Breaking News -- IL Mascot

Parent Cafe
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<p>NCAA is on a roll:</p>

<p><a href=“http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NCAA_CHIEF_ILLINIWEK?SITE=AZTUC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT[/url]”>http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NCAA_CHIEF_ILLINIWEK?SITE=AZTUC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Another blow to college tradition! Why don’t they address the lack of white running backs at the D-I level? Oh that’s right, white people can’t be offended. Freaking hypocrites.</p>

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<p>No more Big Chief Illiniwek? Geez I want my alumni membership money back…</p>

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<p>…but still the Illini</p>

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<p>Next they should force the state to change its name. Naming the state Illinois was exploitative & disrespectful to the Illllini.</p>

<p>Oh wait…that’s right. We usually choose names as a sign of honor. And sports mascots to represent qualities such as bravery, skill, strength, courage. Nevermind.</p>

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<p>choosing to NAME something after something is quite different from having someone run around in psuedo authentic garb</p>

<p>there is a difference, guess some people don’t see it</p>

<p>me- I think ALL the football mascots should be fat guys with butt cracks swilling beer and eating hotdogs farting and burping…</p>

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<p>USUALLY mascots are anthropomorphized animals or objects (as in: To ascribe human characteristics to things not human). </p>

<p>Yep, what an honor to be lumped with the likes of Big Al, Bill the Goat, Goldy the Gopher, Cam the Ram, Donald Duck, Duke Dog, Hairy Dawg, Jinx the Jaguar, Mike the Tiger, Mr. and Mrs. Wuf, Musty the Mustang, the Nittany Lion, Reggie Redbird, Roc the Panther, Rocky the Rocket, Rowdy the Riverhawk, Sammy Seahawk, Sammy the Owl, Sammy the Slug, Scotty the Bear…</p>

<p>Rest assured, back in the 1920s this was NOT meant to honor a particular group of people.</p>

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<p>Oh, scansmom, you had to go all factual…and people were just getting their high horses set up, too!</p>

<p>I’m sure if I were Native American i’d feel so honored by that ridiculous Tomahawk chop the Braves do, too. ANd Redskins, that truly is all about honor (not “red” skin.) People are sooooo touchy these days.</p>

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<p>Sammy the Slug? Mr. & Mrs.Wuf? Obviously you’re serious…hahahahahhahahahahhahahhahah</p>

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<p>Honestly, I don’t think you’ll find a more enthusiastic and loyal university alum than I am, and I really have trouble understanding why this is such a big deal. It’s the same school, with the same team. If my alma mater’s mascot was attracting negative attention and sanctions from athletic leagues, and therefore it decided it was going to change its colors to yellow and black and rename the newspaper “The Golden,” I wouldn’t like it. But I also wouldn’t refuse to ever give them money again, resign from the board, write angry op-eds, and all the other ways that infuriated alumni express displeasure over this kind of thing.</p>

<p>I mean, I get that the athletic events are a huge part of what people love about being at Illinois. That’s what my singing groups were for me. If Illinois were eliminating the football/basketball team altogether, then I would totally understand the alumni fury. I’d scream bloody murder if my alma mater tried to abolish my choir! But if they just changed the name of the choir I sang in – same choir, just a new name – I’d say, “Shucks, I loved that name” and then write out my usual donation.</p>

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<p>The American left is always willing to make fun of those who don’t think like they do.</p>

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<p>had to happen… we can’t even keep 2 feathers (we don’t have an official mascot)</p>

<p>Here is our “potentially hostile and abusive” logo: <a href=“http://www.fremontdie.com/images/College%20Products/LargeMagnetsCollege/WilliamAndMary%2012%20inch%20Magnet.jpg[/url]”>http://www.fremontdie.com/images/College%20Products/LargeMagnetsCollege/WilliamAndMary%2012%20inch%20Magnet.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The NCAA should worry about graduation rates and literacy of the participants. Then, MAYBE they would be right to look at things like this.</p>

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<p>This just in: Veritones to be renamed Veristoned</p>

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<p>The NCAA needs to be disbanded or let athletes get paid somehow (besides the free education.) Athletes get suspended for taking $500 from a booster to buy food, yet the school rakes in millions on the sales of that same player’s jersey. </p>

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Amen brother. These are the same people who want to get rid of college sports all together, and fund useless crap such as musical theater. Yeah I said it. For a valid comparison to the Chief Illiniwek issue at hand, we are going to change the name of “The Sound of Music” to “The Vibrations of Harmony” as not to offend deaf people. Futhermore, “West Side Story” is to be named “Bicoastal Tale” as not to offend people on the East Coast, and the Latinos in the movie will be changed to white people, as not to offend the Latinos. Now that is a valid comparison you tradition killing <curse word=“” deleted=“”></curse></p>

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<p>are you saying there aren’t any fat white lefties…really?</p>

<p>my comment had to do with the stereotype of football lovers…phewsssh, right over his head</p>

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<p>“crap lie musical theater”</p>

<p>when you say something like that you lose all credibility</p>

<p>and the analogies you are all trying to use, well, gee whiz, pathetic, if that’s the best you can come up with</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.varsity.com/index.asp?article=684[/url]”>http://www.varsity.com/index.asp?article=684&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.nah.uiuc.edu/mascot-history.htm[/url]”>http://www.nah.uiuc.edu/mascot-history.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos”>Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos;
Why are some American Indian people upset by the “Chief Illiniwek” mascot of the “Fighting Illini” sports teams?
There are three main reasons. First, the Illini mascot wears Sioux clothes and accessories, which are different from actual Illini traditions. So the mascot is misrepresenting Native American culture. Second, many Native Americans think Chief Illiniwek is disrespectful of their religion because he mimics certain Indian religious gestures. Just like anyone else, Native Americans are sensitive about their religious beliefs. And third, many people think it is inappropriate to use a racial costume at all. Some Native Americans feel hurt and embarrassed when a white person dresses up as an Indian chief, just as some African-Americans feel hurt and embarrassed when a white person dresses up in blackface. </p>

<p>read some history folks</p>

<p>guess it would be okay then to dress up as Hassidic Jews, or the 12 Apostles, or George Washington with big wooden teeth and make them mascots</p>

<p>Tradition does not make it right btw…</p>

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<p>“Next they should force the state to change its name. Naming the state Illinois was exploitative & disrespectful to the Illllini.”</p>

<p>Actually I’m hoping that (for a large fee) they rename my state “MicroState”, and they lease out the name of departments - like the Philip Morris Department of Health, or the Budweiser Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse. </p>

<p>(What did the Illini ever do to merit the name of a state which could be sold for a heck of a lot more?)</p>

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<p>I’m very cognizant of the sound of the whooshbird. There weren’t any around here today.</p>

<p>I was trying to say in a somewhat humorously nasty (mea culpa) way that while you are quite comfortable with your derogatory stereotypes that you excoriate others for expressing theirs, and that I consider this to be a typical behavior of the American left. Clear enough?</p>

<p>Just to complete the thought, I find that extremists of all political persuasions are pretty comfortable wrapped in their cherished preconceptions and personal information filters.</p>

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Well, most Native Americans are quite honored to have these mascots. Ask them, why don’t you. Read some history yourself! The NCAA decision to penalize schools with Native American mascots has been fought by many Native American groups. Check out the history of the Seminole mascot at FSU:</p>

<p><a href=“http://unirel.fsu.edu/seminoles/index.html[/url]”>http://unirel.fsu.edu/seminoles/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;