New Mascot Name

[Leila Monaghan]

Thought this article on the next generation of sports teams names both
interesting and amusing.

cheers, Leila

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Greeley, Colorado, March 11 - Unable to persuade a local school to change a
mascot name that offends them, a group of American Indian students at the
University of Northern Colorado named their intramural basketball team "The
Fighting Whities."

THE TEAM CHOSE a white man as its mascot to raise awareness of stereotypes
that some cultures endure. "The message is, let's do something that will let
people see the other side of what it's like to be a mascot," said Solomon
Little Owl, a member of the team and director of Native American Student
Services at the university.
The team, made up of American Indians, Hispanics and Anglos, wears jerseys
that say "Every thang's going to be all white." The students are upset with
Eaton High School for using an American Indian caricature on the team logo.
The team is called the Reds.
"It's not meant to be vicious, it is meant to be humorous," said Ray White, a
Mohawk American Indian on the team. "It puts people in our shoes."
Eaton School District superintendent John Nuspl said the school's logo is not
derogatory and called the group's criticism insulting. "There's no mockery of
Native Americans with this