Notre Dame and "Fighting Irish"...

This crossed my mind earlier today and I was curious about it:

We're all aware of recent efforts by some citizens to do away with the usage of certain ethnicities or cultures in sports logos or mascots.

We've all heard the brouhaha over the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Redskins.

Currently, here in San Diego, there's a big debate raging over the San Diego State Aztecs and their football mascot "Monty Montezuma" and so forth.

Hell, even my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, whose college UTC (the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) has gone by the name the Moccasins (or simply Mocs) for their football, basketball, etc. teams, recently changed their longtime name/logo/mascot to the supremely ridiculous UTC Mockingbirds and now their logo is - I'm not kidding - <a href="http://www.gomocs.com/" target="_blank">a bird wearing a train engineer's outfit</a>, because as you all know, the legend and lore of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo looms heavy in the cu...



But I digress...

Anyway, I was simply curious if there is a movement among certain individuals or groups to change Notre Dame's name? Either a bunch of politically correct types at the university itself, or alumni or self-appointed community do-gooders, etc.

Not living in the general region and knowing no one who actually attends Notre Dame, I'm left out of the loop.

Does "Fighting Irish" not meet some sort of criteria for being offensive or in out-of-date bad taste?

I don't know...I'm asking.

Is the flyswatter of political correctness and multiculturalism and sensitivity and all that simply not reach to those institutions whose logo/mascot is of fair skin?

I mean, would the "Fighting Spaniards" or "Raging Asians" be allowed to exist for three seconds in these P.C. times in which we live?

I'm genuinely curious and am NOT asking to stir shit up or be a dick.

I just wonder sometimes what makes somethings the worst thing in the world when applied to some individuals or groups, yet it goes completely unquestioned in other areas.

Thoughts? Opinions? Comments?

I'm interested...

[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>

[quote]Originally posted by jeffyboy:
<strong>I don't know the story behind that, but I think the funniest nickname in the history of the world is Utah Jazz.

They kept the name when they moved from New Orleans.

Jeff</strong><hr></blockquote>

That's like when the Houston Oilers moved to Nashville a few years ago and before they changed their name to the Titans, they were the Tennessee Oilers.

I was living in Nashville at the time and EVERYBODY was like "huh?".

The only oil in Tennessee is in the can of Quaker State on the shelf at Auto Zone.

Thank God they didn't do the obvious and go with something like the Tennessee Two-Steppers or the Nashville Pickers.



I had nightmares about that.



Regarding the Irish thing and how it's not seen as a negative and all: yeah, I guess so. But, wouldn't that apply to Braves or Aztecs? I don't see the problem in MOST political correctness-oriented battles (some of them REALLY reach).

"Not viewed as a negative thing..." is probably not a sound reason for why the P.C. Patrol hasn't gone after a particular issue. We see them do it all the time.

I simply assumed the world had gotten to the point that ANY mention of ethnicity or culture on a sports team or whatever was seen as taboo.

Guess not.

Well, in that case, excuse me while I go purchase my season tickets for the San Jose Coons. I hear they have a pretty amazing lineup this coming year.

I'm KIDDING!!! Relax, people. Show some of that Irish sense of humor groverat spoke of.

Thou whilst in due time, brother Scott.

<a href="http://www.sdsu.edu/identity/monty-picture.jpg" target="_blank">The Aztec's mascot</a> is this buff guy in this bitchin' Aztec warrior get-up, with feathers and armor and so forth.

He looks nothing but strong, brave, postive and kick-ass to me, the few times I've seen him on TV.

It's not like he stumbles out on field drinking and then spending his paycheck on lottery tickets or something.



Yes, I guess, like you, as a white guy, I simply don't (and probably never WILL) "get it".

Isn't that just special?

Half the people bitching about SDSU's Aztec thing probably couldn't tell you the first thing about the Aztec culture, or where Mexico is on a map. But they can sure get whipped into a frenzy if they listen to some charismatic speaker prattle on about "raping our culture..." and so forth.



[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>

That's why the Arizona Diamondbacks rocks. Arizona has TONS of rattlesnakes.

But cardinals? Yeah, right...

The Phoenix Sweat?