Especially as sorry a team as the have been lately! Lol

Im am a huge Fighting Illini Fan but The Fighting Sioux have the backing of the native Sioux and The Fighting Illini were asked by the last known tribe of the Illini Confederation to not make a mockery of their heritage. The logo and the Symbol/Mascot is not an authentic image of the Illinois Confederation. The Peoria Tribe does not have a problem with the name Fighting Illini or with the idea of a logo or symbol of an Illini native but they have issue with the flawed imitations that UofI was using.

I do understand when some people get offended by certain nicknames, but a lot of them actually are designed to honor. When the Tennessee Boilers were looking for a new nickname, it was for one that would reflect “power, strength, leadership and other heroic qualities.” It is unfortunately that Dartmouth went from the Indians to the Big Green-it erases an important part of the college’s heritage. (They were called the Indians, because the school was originally founded as a charitable school for Indians, specifically to train them to become missionaries, and although it never attracted the Indian population its founder intended, it did, through its history, maintain a connection with native Americans.

The Chicago Black hawks were named after the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division (World War I.) which was nicknamed the “Blackhawk Division”, after a Native American of the Sauk nation, Chief Black Hawk.

A lot of college “”Red Men” were dubbed that by sports writers because they wore red uniforms. Later on, the Indiana came to be used as a symbol. St. John’s was one of those teams, so the change to Red Storm is really not inconsistent with their history and how they came to be the Red Men originally. It’s a variation on the same theme. This is pretty similar to how Miami U (Ohio) went from the Big Red to the Red Men to the RedHawks. (Though there is a connection with Indians because of the name, Miami.)

Eschew Michigan had the support of the Hurons, and might’ve been able to sway the NCAA, but the PC police of the state forced them to change. (They are now the eagles.)

It’s crazy.

As a post script: I despise the ugly little leprechaun that Notre Dame uses for a mascot and I do find it offensive. (I’m of Irish descent.) It reminds me of some of the cartoons published in English papers during the Potato Famine, questioning how human the Irish were–cartoons little better than what Dear Sturmer became know for. That being said, it does NOT bother me that Notre Dame is the Fighting Irish–i just wish they would come up with a mascot that illustrate Fighting Irish with strength, leadership and other heroic qualities.maybe something that eevokes Nuada, or Fionn mac Cumhaill, or Brian Boru…