Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Digging a Huge [Gopher] Hole

As of a few days ago, the University of Minnesota Advisory Committee Athletics reaffirmed a policy prohibiting the Go-furs from playing schools with Native American mascots in athletic events. You can take a peek at the article here.

This "hostile and abusive" moniker seems to keep biting UND in the arse, but apparently the Native Americans so furious at the school have given the U of M permission to still play Division I ice hockey against the Sioux. I don't know if I'm just a dumb Husky, but it seems kind of, I don't know, hypocritical that the Go-farts, as well as the BADgers, who also have a policy similar to this one, would continue to compete in D-1 hockey against a team that they apparently feel is being "hostile and abusive." Don't get me wrong, I cringe at the idea of a mess like that in the WCHA, but how can we be so two-faced in this stupid argument?

Personally, I'm having a hard time even writing this entry (except for the fact that its helping to keep me from studying Thermodynamics) because of the hostility that logo oozes [sarcasm]. Come on, the whole "home of the Sioux" (yes, I know other schools do similar things) shouldn't piss off the ENTIRE COUNTRY, but this logo is so offensive to so many people that we need to continue to give me reason to write petty, boring entries like this.

Honestly, how much harm does a school's mascot really cause to people completely uninvolved with the program? You can accuse me of being closed-minded about this, but do you really lose sleep over the fact that UND uses a well drawn image of a man's head as their logo? If you've been under a rock and haven't heard about this issue yet, please, inform yourself because things like this are the things that make this country a real mess, when we could be confronting real issues.

I think U of M athletic director Joel Maturi said it best with "I understand the policy, and I understand the procedure...I feel bad because I think the kids are the ones who will be negatively affected."

[Editors note: I added a tear beneath the eye of our Sioux friend in reference to the 1970's commercial with a Native American who shed a tear when a piece of trash was tossed at his feet. Brownie points to those who noticed.]

3 comments:

MeanEgirl said...

Christ, why are people so retarded about this issue?

"I understand the policy, and I understand the procedure...I feel bad because I think the kids are the ones who will be negatively affected."

Do they seriously honestly believe that crap? Like that nitwit from Dartmouth...

Morons.

If it were me, I'd be more concerned about playing teams like NMU, where they actually have diseases that are catchable. People treat UND like the plague.

Anonymous said...

Just another example of the tyranny of the minority. In this case a typical group of minnesota leftists decide what is right for the University based upon their personal prejudices.

The typical Minnesota liberal is a person that has built a large part of their moral identity and possibly their politics around how they respond to your color. In Minnesota this type of PC BS isn't new at all.

But we weren't the first though, only the latest. What a bunch of weenies.

Anonymous said...

If changing the name cures all ills, how come the atmosphere at Dartmouth 30 years later is far more hostile and abusive??