Sports Archives - Page 50 of 53

Disappointing loss to Swarm delays Stealth’s post season entry

NLL Week 11: Washington 5 at Minnesota 12

By Mike McQuaid, March 16, 2013, http://www.stealthlax.com,

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Looking for just a single win to earn a post-season berth, the Washington Stealth ran into a Minnesota team firing on all cylinders Saturday night, falling to the Swarm 12-5 before 7,830 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

For a Washington offense that at times has been stellar this season, including its performance in a three-game win steak leading up to Saturday’s trip into the Twin Cities, the output was a disappointment.

“Our offense failed to show. We just had a terrible night,” Stealth head coach Chris Hall said.

At one point after tying the game at 2-2 early in the second on a Mike Grimes goal, the Stealth went a full 32 minutes without scoring as Minnesota wracked-up six straight goals through the intermission and into the early minutes of the third to build an 8-2 lead.

From there the frustration only continued as not just Washington – but Minnesota faced brilliant goaltending.

“T-Rich stood on his head to keep us in it,” Hall said on his goaltender’s performance, which is becoming the norm night in and night out for the Stealth.

Richards, who faced 60 shots including 34 in the second half, only allowed seven goals through the third quarter.

His work included a double-stop on a breakaway by the Swarm’s David Earl mid-way through the fourth, that in any other game would have been a momentum changer.

With Earl grabbing the ball on transition and running most of the floor, Richards denied the shot from just a few feet out, then turned his attention to the Swarm’s trailer Jordan MacIntosh, who double pumped a shot on Richards that was also turned down. MacIntosh finished the night with five assists and 11 loose balls.

“I thought T-Rich was spectacular,” Hall said. “He kept us in it while we tried to get the offense unstuck. But it never happened.”

Swarm goaltender Tyler Carlson turned away 48 of 53 shots.

In the first, Washington opened scoring on a Dean Hill goal at 8:16 to take the early lead. Taking seven shots, it was Hill’s only score of the night.

Minnesota responded with back-to-back Callum Crawford scores just over a minute later.

Following Grimes’ tying goal at 12:15 of the first, the Stealth struggled over the next half-hour of play.

Trailing by four-goals to start the second half, Washington began the third with a five-on-three advantage but were unable to find the back of the net, while giving up a shorthanded goal, the only score by either team in the quarter, to Jay Card coming off the bench.

After Card’s goal, the Stealth was never able to come any closer than five goals.

Offensively, the Stealth was led by Rhys Duch with two goals and two assists for four points increasing his season total to an NLL-best 33 goals this season.

The Stealth also received a fourth-quarter score from Lewis Ratcliff, who finished with two points on the night.

For the Swarm, Crawford led all scorers with four goals all of which came in the first half of play.

In the faceoff circle, the Stealth’s Bob Snider was 11 of 20 for 55 percent, while MacIntosh was just nine of 19 for 47 percent.

With the Stealth scrapping and clawing their way into contention for the post season, Saturday’s game marked a low-water mark in production since a 16-5 home loss to Edmonton last January and is just the fourth time in franchise history dating to stints in Albany and San Jose where the team have scored five or fewer goals.

Prior to the game, the Stealth activated its third round pick (21st overall) in this last year’s NLL Entry Draft, Mitch Jones.

Jones, who spent the winter completing the collegiate hockey season at Northern Michigan University, delivered a solid performance, finishing with an assist and took two shots.

“I thought he was fine,” Hall said of the 6-2, 185 pounder from Delta, British Columbia. “He didn’t get a ton of shifts. But he got his feet wet. He looked like he fit just fine.”

The Stealth, who fell to 7-5 on the season, still retain a half-game lead in the West with Calgary sitting idle but lost ground to both Edmonton and Colorado, which won their games, enjoy a bye-week before taking-on the Roughnecks at home on March 30.

“It’s been a grind to get to here. (Tonight’s game) was a disappointing loss going into the last games of the season,” Hall said. “Our and goaltending and defense is rock solid, but our offense needs some work. I’m certainly looking forward to that first practice before the Calgary game.”

The Stealth return home to Comcast Arena for a Saturday, March 30 contest with rival Calgary and the first leg of a home-and-home series with the Roughnecks. Game time is 6:45 p.m. PT.

Scoring	1	2	3	4		F
Washington	1	1	0	3	—	5
Minnesota	2	4	1	5	—	12

Lawmakers offer bill to ban ‘Redskins’ trademark

Participate in the poll here!

By Ben Pershing,

Mar 20, 2013 08:52 PM EDT

The Washington Post Published: March 20

A group of U.S. House members has offered a bill that would prohibit the term “Redskins” from being trademarked, as the debate over the NFL team’s name expands from the legal system and the court of public opinion to Capitol Hill.

Del. Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa) has authored the Non-Disparagement of American Indians in Trademark Registrations Act of 2013, which would cancel all existing federal trademarks using “Redskins” to refer to Native Americans and prohibit future trademarks as well. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) — a critic of the team’s name — is an original co-sponsor, along with Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Karen Bass (D-Calif.).

A Redskins spokesman said the team had no comment on the bill.

There is no guarantee that the measure will even receive a committee hearing in the House, much less a vote. But it comes at a sensitive time: Earlier this month in Alexandria, a three-judge panel on the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board heard arguments over whether the term Redskins should be considered a slur and therefore not worthy of trademark protection.

It could be a year, the Associated Press reported, before the judges issue a ruling in the case, which stems from a petition by five Native Americans. And even if the Redskins lost their trademark, they wouldn’t necessarily have to change their name. But it would be easier for other businesses and people to cut into the franchise’s profits by selling paraphernalia with the name on it.

Critics of the team’s name also spoke up during a forum last month at the National Museum of the American Indian, saying that the term is demeaning, and dismissing the franchise’s argument that the word is meant to honor Native Americans rather than disparage them.

For her part, Norton recently told the Hill newspaper that the Redskins “should consider” a new moniker. “I am a fan of the Redskins. I’m just not a fan of their name,” she said.

District Mayor Vincent Gray has also weighed in on the subject, albeit carefully.

“I would love to be able to sit down with the team … and see if a change should be made,” Gray said in January, though he later clarified that he simply meant the subject would likely be discussed if the Redskins were to move back to the RFK Stadium site, which is on federal land.

Special Olympian Brady Tanner Leads Six New Inductees Into American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Cherokee Nation citizen Brady Tanner completes a deadlift during a competition.

On Saturday, March 16, six people were inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame, which is located on the campus of Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. Leading the group of outstanding athletes and coaches was gold medal-winning powerlifter Brady Tanner, Cherokee, of Lawrence. Tanner is the first Special Olympian to earn a place in the prestigious Hall.

Tanner won three gold medals and a silver at the 2011 World Special Olympic Games in Athens. He also competes in the World Association of Bench and Deadlifters and Natural Athletic Strength Association events. After Tanner completed high school, a football player from Haskell University (where Tanner’s father was coach at the time) noticed Tanner’s strength and began helping him train.

Tanner is a champion. (Submitted to Topeka Capital-Journal)

Meet the other five inductees:

• Kenneth O. Tiger, Seminole, who played football for Kansas in 1961-62 and was part of the Jayhawks 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl-winning team (a 33-7 victory over Rice). He was co-captain of the 1962 team.

• Roy Old Person, Blackfeet, who won the National Junior College Athletic Association cross country title in 1965 while attending Haskell. Old Person also was a two-time all conference selection at Wichita State.

• Herman Agoyo, Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, who played on the Manhattan College baseball team that won the New York City Baseball League Championship in 1957. He also was a standout Senior Olympian.

• Yawna Allen, Cherokee/Quapaw/Euchee, who was a Junior National Open Doubles Champion in 2000, 2002 and 2003 and is a seven-time North American Indian Tennis Association Women’s Open Singles Champion. Her aunt, Dawn Allen, also a tennis star, was inducted into the Hall in 1995.

• Sid Jamieson, Mohawk, who was the first lacrosse coach at Bucknell University and worked at the school for 38 years. He was the Patriot League’s Coach of the Year three times and is part of the Pennsylvania Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Indian Country Responds to the International Olympic Committee Putting Wrestling on the Chopping Block

By Vincent Shilling, Indian Country Today Media Network

Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Photo: AP/Paul Sancya

In February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland announced that wrestling will likely be voted out of the Olympics. Wrestling has been a fixture of the Olympics since 708 B.C. and is considered by many to be the oldest competitive sport.

According to the Associated Press, the IOC reviewed the 26 sports listed on the current Olympic program and could eliminate wrestling–both freestyle and Greco-Roman–in a final vote later this year to make way for the inclusion of a new sport such as rugby or golf in the 2020 games. The IOC’s recent decision has drawn massive criticism in banning a sport that has long been connected to the Olympics and is even mentioned in the Bible.

“This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “In the view of the executive board, this was the best program for the Olympic Games in 2020. It’s not a case of what’s wrong with wrestling; it is what’s right with the 25 core sports.”

Wrestling was voted out from a final group that also included the modern pentathlon, taekwondo and field hockey. Wrestling now joins baseball, softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu (full contact Chinese martial arts) as candidates for the 26th and final spot. Though the IOC’s decision is based in part upon contemporary sports popularity, some in Indian country say there are consequences that the IOC committee may not have considered.

“When you are a basketball player you dream of the NBA, when you are a football player you dream of the NFL. When you are a wrestler, it is the Olympics, that is the pinnacle,” says Troy Heinert, the varsity wrestling coach for Todd County High School on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota and a South Dakota State Representative. “When you are taking that away, the ones I really feel bad about are the college wrestlers right now. They are going through tough college seasons looking forward to tryouts and maybe making the Olympic team once their college career is finished.

“I think this was a terrible decision by the IOC,” says Heinert. “This means for the 2016 Games that will be the end of wrestling. I cannot see why this is a logical choice especially when so many countries around the world participate in wrestling in the Olympics.”

South Dakota State Representative Troy Heinart will take the IOC to the legislative mat.

According to Heinert and Stephanie Murata, Osage and a former national women’s wrestling champion, the efforts to completely remove the sport from the Olympics have not as of yet been finalized, despite wrestling being voted out in the initial round of voting for 2020.

“Wrestling has not really been removed yet, it is just a recommendation as far as the different sports from which and will be removed,” says Murata. “There has not been a final decision yet, there are two more Olympic IOC meetings. One will be in St. Petersburg and the other, final decision, which is the one that is the most concerning, will be in Buenos Aires in September.”

Champion wrestler Stephanie Murata, Osage, thinks the IOC is making a bad decision.

Both Murata and Heinert say that the IOC’s decision is most likely based on a desire to embrace contemporary sports, but wrestling–with all of its tradition and history—should not be removed. For Murata, a woman wrestler feels an even greater desire to see the sport retained. Women’s wrestling wasn’t admitted into the Olympic program until 1996.

“All of this is ironic because women’s wrestling in relation to men’s wrestling just got into the Olympics. We as women, have been in this situation of wanting to be in the Olympics for a significant period of time and everyone still trained, because they wanted to be in the Olympics and they wanted to be ready once it was,” Murata said.

Regardless of the recent vote by the IOC, the international wrestling world is not going to go down without a fight.

“I know there has been a push by the wrestling community and governors from different states across the country and they are petitioning the IOC to reinstate wrestling,” says Heinert. “The talk I have heard is that the United States, Russia, Iran, China – the bigger countries that have competed in the Olympics and European countries are going to have to make that big push. Russia has former Olympic wrestlers in Parliament and they are working very hard and putting pressure on the IOC.”

Heinert is even taking the matter into the legislative system. “Our governor here in South Dakota signed onto a bill of legislation with other governors to ask for wrestling to be reinstated. South Dakota does have an Olympic gold medalist. I am a legislator in South Dakota and next year I will be bringing a resolution to both houses to be sent to the IOC,” he said. “This may flood [mixed martial arts] with potential Olympic wrestlers. You went to high school, you went through college… a lot of these guys have wrestled since they have been four years old, for the last 20 years, they have been training themselves to be a wrestler.

“Without the Olympics, what is your draw? When you see a trainer who is an Olympic gold medalist or an Olympic wrestler, that draws you to that camp instantly. You will see a decline in camp enrollment I think. “Wrestling is important to us, it goes back to when we were training for warfare. Not just in the Roman days but we as Lakotas,” says Heinert. “It has been here, since we have been here.

“A national title, and being All-American is something to be extremely proud of, it takes a lot of skill and a lot of hard work. But I cannot imagine there’s anything like holding a gold medal for your country,” said Heinert. “Hopefully the IOC will see the mistake it is making and reverse its decision.”

Junior Achievement fundraises through bowling at Tulalip Resort, Strawberry Lanes

Source: Marysville Globe

TULALIP — The Tulalip Resort Casino has paired with Junior Achievement of Snohomish County for a duo of fun fundraising bowling events, designed to get the ball rolling for kids enrolled in the nonprofit’s programs.

Part of the annual Bowling Classic, a statewide event which takes place on various dates throughout the spring, teams composed of members from various organizations compete in two-hour shifts at local bowling alleys. An added twist this year is an afternoon of “Virtual Bowling” at the Tulalip Resort Casino, and a 1970s-themed costumed session of “Cosmic Bowling” organized by the Tulalip Resort Casino at Strawberry Lanes in Marysville.

On Thursday, March 14, the Tulalip Resort Casino’s Orca Ballroom will be transformed into a virtual bowling tournament center from noon to 6 p.m., during which participants can challenge themselves and others on Wii and Xbox. While “rolling” their best curves or hook balls, they’ll also learn more about Junior Achievement of Snohomish County, and get entered into a drawing for prizes. The cost is $6 per bowler, or $24 for a team of four.

Strawberry Lanes teams will have a selection of three time slots on Tuesday, May 28, to perfect their delivery and strive for a “six-pack” during “Cosmic Bowling.” Prizes will be awarded to the top three scoring groups, as well as to the best ’70s-era team costumes. Fundraising goal entry fees are $150 per bowler, or $600 for a team of four, and there’s an additional $10 fee for shoe rental. Available times run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 3-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.

Junior Achievement of Snohomish County is dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy. The Bowling Classic will raise funds to support Junior Achievement’s K-12 programs on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, and will also allow more students to participate in Junior Achievement’s showcase programs — JA Biztown and JA Finance Park. The organization promotes belief in the potential of young people.

The Tulalip Resort Casino is located at 10200 Quil Ceda Blvd. in Tulalip, and Strawberry Lanes is located at 1067 Columbia Ave. in Marysville.

Rat City brings the action back to Key Arena, March 16

After a brief return to the old homestead at Southgate Roller Rink the Rat City Rollergirls return to Key Arena March 16th to continue the 2013 home season. The first bout of the evening is a highly anticipated match-up between 2012 Home Team Champions Grave Danger and the Derby Liberation Front.

The last time these two teams met in competition was almost a year ago when Grave Danger defeated DLF by just 5 points, helping to keep them out of the 2012 Championship game. Both teams have been training intensely as veteran Rat City skaters work alongside new team members to play hard, smart, and clean. With the final ranking bout of the home team season approaching you will see these teams at their fiercest as they do everything in their power to avoid a loss that could help knock them out of contention for this year’s Championships.

But, as you may have noticed, it’s not all familiar faces this year as Rat City continues to bring in nearby contenders to keep our audiences excited and our home teams on their toes. In the second bout of the evening the Throttle Rockets, after two close losses to Rat City home teams in the beginning of the season, will be looking to show the Port Scandalous Brawl Stars of Port Angeles, WA, that they are still a team to be feared. Of course, since their 15-point loss to the Throttle Rockets last March the Brawl Stars have been racking up wins against teams like the Olympia Rollers’ Dropkick Donnas and Jet City Roller Girl’s home teams, the Hula Honeys and the Pink Pistols. Can the Brawl Stars take advantage of the Throttle Rockets’ tough start to the season, or will they be the unlucky victims of the Throttle Rockets’ flat track revenge?

And don’t forget, while you’re grabbing your fan signs to come down to the Key you can also grab a couple of cans of food (or just a little cash) to donate to the Ballard Food Bank at our Show Us Your Cans donation bins. The first 250 fans to donate will even get some sweet Rat City swag! You can also support local youth activities by buying delicious cookies from our featured charity of the month, the Girl Scouts of Western Washington, investing in some 50/50 raffle tickets from the Seattle Derby Brats, or just cheering your heart out for the Northside Youth Program Drill Team during our intermission show.

Go to Ticketmaster now to snap up your tickets , and check out our special deals for concessions, families and groups!

Our remaining Season 9 dates at KeyArena include: 3/16, 4/13, 5/11, 6/8, 7/13, 8/10. The 2013 season will include an exciting mix of play from the home teams you know and love and interleague play from the Rat City All Stars, who recently placed fifth in the uber-competitive Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) Western Region semi-finals. Check out all of the awesome games we have lined up for this season!

TRY OUT TO BE A RAT CITY ROLLERGIRL!

Roller derby is a fast-paced, hard-hitting, endurance-based sport that takes lots of physical and mental ability, time, and sheer dedication. If you think you have what it takes, come try out to show us what you’ve got. Our next tryout is at our practice facility on Saturday, March 30th from 10am-2pm (doors open and registration begin at 9:30 am).

For more information: http://ratcityrollergirls.com/about-us/tryouts/

Open Practices:
March 20th 6:00-7:30
March 25th 7:30-9:30, 9:30-10 Q&A session

Scrimmage Viewing:
March 26th 7:30-10:30
SKATE WITH THE RAT CITY REC LEAGUE!

Always wanted to skate like a rollergirl? Now you can! Join the The Rat City Rollergirls Recreational Roller Derby Program!! Rec League has two weekly opportunities: Fit Skate and Scrimmage (yes! Scrimmage!!)!!

Fit Skate is a co-ed, non-contact skating workout open to all skill levels! Come in as a beginning skater, an ice or inline skater wanting to try out quads, a retiree, or an existing derby girl or referee who wants additional rink time. Scrimmage night is a black and white mash up open to women who can pass a minimum skills test. Any level of experience from Pre-Fresh meat to Retirees- if you’re looking for more play time we’re lookin’ at you!

For more information and to register, visit us at http://ratcityrollergirls.com/about-us/recreation/

WENCHSPOTTING DANCE PARTY MARCH 29

Join the Sockit Wenches on Friday, March 29 at Re-Bar for one of their legendary events, this time a dance party + variety show featuring the ladies in blue and some very talented friends. Don’t miss a single moment — doors open at 7 p.m., and performances will run all night betwixt the good times and the getting down. Tickets are available on a sliding scale in advance, and $10 at the door.

Purchase tickets today at Brown Paper Tickets

As you dance and enjoy the show you’ll be helping us earn money to travel to Spokane to play in a tournament, Spokarnage, in April.

Choose an outfit. Choose boogie shoes. Choose Wenchspotting.

ADVERTISE WITH THE BEST FANS IN SEATTLE!

Modern Roller Derby is the fastest growing female contact sport in the world!! Get in on the action NOW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QsKK7SY12E

INTERESTED IN FREE TICKETS?

Do you want to watch the next Rat City Rollergirls bout for FREE? Do you want to earn cool, limited-edition Rat City gear? Then sign up to volunteer with us!

Producing a Rat City Rollergirl event is no walk in the park. There is A LOT of behind-the-scenes work that goes into it. That’s why we are so appreciative of the time and services Rat City Rollergirl volunteers put into our organization – we could not kick ass like we do without the dedication of our volunteers!

Please contact our volunteer staffing coordinator, Penny Racer, at volunteer@ratcityrollergirls.com to be contacted for future volunteer opportunities

YOU’RE ALWAYS COOL WEARING RAT CITY GEAR!

You don’t have to wait until you’re back at the Key Arena to get yourself, or the one you love, some fierce Rat City merchandise! Check out www.ratcityrollergirls.com/merch, where we’ve added new team gear!

For all the latest news on our teams, bout schedules and event information, visit www.ratcityrollergirls.com AND visit us on Facebook!

Washington Stealth Lacrosse Game vs. Calgary Roughnecks

Saturday, March 30, 2013 @ 6:45 p.m.

Comcast Arena, 2000 Hewitt Ave, Everett WA 98201

The Blue Pony Youth/Lacrosse Program would like to invite you to help show fan support as part of the Blue Pony Youth/Lacrosse Program. Help support this Native American Youth Program by Purchasing tickets through our Native Kulturz Initiative. Contact Robert about purchasing tickets at 360-581-8631

Battle Over Redskins Name Goes Before Federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board

Indian Country Today Media Network Staff

The long-running battle over the Washington Redskins name gets a restart today, Thursday, March 7, when a group of Native Americans goes before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in Washington, D.C, to argue that the franchise should lose their federal trademark protection, based on a law that prohibits registered names that disparaging, scandalous, contemptuous or disreputable.

Leading the move against the use of the term redskins is Susan Shown Harjo, who has spent nearly a third of her life fighting the use of the nickname.

According to CBSDC and the Associated Press, Redskins general manager Bruce Allen said last month that it is “ludicrous” to think that the team is “trying to upset anybody” with its nickname, which many Native Americans consider to be offensive.

That’s beside the point, Harjo told CBSDC/AP. She’s never suggested that the Redskins deliberately set out to offend anyone. But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t offended.

“It’s just like a drive-by shooting,” Harjo said Wednesday. “They’re trying to make money, and not caring who is injured in the process — or if anyone is injured in the process. I don’t think they wake up or go to sleep dreaming of ways to hurt Native people. I think they wake up and go to sleep thinking of ways to make money — off hurting Native people.”

Native Lacrosse Players Among Early Contenders for 2013 Tewaaraton Award

Miles Thompson, Onondaga Nation, and his brother Lyle and cousin Ty and are all on the 2013 Tewaaraton Award men’s watch list. Photo: University of Albany

Indian Country Today Media Network Staff

Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2013 Tewaaraton Award men’s and women’s watch lists. The lists include the top players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse and highlight the early contenders for the 2013 Tewaaraton Award.

The Tewaaraton Award annually honors the top male and top female college lacrosse player in the United States. The selection committees are made up of top collegiate coaches and are appointed annually by The Tewaaraton Foundation. Committees will make additions to these lists as the season progresses and athletes earn a spot along side these elite players. Both lists will be narrowed to 25 men’s and women’s nominees in late April. In mid-May, five men’s and five women’s finalists will be announced. These finalists will be invited to Washington, D.C. for the 13th annual Tewaaraton Award Ceremony, May 30 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Each year, the Tewaaraton Award celebrates one of the six tribal nations of the Iroquois Confederacy : the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora. While 2013 is The Year of the Mohawk, the men’s watch list includes three members of the Onondaga Nation in Lyle, Miles and Ty Thompson from Albany. Lyle and Miles are brothers, and Ty is their cousin. All three Thompsons are attackmen for the University of Albany. On February 17 the Thompson Trio led the Great Danes to an upset of mighty Syracuse, taking the match, which went to double overtime, 16-15. Watch this savvy goal scored by Miles:

Positive Reactions to Cooperstown Central Changing School Mascot

National Public Radio host Michel Martin talked with Ray Halbritter, of the Oneida Nation, about the gesture to pay for schools uniforms after the decision to change the “Redskins” name at Cooperstown Central School. Listen here

ICTMN Staff

Article

February 25, 2013

The message that calling sports teams “Redskins” isn’t right seems to be getting across in some circles and, perhaps most important, to the younger generation.

Some, including Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, still say the derogatory term is fine. Though others say his argument, that it’s all right to use because there are some 70 high schools in 25 states that use the name, is weak.

In her February 13 Washington Post column titled, “On Washington Redskins’ name, it’s time the grown-ups talk sense into Daniel Snyder,” Sally Jenkins was one of them.

“If you’ve long suspected that football is not a measure of intellect…a series of prominently displayed pseudo-articles defend the club’s use of a racial slur as a mascot on the grounds that lots of high schools are nicknamed ‘Redskins’ too — so it must be okay,” she says. “Which we can only take to mean that pretty soon owner Daniel Snyder will be skipping class to build a potato gun.”

But Snyder couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, recent events fly in the face of his argument. Like at Cooperstown Central School, when in early February, the students there decided they no longer wanted to be known as the Redskins.

When Cooperstown students stood up, national news media noticed. Their decision to get rid of the nickname was reported by The Associated Press, ESPN, Fox Sports, the Wall Street Journal and Indian Country Today Media Network.

“There were several students who came forward to the superintendent and myself,” Cooperstown Board of Education President Dr. David Borgstrom told ICTMN. “They told us how uncomfortable they felt about it and we made a commitment to educate the students about cultural diversity. When they brought it forward there wasn’t really any other response we could give them than, ‘You’re right.’”

Borgstrom said he’s incredibly proud of the students for coming forward and that the most important thing he has learned in this name-change process is just how socially aware the younger generation is and that they recognize the role they can play in making changes.

The older generations, especially alumni from schools that use the mascots under scrutiny, have been harder to change.

This has been the case in Cooperstown as well. Borgstrom said that when there was heated debate over the mascot changing at a board meeting, the students stood their ground. The next board of education meeting is scheduled for March 6. That’s when the official vote on whether to keep or remove the Redskins mascot will take place.

“What we have been discussing here has been linked to the football team in Washington and I think it has put more pressure on them and the Cleveland baseball team…. If a few students coming forward in Cooperstown paves the way for change elsewhere, wouldn’t that be wonderful,” Borgstrom said. “The way this is going it’s not out of the realm of possibilities.”

But changing monikers is going to cost money. Money that some schools just don’t have. That’s why when the Oneida Indian Nation heard about the students in Cooperstown, it offered to pay for the school’s new uniforms once a new nickname is chosen. Borgstrom couldn’t give a definite cost for new uniforms, but estimated it will cost between $5,000 and $7,000 to make the change.

“You have announced a standard that recognizes that mascots which are known to dehumanize and disrespect any race of mankind have no place in our schools, or our great country,” wrote Oneida Nation Representative and CEO Ray Halbritter in a letter to the Cooperstown students. “We understand that your courageous decision also comes with a financial consequence and, unfortunately, potential backlash from those who somehow claim that ethnic stereotyping is a victimless crime.”

By providing monetary help, the Oneida Nation has taken one worry off the school board’s plate.

“I think it’s a wonderful gesture on the part of the Oneida Nation. It speaks to the importance of it to them,” Borgstrom said.

This could mean there are other tribal nations out there willing to help other schools that want to take the plunge and get rid of their Native mascots or logos.

That’s why in an upcoming issue of This Week From Indian Country Today, there will be a call to action to establish a fund to help other schools. The idea is to make students feel empowered, not hampered when thinking about making the decision to leave behind dehumanizing terms like “redskins.” Offering donations will be a way to help students understand they have help with this journey and won’t have to take money away from other programs their schools offer.