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Several weeks ago, Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Coloradan who is also the only American Indian in the U.S. Congress, asked Lamar High School officials to change the name of the school's teams.
Campbell said he strongly objects to Savages.
Lamar Principal L.D. Elarton said the community was proud
of its noble savages.
The Lamar Savage controversy appears to have paused there, but it's safe to predict that the dispute will continue. Every three or four years, Buena Vista undergoes a tumult between its traditionalists, who want to keep the Demon mascot, and its fundamentalists, who find it offensive.
When you get right down to it, most team names can offend somebody. The day will come when animal-rights activists vent their sensitivity against the Lake County Panthers, the Greeley Central Wildcats, the Limon Badgers, the West Grand Mustangs, the Soroco Rams, the Highland Huskies, the Erie Tigers, etc.
Another complication of many team names is that they were adopted in an era when only boys participated in sports, and that has changed with the advent of federal regulations which require equal sports programs.
However, the federal regulations didn't address
nomenclature. When I arrived in 1978 to edit Salida's
newspaper, the paper had been referring to the girls' teams
as Spartanettes.
This bothered some people, who said
that all SHS athletes deserved the honor of being
Spartans.
I reasoned that since ancient Sparta (a fascist police state, and precisely the sort of place that good Americans should abhor) had both men and women, then it was logical that both the girls' and boys' teams should be Spartans in our pages.
But what if the mascot is the Rams? Are the girls' teams
the Ewes? Or do you run stupid and really offensive
headlines like Lady Rams overpower Sows?
(The best
solution I've seen to date is that Northern Arizona
University in Flagstaff, which has Lumberjacks
and
Lumberjills.
)
Then there's the matter of what a mascot might signify to impressionable youth. One reason for the Demon controversies is that there are parents who say that having Demon for a mascot might encourage students think and act in demonic ways.
A student at Valley High, which serves the area from Platteville to LaSalle, is encouraged to display school spirit and support the Vikings.
Are the Vikings known to history for their culture and enlightenment? Of course not. The Vikings are famous for rape and plunder. Many high-school boys are already inclined that way, without any further inspiration from the school mascot. Other popular names, like Pirates and Raiders, have the same problem.
But there's one bright spot in all this. During my youth in a Northern League school, everyone enjoyed making fun of the Longmont team name.
Then Magic Johnson, America's greatest basketball star, made the shocking announcement that he is HIV-positive, and that he will henceforth be an advocate of safe sex.
Now I trust that the Longmont Trojans will be able to take the floor with pride and dignity when basketball season starts.
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