# Political Correct Sports Silliness Backfires **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 11, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622 "2002-03-11T17:38:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/1 "2002-03-11T17:38:48Z")
**I’m not defending the name “Redskins”. Let’s forget The Redskins for the purposes of this discussion, I conceed that “Redskins” is inappropriate (it’s historically been a derogatory term like “nigger”, apparently). Let’s just focus on the other names like “Indians”, “Braves” “Chiefs” and “Warriors”, 'kay?** I heard this on the radio and couldn’t find a source on the internet (which means, having said this, that **DDG** , Google Goddess, will find 50 sources 🙂 ) Apparently a professor of Native-American Studies at the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley, who was horribly offended by team names like “Indians”, “Warriors”, “Braves” and “Chiefs”, so he got a local team at a mostly (completely) Indian high-school to name their mascots “The Fightin’ Whites” so that we evil opressors could feel his pain. Didn’t work. My reaction, and the reaction of everyone I’ve heard (on the radio) or told has been: Coooooooool! “Fightin’ Whites” scans, it honors the military prowess of a group of people and frankly, I’m a little flattered. Seriously, I’m not being sarcastic, for whatever little value I put on sports, this just struck me as cool. Sorry Professor Littleowl (I think…I’m not positive about the name). You haven’t made me share your anguish, you’ve convinced me that you’re hypersensitive. Fenris, who also thinks the name “The Tighty-Whities” would have been cool. ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/2 "2002-03-11T17:57:33Z")
\*Fenris \*, I heard this on the radio, too. it didn’t change my view, which is that these Indian names are compliments. I’m still waiting to root for the **FIGHTING ACTUARIES!** 🙂 Or, perhaps, the **JANISSARY JEWS!** 🆒 or how about the **HOSTILE HEBREWS!** ;j ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/3 "2002-03-11T17:58:24Z")
By choosing the “Fighting Whites”, the good prof missed the point. If he’s bent outta shape by things like “Braves”, “Indians”, “Chiefs”, and “Warriors”, he should have been selecting from a list like: - Infantry, Peasant Levy, Militia… - Goths, Aryans, Magyars, Celts… - Kings, Dukes, Earls… - Knights, Soldiers, Cataphracts… Oh, wait… Some of those are _already_ in use. If the Prof wanted to get racial, in retalliation for the “Redskins”, he shoulda chose the “Fightin’ Honkeys”. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/4 "2002-03-11T18:07:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tranquilis \* > \*\*By choosing the “Fighting Whites”, the good prof missed the point. If he’s bent outta shape by things like “Braves”, “Indians”, “Chiefs”, and “Warriors”, he should have been selecting from a list like: > > - Infantry, Peasant Levy, Militia… > - Goths, Aryans, Magyars, Celts… > - Kings, Dukes, Earls… > - Knights, Soldiers, Cataphracts… > > Oh, wait… Some of those are _already_ in use. > > If the Prof wanted to get racial, in retalliation for the “Redskins”, he shoulda chose the “Fightin’ Honkeys”. \*\* Except that, from the report I heard, he was specifically upset by “Braves”, “Warriors” and “Chiefs”. He claimed it marginalized Indians or something. I’m certain he’d also be upset by “Redskins” or “Reds”, but from the one report, that wasn’t his focus. Fenris, the JANISSARY JEW! (I _love_ that name, **December**!) ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/5 "2002-03-11T18:10:19Z")
Here’s a [cite](http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E454471,00.html?search=filter). Just scroll down a bit. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/6 "2002-03-11T20:39:57Z")
What about us [Trojans?](http://www.usc.edu/) ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/7 "2002-03-11T20:50:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\*…from the report I heard, he was specifically upset by “Braves”, “Warriors” and “Chiefs”. He claimed it marginalized Indians or something. \*\* Well, then he _definitly_ missed the boat. “Fighting whites” isn’t going to marginalize anything. Hell, it sounds like a uniform. “We’re the home team. Guess we’re wearing the Fighting Whites tonight…” Or maybe it’s from a laundry detergent commercial? “Get’s your underwear ‘Fighting White’.” Whatever. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/8 "2002-03-11T20:59:35Z")
I would have named the team The White Devils. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/9 "2002-03-11T21:06:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > Apparently a professor of Native-American Studies at the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley, who was horribly offended by team names like “Indians”, “Warriors”, “Braves” and “Chiefs”, so he got a local team at a mostly (completely) Indian high-school to name their mascots “The Fightin’ Whites” so that we evil opressors could feel his pain. Eh, it’ll never catch on. At a Braves game, you can get everyone doing the tomahawk chop, but how do you get a stadium full of people to mime handing out smallpox-infested blankets? I do think the good professor missed the boat on this one. Most white people don’t draw on their whiteness that much for their sense of self. Now, if they were called The Hegemonizing Whites, and their offense consisted mainly of paying off the refs and cheating like hell…well, okay, I’d still think that was funny. But, again, the concept of pride in my whiteness doesn’t mean much of anything to me. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/10 "2002-03-11T21:06:46Z")
Empirical data published in Sports Illustrated’s March 4, 2002 magazine at pages 64-72 in an article by S.L. Price entitled “The Indian Wars”, with a sidebar story on page 69 by Andrea Woo entitled “Polls Apart” shows that those who claim that using nicknames such as “Indians”, “Redskins” and “Braves” is offensive, lack wide support among either the majority of the Native American community or the greater country at large. The poll was conducted by the Peter Harris Research group. The poll shows that use of such team names IS NOT offensive. Seventy five percent of Indians polled say that names and mascots using names such as “Indians”, “Redskins” and “Braves” do not discriminate against them, and 83% of Indians polled said that pro teams should continue using such names. The magazine called the poll results “surprising” and said “There is a near total disconnect between Indian activists and the Native American population on this issue.” ---
**Author:** ![Zappo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b3f665/32.png) [@Zappo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zappo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/11 "2002-03-11T21:11:04Z")
Oh man, I love it! How about the Intimidating Italians? Or the Slammin’ Semites? Zap! ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/12 "2002-03-11T21:15:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*I would have named the team The White Devils. \*\* Heh! Or maybe the ‘Foreign Devils’? How about the ‘Round Eyes’, or the ‘White Eyes’? ‘Palefaces’? Eh, I give up. None of those are offending me. ---
**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/13 "2002-03-11T21:45:04Z")
Excuse me, but the correct term for the racist label “white” is “melanin-challenged”. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/14 "2002-03-11T21:55:47Z")
Well you have to consider the mascot. Personally I think the Indians mascot (baseball) is not that flatternerly (sp?) (is that a word) So I wonder what the Fighting Whites mascot looks like? Is he handing out blankets with small pox? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/15 "2002-03-11T22:05:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*So I wonder what the Fighting Whites mascot looks like? Is he handing out blankets with small pox? \*\* While wiping his feet on a treaty, of course. Yeah, some of the mascots are kinda rude. That’s just a call for a new design competition, though, complete with fan participation, contests, give-aways, and hype. In short, nothing more than a marketing opportunuty. ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/16 "2002-03-11T22:53:28Z")
I heard a legend that UMass-Amherst used to be the UMass Indians, but was pressured into changing mascots. So they became the UMass Minutemen. Later, according to the legend, student protestors started bemoaning the fact that the school mascot was white, male, and armed. :rolleyes: Don’t know if it’s true or not, but I think there’s a certain element of that among PC’ers - almost TRYING to find stuff to be offended at. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/17 "2002-03-11T22:57:53Z")
And in the NCAA championship, we have the Crusadin’ Crackers versus the Hauntin’ Honkeys. “We’ll scare you white as a ghost,” the latter team was heard to remark. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/18 "2002-03-12T00:15:24Z")
My high school mascot was the Lancer. I didn’t notice any outcry among people of European descent. Perhaps he should have been more specific, such as “The Fighting Irish”, and used a figure resembling a leprechaun in a pugilistic stance. Surely the Irish community wouldn’t stand for such promotion of the stereotype of the Irish being violent, would it? ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/19 "2002-03-12T00:33:50Z")
Here is the story: [http://www.greeleytrib.com/article.php?sid=7262](http://www.greeleytrib.com/article.php?sid=7262) It turns out it was only for an _intramural team_ at Univ of Northern Colorado. So I guess it was blown a little out of proportion. Too bad, I was looking forward to one of those jersey’s on eBay. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622/20 "2002-03-12T01:04:15Z")
What we need are some Angry Black Men, Fighting Filipinos, Outrageous Orientals, and Pugnacious Polynesians. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-correct-sports-silliness-backfires/97622.md?page=2)