sports Archives - Page 3 of 3

Tulalip Basketball Camp, more than just hoops

by Micheal Rios, Tulalip News

During the week of July 27-31, the sports-centric youth of Tulalip took part in a week long basketball camp to learn, practice, and perfect their basketball skills at the Don Hatch Youth Center. With the on-court assistance of Deyamonta Diaz and Shawn Sanchey, who are both Youth Services Activity Specialists, basketball camp participants were split into two groups; one earlier session for elementary and middle school aged boys and one later session for high school aged boys.

Fred Brown, Jr. who played college basketball at the University of Iowa and presently works for Seattle Basketball Services, Washington State’s premier NCAA compliant scouting service led the early session of youngsters. According to his work profile, Brown specializes in events coordinating, recruiting, scouting, tutoring and player development work for youth, high school, college and professional athletes. He is dedicated to helping student athletes learn the importance of having an exceptional work ethic, good grades and a positive attitude to be successful in today’s society.

Brown believes, “Opportunities do not go away, they go to someone else.” Following with this mantra, Brown emphasized hard work and the highest quality of competition during each day of camp. Tulalip youth responded in kind by giving their fullest effort during each and every basketball drill. The few instances when the kids would not respect the rules of his sessions, Brown was sure to get their attention by blowing his whistle and having them run lines. This means of discipline not only got the kids attention, but also helped to condition them and build up their stamina.

The later session, made up of high school participants, was led by Sanjey Noriega and Tisen Fryberg. Noriega was a college basketball player at University of Alaska-Fairbanks and went on to play professional basketball in Europe and Latin America. Fryberg, a Tulalip tribal member, currently plays college basketball.

During both sessions, the young ballers with hoop dreams were able to win prizes, such as shooting sleeves or Strideline basketball socks, in various skill building drills. There was a fair share of solo drills, but for the most part the sessions were composed of team exercises that showcased the fact that basketball is indeed a team sport.

Everyone who participated in the basketball camp came away a better basketball player and a better teammate to their brothers of the hardwood. They grew and learned about more than just basketball, as each session instructor would share their personal stories overcoming obstacles to make it to the next level. While they practiced ball handling, dribbling, and shooting, they also learned about self-esteem, teamwork, and the value of hard work.

Contact Micheal Rios: mrios@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov

Tulalip Saints take spring season championship

Tulalip Boys & Girls Club flag football team, the Saints.Photo/Tori Torolova — Tulalip Boys & Girls Club flag football team, the Saints.
Photo/Tori Torolova

By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

The Tulalip Boys & Girls Club flag football team, the Saints, battled other club teams across Snohomish County for eight weeks to take the spring season championship title. Coached by Tulalip tribal member James Madison, the team beat out their rival the Everett Boys & Girls Club Eagles in a triple-header.

This season was stacked with win after win for the Saints who are comprised of nine and ten-year-olds who have played with each other since they were four. James says there are a few new members each season but the team has stayed consistent for six years.

A former football player himself, James uses his years on the field to teach the team sportsmanship and help them build confidence in their own ability to play and succeed.

“I am very organized and methodical,” said James about how he structures his team’s plays and practices. “I try to put the kids in a position for them to succeed so they are not frustrated. It’s about them growing as an athlete and about them having the most fun as possible.”

A majority of the Saints, whose name changes each season based on a donation from the National Football League, who sends out mini NFL jerseys for the teams to play in, play more than one sport together. James explains that most of the team plays basketball and tackle football together in addition to the flag football, which they consider their fun time. This constant togetherness has created a bond for the team that is visible on and off the field.

“There are a lot of expectations upon them but every single one of them is competitive and loves to compete. I orchestrate and they perform,” said James.

This season the team performed with perfection. As the youngest team players in most match ups they are known for out performing their opponents, holding to the tradition other Tulalip teams have set before them. When Tulalip comes to play you know you are going to get a get game.

“I get really excited out there because I know what the kids are capable of doing and this is Tulalip, this is our kids. It is so important to me to break the stigma of Indian kids playing sports. So for me, when I started coaching, I took that on and win or lose we are going to give them everything we have,” said James.

“All throughout the season you expect things out of your best players but to have eight year olds and nine year-olds perform on plays that high school players perform is great. We had a girl on our team that was every bit as feisty and an athlete as her opponents. They exceeded all my expectations and that, as a coach, is the proud moment.”

While the team has won championships before, one previously in flag football and two in basketball, this season says, James, was a big one.

“The team we played were our equal athletically and they are a super talented team and we made them look ordinary. To win against the Eagles was huge and our biggest accomplishment this year,” said James. “This isn’t about me this is about these kids. To see how they reacted to pressure situations and believing in themselves, to know that if they work as a team they can accomplish anything. We have this championship as a team and will be forever linked together because of that.”

Congratulations Saints on your championship win!

Tulalip Boys & Girls Club Youth Sports

The Tulalip Boys & Girls Club flag football team the Chargers, ages 5 to 6, took on their first opponent on April 18, with a game against the Saints from the Everett Boys & Girls Club. No score was kept but the Chargers kept the Saints on their toes and performed beyond expectations. Great Job Chargers!

Six spots are still available on the Chargers team. Head coach is Deyamonta Diaz and assistant coach is Selena Frajman. Practices are every Thursday, 4:30 -5:30 p.m., and Friday 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Tulalip Boys & Girls Club features five flag football team, one t-ball, one coach pitch and two volleyball teams.

Flag football coaches are Michael Hunter, Aletha Tatge, James Madison, Jay Fryberg and Issac Elliot. T-ball coach is Charlita Davis with Gregory Moses coaching for coach and pitch. Jamie Orth and Becca Marteney coach volleyball.

If you are interested in having your child join any of the available teams, please contact Tori Torolova at 360-716-3400.

‘World’s Greatest Athlete’ Jim Thorpe

n this historical images of Jim Thorpe,the athlete sports a Canton Bulldogs uniform.

BY CHARLES PULLIAM (ALASKAN ALEUT), NATIVE PEOPLES MAGAZINE

His stories usually start and end with head-shaking disbelief.

More or less at the same time in the early 1900s, Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox) was the world’s best college football player, professional football player, hurdler, short-distance runner, shot-putter and discus thrower. He played professional baseball and basketball as well and even was recognized for his dancing ability.

Before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, Thorpe was the original multi-sport athlete. But he didn’t just play, he dominated.

His Olympic feats in 1912 are asterisked because it was uncovered that he was paid to play baseball during his time at Carlisle Indian School. However, the Stockholm Summer Games gave Thorpe international recognition and legendary status as he won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon in record fashion. Thorpe competed in 15 events and won eight of them, all while wearing mismatched shoes.

Take that in for a moment. His shoes didn’t match.

Thorpe still won four of the five events in the pentathlon and finished third in the other.

A true testament to his glory is Thorpe’s time in the 1,500-meter run—he finished in 4 minutes, 40.1 seconds in the decathlon event at the Stockholm Games in his second time running the event in two days. The time wasn’t beaten by another decathlete until 1972, and even with all of the technology, specialty (and matching) shoes and training available to athletes today, 100 years later, American silver medalist Trey Hardee ran the same event in 4:40.94 at the 2012 London Games.

Even the simple stories surrounding Thorpe carry a legendary, schoolyard prowess.

His Olympic roommate, Abel Kiviat, recalled one instance where Thorpe ended an elementary competition of trying to touch a hanging chandelier in the grand ballroom of the S.S. Finland—the ship that transported the Americans to the Games and served as the boarding house in Stockholm. It was a simple feat, but in a room full of athletes, no one came close until Thorpe leaped and grabbed the chandelier.

Kiviat said Thorpe only had to watch someone do something once and he’d try it and do it better.

Thorpe was born on May 28, 1888, near Prague, Oklahoma, on Sac and Fox Indian land. When Thorpe was 11, he was sent to Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, and in 1904, he entered the nation’s other Indian school set up by the government and military in Pennsylvania: Carlisle.

This is where Thorpe began his track-and-field career in 1907, and just like the chandelier on the S.S. Finland years later, Thorpe turned heads by clearing a high-jump bar on his first attempt with ease when others were failing.

Carlisle also launched Thorpe’s football career. Books are dedicated to single games, like when the Thorpe-led Indian school toppled defending-champion Harvard 18-15 in 1911, or the famous game a year later when Thorpe scored two touchdowns and drilled three field goals to lead Carlisle to a 27-6 dismantling of Army at West Point.

“It was like trying to clutch a shadow,” wrote The New York Times on Thorpe’s running against Army. Carlisle won the college national championship in 1912, led by Thorpe’s 25 touchdowns. He was named an All-American for the second straight year.

In 1913, he signed to play professional baseball with the New York Giants.

Thorpe’s fame from his college days at Carlisle carried over onto the football field as well, where he helped lay the foundation for the league that became today’s mighty National Football League while playing for the Canton Bulldogs. Canton happens to be where the NFL Hall of Fame is located.

Thorpe was recognized as the greatest athlete of the first half of the century by the Associated Press in 1950 and in 1999, with the AP ranking only Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan ahead of him.

Thorpe died of a heart attack at the age of 64 on March 28, 1953, and yet his story continues both in history books and in the news.

Just in October, a federal appeals court ruled that Thorpe’s remains would stay in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, a town named after the legendary athlete, despite the objections of two of his sons. They had wanted Thorpe’s remains to be returned to Sac and Fox tribal lands in Oklahoma.

Mark Moseley says ‘no red men have said anything derogatory to me’ about the Redskins name

Moseley is in the middle. (Via RedskinsFacts.com)

By Dan Steinberg, Washington Post, August 5

Mark Moseley is one of the former Redskins players now engaged on the name issue, and he isn’t treading lightly when discussing this debate.

Moseley was on NewsChannel 8’s “SportsTalk After the Game” with Alex Parker this week, and the one-time kicker was fired up.

“It’s come up before, and it’s the most ridiculous thing that you could ever have” Moseley said of the debate. “We just thought it would blow over. But this time it hasn’t blown over. They’ve managed to get to some people that have a voice, some people with a little power, and they’ve made it into something that it’s not. And so we decided as alumni that we were going to get out and find out for sure. I mean, we don’t want to do something that’s hurting somebody’s feelings or it’s not the right thing … so we decided to take it upon ourselves to find out.

“I personally grew up with the Alabama-Coushatta Indians down in Texas,” Moseley went on. “They were 10 minutes outside of town. So I’ve been around Indians all my life, and when I came to the Washington Redskins it was elation in the reservation. They loved the fact that I was playing for the Indians. They considered it an honor.

“And so we were really upset with the fact that they’re trying to tell us that all these years we’ve been playing under a name that was derogatory to someone,” he said. “We’ve interviewed over a thousand people. We’ve talked to over a thousand Indians. And not one, not even one has said anything about it being derogatory to them. I even went up to one of them face-to-face that I didn’t even know, and I asked him, I said point blank, ‘If I came up and I called you a Redskin would you be insulted?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely not, I take great pride in being an American Indian, being called a Redskin.’ So to me, it’s bogus.”

Later, Parker asked Moseley what he thought about the people who have said they are offended by the name.

“If it was Indians, then I would be concerned,” Moseley said. “But everyone that’s said anything to me has been a white man or a black man. No red men have said anything derogatory to me about it.”

Parker also read Moseley some dictionary definitions indicating the word could be offensive.

“You can get offended by anything,” Moseley said. “I can get offended by what somebody’s saying to me. But the Redskins, if we start changing, to me they’re attacking my amendment rights that I have. To me, the name Redskins is something that does not offend anybody. The Redskins are not being hurt, the Indians are not being hurt by this, they’re telling us that. I mean, are we going to believe the white man or are we going to believe the Indian when it comes to a subject that is supposedly affecting them? They’re the ones we need to listen to. We need to pay attention to what they’re saying, and not what some of these other people are saying, and listen to where their hearts are.”

Moseley also said that “all these reservations, almost 90 percent of them have an organization on their reservation called the Redskins, that use that as their rallying cry. Schools, almost every reservation has a school that has an organization on it called the Redskins.”

I don’t believe that’s actually true, although there certainly are several majority-Native American schools that use the name. Moseley also said some good has come out of the debate, because “we’ve found out how really deplorable” the conditions are for some Native Americans.

“And it’s ridiculous that we as Americans are letting them and making them, almost forcing them to have to live this way,” he said. “It was very much an eye-awakening trip for those of us that have not been on a reservation in a while.”

As for the suggestion that the Redskins were buying support on reservations, Moseley rejected that outright.

“The fact is that they need help and we’re giving it to them,” he said. “And we’re not trying to buy [them]. We talked to people before we even did anything for them, and we got the same answer. So that’s bogus. That doesn’t even come into the ballgame here. But we as alumni feel that it’s important that we make sure that if we’re going to follow this, and if the Redskins are going to continue to be called the Redskins, we need to make sure — and Mr. Snyder wanted to make sure — that no one is being hurt. And we found out that they’re not.

“I really get upset. I get mad, because people are trying to say that I’ve been using a racist name,” he said.

Richie Incognito, Redskins and Racism in the NFL

By Gyasi Ross, Huffington Post Blog

“Once upon a time, a woman was picking up firewood. She came upon a poisonous snake frozen in the snow. She took the snake home and nursed it back to health. One day the snake bit her on the cheek. As she lay dying, she asked the snake, “Why have you done this to me?” And the snake answered, “Look, bitch, you knew I was a snake.” -Russell Means, Natural Born Killers

Irritatingly, the “Richie Incongito Is a Bully” and the “Richie Incognito Said the Word ‘Nigger'” storyline has been dominating the ESPN Sportscenter episodes recently. Just as my Seahawks get good enough to command serious national attention, some idiot who is considered an “honorary black man” by many of his fellow Miami Dolphins teammates simultaneously has 1) Shannon Sharpe crying like an infant; 2) white liberals judging this white man as if he were the first and only white man that has ever said this word; and 3) black folks upset.

I’m just mad that they’re not talking about the Seahawks. They are that good, y’all.

But since we’re on the topic, let me explain something — EVERY single person that is crucifying, judging or distancing themselves from Richie Incognito is a freakin’ hypocrite. Shannon Sharpe, with your self-righteous boo-hooing, you are a freakin’ hypocrite. In fact, every single NFL fan that acts like Richie Incognito saying the word “nigger” and bullying a teammate is the worst assault on polite society since Chad Ochocinco, you need to quit lying to yourselves.

To paraphrase the great Russell Means in the great Oliver Stone flick, Natural Born Killers, “Bitch, you knew Richie Incognito was a snake.”

“Bullying” is to football what “football” is to football.

First, let’s address these stupid “bullying” allegations. OK, news flash guys, football is bullying; let’s not romanticize the game and pretend that sportsmanship is a vital part of the game. In fact, that IS the game — to be the better bully than the other guy. From Dick Butkus (Hall of Fame, eye gouger) to Bill Romanowski (future Hall of Famer, spits in his teammates face, kicks opponents) to Jack Tatum (would have been Hall of Famer if he didn’t paralyze a player in a preseason game, kicked opponents) — DIRTY, bullying players have been CELEBRATED and coveted on NFL teams. Look at Ndamukong Suh — he’s as dirty as George W. Bush’s drug test in college, but because of his talent level, teams will always find a way to keep him on a team.

Incognito’s (and every other NFL player’s) job is to be a bully. The NFL is about bullying; for the NFL or anybody associated with the NFL to feign shock at Incognito for being a bully, you’re full of feces. Like Natural Born Killers, you’re blaming for being a snake in a snakepit.

How to address that? Stop rewarding snake-ism; change the snakepit. Which leads to the next point:

Racial Slurs Are Part of Everyday Culture

Richie Incognito, a white man, said the word “nigger.” That’s bad. Shannon Sharpe gave an impassioned, emotive performance about why the notion of Richie Incognito, a white man, saying the word “nigger” was so offensive. He said:

“[Y]ou allow this, in an open locker room to take place, is unacceptable. I’m so disappointed. I just hope that someone was misquoted. I hope I’m wrong and they didn’t allow Incognito to say this racially charged word in a locker room and go unchecked. I’m embarrassed. If he said that to Jonathan Martin, he didn’t only say it to him, he’s talking to you too. Because if you’re black, you know what that word means.”

Yet last year, the Washington Redskins brought in Shannon Sharpe to give a motivational talk to the Redskins players. That’s cool, although the strategy hasn’t seemed to really work that well on the field for the Redskins. Still, it’s odd that neither Shannon Sharpe, or really any of the NFL folks that decry Incognito’s racial slurs, have bothered to point that Sharpe and every other NFL announcer speaks a racial slur every single week — Redskins.

So the argument goes, Richie Incognito saying (and texting) the word “nigger” shouldn’t bother Sharpe. After all, Richie Incognito, according to teammates, was an “honorary black man.” That gave him permission to use the word as he saw fit, or that’s the way he saw it. Obviously these black men in the Miami Dolphins locker room weren’t offended by his use, and so that made it OK, right?

No? Of course not; it’s never OK for a person who isn’t black to use the word “nigger.”

But we also must concede that in the NFL, folks are conditioned to see that sort of behavior as OK. See, Shannon Sharpe and other black NFL announcers don’t seem to get it; they perpetuate this snakepit/racist culture that allows epithets to be used and then excused. The roots of the NFL, just like the roots of this very nation, are racist and firmly entrenched in overt and covert racism. That isn’t Shannon Sharpe’s (or other black players/coaches/announcers associated with the NFL) fault. YET, Shannon Sharpe, and all other black NFL announcers and players and coaches who allows and abets and doesn’t question the use of racial slurs other than “nigger” co-signs the very environment that allows Richie Incognito and Riley Cooper and whoever else to use that ugly word so flippantly.

Shannon Sharpe and Michael Strahan and James Brown and ever NFL player/coach/announcer who takes exception to non-black players using the word “nigger” should be disgusted and refuse to address the Washington Redskins — a racial epithet — as the “Washington Redskins” because that is the cornerstone of the racist culture that permeates the NFL. Shannon Sharpe, if he wants his outrage to be taken seriously, must not take the blood money that the Redskins give him — hush money for racial epithets.

It’s that quiet acquiescence on behalf of black folks associated with the NFL, like Sharpe, that makes rich white powerholders like Daniel Snyder say, “Well damn, they don’t really care about racial equality. They just want to get paid. Come talk to our team named after a racial epithet so you can lose your moral high ground to ever feign racial outrage.”

In conclusion, the culture of the NFL can change in regards to both bullying and the use of racial epithets. Yet, that only happens if folks like Shannon Sharpe give more than lip service to these causes. The NFL will never be able to selectively ban racial epithets — it’s kinda all or nothing when you’re trying to change a culture. So if the purpose is to change that culture, let’s go. Until that time, it’s just a bunch of a hypocritical hot air.

Gyasi Ross is a member of the Blackfeet Indian Nation and also comes from the Suquamish Nation. Both are his homelands. He continues to live on the lovely Suquamish Reservation — contrary to Rick Reilly’s assertion, no white liberals influenced his writing of this article. He is a father, an author, a lawyer, and a warrior. He has a new book, How To Say I Love You in Indian, available for pre-order. (Pre-order today!!). His Twitter handle is @BigIndianGyasi. He is a Seahawks fan and sees the Redskins as an inferior team, but readily acknowledges RGIII’s potential greatness (and hopes Alfred Morris does well because Morris is on his fantasy football team).

Follow Gyasi Ross on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigIndianGyasi

Controversial Sports Mascots Not New; Released More Than a Decade Ago, NCAI Says

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

A poster image that went viral because of its controversial references to sports mascots: New York Jews, San Francisco Chinamen and Cleveland Indians, has caused some media confusion.

According to Slate, news media reported that the poster was “new” and was released recently by the National Congress of American Indians because of the Redskins name change controversy.

But an NCAI source told ICTMN that those reports are inaccurate. The poster, shown above, is not a new one. It was originally published and distributed by the NCAI more than a decade ago. The organization said that what’s “new” is that people are finally paying attention to the Redskins controversy and have merely “stumbled upon” the image during their reporting.

The image, as seen above, shows that there is a double standard between the stereotypical Native American mascots like the Cleveland Indians and other racial epithets. The quote on the poster reads, ”No race, creed or religion should endure the ridicule faced by the Native Americans today.”

The NCAI says that they have been working to shed light on offensive and racist sports team mascots for decades. Jacqueline Pata, Executive Director for the NCAI, pointed out that the original poster was developed in the 1990s, but published by the advertising firm Devito/Verdi in 2001.

Pata told Slate magazine, which has denounced the so-called ‘R’ word that “Those kinds of racial images aren’t even acceptable today.” In other words, the ‘racial equality ad” is not something that the organization would have put out recently because of its tendency to offend and be misconstrued as their response to the current name change controversy.

The organization has instead asked the public to focus on its 29-page report called “Ending the Legacy of Racism in Sports & the Era of Harmful ‘Indian’ Sports Mascots.” ICTMN reported that the report was released last week.

Jefferson Keel, the president of the NCAI, has publicly stated that the word Redskins is a racial slur to the Native American community as is very offensive.

“[That name] originated in the bounty paid for Native body parts and human flesh. It does not honor Native people in any way, and has no place in modern American society,” he explained in a news release.

Chickasaw Woman to Cheer On NBA Pros as Thunder Girl

TheAdaNews.comKatie Callaway, of Oklahoma City, during her audition for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder Girls — TheAdaNews.com
Katie Callaway, of Oklahoma City, during her audition for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder Girls

A Chickasaw woman’s dream has come true. And she’ll get to share it with thousands.

Katie Callaway will cheer on basketball pros and fans as a member of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder’s dance team.

“I am so excited,” Callaway said in a news release. “I can’t wait to get on those sidelines and entertain the best fans of any city with an NBA team.”

Callaway, 26, sat in the stands as a fan for six years before she decided to try out. But, she didn’t make the team on her first try.

“I worked hard, very hard, to improve my technique,” Callaway said reflecting on the failed effort. “I worked on leaps, turns, and pointed toes. It was a full-on effort for a year. It was tough.”
The final audition process consisted of three rounds: a choreographed routine, a question and answer session, and a solo dance. Only 38 women were selected as finalists from nearly 100 hopefuls. The group of 38 was eventually narrowed down to 20.

She auditioned at the Riverwind Casino in Norman, Oklahoma in front of a packed house. Now that she’s one of the 20 Thunder Girls, Callaway is looking forward to the team’s first game in November.

“I wondered what it would be like to be down there. I wondered how exciting it was for the team and how much they looked forward to it,” she said in the news release.

Callaway is an Oklahoma resident. She attended Ada High School where she was a cheerleader, but she was born in England where her father was stationed in the U.S. Air Force. Her mother is Chickasaw and works for the Chickasaw Nation. For years, her grandfather, Jack Wells, served as a Chickasaw tribal legislator and her great-grandmother, Delta Wells, was an original enrollee with the tribe.

“We’d go to festivals and I was a member of the Governor’s Honor Club,” Callaway said. “I learned my heritage is important and tradition is important. It is essential to know one’s self. I am very proud of my Chickasaw heritage.

But, Callaway won’t quit her day job. She’s a drilling engineer technician with Chesapeake Energy where she analyzes drilling for natural resources. She started working there as a receptionist and moved up rather quickly. Callaway is also a graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond where she studied public relations.

Not only is she excited about cheering on the fans, but as a Thunder girl, Callaway will also have a chance to work with her community. “Being a part of the organization will give me that opportunity to give back, which is something I’m looking forward to very much.”

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.

Schimmel Sisters to Attend ESPN’s ESPYs Award Show July 17th

Brent Cahwee, NDNSports.com

LOS ANGELES – Shoni Schimmel and younger sister Jude will be in attendance for the 2013 ESPN’s ESPYs Award show slated later this month on July 17th in Los Angeles, California.

Jude and Shoni Schimmel during the Sweet 16 round of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament. – photo by Rhonda LeValdo

The annual award show highlights many of the past year’s defining sports moments in which fan voting determines the award winners in each category. The University of Louisville Cardinal’s women’s basketball team is up for the “Best Upset” of the year award for the game in which they defeated, then number one and defending national champions Baylor Bears, in the Sweet 16 round of the women’s NCAA tournament. The game was highlighted by an acrobatic layup by Shoni in which she took on player of the year Brittney Griner in what became an ESPN top 10 highlight for the tournament.

Competing for the same award category will be Florida Gulf Coast University’s upset win over the Georgetown Hoya’s in the men’s NCAA tournament, Texas A&M over Alabama from college football, and the Pacquiao vs Marquez “Champion of the decade” fight in which Marquez was the victor.

Although the Lady Cardinal team was selected for this award, not all of the Cardinal squad will be an attendance. Current head coach Jeff Walz will attend along with Shoni & Jude, Sara Hammond, Bria Smith and Antonita Slaughter.

“It’s exciting to know that Shoni and Jude were able to play in a game of this status. I think it will be an upset that people reflect on for many years not only in Women’s basketball, but also in the sports world in general,”

said Rick Schimmel, the father of the Schimmel sisters.

“Louisville beating Baylor was as big an upset as anyone could ever imagine. It was a thrilling game to watch and it’s exciting to know that they are being nominated for an ESPY for their victory over the Player of the Year and the defending National Champion.”

This year’s host for the ESPY’s will be Jon Hamm who will be accompanied by the usual all-star lineup of top athletes and entertainers.

Voting for the ESPY’s will continue all the way up until the start of the award show and end at 9:00 pm eastern time. Anyone wishing to place a vote for the Schimmels and the Louisville Cardinals for the “Best Upset” of the year award can do so by visiting the ESPY’s voting website at espn.com/espys »