One of the biggest ethical issues in all of sports is whether or not its appropriate to have mascots that represent Native Americans. Honestly I am getting tired of this debate myself because we have discusses this topic in numerous classes since I have been to Bowling Green State University. My personal opinion is that Native Americans should just get over it and worry about more important things in their lives. If my race or culture were represented by a sports team as a mascot or logo I would be honored. I believe that it is a form of respect and representation. The one special case I do agree with the critics on is the Washington Redskins. I believe this logo is derogatory but at the same time don't believe it should be changed. The fact of the matter is the logo will not be changed because it represents one of the most powerful and historical franchises in all of the NFL. As a fan of the Cleveland Indians, I know of the debate over our team name as well. I believe the Cleveland Indians is a positive representation especially in the mid to late 90's when the team was successful. The Atlanta Braves face criticism over the tomahawk chop but they won 14 consecutive division titles. Many college teams have gone away from Native American mascots including Illinois and Miami of Ohio. In the SI article 81% of the Native Americans interviewed believed they should continue using mascots in High School and 83% said the same thing for professional teams. Over half the population interviewed on reservations said that it was fine to keep using the mascots. I believe Native American mascots convey courage, leadership, and dignity and this debate should be forgotten.
Nick,
ReplyDeleteReally like the post and could not agree with you more. I happen to find it funny that Native Americans are worried so much about this mascot issue when their land and culture are slowly disappearing. I think it is one thing to be upset at teams with mascot names in which the school is disrespecting the Native American culture. As we have seen with many sports teams, this is not the case. I do like the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians as examples. The Braves, we both talked about in our blogs, being an honored and popular franchise. However, the only real problem is the Redskin name. I feel if the name is disrespectful, Washington may want to tweak the name. Then again, I think if the name as not been changed by now, why change it? I agree with a lot of your information in the post. The only thing I would question is the SI statistics. Mainly, I feel that SI and ESPN over exaggerate on these kinds of issues to receive viewers. That is why I chose not to add it in my blog. Overall, good points and I like to see someone agree with me on this issue.
Nick,
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to understand where both sides of this debate were coming from. After thinking about this topic and reading up on it I think I will have to agree with you as well. Had the issue not been brought up in this class, I probably would not have thought too much into it, so who am I to say that these logos and names should be done away with. I guess in class I just got caught up in the hype and didn't fully understand why.
After thinking about it, the whole point of a mascot and a team name is to represent the team. The mascot is something that pumps up the team and is a positive reflection. Now, let's just say that all the teams were forced to change their names and logos, I still stand by my comment that just because they have to change their team name doesn't change the players. But, I do understand the history and following that some of these teams have because of their names and logos.
Overall, the SI article was a bunch of hype, it was meant to get the readers attention, and that is precisely what it did. The article that was written in response to the SI article, "Of Polls and Race Prejudice", explores how those statistics were gathered and some of the evidence was a little shady. For example, when the writers of the SI article were asked how they got their information, they declined comment. So I guess you just have to read a little farther into the issue of statistics than just what that one article said.
Other than that, I agree there is a sense of pride and courage portrayed with Native American mascots and names.
Kara Higdon
I agree with you about how I most of the logos represent honor. In the case of the redskins they should be forced to change their name because it is a hurtful term to Indians. I don’t know if it will be ever be changed but maybe in the future it will be. I think this whole thing is being blown out of proportion. Majority of the Indian population does not even think that having mascots those deals with Indians are even bad. I like you post you made a lot of good points.
ReplyDeleteShaun Buynack