Mon 8 May 2006
I find few things quite as stupid as the P.C. police infiltrating the NCAA and demanding that schools eliminate native American mascots. Why the NCAA is involved at all is beyond me. But the Florida State Seminoles can get an exemption for their team because of a casino-tribe writes a letter saying it’s OK. But the University of Illinois can not get an exemption for Chief Illiniwek because the Illiniwek indians no longer exist. So no luck. At least the NCAA was nice enough to say that we do not have to rename the state of Illinois because it’s offensive.
And then there are those who believe that the Chief should go, just because someone complains. Take Mike Imrem writing in the Daily Herald (To be among the elite, Illini must lose Chief, 8 May 2006). He advocates drppoing the Chief so that Illinois does not antagonize the NCAA:
The Illini don’t need to give the NCAA any more reasons to scrutinize their basketball and football programs more closely.
If the NCAA wants to investigate any school, for whatever reason, chances are they’ll find some rule was broken somewhere at some time.
Illinois can’t afford to prod the NCAA, and extending the fight over Chief Illiniwek would be like flinging a flaming tomahawk at the organization’s enforcers.
So if Illinois administrators want, they can go to court, continue trying to keep the Chief and further irritate the NCAA.
Give me a break. The NCAA hates the Illini anyway. This is kind of like saying that if we appease them, maybe they’ll leave us alone. Never works.
2 Responses to “Save the Chief, Dump the NCAA”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
September 14th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
We told the damn indians that they weren’t offended. They still push it. We changed Chief from mascot to honored symbol, it wasn’t good enough.
I say who needs the NCAA. We can find schools to play without them. A lot of colleges hate NCAA rules on grades, paying athletes, giving them cars, etc. Why not start the exodus?
And, the UI may lose academic accreditation if the Chief stays. Who cares. Kids still can learn even if an assocaition doesn’t accredit.
October 6th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
[…] Way to go! As someone who also believes that it’s none of the NCAA’s business whether or not the University of Illinois chooses Chief Illiniwek as its mascot, I’m glad to see someone who pushes back on the NCAA. […]