After Atalanta

...a male commentator makes a sexist remark. Someone needs to start a blog or Tumblr or something entitled "Commentators Say the Darnedest Things"--and by darnedest I meant racist, homophobic, sexist. Last winter the BCS Championship was marred by a one-sided game and the comments of broadcaster Brent Musburger who spent some of the game's downtime talking about the quarterback's pageant girlfriend. At this year's Wimbledon, the comments focused on an actual participant in the event. BBC commentator John Inverdale noted, before the women's final on Saturday, that soon-to-be champion Marion Bartoli was not pretty. He surmised that Bartoli's father, who--like his daughter--has been considered somewhat of an oddity in the tennis world because of his style, told his daughter that she would have to work harder because she was never going to be a looker like Maria Sharapova. The comments caused discord immediately and Inverdale apologized before the broadca...

I'm in crazy research mode these days, hence the lack of posts. But I have been holding on to this link for a while. It's a radio show out of Canada and addresses the issue of Indian mascots. The show is called ReVision Quest and the episode aired on June 30. It's good. I recommend it for personal information; it would probably work well in the classroom, too. Also a story I have been meaning to mention that is (somewhat) related: a lacrosse team comprised of young men from the Iroquois nation were denied permission to travel to Manchester, England for the World Lacrosse Championship. The players hold passports from the Iroquois Confederacy and England would not accept these as legitimate travel documents despite assurances from the State Department that the players would be allowed back into the US. In mid-July when this story was breaking, US Representative Dan Maffie (NY) said that if Great Britain refused to allow these players into their country it would be an "in...

So after I wrote this post I realized that I was kind of writing about pool. And I don't know if I think of pool as a sport. I didn't have a tag for it--not that that means that much. I kind of mentioned football so I am going with that. I just needed a jumping off point to get to my social commentary/soapbox and have decided that I don't really want to get into a debate about the "what makes a sport" criteria this morning. Not the collegiate football team in Florida, but the actual nation of American Indians. I was watching ever so briefly yesterday evening a Women's Professional Billiards Event (and, by the way, I turned it on when my onscreen guide said "Pool" was on ESPN and I was surprised--pleasantly--to see that it was women's pool; usually the unmodified on ESPN means it's a men's event. But then of course that gets me thinking about why billiards is segregated by gender in the first place...) Anyway, the event was happening in Fl...

Writer Sally Jenkins has an open letter to new prez Barack Obama calling for some changes in the world of American sport--including, though how seriously I cannot really gauge--the appointment of a sports czar. She is correct though in noting that "it will be equally important to remake the play of America, because games are a reflection of a nation's health and ours could do with some reform." So she has 10 suggestions. I am not going to go through all of them. The Title IX Blog mentioned today the ones relevant to them, I am going to touch on some others. Reform of the BCS has been on Obama's agenda and there are a lot of complications and people on both sides who talk about true champions and purity of the game and yadda, yadda, yadda. But Jenkins gets to the crux--or what should be the crux--of the issue when she says: The bowls no longer serve any discernable educational purpose -- the participating teams often have graduations rates worse than 50 percent, for wh...

I've posted about this petition to Congress to take federal actions to stop the use of Native American mascots. But there is a renewed push for signatures so I thought I would link to it again, especially in light of my post earlier this week. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/american-indians-are-not-mascots

This headline " Pro-Redmen group issues legal opinion " came across my Google alerts this morning and I thought, "please don't let this be what I think it is." But it was. A group called Redmen Forever Committee in Natick, MA has sought legal counsel because they are fighting the district's recent decision to stop using the nickname at Natick High School. Disappointed, to put it mildly, the Redmen Forever (I just can't get over that name--it so clearly indicates the the ignorance of this group) sought out a lawyer--an NHS graduate--to write an opinion assessing the legal consequences the district might face if it continued using the name. And said lawyer concluded that there isn't much risk, especially because at least 60 other high schools in Massachusetts use Native American imagery or nicknames. What was that your parents always said about everyone jumping off the bridge and how many wrongs equal a right?? So basically, Natick should not be worrie...

Got this from a colleague the other day. It includes a petition that encourages Congress to take action to ending the abhorent practice of using Native American symbols as mascots for sports teams. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- American Indians are NOT Mascots Target: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi & Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Sponsored by: Tim Giago and Kimberley Lyman To most American Indians it is absolutely abhorrent for a professional football team to use the color of their skin as their team mascot. As a matter of fact, we oftentimes refer to the mascot of the Washington professional football team as the R word because to us it is as hideous as the N word is to African Americans. The use of an Indian name in and of itself for mascots is not offensive, but it is what the fans (short for fanatic) do with it that is reprehensible. When they paint their faces, stick turkey feathers in their hair, and do...

University of North Dakota has been in negotiations with the NCAA over their use of the "Fighting Sioux" mascot since 2005. The NCAA has mandated that institutions with offensive Native American mascots not be allowed to compete in postseason play. It has worked with schools where such problems existed and made decisions on a case-by-case basis. For example, the Tribe of William and Mary was allowed to keep its nickname, Tribe, but had to get rid of the two feathers that served as the logo. W&M was none too pleased with this decision but opted not to contest the NCAA decision through a potentially lengthy and expensive legal process. UND was not so willing to comply when the NCAA said they could not use "Fighting Sioux" in postseason play. It sued the NCAA a year ago and got a temporary order allowing them to continue using the name throughout court proceedings. Yesterday it was announced that a settlement had been reached between the parties. The NCAA has give...

Sadly, Vernon Bellecourt , one of the founding members of the American Indian Movement has died. The 75-year old, a lifelong activist, fought racism in sport by protesting the use of American Indian mascots by sports teams. At the time of his death he was the president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media and was arrested twice for protesting at Cleveland Indians games. It's unfortunate that one of the leaders in this movement has passed, but I think Bellecourt was likely pleased by the strides made toward eradicating American Indian mascots, which remain symbols of the racist and imperialist attitudes of many Americans. But his death also reminds us that there is still work to be done. While the NCAA has put rules into place limiting the use of American Indian mascots, such restrictions do not apply to professional sports (it's outrageous that there is still a professional football team called the Redskins) or high school sports (when I was in high school we...