Are Mascots Taken out of Context?

There have been many issues with school mascots across the United States, from high school to college to the professional lever. The example in class of the Illinois Fighting Illini is definitely not the easiest one to debate. If I had to pick one side to defend, it would be difficult to do. My feelings on the issue fall somewhat in between. I feel that the school named themselves after the Illini, who from the movie, seem to be portrayed as a very brave and honorable people who were killed off by another tribe of the area. To me, naming a school mascot after them is a tribute to their courage and bravery. However, I do not totally agree with "the Chief" doing everything he did, I understand that people, students, fans, and alumni may see him as a huge part of the school and its history. But, when what the mascot is doing at games gets to be too much and too far from what the Illini would actually do or have done, I can understand where Charlene was getting offended. The dances being simply for show and entertainment sounds like a great idea, but could very easily be demeaning to people. In this case they were. It is a very slippery slope when a school is named after a group of people because they do have to account for how those people would want to be portrayed and represented; is it respectful to them? is it an accurate portrayal? are just some questions that must be addressed. As, we discussed today, the media never talks about the Seminole being offended by the fans or students of Florida State. This could be because the school has a very healthy relationship with the Seminole and they account for what they think and how they feel when they do things at school or games.
Being an athlete for so many years of my life I have never felt like any team named the Apache's, Warriors, Braves, Indians, or any other names have ever intentionally tried to offend or disrespect they mascot or people affiliated with their mascot. As they are the representation, most athletes have always taken pride in representing what school they are and their mascot. I feel like some of the people in the world who are upset by actions of students and teams may take some of the actions out of context and make them much larger issues then they are meant to be. If they do have issues with them, demanding a school change as mascot and its history seems to be a little extreme to me. A better solution might be to meet with the school and explain the feelings you have and what you would like to see done differently. If this is done and the school and students were to continue to show disrespect, I can easily understand more extreme actions.
Of course I have no exact knowledge of what the Illini did or were like, but from what I was able to get from the movie in class, the above would be a simple summary of my feelings on certain mascots, and how they are portrayed and received by other people.

CRAIG WILDER
004739733
KIN 332I
10/28/2008

media in athletes with disability

I never paid much attention to Title IX mostly because I never knew about in until I stated college. I never paid much attention on discrimination that happens within sports. I knew about gender discrimination and how females receive less attention in sports in general than men do, but not within athletes with disabilities. I was reading ch12 in the text on the "Breaking Barriers" page 426 i found it interesting how media portraits disability sport by certain categories. They don't acknowledge such sports. On Page 426 it says " ...re-presentations often fall into one of the following categories:
Patronizing: "aren't they marvelous!!
Tragedy: "do you think she can really do that?"
Inspiration: "she's a true hero and a model for all of us"
Mystification: "I cant believe he just did that"
Pitty: "give her a hand for trying so hard"
Surprise: "stay tuned to see physical feats you've never imagined"

To me that would be somewhat demeaning. I think that any sport whether with disability or not its the same. saying such things can be stereotypical.

Gender, Media, & Politics

Today, Thursday, October 2nd, in class we discussed gender and sexism in sport. When discussing gender, it led us into the topic of media and gender. As a class we spoke of how media announcers used female’s first names and male’s last names when broadcasting. We discussed that it is disrespectful addressing athletes by their first names, rather than their last. Therefore, as a class we found that when addressing a person, doing so by their last name is an expected and respectful way.
For those of you who watched the presidential debate on the 26th of September, Senator McCain respectfully addressed his fellow Senator as “Senator Obama.” On the other hand Senator Obama continuously addressed Senator McCain as “John.” Was this a way of Senator Obama disrespecting and belittling Senator McCain? Yes or no? And why?

Below I have posted the address for the full debate from YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-nNIEduEOw

Keely Molles
Tue/ Thurs 12:15-1:45
Kin 332I.S3200