Home
Forums
New Posts
Illini Basketball
Illini Football
Sports Talk
Log in
Register
What's new
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Sports
Sports Talk
The mascot debate/fandom thread
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="mattcoldagelli" data-source="post: 1954377" data-attributes="member: 11524"><p>"Fighting Illini" is an ambiguous name. I know there's debate and confusion around the exact origin, but based on what I've read it seems to have been a kind of faddy way to be self-referential, way before there was any Native American imagery, or any imagery at all (or even any sports at all, it was the 1870s). The NCAA essentially admitted as much when the Chief was retired.</p><p></p><p>Given that ambiguity, it's a safe bet that there will be future asks about what the name means. As things stand, someone could pretty easily make the (again, as I understand, inaccurate) charge of "yeah they dropped the Chief but they're still coasting along with a Native American name." And given that there's still plenty of people wearing Chief merchandise, showing up to games wearing headdresses and feathers, etc. and nothing else really taking up any other space, it'd be a pretty easy case to make.</p><p></p><p>But if you want to move the ball down the field toward "Fighting Illini" being more widely viewed and treated as something akin to "Hoosier" where it just means "someone from/a supporter of Illinois", it'd behoove you to start finding ways to do that. Animals that are native to the state (the kingfisher and the otter qualify) would be helpful in that effort. If the goal is to someday be able to effectively defend the name, I think my way is more effective than the alternative.</p><p></p><p>I know there's a subset of people that think somewhere, deep in the bowels of Jersey Mike's Arena, Nancy Cantor is waiting and plotting for a way she can make us change our name, but I've gotta tell you, most people would give their arm to have this be a non-issue and never have to think about it again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="mattcoldagelli, post: 1954377, member: 11524"] "Fighting Illini" is an ambiguous name. I know there's debate and confusion around the exact origin, but based on what I've read it seems to have been a kind of faddy way to be self-referential, way before there was any Native American imagery, or any imagery at all (or even any sports at all, it was the 1870s). The NCAA essentially admitted as much when the Chief was retired. Given that ambiguity, it's a safe bet that there will be future asks about what the name means. As things stand, someone could pretty easily make the (again, as I understand, inaccurate) charge of "yeah they dropped the Chief but they're still coasting along with a Native American name." And given that there's still plenty of people wearing Chief merchandise, showing up to games wearing headdresses and feathers, etc. and nothing else really taking up any other space, it'd be a pretty easy case to make. But if you want to move the ball down the field toward "Fighting Illini" being more widely viewed and treated as something akin to "Hoosier" where it just means "someone from/a supporter of Illinois", it'd behoove you to start finding ways to do that. Animals that are native to the state (the kingfisher and the otter qualify) would be helpful in that effort. If the goal is to someday be able to effectively defend the name, I think my way is more effective than the alternative. I know there's a subset of people that think somewhere, deep in the bowels of Jersey Mike's Arena, Nancy Cantor is waiting and plotting for a way she can make us change our name, but I've gotta tell you, most people would give their arm to have this be a non-issue and never have to think about it again. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Sports
Sports Talk
The mascot debate/fandom thread
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…