Controversy over team nicknames
 

Maybe I am just ignorant, but if I am this is the place to set me straight. I don't understand why it is such a big deal to call a team "Indians" "Braves" "Reds" "Blackhawks" "Flying Dutchmen" etc. I don't really see how that is bad, how it makes the group they are named after seem like savages or whatever. In most respects they are named after good warriors, and I think thats why they chose the name. IMO it is the same thing as calling a team the Spartains, Trojans, or anything like that. How is naming your team after ancient greek warriors any different than naming it after Native American warriors? I leave the Redskins out for a reason, because that is a little different, but I don't really understand what the big fuss is over naming a team after a group of people.

so if a team wanted to call themselves the ******s or Jew haters that should be allowed too??

Alabama Cotton Pickers..

I likes the sound of that one

BlackHawk. That was named after Chicago's first owners' restaurant.

I think certain people find the name's offensive. I'd say for the most part they are whingers.

Is Morcheeba really that retarded?

is BCWWF so retarded he can't catch a joke

Is YOUR Hero really that well hung?

HAHAHAHAHAHA. That was so funny. It was phrased in joke form also. I could catch your sarcasm from the instant I read it. I feel really stupid now, oh wait.

lol BCWWF repped me bad and said the only reason people talk to me is cause im the closest thing to a girl most people on here will ever talk to... my fragile ego :'(

no

Its true.

<font color=black>Especially about YOUR hero</font>

why did you include the Reds in there?

Cincinnatti is pro Communist.

The Reds refers to some group of Native Americans doesn't it? Thats what I always thought.

Yeah well, still made you moan.:cool:

The Reds refer to the color of the stockings they wore

Then why didn't they call themselves the Red Sox then :roll:

because they were the Red Stockings idiot

Some people just consider the term "indians" offensive, or at least improper. The proper term would be native americans, and blah blah blah whatever. I guess it's like if there was a team called the rednecks or something. Even if they won the Super Bowl and everybody loved them, it would still be a little offensive.

Not just the team names but also the logos, mascots and other things associated with the team (i.e. tomohawk chop for the Braves) that offend people.

Red Stockings idiots?

Whoa, that is a bit offensive come to think of it...

Are you sure? I am pretty sure that Reds is some reference to Native Americans.

I just don't see a big difference between the Braves and the Trojans. Or the Indians and the Spartans. They are both technically named after a group of people. Also Indians technically refers to people from India, not Native Americans

No Supreme is right. The Red are called the Red Stockings every now and again. Less and less all the time mind you.

Sparta is a real place. Therefore Spartans would be like saying Californian. Indian is a generalization of a race. It would be like saying ******s. Well not quite "that bad" but you get the idea...

But they are named after the ancient Spartan people technically, because they were great warriors. I see your point though, and the term Indians is really general. For example if they were called the Algonquin because the Algonquin were great fighters it would be differnt (I don't know if they actually were good fighters, just an example). Also, I bet if a team was called the name of a tribe it would be even more controversial than this.

Did anybody see the coach of Marshall called Ohio State &%*&^%. I forget what it was, but it was the name of an African group that are great warriors. So he was complimenting Ohio State, but black leaders are asking for him to be punished, mainly because he is white. I don't know, that doesn't seem offensive to me, comparing a really good team to a group of warriors. To me that seems like a big double standard.

see my earlier post on whingers

The Cleveland Arabs

:wtf:

Whats a whinger?

To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.

Stupid Whingers :rant:

Have you heard of India? :roll:

Pimply Oklahoma Butt-Cheeks.

The Carolina Kikes

Most school teams at least around here a few years ago changed all the indians and other native american refrences due to native american protest.

I really can't speak how offensive it is or isn't, someone who is native american could... A lot of us don't see the big deal in "Indians" or "warriors" etc... but the Native Americans it has value and they find it offensive.

Calling a team the "Indians" was compared to calling a team the "Blacks" and calling a team the RedSkins is comparable to calling a team the "Jew Noses" or "Big Lips" etc...

I don't know a lot about the Native american culture to know what would be offensive and why, maybe someone on here has some info?

I would be the starting LB. :cool:

Ehh, my ancestors were Natives but I have no idea.

I had to do a paper on this for 11th Grade English. If someone made a basketball team or something called the New York City (Insert Racial Term Here) I would not give a shit less.

Seriously, it is just a word, and actions of racism are far worse than a team's mascot.

The Alabama Killer WhiteTrash

I just remembered about a high school team, I think soccer. They were East Indians and THEY called themselves the Towel Heads, or something. There was huge protests by all sorts of groups calling it discriminatory. Saw the story on the news, don't remember if it was in Canada or down in the Seattle area. (We get Seattle news here too)

A teacher of mine from a few years ago was from a real small town on a reservation way up near North Dakota, and I guess their rivals in football made a sign saying "Scalp The Indians" and got in tonns of trouble

Ok that wasn't even funny. :|

For people to say that calling a team The Braves is the same as naming a team, for example, White Trash or Jew Haters are over-stating their case. I doubt calling a team "Braves" or something like that was ever meant to be offensive from the outset.

Obviously people of any given particular group will decide what they feel is offensive; others will feel the opposite. I think we all know that naming a team, at least initially, was more for appropriate descriptive reasons than anything. Boston CELTICS. San Fransisco FORTY NINERS. Edmonton OILERS. Redskins, Braves, Reds etc probably had a high population of Native people in that area.

What is the 49'ers for?

You seem to know the meaning behind it.

During 1849 California and area was the site of a huge gold rush. "Forty Niners" were what old prospecters referred to themselves as.

San Francisco Gays

:rofl:

But, seriously, "Braves" is nothing at all like calling a team the "Jew Noses".

I would totally buy a Jew Noses jersey though.

The San Francisco Gays was the only one of those that was actually funny

The Seattle Gooks

Phoenix Wetbacks

The Green Bay Fudge Packers

SanFran 69ers

The Minnesota Always Right About Sporters :shifty:

THE REDS IS NOT A NATIVE AMERICAN NAME

god dammit

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September 24, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A poll of American Indians found that an overwhelming majority of them are not bothered by the name of the Washington Redskins.

Only 9 percent of those polled said the name of the NFL team is ``offensive,'' while 90 percent said it's acceptable, according to the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey, released Friday.

Annenberg polled 768 Indians in every state except Hawaii and Alaska from Oct. 7, 2003, to Sept. 20, 2004.

<TABLE cellPadding=1 align=left border=0 vspace="5" hspace="10"><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The survey found little disparity between men and women or young and old. However, 13 percent of Indians with college degrees said the name is offensive, compared with 9 percent of those with some college and 6 percent of those with a high school education or less. Among self-identified liberals, 14 percent found the term disparaging, compared with 6 percent of conservatives.

The franchise began in Boston as the Braves but was purchased in 1932 by George Preston Marshall, who changed the name to honor head coach William ``Lone Star'' Dietz, an American Indian. The team kept its monicker after moving to the nation's capital in 1937.

The name and feather-wearing mascot have since been challenged. A panel of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office canceled the team's trademarks in 1999 on the grounds that the name disparages American Indians in violation of federal trademark law. But last year, a federal judge ruled the team can keep its name, finding insufficient evidence to conclude it is an insult to American Indians. Some Indian leaders are still pressing their case, noting that many schools with similar mascots referencing Indians have made name changes in recent years.


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From: yahoo.com

I went to Central Michigan University, home of the Chippewas (named for a local tribe).

Every football season, some group or other would start writing angry letters to the editors of CM Life (the student newspaper) about how the Chippewa nickname is offensive to the Chippewa people. However, in no cases that I can remember were there any actual Chippewas among the complainants. Most of the interviews that I read with actual Chippewas didn't mind it, so long as the students weren't doing tomahawk chops and chanting or anything during games (which they weren't).

The school caved about a decade (not sure about time, actually) ago, and replaced the old school logo with a "Flying C."

http://graphics.fansonly.com/store/V...11172215-t.jpg

Honestly, if they change the name of the team because somebody not of Chippewa descent is offended, then political correctness will have gone too far.

On a side note, I'm not offended by the use of the term "Chippewa." I am, on the other hand, offended by the fact that the name of the town that the college is based in is "Mount Pleasant." If anyone has ever been to the center of Michigan, you know damned well that there's nothing even remotely resembling a mountain. If anything about the school should be changed, it's that.

Honestly, I think I would be honored if the Cleveland Indians represented my group of people.

I'd be upset that they weren't good, but I wouldn't be offended by the name.

The Indians are my second favorite team, and besides 2002 and 2003 they have been pretty consistantly good over the past decade.

At least your school didn't have to go the way of Eastern Michigan. They had to ditch the rather awesome sounding "Hurons" name due to protests and had to go with the more generic "Eagles". (Frankly, if they were going to change it, I would've favored "Eastern Michigan University Emus.")

I'm not from EMU, by the way. I'm a GMI/Kettering University guy myself.

My brother goes to Hofstra University, and they had to change from the Flying Dutchmen to the Pride because not everybody in the school was Dutch or something.

My team is just called "Sunderland A.F.C".

Although, Hofstra Pride is not a bad name. :)

Yeah, its real lame actually.

How do you have 4000+ rep with under 500 posts?

you should've probably said redskins instead of reds

I did say Redskins, I also said Reds.