Sports Archives - Page 41 of 51

Book Review: Washington Football Team Remains Clueless When it Comes to Its Name

Showdown: JFK and the Integration of the Washington Redskins

By Thomas G. Smith
Beacon Press | 277 pp | $20.48
ISBN 9780807000748

Reading “Showdown: JFK and the Integration of the Washington Redskins” allows the American Indian reader a fast clue as to why the ownership of the football team, located in the nation’s capital city, has remained clueless as to why the vast majority of American Indians oppose its name.

Washington “Paleskins”

I know there have been surveys done that proclaim the opposite. And, I know the media have a way of finding someone’s uncle Indian Joe, who is eager to get on television to declare he thinks it is an honor when non-Indians use Indians as mascots.

I honestly don’t believe the surveys and feel sorry for uncle Indian Joe from the Does-Not-Get-It Tribe. I know a survey can be commissioned to deliver desired results for the entity commissioning the survey. The tobacco companies did it all the time when they were attempting to prove second-hand smoke does not injure the non-smoker.

I know the vast majority of American Indians I know find the term “redskins” akin to the “N” word. Even the Merriam-Webster defines the word as offensive.

I must disclose the book is not about the name of the team per se. The author devotes less than a full page to the fact American Indians took the use of the name to court in the early 1990s.

“Showdown” discusses how the National Football League was behind Major League Baseball in integration of African Americans into its ranks. The book is about how the Washington football team was the last team to have an African American on its roster.

The book’s central figure is the Washington football team’s owner, George Preston Marshall, who was a brazen racist.

“Blinded by racism,” author Thomas G. Smith writes,

“Marshall refused to tap into the pool of African-American talent,” despite the franchise’s shortcomings on the field. ”

Smith suggests that to keep in good favor with his mainly white, Southern fan base and not hurt his profit margin, Marshall refused to draft black players from 1946 through 1961, making his team the only team in the professional league to have an all white team. During this time, the team had a dismal record of 69 wins, 116 losses and 8 ties and went through eight coaches.

However, Marshall’s racist hiring policy would be challenged by President John F. Kennedy’s Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall.

In 1961, the same year the Kennedy administration came into power, Marshall purchased a 30 year lease for a newly built 54,000 seat stadium, writes Smith. The landlord was the federal government. When President Kennedy issued an executive order creating the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, Secretary Udall, after consulting Interior Department attorneys and decided to move against the Washington “Paleskins”, as he referred to the NFL franchise.

Citing a no-discrimination provision in the stadium lease, Udall gave Marshall an ultimatum, integrate the team or lose the stadium.

“Showdown” does a good job of describing how the team relented and became integrated. However, Marshall – even after his death in 1969 – stipulated in his will that the Redskins Foundation with funds from his estate was not to direct a single dollar toward “any purpose which supports or employs the principle of racial integration in any form.”

Unfortunately, the team, through a couple of different owners since Marshall, remains clueless as to the use of the word it uses for its name – much to the gross disrespect of American Indians across the nation.

He’s 12, He’s Fast and He’s an All American

By Jack McNeel, Indian Country Today Media Network

Few people can say they’re All American athletes by their twelfth birthday.

Xavier Guillory has taken it one step further with his second title in a national track and field competition. Two years ago in Wichita, and this year in Greensboro, North Carolina, Xavier, a Nez Perce tribal member, achieved All American status.

The 12 year-old competed in the U.S.A. Track and Field Junior Olympic National Championships which were held in late July in Greensboro. Xavier qualified to race in three events at the National Championships: 400 meters, 800 meters, and 1500 meters. Brackets are broken down into two-year age levels and he competed in the 11-12 age bracket.

The country is divided into 16 regions and athletes must qualify as one of the top five finishers in their events at regional competitions to be eligible to compete at the National Championships where only the top eight in each event earn All-American status. About 8500 track athletes from around the country compete in regional events and even qualifying for nationals is a major accomplishment.

In the regional tournament held earlier this year in Seattle, Xavier set a new club and personal best time of 2:18 in the 800 meters, running for the Mercury Track Club of Spokane. “He ran an incredible race and everything came together,” said his father, Raphael Guillory. “Last year his fastest time was around 2.25.”

Xavier with his parents (Photo courtesy the Guillory family)

But during the Nationals, running conditions were not optimal at race time. Temperatures were hovering in the 80’s and humidity was high. Then, just before the 800 meter race was to start, a lightning storm hit. The runners were taken to the lockers to sit and wait until the storm passed and they remained there for nearly three hours.

One good thing came from this unexpected delay. It gave the kids a chance to get acquainted. Xavier later told his dad that one of the things he enjoyed most about the Nationals was getting to know the kids he was competing against.

When the race finally did start, it ended in a tight finish. “It was a pack coming around that last 100 meters,” Raphael recalled. “As they sprinted for the goal they kind of thinned out. There was only about three seconds between first and eighth place finishers.” Xavier finished 8th, but just over two seconds behind the winner.

So how did Xavier feel about the national meet? “Even though I’m experienced there, there’s still that feeling it’s my first year. I’m nervous, just thinking about the races the whole time. It’s fun but you also have to get serious about it. The thing I have trouble thinking about is competing with national athletes.”

He also ran in the 400 and 1500 meter finals. His finishes weren’t quite as high, finishing 35th of 52 runners in the 400 and finishing 14th of 41 runners in the 1500, but Xavier was competing with the nations’ best junior runners.

“It’s a lot of training; a lot of discipline,” Xavier added. “All the hours you put in for a short amount of time for a race, but you need it.”

He hopes and plans to return next year where he will move up a class to the youth division. But for right now, it’s football season. Fortunately the two sports don’t overlap. “There’s the side of me that wants to take track,” he says. He’s a running back in football and says this year he’ll also play cornerback, “and kick returner and punt returner,” he adds.

His family also stresses education. “Xavier has done very well. He’s really strong in science and reading and writing,” Raphael says. He’s now moving into middle school and they have him in a summer math program just to keep his chops up mathematically and to give him that added confidence.

“When we got back I told him to just be a kid; play with your sisters, go to the store, run around, hang out,” Raphael said. “Then football is mentioned and he’s going out[side] with his football. The kid’s a motor. I tell him to chill out and he just doesn’t know,” Raphael laughs.

The ‘Blackskins’ Story: A Strong Image Provokes a Strong Reaction

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

On Friday, ICTMN published an essay, “Fun Racism Quiz: Would NFL Have a Team Called Washington Blackskins?”, and provocative image by Gerard Miller that he had published some time ago, as a college undergraduate. Miller, an African American, said that the piece had convinced some of his fellow students — ones who didn’t care about the controversy over the Redskins football team name — that it was an issue they should care about.

The image is a strong one, and it inspired strong reactions from many of our Facebook followers, as well as debate in a comment thread that has now stretched to over 500 entries. There are many insightful comments in the thread—and many that aren’t insightful.

Wayde Sid McCloud contributed one of the first responses, and to some extent hit the nail on the head: “When the African American cries racism, America has your back 100%. When Native Americans talk about racism towards them, it’s ignored!”

He may be exaggerating with “has your back 100%” but it’s safe to say that America has developed pretty good radar when it comes to racist images and words directed at African Americans. The Blackskins image is obviously racist. Nobody could argue that it is a “tribute” to African Americans. Through perseverance, the black community has largely succeeded in educating the rest of America about what images and words are disrespectful and harmful—but, unfortunately, Native Americans haven’t gotten to that stage. When Natives call out an image as racist, they are often challenged. Everything from “It’s a tribute” to “You’re just being politically correct” to “It’s a tradition—get over it.” Would anyone advance those same arguments to a black person who was (rightfully) offended by the Blackskins image?

Some commenters (and there is no telling, on Facebook, whether the people chiming in have read the article) saw the Blackskins image as a “cheap shot” directed at African Americans, and wondered why American Indians would “attack” another group that also faces discrimination but isn’t involved in the Redskins mascot discussions. The Blackskins image was not an attack on African Americans.

Look how far we have come—from a country that allowed slavery 150 years ago to one in which the Blackskins image would not be tolerated for a second. Every thinking American sees that it is racist, and that’s laudable progress. And “Blackskins” isn’t even a racial slur anyone uses.

Unfortunately, take the same image, substitute a 19th-century conception of a noble Indian and print the word “Redskins—which is a slur according to any dictionary—beneath it, and America goes blind to the racism. So blind that it’s considered suitable for t-shirts, bumper stickers, and baby attire. And that’s the point. American Indians have seen black Americans make great strides in reclaiming human dignity after brutal historic oppression. Black Americans in the year 2013 have made progress toward that mountaintop, and as a black man, Gerard Miller knows that. He also knows that American Indians would like to catch up.

Prep football: Tulalip Heritage 78, Rainier Christian 54

Source: The Herald

KENT — Sophomore tailback Robert Miles Jr. rushed for 209 yards and six touchdowns, and fullback Bradley Fryberg scored three touchdowns and added 21 tackles and three interception on defense as Tulalip Heritage ran away from Rainier Christian Friday night at Kentlake High School.

Sequoyah Football Players “Man Up” for Prostate Cancer Awareness

Sequoyah players place small blue ribbons to promote prostate cancer awareness on their helmets.

Source: Native News Network

TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA – When the Sequoyah Indians march across Thompson Field to battle the Beggs Demons Friday night in a game being billed as the “Man Up Game,” players will be sporting a small blue ribbon promoting prostate cancer awareness on their helmets.

“I think we are one of the first high school teams in the state to help promote prostate cancer awareness like this,”

said Greg Bilby, public health educator for Cherokee Nation Cancer Programs.

“If these young men can influence members of their families or anyone at the game to get checked, then we’ve done some good.”

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. It’s the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths for men in the country. Native American men are typically diagnosed at a later stage of cancer growth when treatment options are limited, leading to higher mortality rates than other ethnicities, according to the American Cancer Society.

“Anytime you can get a large group of people together and bring attention to something like cancer awareness, there’s never a negative in that,”

Sequoyah Football Head Coach Shane Richardson said.

“Cancer reaches everyone’s family and everybody’s life in some way, so being involved in bringing attention to it is something we take pretty seriously.”

For Sequoyah’s campus security officer, Deputy Marshal Clay Troutman, who works football games, the cause hits close to home. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010 and lost both his father and grandfather to the disease. Troutman was fortunate to catch the cancer early and is currently cancer free.

“Prostate cancer isn’t really something that you talk about around the water cooler. As guys, we don’t think about it, we don’t talk about it, but I think it does need to be recognized,”

Troutman said.

“I’m in full support of the team, or anybody wanting to help promote awareness for the men in the crowd.”

Sequoyah also holds an annual “Think Pink Game” for breast cancer awareness on October 4, and a “Pack It Purple Game” for domestic violence awareness on October 17.

For general information about prostate cancer awareness, contact Greg Bilby at 918.453.5381 or greg-bilby@cherokee.org.

List of schools that changed Native American nicknames

Source: USA Today

Debate over whether the NFL’s Washington Redskins should change their nickname (see: Christine Brennan’s column) continues to grow.

Here is a list of notable colleges that changed Native American mascots and/or nicknames in recent history:

– Stanford University – Indians to Cardinal (1972)

– Dartmouth – Indians to Big Green (1974)

– Siena – Indians to Saints (1988)

– Eastern Michigan – Hurons to Eagles (1991)

– St. John’s (N.Y.) – Redman to Red Storm (1994)

– Marquette – Warriors to Golden Eagles (1994)

– Miami (Ohio) – Redskins to RedHawks (1997)

– Seattle University – Chieftains to Redhawks (2000)

– Louisiana-Monroe – Indiana to Warhakws (2006)

– Arkansas State – Indians to Red Wolves (2008)

– North Dakota – Formerly dropped Fighting Sioux in 2012. No nickname currently.

OTHERS:

– Illinois – Removed Chief Illiniwek as official mascot in 2007. Athletics teams are still called Fighting Illini.

– Bradley and Alcorn State – Both schools stopped using Native American mascot but have retained their Braves nickname.

– William and Mary – Adjusted Tribe logo to remove feathers to comply with NCAA. Athletics teams are still called Tribe. (2007)

Of note: Utah (Utes), Central Michigan (Chippewas), Florida State (Seminoles) and Mississippi College (Choctaws) all appealed successfully to NCAA after being deemed “hostile and offensive.”

Each cited positive relationships with neighboring tribes in appeal.

Redskins to face protests at Lambeau during Packers home opener

Rick WoodAaron Rodgers tries to cross the goal line in the Packers’ October 2010 road game loss against the Washington Redskins. — Rick Wood
Aaron Rodgers tries to cross the goal line in the Packers’ October 2010 road game loss against the Washington Redskins.

By Meg Jones, Journal Sentinel

When the Green Bay Packers take the field at Lambeau on Sunday for their home opener, they won’t be the only ones taking aim at the Washington Redskins.

Packers fans walking in to Lambeau Field through the Oneida Nation Gate will see Oneida members and others protesting the use of the Redskins logo and mascot, which they say is offensive to Native Americans.

“The warrior image is not the image we want to be portrayed,” said Brandon Stevens, an Oneida Nation elected official. “We’ve moved past the time of Western encroachment and how the West was won, and that’s where all the images are taken from — when we were a valiant enemy.”

Members of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association’s Mascot and Logo Task Force are expected to gather outside Lambeau Field before the noon game holding signs protesting the Washington Redskins’ choice of mascot. The group also has scheduled a seminar on the topic on Friday at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The Packers declined to comment on the mascot issue. The protesters contacted the team to ask permission to hold signs outside the stadium, and the Packers will set up an area where they’ll be allowed to protest.

“We respect that reasonable people may have differing views,” National Football League spokesman Brian McCarthy said Tuesday in an email. “The name from its origin was always intended to be positive and has always been used by the team in a highly respectful manner.”

A Washington Redskins spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

It’s not just the Oneida Nation in Green Bay pressing the Redskins to change their mascot. The Oneida tribe in upstate New York already has publicly called on the NFL team to get rid of the name.

In a radio ad that began airing Monday before the Redskins season opener, a member of the New York Oneida tribe called on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to “stand up to bigotry” by denouncing “the racial slur” in the team’s name.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder has said he’ll never change his team’s name.

For more than two decades the Oneida tribe in Wisconsin has opposed the use of Indian characters and names in insensitive ways including sports teams, Oneida Nation spokeswoman Bobbi Webster said. When the Redskins last visited Lambeau, in October 2007, Oneida members held signs at the stadium saying they were not mascots, Webster said.

The topic is timely given the standoff between the Mukwonago School District and the state Department of Public Instruction over the school’s use of the Indian logo and mascot. The state’s deadline for Mukwonago to drop its Indian mascot passed last month. The School Board in July voted to take no action to change the nickname and logo, despite the possibility of daily fines for not complying with the state order.

On Sunday the protest group plans to provide information to Packers fans lining up to get inside the stadium, raising awareness of sports mascots and logos that are derogatory to Native Americans. Webster said it’s not an official protest by the Oneida Nation, which is a major sponsor of the Packers and has the naming rights to the entrance on Lambeau Field’s east side.

Stevens, a member of the tribe’s business committee, said Native Americans are no longer simply fierce warriors.

“We’re educators, we’re community members, we have families and go to work like everyone else,” Stevens said. “Having those negative stereotypes takes us back 100 years.”

Redskins remorse?

Sports columnist Peter King refuses to use controversial name of Washington’s NFL team

By John Luciew

Penn News September 10, 2013

The Washington Redskins could have bigger problems than their 33-27 loss to Coach Chip Kelly’s no-huddle, quick-strike Philadelphia Eagles last night. Once again, outrage is brewing over the Redskins name. And now one of the nation’s most respected NFL journalists has joined the side who believes Washington’s team name is an affront to Native Americans.

None other than Peter King, the Monday Morning Quarterback, himself, is swearing off using the term “Redskins” ever again in his blanket-like coverage of the NFL. King made the announcement on his Monday Morning Quarterback website, a multi-page overview of all things NFL.

“I’ve decided to stop using the Washington team nickname. It’s a name you won’t see me use anymore. The simple reason is that for the last two or three years, I’ve been uneasy when I sat down to write about the team and had to use the nickname. In some stories I’ve tried to use it sparingly. But this year, I decided to stop entirely because it offends too many people, and I don’t want to add to the offensiveness. Some people, and some Native American organizations—such as the highly respected American Indian Movement—think the nickname is a slur. Obviously, the team feels it isn’t a slur, and there are several prominent Native American leaders who agree. But I can do my job without using it, and I will.”

And just to prove it, King pointed to a 2,400-word feature on Washington’s offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan, that never once mentions the team’s name.

For his part, Redskin’s owner Daniel Snyder has said repeatedly that he has no intention of ever changing his team’s name, despite protests from Native American groups and a growing legion of sports journalists, who like King, will not say or write the team name.

Snyder has emphasized the word “never” when ruling out such a name change, instructing reporters to print the word in all-caps.

Oneida Nation launching ad campaign against use of racial slur

Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File/Associated Press - FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2009, file photo, Washington Redskins helmets are displayed on the field during NFL football training camp at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va. The Oneida Indian Nation tribe in upstate New York said Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013, it will launch a radio ad campaign pressing for the Washington Redskins to get rid of a nickname that is often criticized as offensive. — Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File/Associated Press – FILE – In this Aug. 4, 2009, file photo, Washington Redskins helmets are displayed on the field during NFL football training camp at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va. The Oneida Indian Nation tribe in upstate New York said Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013, it will launch a radio ad campaign pressing for the Washington Redskins to get rid of a nickname that is often criticized as offensive.

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, September 5, 5:27 AM

ALBANY, N.Y. — An American Indian tribe in upstate New York said Thursday it will launch a radio ad campaign pressing for the Washington Redskins to shed a name often criticized as offensive.

The Oneida Indian Nation said the first ad will run on radio stations in Washington before the team hosts the Philadelphia Eagles in its season opener Monday night. In the ad, Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter says NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should “stand up to bigotry” by denouncing “the racial slur” in the team’s name.

“We do not deserve to be called redskins,” the Oneida leader says in the ad. “We deserve to be treated as what we are — Americans.”

The radio ad said Goodell had rightly been critical this summer after an Eagles wide receiver was caught on video making a racial slur against African-Americans.

The ads launch as the Washington Redskins this year face a fresh barrage of criticism over their nickname, with local leaders and pundits calling for a name change. In May, 10 members of Congress sent letters to Redskins owner Dan Snyder and Goodell urging the team to change the name.

Snyder has vowed to never change the name.

League spokesman Brian McCarthy, in an email to The Associated Press, said they “respect that reasonable people may have differing views.”

“The name from its origin has always intended to be positive and has always been used by the team in a highly respectful manner,” McCarthy wrote.

There was no immediate response from the Redskins.

The Oneidas have been vocal opponents of the Redskins nickname — be it for NFL or high school teams. The tribe, which runs a casino and resort in central New York, this year gave $10,000 toward new jerseys to an area high school that changed its nickname from the Redskins to the Hawkeyes.

The Oneida said the first ad will run Sunday and Monday on several stations in Washington. Subsequent ads will run in Washington during home games and in the cities hosting the team when it is away. A spokesman for the Oneidas would not say how much the campaign would cost beyond “multiple thousands.”

Halbritter said that fans also are being urged to lobby the NFL in support of the name change at www.changethemascot.org , a website that debuted Thursday.

“We believe that with the help of our fellow professional football fans, we can get the NFL to realize the error of its ways and make a very simple change,” Halbritter said in a prepared statement.

Football and Hogans: Super Bowl XLIX Will Feature Large Indian Village

Lee Allen, Indian Country Today Media Network

Seeking to take advantage of a captive audience, all 22 tribes in the state of Arizona are expected to be represented at an American Indian Village as part of the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX in Phoenix. Even though it’s two years out, planning by the Arizona American Indian Tourist Association is already underway.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to get the Indian country message out to the thousands who will attend the football championship,” says Donovan Hanley (Navajo), current Tourist Association president. The Village, one of the association’s largest collaborative efforts, showcases the sights, sounds and flavors of Native dance, music, arts and crafts, and food—a slice of tribal life.

“We set up an Indian Village during the 1996 and 2008 NFL Super Bowls in Phoenix and drew 20,000 attendees,” said past AAITA President Rory Majenty (Yavapai). Another 8,000 visitors enjoyed the experience during the 2012 Centennial.

The Indian Village Returns to Arizona (Centennial Celebration)

Although plans are not yet in place for 2015, much of the color and pageantry of last year’s Centennial should re-appear at the Super Bowl—displays like a replica of a Navajo hogan, a traditional Hopi house, and a Salt River Pima-Maricopa round house; demonstrations of traditional piki bread-making; performances by gourd singers accompanied by aboriginal instruments; dancers performing the Pal’hik Mana (Water Maiden) and the Eagle Dance; artists who will show how pottery is made from the collection of the clay to the finished product—everything is on the table in current discussions.

“This is a great venue to market Indian tourism to a captured audience and to educate visitors of the growth and abilities of Arizona’s native peoples,” said Majenty. “We’re a big part of this state and lay claim to a large part of its history and identity.”

And that includes the sport of football too. “The Indian and the NFL are not separate entities,” says Raphael Bear (Yavapai). “Native American gridiron star Jim Thorpe was one of the first Commissioners when the National Football League was started. We have an opportunity here as a tourist organization for American Indians to let the world know we’ve always been a part of this sports scene. A smart card player plays the strongest cards in his hand and the Thorpe connection is a trump card for us to hold during the Super Bowl.”

“I know people aren’t going to just stop into the Village and then make plans to vacation in Indian Country,” says Hanley. “This kind of focused concentration takes years and years to become truly effective, but an authentic Indian Village can plant a bug to spur further interest in all we have to offer in the state.

“While many out-of-state football fans may just fly in and fly out to count kickoffs and savor the touchdowns, we expect regional attendees to visit the Village both before and after the game and feel if we tantalize all the sensory options with our exhibits and entertainment, it will peak further interest in Arizona’s Indian country.”