OT: chicago sportsmanship

[vqdriver]

"lose with dignity, win with grace"
chicago blackhawks put out a full page thank you to boston in the globe. a very classy thing to do.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BN2TBgoCUAAzQT_.jpg:large

[Louis]

A nice move, but a lot easier to do when you're the winner.

Edit: PS, when are they going to join the 20th century and get rid of that racist "mascot" image?

[Ken Robb]

Jeez Louis, this cynicism doesn't sound like the guy I know.

[Louis]

Perhaps it is cynical, but it is easier to be gracious when you come out on top. How often does the looser thank the winner?

Then I saw that image of the "Blackhawk" and it set me off on a different critical tangent...

[1centaur]

I am mystified how Blackhawks is racist (for which there is a definition, it's not just what someone feels). If black people owned the Yankees would that be racist? I can understand the angst about Redskins, and maybe but not much about Braves. I can understand how a mascot/logo can seem like a stereotype (not racist but annoying). But the name Blackhawks makes no value judgment and the logo seems neutral to respectful. I might even dare to call it positive to root for an image that's non-white. I guess sports teams should be named liked BMWs, and the two Chicago baseball teams can be called Chicago 1 and Chicago 2. Unless that's regionalist.

From wikipedia:

The team's first owner was coffee tycoon Frederic McLaughlin, who outbid grain magnate James E. Norris for the franchise. McLaughlin had been a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division during World War I.[3] This Division was nicknamed the "Blackhawk Division", after a Native American of the Sauk nation, Black Hawk, who was a prominent figure in the history of Illinois.[3] McLaughlin evidently named the hockey team in honor of the military unit, making it one of many sports team names using Native Americans as icons. For many years, the name was spelled "Black Hawks." This ambiguity was finally settled in the summer of 1986 when the club officially decided on the one-word version based on the spelling found in the original franchise documents.[4]

[Frankwurst]

I am mystified how Blackhawks is racist (for which there is a definition, it's not just what someone feels). If black people owned the Yankees would that be racist? I can understand the angst about Redskins, and maybe but not much about Braves. I can understand how a mascot/logo can seem like a stereotype (not racist but annoying). But the name Blackhawks makes no value judgment and the logo seems neutral to respectful. I might even dare to call it positive to root for an image that's non-white. I guess sports teams should be named liked BMWs, and the two Chicago baseball teams can be called Chicago 1 and Chicago 2. Unless that's regionalist.

From wikipedia:

The team's first owner was coffee tycoon Frederic McLaughlin, who outbid grain magnate James E. Norris for the franchise. McLaughlin had been a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division during World War I.[3] This Division was nicknamed the "Blackhawk Division", after a Native American of the Sauk nation, Black Hawk, who was a prominent figure in the history of Illinois.[3] McLaughlin evidently named the hockey team in honor of the military unit, making it one of many sports team names using Native Americans as icons. For many years, the name was spelled "Black Hawks." This ambiguity was finally settled in the summer of 1986 when the club officially decided on the one-word version based on the spelling found in the original franchise documents.[4]

Thank You.:beer:

[Louis]

It's a well known and extensively discussed controversy. If you want to read up on it some more Wikipedia also has a section on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_mascot_controversy

[1centaur]

Both sides can get all the confirmation bias they want in that wiki entry. I know I did.

[Louis]

Both sides can get all the confirmation bias they want in that wiki entry. I know I did.

Perhaps.

It's not a huge issue for me personally, but there are others who do find those mascots offensive. I take them at their word.

[CunegoFan]

"lose with dignity, win with grace"

I thought it was, "They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way,"

[93legendti]

Racist helicopter

http://www.guncopter.com/photos/black-hawk-photos.php

Racist movie

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/black-hawk-down/

Racist school

http://www.blackhawk.edu/

Racist city

http://www.blackhawkcolorado.com/

Racist band

http://www.amazon.com/music/dp/B000002VMP

Racist holster manufacturer

http://www.blackhawk.com/catalog/Holsters%2C16.htm

More proof Israel is racist- they named the Blackhawk "yanshuf", which means owl. Oh, the humanity.

http://www.iaf.org.il/211-18321-en/IAF.aspx?indx=2

Even worse...GASP.... Apache Helicopter

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/apache/

Still worse, IAF calls the Apache "petten", which means.....wait for it......snake.....gasp...

http://iaf.org.il/211-en/IAF.aspx

[Louis]

It's even worse than I thought :eek:

[norcalbiker]

This reminds me of people moving next to the airport and complaint about the airplane noise. LOL

[bobswire]

All I know If I was a Redwood tree I would be very upset that this Stanford mascot is supposed to represent me.

http://i42.tinypic.com/72zsly.jpg

[Climb01742]

for me, there's quite a difference between blackhawks and redskins. one is descriptive, a name; and one strongly pejorative that's very hard to remove from its historical context.

[bobswire]

for me, there's quite a difference between blackhawks and redskins. one is descriptive, a name; and one strongly pejorative that's very hard to remove from its historical context.

I agree, the original Stanford Indian Mascot Logo.

http://i39.tinypic.com/deqyq9.jpg

Then the numbskulls changed it to this.

http://i41.tinypic.com/ff5vgw.jpg

And that is how they ended up with a tree.

http://i44.tinypic.com/2ibby3b.jpg

[schwa86]

I don't think off the top of my head I can name a single other ethnic group so commonly displayed as a sports mascot. Jews? African Americans? Chinese? Native americans are uniquely subjected to this.

I attended (as did some others on this group) a college that previously had such a mascot -- I assure you both the depictions and the behavior of the alleged fans frequently was racist. I can't speak specifically to Chicago hockey fans, but I am pretty confident that if you polled 100 native americans, you'd get a pretty high rate of responses that they don't like it.

[BCS]

I don't think off the top of my head I can name a single other ethnic group so commonly displayed as a sports mascot. Jews? African Americans? Chinese? Native americans are uniquely subjected to this.

I attended (as did some others on this group) a college that previously had such a mascot -- I assure you both the depictions and the behavior of the alleged fans frequently was racist. I can't speak specifically to Chicago hockey fans, but I am pretty confident that if you polled 100 native americans, you'd get a pretty high rate of responses that they don't like it.

My public high school--Huguenots
College-- Quakers

Did not instill a lot of fear in our opponents but nary a word from anyone who was "offended".

[Louis]

but nary a word from anyone who was "offended".

Yeah, what he said. And this place is just crawling with Huguenots, so surely they would have said something.

[firerescuefin]

Back on topic...Classy move by the Blackhawks..."the easy when you're a winner" take is weak.

Bruin's fans have been reacting understandably impressed.

[victoryfactory]

No company, town, state, college or sports team ever used an
Indian name or image originally as a sign of disrespect or racism.

It was done out of a sense of respect.

I can understand how the cartoonish mascots of the late 20th century
became a political target. Oppressed groups are predictably prickly
about such characterizations. But I wish people could tell the difference
between respect and honor and silly mindless stereotypes.
After all, it's the 21st century.

VF

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Very classy move by the Blackhawks. Sky's the limit with this team, since "Dollar Bill" left the building. A cup was never in the cards with him running the show. Now, if Dolan/Sather would leave the building............:p

[93legendti]

'Anil Adyanthaya, an attorney, wrote on June 5, 2005, "The use of Aztec or Seminole as a nickname by itself would not appear to be racist, as such names refer to a particular civilization rather than an entire race of people. In this way, they are no different from other school nicknames such as Trojans and Spartans (like Aztecs, ancient peoples) or Fighting Irish and Flying Dutchmen (like Seminoles, nationalities). Similarly, Warriors and Braves are no different from the fighting men of other cultures, like Vikings, Minutemen, or Musketeers (all current NCAA mascots, the first of which is also an NFL mascot) so it seems hard to argue that their use is uniquely demeaning in some way."[74]'

and

"Jennifer McBee, the Oklahoma Seminole tribe's attorney general, stated that... the council had taken no official position on the FSU issue.[98] Despite the opinions expressed by Haney and Narcomey, Ken Chambers, principal chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma told The Palm Beach (Florida) Post in August 2005 that he had no objection to Florida State University using the Seminoles as a nickname and symbol, reversing the earlier public position of the Oklahoma tribe's spokesperson.[102] In July 2005, the Seminole Nation General Council, the legislative body for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, voted 18-2 not to oppose the use of Native American names and mascots by college sports teams..[101]"

and


"Other Indian tribes have also supported the use of their tribal names as a tribute to their heritage. The Ute tribe approved the use of the name "Utes" for the University of Utah and the NCAA granted a waiver to allow the name to remain.
The Central Michigan University nickname, the Chippewas, was originally placed on the “hostile or abusive” list but was removed when the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Nation of Michigan gave its support to the nickname.[103]
The University of North Dakota's former athletic logo, a Native American figure, was recently dropped. Due to the NCAA's perception that the term "Fighting Sioux" and the accompanying logo are offensive to native Americans, the NCAA pressured the university to discontinue use of the logo.[104] When UND moved in the fall of 2009 to change its nickname, one of the two Sioux tribal councils in the state sued to have the name retained.[105]"