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Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007 - 8:33 p.m. The Chief is no more.
I took this photo of Chief Illiniwek, the symbol of the University of Illinois, back in November 2004. Former symbol, I should say. Why? Because the forces of ignorant political correctness finally got their way and had him retired. If you are one of the many people who thought that the Chief was a reverential portrayal of the Native Americans who once lived in the state that carries their name (that would be Illinois, for those who have no idea what I am writing about here), you are a bigot and a racist. That�s what the leaders of the opposition to Chief Illiniwek said, in many different ways, throughout the long fight they waged to get their way. So last night was the last performance of the chief. The university had a financial reason to give in- they can�t host home post season games in any sport as long as they kept the Chief. And since there are no surviving Illini Indians left (and there haven�t been in over a century), the school couldn�t throw some money at the tribe to get their approval to keep the symbol. Florida State was allowed to keep their horseback riding, throw a lit spear into the turf a midfield of their football game �mascot� after they offered enough cash to the remaining Seminole tribe to get their approval. They appealed the ban to the NCAA, who then decided that if the Seminoles didn�t mind, then by gosh it isn�t a racist, bigoted display! There was an online poll today, asking whether the university should pick another symbol, or just have none. As of this morning, it was running 90% favoring nothing. I�m with that group. The NCAA told the university that they could keep the name �Fighting Illini�, because that term was coined before the advent of the Chief. It was a nickname given to the many soldiers who fought in World War I, and didn�t pertain in any way to the Illini Indians. Just leave that on the uniforms, keep the orange and blue colors, and for fuck�s sake don�t adopt some stooped mascot like, say, Stanford University, who after dropping their �Indian� moniker back in the 1970�s, adopted the name Cardinal (no s), and now have a freakin� pine tree roaming their sidelines! But guess what? Bet you saw this coming�. I saw an interview with a woman who is the present leader to the anti-Chief crowd (�Center for the Justice and Human Rights Of a Few�, or something like that), and she told the reporter the retiring the Chief just wasn�t good enough. Her group wouldn�t be satisfied until the school removed �Fighting Illini� and Illini� from all of their sports teams and any other representation of the university. This proves two facts: 1.- no matter what you do, activists will never be happy. They will always find something that they can complain about, and maybe hit up their backers for some cash so they can fight against whatever slight they feel. And 2.- This spokesperson�s group won�t be done bitchin� and moanin� until the Governor renames the STATE OF ILLINOIS! No use of the name �Illini�? I guess the state will have to be called �OIS� from now on�. I thought I would leave you with this video, produced by the Illini Network. It shows the history of the Chief, followed by the last performance from last night�s men�s basketball game. It�s about 6 minutes long- if you have that to spare, watch and let me know what you think:
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