupid comment. And bourbonsoda is correct about LSU's name.

2) Comment by bourbon-soda - 14/09/2012

DMJ - I was referring to what I think is the historical derivation of the name - "Lee's Tigers," Louisiana Zouaves and others. "Rebel" is not specifically Confederate, either, but was a big sticking point at Ole Miss.

3) Comment by nimby? - 14/09/2012

"see those louisianians , they fight like tigers" , Thomas Stonewall Jackson , the Battle of First Manassas .....

4) Comment by DMJ - 14/09/2012

Are you serious? The mascot is now a tiger. An actual tiger. It's not a slave-owning soldier in a gray uniform.

5) Comment by bourbon-soda - 14/09/2012

What is LSU going to do when the politically correct progressives figure out the name has something to do with Louisiana units in the Confederate military?

6) Comment by bourbon-soda - 14/09/2012

@DMJ - The NCAA forced the name changes under pressure from the politically correct. @dantisti - Who gets to be the Pansies? Maybe UC Santa Cruz.

7) Comment by Being_Stupid - 14/09/2012

Agree with bourbon-soda's comment down below.

8) Comment by nimby? - 14/09/2012

the planes flown by the Flying Tigers over China 1941/42 was the P 40 - B , the tomahawk ....

9) Comment by 8point6 - 14/09/2012

Most of these comments are great! Thank you, Lisa! Great letter, and so true! @dantisti: Good one! Pawtucket Periwinkles sounds p.c. to me...

10) Comment by nimby? - 14/09/2012

my first thoughts were of an intramural basketball team formed at the University of Northern Colorado , the "Fighting Whities" . there is much I find offensive that I am told to get over , no problem , been hearing that for a long time . it is sad we can no longer be honest with our words but must play the game to get ahead , or we will be labeled . for what it's worth ; ever notice the foam tomahawks you see at sporting events ? a product of the eastern Cherokee nation , brings in a generous profit for the tribe . capitalism at its' finest ...

11) Comment by DMJ - 14/09/2012

"The so-called progressives are repealing the First Amendment in order to keep anyone from being offended." Switch to decaf, brother. The NCAA made ULM change its mascot name, not "progressives," whoever they are. The "warhawk" is a commemoration of Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault's United States Army Air Corps World War II unit's Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. A quick wikipedia search would have told Mrs. Sanders all of this and saved her the time of writing this stupid letter. And does she really need to be told why a mascot celebrating the Confedracy might be offensive to people in Mississippi??

12) Comment by dantisti - 14/09/2012

Our struggle with the PC Police must surely be nearing its zenith. How else can we justify serious debate about the political correctness of sports mascots. … Let’s settle this once and for all. I suggest that all college football teams adopt the names of flowers so that we will not offend anyone, anything, or any political movement, correct or otherwise. How about the Florida State Forget-Me-Nots? Who could be offended by the Illinois Fighting Chrysanthemums? Or the UABegonias? The Ole Miss Marigolds would be far less offensive, as would the UMass Hollyhocks. Let’s try the Arkansas State Statice! S.W. Jones President, Phillips County Community College, Helena, Ark. Jones, S.W. (1993, December 8). Ditch team names in favor of mascots. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B5.

13) Comment by [e-mail] - 14/09/2012

Just like in the Rodeo! Bulls use to have names like "Dynamite" and "Widow Maker", but as that was deemed too insensitive and demeaning, not to mention a violation of animal "rights", now they're named things like "Bluebell", and "Sweet Thing". Pity.

14) Comment by bourbon-soda - 14/09/2012

Great letter. The so-called progressives are repealing the First Amendment in order to keep anyone from being offended.

15) Comment by Bighug - 14/09/2012

What is the problem with team names that refer to American Indians? I have never heard a comment from anyone upset about the use of other groups. Should we call for an end to these names, also? Some that come to mind are Ragin' Cajuns, Fighting Irish, Spartans, Celtics, and Chinese Bandits.