McMurry University in Abilene has discovered a creative way to garner support in the fight over college mascots. When the NCAA said it had to jettison the "Indian" as its symbol, McMurry announced it would have no nickname. The mascot will disappear, too.
The NCAA is on a mission to eliminate all American Indian nicknames unless teams acquire permission to use them. Typically, universities have picked similar-sounding nicknames when shamed into dropping the politically incorrect monikers. For example, St. John's adopted the Red Storm after losing Redmen. Sometimes, universities stray completely from the reservation. Stanford University dropped "Indians" more than 30 years ago and settled on the Tree, I mean Cardinal, in 1981.
The NCAA's prohibition of the American Indian as a team symbol is all about the puzzling obsession with not wanting to offend. The NCAA needs to get over it. In life -- and especially sports -- people do things all the time that are not fair. Maybe they even make fun of someone.
McMurry deserves praise for standing up to the big, bad NCAA. A small Methodist university in Abilene, Texas, was never going to beat such an imposing presence. But by refusing to back down, McMurry has won the respect of fans who didn't even know it existed. The schools with more clout thinking of bowing to the heavy-handed NCAA can learn something here.
But don't expect them to pay too much attention. They don't want to be offensive.
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