Mascot news

[tornado]

nine years after dumping Chief Illiniwek, Illinois is seeking to develop a new mascot...

any suggestions???
This could get interesting as a very large contingent of Illini fans & alumni still want the Chief back - including some who forced his return and even provoked a confrontation when he appeared "unsanctioned" a couple times at athletic contests.

Remember - The Gargoyle is already taken!

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/15449457/illinois-fighting-illini-look-new-mascot-9-years-chief-end

[bradleyfan124]

Michael Cross, Geno Ford or JG

[bradleyfan124]

Better suggestion: tell the Illinois fans to bring back the Chief but find a student that is full blooded Indian to fill the role.. Then dare the NCAA to tell him he cant dress like that

[tornado]

guess what -- this is not a completely new idea....but Illinois discusses that they have considered a squirrel as their mascot...
"Sassy the Squirrel"

http://www.scout.com/college/illinois/story/1673772-josh-whitman-big-challenges-in-front-of-us

"The committee didn't endorse any particular mascot options, but discussed the advantages of imagery such as Sassy the Squirrel
Sassy, a takeoff of the infamous Quad squirrels, is used on by the Office of Admissions to attract potential students...."

Sassy even has her own social media presence...

https://twitter.com/sassyillini

Personally, I think this is goofy- just like it was when the same silliness was promoted at Bradley.
Having a squirrel will simply make the Illini into the butt of jokes and mockery..
..and even a huge hunk of the Illinois students and fan base hate the idea.
Not quite sure what's with narrow-minded people who somehow think squirrels are unique to their campuses...
I have a sneaky suspicion squirrels are quite prevalent on thousands of college campuses....and even overrun many..
But there's a sensible reason 99.9% of those colleges don't want their team's nickname or mascot to be a squirrel.

[Da Coach]

Here is a bizarre story about a professor at University of Illinois who was harassing a couple guys who are supporters of the old U of I mascot Chief Illiniwek by stalking them and filming them in a bathroom at last night's Illinois-Michigan State game-

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10418

[tornado]

Ha - LOL, of course the idi*t taking video of people urinating in the bathroom is a "professor" of Journalism - LINK - trying to be the next Bernstein or Woodward!!

What I find odd is that his own video documentary is titled
"American Indian Mascots in Sports"
but PBS says that term is OFFENSIVE and they have removed it from all their broadcasts! - LINK

[tornado]

Big protest at the Illini game Thursday night...

"Nearly 100 demonstrators stood outside the main entrance to the State Farm
Center chanting, “Down with the Chief,” and holding signs demanding a new
university mascot...
The demonstrators aimed to provide a dissenting voice to the fans who want to
bring back the Chief, as well as to urge the university to select a mascot
and ban fans from dressing up as the Chief at sporting events."

http://herald-review.com/sports/illini/protesters-stand-against-paint-the-hall-chief-night-at-illini/article_b285ad0e-e7db-5467-a4dd-1df7d689bf75.html

[pfcmsh]

Better suggestion: tell the Illinois fans to bring back the Chief but find a student that is full blooded Indian to fill the role.. Then dare the NCAA to tell him he cant dress like that

This is one awesome, idea, bradleyfan124!

[tornado]

Here's another nickname/mascot story.....you can decide for yourself if you think this is silly...

George Washington University is currently the "Colonials" (in use for 92 years) and their mascot is a guy who looks like a Colonist from the late 18th century (unchanged for 70 years)...
The Mascot's name is George Washington!

but there are people who claim this is all very HOSTILE & RACIST..supposedly because some people who colonize other lands are mean to the original inhabitants there.

So they want both the the mascot and the team nickname changed - they prefer HIPPOS!!! I kid you not...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/05/03/extremely-offensive-gw-students-launch-petition-to-change-colonials-nickname-they-prefer-hippos/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fb2961d5d1db

"HIPPOS" originates from a bronze sculpture that is on campus commemorating a completely fictional yarn about a hippo living in the Potomac River!
I wonder if they polled the women athletes at GWU - how many want to be called the "Lady Hippos"?

btw- the campus newspaper is named "THE HATCHET" - as in what George Washington used to chop down the cherry tree....so thankfully it is not named the tomahawk!

[Da Coach]

Another mascot bites the dust...
The Long Beach State athletic teams used to be called the "49ers"-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Beach_State_49ers

...commemorating the 1849 gold rush that brought many people to California prior to it becoming a state in 1850. It also commemorates the founding of the school that became Long Beach State in 1949.

However, in recent years, Long Beach State has downplayed and phased out the "49ers" nickname, and began using "The Beach" as their nickname (LBSU is the only university with the word "beach" in its name).
But until now, they had retained a mascot named "Prospector Pete", a fictional grizzled gold rush figure, and there was a large statue of Prospector Pete right in the middle of the campus.

But political correctness hits again. The statue of Prospector Pete was removed from its prominent position on campus-

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-college-moves-prospector-pete-statue-plaza-57996104

...and they will retire the Prospector Pete mascot altogether from use by the athletic teams because some people find it racist and associated with genocide-

https://ktla.com/2018/09/21/cal-state-long-beach-retires-prospector-pete-mascot-amid-cries-of-racism-genocide-during-california-gold-rush/

[tornado]

then what about the San Francisco 49ers? Are they next - will they become the San Francisco Tree Huggers?
Then of course the Philadelphia 76ers would be the next to have to go - because who would want to name a team after a nation that was so racist?

[Da Coach]

Stanford was ahead of this curve. They dropped their Indian mascot in 1972.
They went from this mascot----------------------------------------------to this monstrosity



Yes I know that bizarre tree is not really the official mascot; Stanford does not actually have an official mascot, but many people consider that band member who dresses up like that to be their unofficial mascot.

[tornado]

Two different Valley teams have done a remake of their mascots and logos

SIU - redesigned their mascot & logo right at the end of the basketball season- https://siusalukis.com/news/2019/2/2...-new-logo.aspx

Evansville just redesigned theirs and released the final versions today - https://twitter.com/UEvansville/stat...04667755532289

here's the old ones on the left vs. new ones on the right

[Da Coach]

Looks like we are now heading into the next phase of Mascot Wars.
The NCAA harassed schools for decades and threatened severe punishment if they didn't obey their demands regarding mascots. They seem now to have backed off a bit and allowed schools like Bradley and Illinois to keep their names, as long as they got rid of all official references and imagery related to Native American culture and heritage.
But now, state legislators are starting to jump onto the politically correct bandwagon. Lawmakers in Maine passed a law banning Native American mascots in all public schools K-12, and public universities and colleges. I expect this hysteria to spread to other states.

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=12240

[egib52]

Looks like we are now heading into the next phase of Mascot Wars.
The NCAA harassed schools for decades and threatened severe punishment if they didn't obey their demands regarding mascots. They seem now to have backed off a bit and allowed schools like Bradley and Illinois to keep their names, as long as they got rid of all official references and imagery related to Native American culture and heritage.
But now, state legislators are starting to jump onto the politically correct bandwagon. Lawmakers in Maine passed a law banning Native American mascots in all public schools K-12, and public universities and colleges. I expect this hysteria to spread to other states.
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=12240

With how liberal Illinois is, it's only a matter of time.