The NCAA has moved to ban the use of Indian-related nicknames by schools, supposeldy on the grounds that such nicknames or "hostile or abusive". How absurd. Athletic programs at schools on all levels and professional sports teams select the nicknames they because those names indicate virtues, relating to physical courage, among other things, to which teams aspire. To name a team or athletic program after an Indian tribe is not disparaging of that tribe but rather a way of saying that said tribe displays virtues that the team/program finds emulable. In short, to name a team/program after an Indian tribe or Indians in general is to show them honor, not hostility or abusiveness.
To take an example, last year, Snickers had a contest, the grand prize for which was having an NFL team named after whoever one, ostensibly for a day. Was this "hostile or abusive"? If it's "hostile or abusive" to name a team after a group, why wouldn't it be equally hostile or abusive to name a team after an individual, as in this case or in the case of the Cleveland Browns?
Frankly, this is nothing but political correctness run amok.
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