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Tuesday, August 16, 2005
‘No offense intended’ isn’t acceptable anymore
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
It took somewhere between forever and Tuesday before the light opened my previously blinded eyes. Now I see clearly enough to have pride in my alma mater for doing more than just producing Hall of Fame coaches (Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Ara Parseghian, etc.), the founder of Smucker’s jelly, the first fraternities and sororities, along with the maternal grandfather of George W. Bush.
The wise heads at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, were a decade ahead of the NCAA in realizing that the use of American Indian mascots and imagery should go the way of Chief Noc-a-homa.
What did I just type? I mean, until Tuesday, I shared the popular view that NCAA officials have too much time on their hands. They announced earlier this month that they will bar schools from using Indian nicknames, mascots or logos deemed “hostile and offensive” at their champion- ship events. Florida State howled the loudest since its sports teams go by “Seminoles.” Florida governor Jeb Bush (George W.’s brother) even mentioned that the Seminole Indian tribe supports Chief Osceola, the War Chant and all of FSU’s other Native American excesses.
Been there, done that. Before Tuesday, I continued to mourn the loss of “Redskins” by Miami (Ohio), named after an Indian tribe that populated southwest Ohio during the early 19th century. Said the venerable Philip Shriver, 83, the former university president and local historian, “No university adopts a name to be ashamed of it. Indeed, if you look at the names of our states and our rivers, they are Indian.” Shriver added over the phone from Oxford, “Even the state right next to us, which is five miles from where I’m sitting now, is ‘Indian’ then ‘a.’ So when you start changing Indian names, you have to redo the entire map of the United States.”
Yeah, well. That’s not the point, which I didn’t see until two things happened Tuesday: First, I had lunch with a friend named Milt. The conversation turned to the NCAA’s nickname controversy, and I said I still was perturbed that Miami (Ohio) replaced “Redskins” with “RedHawks” during the mid-1990s. I mentioned that the university has a splendid relationship with the Miami Indian tribe, now located in northeast Oklahoma, and that the university gives scholarships to children of tribe members.
“Plus, when Miami used ‘Redskins,’ the university made sure that the mascot was respectful of all of the Miami Indian traditions,” I said proudly. “For instance, the costume that the mascot wore was authentic from the tribe.”
Milt cringed, before throwing a slither of light my way by saying, “Aren’t you the same guy who fumed last month when you visited Robert E. Lee’s mansion in Washington, D.C., and the tour guide boasted about how well the Lee family treated their slaves? As you said then, ‘Slaves were treated like slaves.’ A mascot is a mascot, and a mascot is demeaning. A Redskins mascot ranks with that gorilla for the Phoenix Suns and the Phillie Phanatic. Not good.”
Then came blinding light. After lunch, I called Oxford again to speak with Joseph Leonard, a management professor at Miami (Ohio) for the past 22 years. More importantly, he is the son of Floyd Leonard, the chief of the Miami Indian tribe in Oklahoma. The younger Leonard said he once joined the majority of the 3,000 or so tribe members in supporting the use of “Redskins” by Miami (Ohio).
“I changed my mind over time through the 1980s, as did a lot of people in the tribe,” said Leonard, 57, whose son graduated from Miami (Ohio) and whose daughter will be a sophomore at the school. “The administration here did a good job and worked hard and tried rigorously to do things to honor the tribe and not try to show us as 18th or 19th century savages just running around.
“The problem was, when the football team would go play LSU or outside the conference, people would get a little bit carried away. Too much emphasis on distorting the image.”
Added Leonard, referring to the NCAA’s stance on Indian mascots and nicknames, “Theoretically, if you find even one person that thinks something like that is offensive, it should change. In this case, it’s way more than one.”
Oh, I definitely see the light. I hope some of it shines on others â€â€? “Redskins” supporters, tomahawk choppers and even tour guides at Civil War sites trying to rewrite history.
Permalink | Comments (178) | Categories: Tech / ACC, Terence Moore, UGA / SEC
NCAA will regret mascot misstep
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or the NCAA, as we commonly refer to it, was formed with all the good intentions in the world. I assume so, for that was in 1906. I wasn’t around yet. But it’s beginning to get on my nerves now. The NCAA is actually a monopoly, one of the most powerful monopolies in sports society. If you don’t think so, just ask Bob Knight, the current basketball coach at Texas Tech. Of course, there may be a bit of rancor in Knight’s opinion, for the reaffirmed president of the NCAA is the man who fired him when he was basketball coach at Indiana, Myles Brand.
The NCAA does some really inconsistent things. Like, banning the sale of beer on the scene of NCAA championships, but allowing the advertising of beer on telecasts of same. It’s the godfather of the Bowl Championship Series, which has caused nothing but haggling. It also stands by while one conference pillages another of its members to create two divisions, thereby setting up a postseason playoff that brings in millions. And I don’t know that the Big East Conference will ever recover.
Now, the latest flap is so trivial that it’s a wonder this powerful body would even take the time to dally with it. You know the one I mean, the attempt to ban Indian (Native American, if you prefer) nicknames, logos and such from postseason NCAA championships. On the grounds that the practice is “hostile� and “abusive,� which provokes the slack-jawed response, “Say what?� That treads on the toes of some rather prominent institutions that have long since brought pride to the tribes whose names they have chosen, in the eyes of the beholder.
Two most prominent schools would be Florida State and its Seminoles and Illinois and its Illini. (I never realized that Illini were Indians, but that being the case, then shouldn’t the whole state of Illinois be struck? Definition of Illinois is “a confedration of Algonquin Indian tribes.�)
There are several others, including the Central Michigan Chippewas, the Arkansas State Indians, and, I suppose, the Hawaii Warriors. I don’t know where that puts the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette, not necessarily tribal, but a caste of people rather proud of their own lineage.
Now, I’d suppose that what I’m about to say will brand me as an old (censored) out of touch with the times, but I’ll say it anyway: I always thought that bestowing an Indian name on an athletic team would bestow honor on any tribe. Depicting the tribe as valorous and brave, a matter of pride.
So I’m wrong, by NCAA definition? Instead “hostileâ€? and “abusive.â€? In the garden of the academe, there had been an off-and-on leaning toward stripping these nicknames from college teams, but never such a sudden blast as this. One college president isn’t taking this blow sitting down. T.K. Wetherell was a speedy pass receiver as a student at Florida State, and from his office as president now, he has thrown down the gauntlet — or was it a flaming spear? — to the NCAA.
This is both “outragerous and insulting,� the FSU president said, and indicated that an even more ferocious message was to follow, indicating a lawsuit. The Seminole tribe of Florida proclaims its pride in the affiliation with the collegiate Noles. Many of the Seminoles of Oklahoma say they’re not offended, then why should these stuffed shirts in the ivory tower be?
My old Newsweek friend, Joe Cumming, says maybe it’s the “mascot� designation that’s offensive. He suggests signo, as in hoc signo vinces, which he says translates into “in this sign thou shall conquer.� That would relabel his West Georgia teams as the West Georgia Signos instead of the Braves. But then, who would know what he’s talking about? Offhand, I’d say there’s not much to be worried about. I suspect Myles Brand and the NCAA are sorry they even brought it up, and they’ll put out the fire, saddle up and head for cover.
Permalink | Comments (24) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Tech / ACC, UGA / SEC
The Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10 — T.O. T.O. T.O. (Sorry. I’m just working on my impersonations and I thought I’d start today with ESPN. I also do Nixon and John Wayne.)
9 — Owens is a holdout. David Pollack doesn’t have a contract. That’s a distinction apparently lost on Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis, who this week referred to the first-round pick from Georgia as a holdout. Given some other comments, I’m going to give Lewis the benefit of the doubt and assume he was dropped on his head as a kid.
8 — Seriously, has there ever been more of a team guy come through Athens than Pollack? And yet, this was the coach’s take on Pollack’s contract problems: “We have guys who have chosen to be here, and we’ve eliminated selfishness that occurs. If that’s what it comes down to, a dollar here a dollar there, they’re on the wrong football team.”
7 — Pollack selfish? I don’t know all of the specifics of these negotiations. But I think I know what this kid is all about and I certainly know the inglorious history of the Bengals’ organization in matters of economics. What a dolt.
6 — Last Friday, T.O. released a statement on TerrellOwens.com in which he thanked his fans, none of whom he would sign autographs for at Eagles’ camp.
5 — The statement also includes: “Regrettably, recent events have unfolded in a way that may paint a negative picture of Terrell. This situation has mushroomed far beyond what should be considered adequate coverage, and Terrell has become the media’s favorite whipping boy.â€? I’m not certain if this was penned before or after Owens did a workout in his driveway.
4 — I broke down. Was flipping channels last night and watched five minutes of the Pamela Anderson Celebrity Roast. Must’ve been 1,000 people and 97 brain cells in the building.
3 — Brian Jordan says he’s ready to come back with the Braves. This should be interesting.
2 — The Mets are only 4 1/2 games back in the wild-card race. (Just trying to raise the hopes of Mets fans. Makes it more fun to watch the crash.)
1 — Evander Holyfield has been banned from fighting in New York. Gee, that means he can only fight in 49 other states, the District of Columbia and, like, a hundred other countries.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
WR jobs are open, but the candidates haven’t been
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Flowery Branch � We are three weeks and two exhibitions into prep time, and Jim Mora is still waiting for the “wow� factor. There was that one play when DeAngelo Hall reached back and intercepted a pass and everybody said, “Wow!� But Mora isn’t so desperate that he would move his best cover to wide receiver. Not yet, anyway.
Three weeks, two games, and this is the head coach’s assessment of the Falcons’ wide receivers: “I guess you can look at it two ways. You can say, ‘Well, we’re getting better as a group.’ Or you can be pessimistic and say, ‘We’re in trouble. No one has jumped out.’ â€?
The Falcons still have some time until their Sept. 12 opener against the Philadelphia Eagles (who have a “wowâ€? factor — he’s merely loony). But if you’re the Falcons and the primary objective this season is to turn the passing game into some semblance of a threat, things have not gone well.
We won’t go into numbers because exhibition numbers are meaningless. (An Indianapolis quarterback leads the NFL in passing yards, but it’s Travis Brown, not Peyton Manning.)
But it’s noteworthy that the receiver Mora heaped the most praise on Monday was rookie free agent Cole Magner. Magner isn’t even listed on the four-deep depth chart. But he has long blond hair and is nicknamed “Sunshine� after the “Remember the Titans� character. So he has that going for him.
NFL training camps seldom offer much in the way of roster drama. Generally, few spots are available. Coaches spew that “Anybody can win a job� stuff in meetings. But the fact remains that a solid starter can drag his way through camp and nobody will blink because the coaching staff knows what the player’s track record is once the games start counting.
That’s not the case with the Falcons’ wide receivers. The core is unimpressive on paper and has been unspectacular this summer. (The only “wow� Monday was more like an “Oh, jeez.� Peerless Price dropped consecutive balls thrown to him.)
Give Mora credit for his candor. When asked if he had any sense of what he was getting with any of his receivers, he paused and said: “Maybe with Fin [Brian Finneran] and Dez [White]. I mean, I feel comfortable knowing exactly what they are as players.
“With the other three guys we’re focusing on, I can’t say that. You certainly can’t say that about Roddy [White] and Michael [Jenkins], because none of us have really seen them play at this level. “And with Peerless, there’s issues of how’s he responding to being demoted. Has his blocking improved to the point where he’s not a liability on runs but he becomes an asset? It’s kind of funny we’re still saying that about a five- or six-year veteran, but that’s the facts of the matter.�
So for all of the cheering we’ve heard about Price’s work ethic and his “professionalism� since being demoted behind the unproven Jenkins, there’s your cold slap of reality: Conclusions about Price’s attitude remain open-ended, and “liability� just showed up as an adjective following his name.
Roddy White, this year’s No. 1 pick, certainly has displayed more upside than Jenkins, one of last year’s first-rounders. In each exhibition, Mora has seen White get open “seven or eight yards� behind the defense. “But the ball hasn’t gotten to him.� (For the record, the quarterbacks were Matt Schaub and Ty Detmer, not Michael Vick.) But now White has a high ankle sprain that will sideline him for at least a few days and possibly two weeks.
Mora again: “Maybe the guy who’s going to jump out of the pack is injured.�
Why is this starting to look like somebody waiting for the daily lottery numbers to be read?
Mora goes back and forth. One minute, he said, “It’s not a huge concernâ€? because of today’s date. The next minute, he admits, “You don’t want to wait forever… . Somebody, do something.â€?
Nothing against Cole Magner. But it needs to be somebody else.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
