Quote:
Originally Posted by The Wolf
You do realize that naming a Phoenix team the Apaches could hit some people very close to home, right? Well, at least you didn't name them the Chiricahuas.
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Yes, you have a point but my opinion is, done properly, naming a team for Native American tribes can be a tribute, not an insult. Note, for example, the different treatments provided by the team logos presented below. Sorry, Tribe and Braves fans, but it's when things degenerate to the point of Chief Wahoo and the Tomahawk Chop that the use of Native American culture in sports becomes degrading.
Edit: On the other hand, I did a search for "Florida State Seminole mascot" and came up with "The [Seminole] tribe officially sanctions FSU's use of Seminoles as a nickname and Chief Osceola as a mascot." Below is a picture of that mascot. Is this respectful? I don't watch enough college football to recall having seen this guy in action.
Edit 2: The same search yielded this interesting Wiki article on the subject:
Native American mascot controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Reading further in that article, it says "The university's first mascots were Sammy Seminole and Chief Fullabull" who were retired after complaints arose in the 70's; their names alone tell that story. Officially, the Seminoles now are satisfied with the way they are represented by Chief Osceola, although some tribe members still object to the idea in general.
One thing is for sure. It's very easy to cross the line of political correctness when you are using a minority people as your team's image.
Sheesh. How did I get started on this? Oh yeah . . .
