College mascots, nicknames are important to the fans

Lew Hege/Herald Senior Sports Columnist

When the NCAA decided to ban some college teams from using their Native American nicknames and mascots, they turned a non-issue into a non-stop debate.

Pandering to a handful of whining rabble rousers, the dictatorial NCAA decided it wasn't politically correct for its teams to have Indian nicknames. Well ... some teams could keep them, some couldn't.

So teams like Marquette, Miami of Ohio, William & Mary, and St. John's acquiesced and changed their nicknames. Illinois didn't want to and fought the NCAA. The Fighting Illini, with their mascot, Chief Illiniwek, were long-standing traditions. The same thing for the North Dakota Sioux.

The NCAA said these schools were mocking Native Americans, disparaging their heritage, yada, yada, yada. Yet the NCAA allowed Florida State to keep Seminoles as their nickname, with Chief Osceola riding Renegade at FSU's football games. And the NCAA let UNC-Pembroke keep Braves as their name, citing this as a school with a proud Native American tradition. UNC-P should have been the first school to change its name if Native Americans felt they were being ridiculed! They should have changed their name to the GWELS (greedy white European land stealers.) Oops, that's not politically correct either.

Either schools pick names they are proud of or they don't. The universities honor their mascots and are offended when another school stomps on the midfield logo or tries to abuse their mascot. To buy the NCAA's argument, one must buy into their notion that all schools picked nicknames to denigrate them.

Wake Forest chose “Deacons” to honor the great leaders of the Baptist church, and Vanderbilt selected “Commodores” to honor the main benefactor of their great university.

Does anyone think Notre Dame is belittling Irish people with their nickname? Florida State chose “Seminoles” to pay tribute to the great natives of the Sunshine State. But Illinois and North Dakota chose “Illini” and “Sioux” to make fun of those great native Americans?

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said, “The result of this exercise was the NCAA banning the use of nicknames offensive to Native Americans during tournament play but not during the regular season, when everyone is apparently allowed to be as offensive as they want to be.”

If you think the colleges don't revere their mascots, read on. The other day, Georgia's mascot, a purebred English bulldog named Uga VI, passed away. The Seiler family of Savannah has been providing the bulldogs for Georgia since 1955. The Ugas are flown to away games on Delta and ride to the stadium in a red convertible.

There, Uga sits in an air-conditioned dog house, and on hotter days, on ice packs.

Uga VI was in the hit movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and interviewed on National Public Radio.

For his funeral, Uga VI was flown to Athens on the university plane, there was a funeral in the stadium conducted by the president of the school and a Baptist minister, and he was interred alongside his five predecessors in a marble mausoleum behind the end zone.

The won-loss records and highlights of the careers of each of the six “dawgs” were printed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, along with a page for fans to send their condolences.

When Herschel Walker went to New York to receive the Heisman Trophy, Uga IV accompanied him to the banquet, wearing a formal collar and black tie, fitting for the occasion.

Georgia isn't the only school that treats its mascot like royalty.

The Colorado Buffaloes have Ralphie, the Texas Longhorns have Bevo, and Auburn has War Eagle, although I still can't figure out why a team named the Tigers has a bird for a mascot.

While 33 colleges have beloved animal mascots, others are just cute or funny.

The cutest costumed mascots are Mr. and Mrs. Wuf at N.C. State. Centenary, in Shreveport, La., calls its mens' teams the “Gentlemen,” and its womens' teams the “Ladies.” I bet they are the most charming and mannerly athletes.

Here are some of my favorite nicknames: Arkansas-Monticello: Boll Weevils (men) and Cotton Blossoms (women); Puerto Rico-Mayaguez: Tarzans (men), and Janes (women); Mary Baldwin (Va.), Fighting Squirrels; Oglethorpe (Atlanta), Stormy Petrels (which is a bird); and the Converse (S.C.) All-Stars.

Leave it to the California schools to be the most creative. UC-Irvine students are the Anteaters, and UC-Santa Cruz are the Banana Slugs. Their mascot is “Sammy the Slug,” which sounds more like a hit man on “The Sopranos.” My favorite college nickname comes from Scottsdale Community College in Arizona. They are the Artichokes and their mascot is Artie the Artichoke.

These schools are just having fun. Who “mocks” a vegetable?