Told You So!!!

I mention very often the “J-79 Perspective” and the “J-79 Bullshit Filter”. As the foremost writer of politico-sport commentary (I made that word up), prophecy is my blessing and my curse. It’s the yin and yang of J-79. It’s why I enjoy this, and it’s why I hate it. Sometimes being right all the time can be hard on you (except for my yearly predictions that UT will be national champion). We’re sizing rings for ’06.

Last year I shed a glaring bright light of J-79 perspective on the NCAA Mascot Ban and told you very specifically what this would eventually lead to if left to run the natural evolutional course of political correctness. If you haven’t read that article, scroll down to the bottom of this page and read it before you continue. Even if you have read it, read it again to refresh…

What I predicted would happen is happening right now on a much larger scale.

According to an AP report, the NCAA is looking very hard at the State of South Carolina, and is considering expanding its ban of championship events in South Carolina because the Confederate flag is displayed on Statehouse grounds.

Robert Vowels Jr., the head of the NCAA’s Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee, said his group received a request from the Black Coaches Association (more on them in a minute) about expanding the ban to prevent postseason events from being awarded to South Carolina sites.

Don’t say you weren’t warned. I told you this was coming.

Did I not tell you very clearly that this Mascot Ban would eventually expand beyond just Native American mascots into anything deemed insensitive or politically incorrect? I know how these people think. When you get beyond the specific language of the Mascot Ban and examine the broader ideas and philosophies of people who pass rules like this, it’s not too hard to see what’s coming next. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. Nothing is safe anymore. Mascots, flags, fight songs, helmet decals…its open season boys. You heard it here first a year ago.

Heed the prophecies of J-79.

And yes, I am tooting my own horn. After all, I am the one who blew the horn on this Mascot bullshit in the first place. Wooooooo Woooooo!!! That’s the sound of the Chattanooga Choo Choo train of common sense and clear thought coming right at’cha!!! Get out the way lest you be knocked upside the head with the locomotive of truth! Chugga Chugga, Mo-fugga! Woooooo Woooooo!!! Don’t ignore the J-79 horn of truth.

Time for some deeper J-79 perspective on this issue, you’ll only get it here…I’ve done my research on this, and it’s not pretty. The J-79 antenna is up, and we’re catching some bad vibes here.

This goes beyond college football. The Black Coaches Association is an arm of the NAACP that extends beyond just coaches and beyond college sports, as demonstrated by this investigation into the State of South Carolina. The BCA is simply a political tool in the NAACP tool box. The Mascot Ban gave the NAACP a quasi-legal opening to use college sports and the BCA as a means to a political end, and they’re swinging that hammer. In a letter to the BCA’s spokesman, Floyd Keith, the NAACP said this, “We fully support having the NCAA ban all championship sporting events from being held in South Carolina, including baseball, golf, tennis and other sports while the NAACP tourism sanctions are in place.”

Allow me to translate that for you. “Floyd, be a good boy and go do what we want you to do, and use the Mascot Ban to do it.”

And what does Floyd Keith do? He gets his marching orders from the NAACP and uses the broader ideas of the Mascot Ban to assist the NAACP to force changes outside the bounds of college sports. They’ve turned college sports into a political battleground. They want the Confederate flag taken down, and they’ll hold college sports hostage if that’s what it takes…DISPICABLE!!!

I would be remiss to ignore the fact that the NAACP has been meddling in college sports long before the Mascot Ban, but policies like this and groups like the BCA make it even more likely that college sports will be hijacked by special interest political groups…

How long till they figure out that the Crimson St. Andrew’s Cross on the state flag of Alabama was patterned after the Confederate Flag? Watch out, fellas…

I told you so!!! Woooooo Woooooo!!!

On to football…

While the rest of the SEC will still have the training wheels on this weekend, kudos to the Vols and Dores for actually playing somebody who doesn’t squat when they pee.

Cal’s a good team, but Marshawn Lynch is a PAC TEN puss who hasn’t seen Neyland Stadium, and he hasn’t seen a Johnny Chavis Defense. The Vols send a message on Saturday…WE’RE BACK!!! UT-27 Cal 13.

As for UGA, Joe T. sat the bench for four years for a reason. Take your lumps for a year and let the wonder boy, Stafford, take the snaps. Don’t waste a season and have to start over in ’07. Richt shouldn’t make Joe T. the charity starter for the season opener if he knows in his gut that Stafford is the man for the future. I’m not saying its “rebuilding time” at all, but let the kid play!

I saw a Vandy preview show yesterday, and they were talking about the “post-Cutler” era as though Vandy was some kind of national powerhouse while Cutler was there. As great as Cutler was (The Titans shoulda took him), Vandy still sucked during his four years, and they’re really gonna suck this year.

Basketball season starts in a few months in Lexington.

Urban needs to get URBAN! The honky-ass offense he ran at Utah was very Sub-Urban, and it didn’t quite cut it in last year in the SEC. We’re fast, really fast, and that slow-developing spread option offense needs some fine tuning. It’s kinda like a Wing-T except the tight ends are replaced by wide receivers. To me it’s just a simple modification of a high school offense. If they don’t show any improvement, I’m going to start a petition for them to play on Friday nights.

Don’t really know much about the SEC West except that Auburn has a really good team and they once again managed to squeeze a 1-AA team into the schedule. Personally I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but given the outcome of the BCS in 2004, you’d think they learned their lesson. I hate the BCS, but if you want to play for it all, you can’t schedule 1-AA teams. It shouldn’t be that way, but under the BCS system, when you’re Auburn and you have the bad taste of 2004 in your mouth, where scheduling Western Kentucky alone kept them out of the BCS Championship, you’d think they learned their lesson…apparently not. Auburn will get no sympathy from me this season if they’re on the outside looking in. I don’t care how good they are. For some people, “We shoulda played for the title” is a lot better than, “We played for the title and got beat.” Not to take away anything from the undefeated team of 04, but geez, learn your lesson boys.

To end, Mr. and Mrs. J-79 are expecting a boy in January; we saw the twig and berries last week. If the newsletters are less frequent I apologize, but the message board is always open. Knock yourselves out. We’ve got a bunch of passionate college football fans on this forum, so it should be fun. College football, politics, or a combination of both, it’s all good here. Right, Left, UT, UGA, Bama, etc….all are welcome at J-79!!!

Fire up the message board.

Screw the mascots, the flags, and everybody else…When it comes to the South, we know football, by damn.

Saving the Cocktail Party

This edition of J-79 will do what no one has ever attempted in the history of the universe. We will unite Ugans and Gators to fight side by side, hand in hand, together against the forces of political correctness that seek to remove a piece of tradition from this great gridiron rivalry.

Since the 1950’s the annual meeting between UGA and Florida has been referred to as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” In case you haven’t heard, fifty years of history is under attack. There is a movement to have the phrase “Cocktail Party” publicly banned when referring to the UGA-UF game.

Mike Slive, commissioner of the SEC, has contacted CBS Sports, ESPN, and JP Sports requesting that they not use the term, “Cocktail Party”, when referring to the UGA-Florida game. And he has the backing of some UGA and Florida officials. This is in response to some unfortunate “alcohol related” events that led to the deaths of a couple of fans. Last year a man was beaten to death in downtown Jacksonville after the UGA-UF game, and two years ago a drunken UF student died when he fell off the top of a parking garage, and of course this is all a direct result of the game being called, "The Cocktail Party".

Chuck Toney, the spokesman for Georgia said, “We don't like the phrase. We don't use the phrase. We would prefer that nobody use the phrase.” Greg McGarity, UF's senior associate athletic director, said both schools are “concerned about alcohol abuse and the slogan is in conflict with the message the universities are trying to send to their students.”

But they do have a point. The dangers of the phrase “Cocktail Party” go way beyond football. Last week our preacher was scheduled to give a sermon entitled, “The Cocktail Party.” Bad idea. I think you can guess how that turned out. The entire congregation showed up in the parking lot three hours early, and we got drunker than a bunch of big indians. The youth minister brought a tray of jello shooters, the ushers were doing keg stands, and the choir sang "We Will Rock You" during the "Clergy Walk". Then we all ran across the street in a drunken rage and beat the total crap out of the Baptists. It was ugly. If only Mike Slive had been there none of this would have happened. Be very careful when using the phrase “Cocktail Party”. Its dangerous.

I’m glad that UT fans just refer to the game as the UT-Bama game, or the UT-UGA game, etc. That way we “send the right message”, and because we don't use alcohol-related terms to describe our rivalries, I am proud to say that there has never been a single alcoholic beverage consumed in the vicinity of Neyland Stadium.

Come to think of it, if Mike Slive's logic is correct, it’s only a matter of time until spectators at the Iron Bowl start beating each other senseless with railroad irons, steel I-beams, and old rusted out car parts. But hey, at least they won’t be drinking…

I don’t think I can make my point any better than that, but nevertheless, I’ll dust off the J-79 Bullshit Filter…

You can’t cure cancer simply by banning the word “cancer”. If it was that easy we'd all have medical degrees in oncology from the Mike Slive School of Medicine, and everybody would live to be 100...not to compare the UGA-UF game to cancer, but hopefully you get the point. You could call the game, “The World’s Largest Outdoor Seventh Day Adventist Convention”, ask every fan to bring a canned good to fight hunger in Ethiopia, and donate all ticket sales to the global AIDS fund, but as long as 40,000 Ugans and 40,000 Gators are in the same city to watch football, there’s gonna be some drinking, there’s gonna be some fighting, and somebody might die. Banning the phrase, “Cocktail Party”, changes nothing.

On behalf of all Ugans and Gators…SCREW YOU MIKE SLIVE!

Lastly, this little nugget. On the same subject, there is no limit to the extent our lawmakers will go in order to do nothing. They will do anything to avoid doing something constructive, as long as the perception is that they care (kinda like Slive). Nobody has ever worked harder at doing nothing than our politicians in D.C. Here’s the latest proof…by a vote of 63-34, the Senate approved a measure that declares English as the “official language of the United States.” Well, whoopediedoo! Way to go Senate! Take a stand! Geezus, I’m about to lose my mind!

This isn’t immigration reform; this is tourism brochure material…Hi there, and thank you for coming to Tennessee. The official tree of the State of Tennessee is the Tulip Poplar, the official bird is the Mockingbird, the official animal is the Tennessee Walking Horse, the official reptile is the Eastern Box Turtle, and the official language is English. We hope you enjoy your stay…

Well gosh dang, I guess I better think twice about planting a dogwood tree. The state of Tennessee strictly enforces rules against people who violate the official symbols of the state. We’re protecting our heritage, and we’ll put you in jail if you hang a hummingbird feeder in the land of the Mockingbird. Must I be any more sarcastic to communicate to you the complete idiocy of this “English is our official language” bullcrap?

What in the flip does this accomplish! Not a goddern thing! This is nothing but a spur-of-the-moment political move to throw a bone to the vast majority of people who want something done, and for our lawmakers to think that we actually buy this bullshizzle as a real solution is an insult to our intelligence. This is Republicans doing this crap! They must think we’re absolute idiots!

As if the Republicans hadn’t done enough to make themselves look like clueless idiots, the Democrat’s response to this is even more devoid of logic. Republicans are doing nothing about illegal immigration, yet still they’ve managed to piss off Democrats. Democrats are pissed because they think that this toothless, window-dressing, grandstanding, no-consequence legislation of English as the official language is racist. Harry Reid said so. Tomorrow I think he’s scheduled to speak in Nashville on behalf of all dogwood trees who feel uncomfortable in the state of the Tulip Poplar, and the day after that he’s speaking in Knoxville on behalf of all migrant Alabamans who are unhappy with the fact that Rocky Top is the official song of Tennessee. That’s not a very welcoming sign to send to our neighbors from Alabama, and we’ll throw your ass in jail if you sing Sweet Home Alabama here. That’s just racist, and to use the logic of Mike Slive, “it just doesn’t send the right message.”

I think Democrats and Republicans are having a Dumb and Dumber contest.

Craig, Mexicans, and Another Kennedy Car Crash

Oh boy, it’s a grab-bag of fun in this edition of J-79.

In response to my last post, Craig had this to say,

“I suggest that J-79 begin using some restraint within their blogspot. As many of you already know and I’m sure that many more are becoming aware, freedom of speech is no longer recognized by the current administration as an inalienable right.”

I love it! I’ve pissed off a liberal! I have arrived!

Anyways, kind of ironic that a supposed free speech advocate is telling me to use restraint with my words. I’ve asked him to elaborate on that statement, but I’ve gotten no response. So I’m going to go ahead and address this issue.

First of all, Craig, don’t associate my opinions with that of the Bush administration. I don’t speak for Bush. I voted for him, but I don’t have a blind myrmidonical allegiance to everything he says or does. I’ll defend him when I think he’s right, and I’ll criticize him when I think he’s wrong. That’s what we call “intellectual honesty”, i.e., the integrity of an individual mind to disagree with the collective ideology of the larger group with which he might be generically associated. You should try it. I’m in the business of ideas, not politics or political parties, and in my world the right to free speech is NOT contingent on the politics of the speaker. You are welcome at J-79 24-7. You can come here and say whatever you want. And please do.

And lastly, I’ll bet you my left testicle you couldn’t find a left wing website that would offer me the same invitation for debate that I’ve offered you here. You came by my website and told me to shut up, and I invited you back. Remember that when you think about free speech.

On to the Mexicans…

Before we get going, I thought it was funny the other day when I read a headline that said, “Bush’s Spanish Not That Good.” Evidently there’s not a Spanish word for “strategery” or “misunderestimated”. Does anyone remember when JFK went to Germany and said, “Ich bin ein Berliner”, which translated means, “I am a jelly doughnut”? At least Bush didn’t tell all of Mexico that he is a Cheesy Bean Burrito.

The funniest thing is when you come across a Mexican who can’t speak a lick of English, and you think that if you start speaking English with a Mexican accent he’s gonna understand you. We’ve all done it, but it’s still funny. It’s like some China man coming to Tennessee and speaking Chinese with a southern drawl… kwan’yall cyungpan’yall wangchu’yall; and you’re thinking, “what the hell’s he saying, just give him an egg roll, some wonton soup, and a burrito.”

Anyways, it needs to be said that enforcing immigration laws is neither anti-immigrant nor racist. But that didn’t stop Jesse. There he was front and center, leading the march down Main Street like he was some kind of Mexican MLK. Just another example that Jesse doesn’t march for blacks, he marches for the Democratic Party.

But here’s the point I want to make. A lot of the talk show pundits out there are saying that the answer to illegal immigration is for the government to impose stiff penalties on businesses that hire illegal immigrants, arguing that if illegals are denied employment, they would just go back to Mexico. That’s total bullshizzle. That logic is as wrong as wrong can be, because it is based in the false belief that the government will actually enforce those penalties against employers. The people who think that government sanctions against businesses that hire illegals will deter illegal immigration are dead ass wrong.

First of all, if the government won’t enforce the immigration laws that exist, what makes you think they’ll enforce illegal worker laws against the businesses that hire them! THEY WON’T! It’s that simple. The government, as it currently stands, is going to do absolutely NOTHING about illegal immigration. There’s some 20 million of them here now. For a politician, that’s a ton of people to piss off either directly (by strictly enforcing immigration laws) or indirectly (by enacting laws that make it impossible for them to get work).

Secondly, let’s assume for a minute that passing the buck to the business owners is a viable solution. How long do you think it would take for some civil rights attorney to take up the case of a worker who was discriminated against because he is a “non-American”? If you can’t see that coming, you better wake up.

This problem won’t be solved until politicians stop being politicians and start being what they should be, agents of the laws of the United States of America. A landscaping business should not be burdened with the duties of the INS. One of the main responsibilities of our government is to protect the integrity of our borders. A government that refuses to do that has no right to pass the buck to the business owners. If I’m a contractor or a landscaper, I’m telling the government, “Screw you, we have immigration laws, and it’s not my job to enforce them, if they’re here and they want to work, I’m assuming that you’ve done your job and that they’re here legally. I’ll do my job, you do yours.”

The only solution is for us to force our leaders to DO THEIR JOB! Enforce the laws that exist. If you’re here illegally, you’re breaking the law and you’re going home. Since when did respecting and enforcing our laws become so unattractive to politicians? ISN'T THAT THEIR JOB!!!!!

Lastly, for those of you who haven’t heard the story, Patrick Kennedy, Congressman from Rhode Island and son of Senator Ted Kennedy, crashed his car last night around 3:00 am. but at least he kept it out of the drink. According to reports, his car was traveling at a high rate of speed when he swerved into the wrong lane and then hit a barrier. When he got out he was staggering and his speech was slurred. He told one officer at the scene that he was a congressman and was “late for a vote”. He was given neither a breatholizer nor a field sobriety test, and was taken home by one of the officers.

Today he released a statement saying that the accident was caused by the side effects of Ambien, a prescription sleep aid he was taking. He said, "I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police or being cited for three driving infractions." Bullshit! If he was taking a prescription sleeping aid, his ass would have been in bed at 3:00 am! Thousands of people take Ambien, and he’s the first one I’ve seen who wakes up in the middle of the night, puts on a suit and tie, goes to the bar, and runs his car off the road. That’s one bad side effect. Either the FDA needs to reevaluate Ambien, or Patrick Kennedy is lying his ass off. You be the judge.

Where's Jesse?

A few weeks ago, Dave Lenihan, a talk show host in St. Louis, referred to Condoleeza Rice as a “coon”.

When asked in an interview if she was surprised this kind of stuff still happens in America, Rice responded, “My understanding is that he apologized, that he didn't mean it…I accept that [the apology], because we all say things from time to time that we shouldn't say or didn't mean to say. And so I accept it."

She continued, "Anyone who says that we haven't come a very, very long way and that for the most part Americans interact with each other as Americans, I think is also not giving you the full picture."

That’s amazing in itself, the class and dignity of this woman. But I have just one question, WHERE’S JESSE?

The most successful black woman in the history of American politics is called a “coon” in public, and nary a word from His Royal Blackness! A black woman who has realized every dream of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech is called a “coon”, and Jesse has absolutely nothing to say!!! A woman who is a living personification of the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s is called a “coon” in public, and Jesse is nowhere to be found! Deafening silence, indeed, but this goes higher than Jesse.

Jesse is merely a puppet of the liberal elite, nothing more than the alpha slave on the Liberal plantation. He speaks when told to speak. His public performances and diatribes are nothing more than a service to his Master, the Democratic Party. He gave up being an independent black man a long time ago in exchange for a prominent role as a Democrat puppet and comes to the defense of only the blacks who serve the same master he does, and politics trumps color in the case of Condoleeza Rice. Jesse knows full well who puts food on his table, and Jesse is the real sellout here. If Rush Limbaugh called Barack Obama a “coon”, you can bet your ass the liberal elite would unstrap the gimp and Jesse would be in full attack mode... “sick-em, Jesse!” He’s nothing more than a loyal dog. He barks when told to bark. The Dems give him a warm bed in the farm house as long as he keeps the rest of the constituency in line. He and his supposed civil rights crowd are nothing more than tools of the liberal elite, cotton-pickers for the Democratic Party, and you can bet your ass they’d toss him out of the house if he ever came to the defense of a runaway slave like Condoleeza Rice.

Instead of championing people like Condi, Colin Powell, Alberto Gonzalez, and Clarence Thomas; Democrats (the supposed party of the minority) tear them down and demonize them to the point they make criminals out of them. They do this because the success of these individuals is a grave threat to the perpetuated Democrat myth that the only way to salvation for minorities is to embrace Democrat policies. It is a severe threat to the power of their race card when a minority finds success outside the Democratic plantation.

In a related story, last week Cynthia McKinney, a black congresswoman from GA, was stopped by a security guard at the Capitol building in Washington and was asked to identify herself after she had bypassed the metal detectors without showing her ID. The security guard on duty at the time did not recognize her. According to eyewitness reports, the security guard asked her very politely to please stop and show her ID. When she ignored this request the guard grabbed her by the arm, and she responded by punching him in the chest. She has of course played her race card saying that she was profiled because she was black, and her lawyer has said something to the extent that her only crime was being a black congresswoman.

Two points need to be made here. First of all, she’s missing the forest for the trees. She’s a woman, a BLACK woman, and she is in CONGRESS! Tough life indeed. What a terrible racist country we have where a black woman would be in Congress! She’s complaining about how hard it is to be a black congresswoman as though she’s some kind of modern day Rosa Parks just trying to get a seat on the bus! All this from a woman who has a front row seat on the congressional gravy train...we should all be so unfortunate. Has she ever wondered how hard it is to be a security guard making $10 an hour and being accused of bigotry by a spoon fed race-monger just for doing his job? She wasn’t stopped because she was black. She was stopped because she bypassed the metal detector without her ID and ignored the request of the security guard to identify herself. She is the real racist here. Hiding behind the color of her skin and using the color of the security guard’s skin to transfer guilt from herself to the security guard is the real racism. Black, white, or candy striped, I don’t care. Cynthia McKinney broke the law and assaulted an innocent man who was simply doing his job. If Tom DeLay had punched a black cop you can bet Cynthia McKinney would be screaming from the top of the mountain.

Bryant Gumble...IDIOT!!!

Bryant Gumble is a total fool, an idiot for which the word “idiot” was created. In his monologue during the show, “Real Sports with Bryant Gumble” on HBO, he had this to say about the Winter Olympics…

"Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing…Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won ... So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin."

Fine. I’m no fan of the Winter Olympics, either. I’m just not a fan of those kinds of sports, perhaps because I’ve never played them. But there’s nothing “pseudo-athletic” about weaving your way down a mountain at 60 mph on a set of ski’s. I could care less about figure skating, but the skill and athleticism it takes to compete at that level is awesome. I don’t particularly care for classical music, but that doesn’t mean a concert violinist is a “pseudo-musician” simply because I don’t have an ear for that kind of music. You don’t have to enjoy watching a sport to be able to appreciate the talent it takes to play it. Bryant Bumble showed no respect for these athletes and the hard work it takes to make it to the Olympics. In essence he said, “I don’t like the sports you play, so that makes you a “pseudo-athlete”. He makes it sound like every athlete at Turino is a curler. How ignorant can one man be? If there were an Olympics of Journalism, Bryant Bumble wouldn’t even be there. That’s why he’s on HBO, sandwiched between Taxi Cab Confessions and re-runs of Weekend at Bernies.

Oh but it gets better. In his mindless rant he served up this little nugget…

“So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.”

For all of us southern redneck conservatives who don’t use fifty dollar words to experess our uneducated opinions, I looked up “paucity”. It means “lack of participation”, as if you couldn’t determine that by the context of his statement. This is to be expected, though. If you put a liberal in front of a microphone or a camera for more than 30 seconds, they’ll play their race card.

I’d like to ask Bumble, “Would putting Michael Jordan on skis make the Winter Olympics watchable for you, or would it make Michael Jordan a “pseudo-athlete”? How would he ‘splain dat?

Let me get this straight. Bryant Bumble hates the Winter Olympics, won’t watch them, questions the merit of the events, refers to the participants as “pseudo-athletes”, and characterizes figure skating as a “kiss-and-cry-sport”. And in the same breath indicates his displeasure that there aren’t more blacks participating in what he refers to as “pseudo-athletic, kiss-and-cry” sports. I wonder what Debbie Thomas and Robin Szolkowy (figure skaters), Herschel Walker, Lascalles Brown, Vonetta Flowers, and Morgan Alexander (boblsed), Shanni Davis (speed skating) and Jerome Iginla (hockey), etc., would have to say about Bumble’s reference to them as “pseudo athletes”. Based on his comments, I can only conclude that Bumble would call these athletes “sell outs” on the scale of Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell. That’s how people like Bumble work. They’ll call your organizations, sports, and institutions racist, but the minute a black person succeeds in one of those “racist” areas, they will be labeled as Uncle Tom sellouts. Bryant Bumble is no friend of blacks, especially those who enjoy success outside of what he thinks is the boundary for black participation.

The point I’m trying to make is this. I have no problem with Bryant Bumble’s ignorance, racism, and disrespect. He’s entitled to be an idiot. That’s his problem, not mine. I could care less. I have a problem with the double standard that exists in the sports media. Bob Costas would be fired on the spot, stripped naked, and burned on the hood of Jesse Jackson’s car if he had said, “the paucity of whites in the NBA makes that league look like an NAACP Convention”.

Think about it.

NCAA Mascot Ban

To kick off the online celebration of J-79, I’m going to revisit to a subject I addressed last August, the NCAA mascot ban. It’s in the news again, but J-79 had this pegged from the get go.

A few months ago the NCAA bowed to the gods of political correctness when they made the decision that any university with a Native American mascot would not be allowed to host postseason NCAA events, effective February 2006. February is here, and just last week Miles Brand came out in defense of this policy, saying, “One of the values we hold dear is respect for everyone.” How sweet.

What you read in the next three paragraphs was written by J-79 five months ago when this mascot ban was first made public.

Excuse me, but I missed the sensitivity seminar that declared naming a sports team after a native culture was disrespectful. Personally, I think it is an honor to have a symbol of your heritage adopted by a pro or college team. To me it reflects admiration and respect. What higher honor can you bestow upon a group of people than to name something in their memory? In every American institution except sports we have what amounts to a religious ceremony whenever a city, park, street, dam, school, building, forest, interstate or monument is dedicated to or renamed in the memory of an Indian tribe or ethnic group. Hell, in Chattanooga you can’t sling a dead cat without hitting something named after a Cherokee (Cherokee Hills, Cherokee Heights, Cherokee Forest, Cherokee Lane, Cherokee Road, Cherokee Street, Cherokee Apartments, Cherokee Middle, Cherokee High, Cherokee Liquors), but by damn UT-Chattanooga better think twice before they name themselves the Cherokees…makes no sense. Why are sports teams somehow different?

Of course this makes no logical sense whatsoever, but let’s dive a little deeper into this issue and see it for the danger that it is. First of all, anyone born in America is by definition a Native American. Webster defines “native” as, “belonging to a particular place by birth; grown, produced, or originating in a particular place or in the vicinity.” I’m not just simply dissecting semantics here. On the surface we interpret this rule as a ban on tribal symbols, but there’s a difference in the word “native” and “tribal”. The Law is all about language, and if you word your laws or rules vaguely you open the door for the future expansion of the law. The use of the word “native” gives the NCAA (or whacko civil action groups) the wiggle room to expand this into other areas beyond what the rule appears on the surface to prohibit. Allow me to elaborate…

The Seminoles, Aztecs, Braves, Chippewas, Illini, Indians, Redmen, etc., aren’t the only ones who fall under the language of this legislation if you go by the definition of the word “native.” Does the word “Volunteer” not suggest a “native” heritage, according to the definition? What about Corn Husker, Ragin Cajun, Mountaineer, Sooner, Rebel, Flying Dutchmen, Fighting Irish, or Yankee? You see where we’re going here. This rule is the beginning of removing any sort of cultural, ethnic, or regional identity from sports teams for the sake of not offending someone. This ruling opens the door to all sorts of garbage, and all it takes is for some crackpot lawyer or activist to act on the literal definition of the word “native”. You probably wouldn’t have to look far to find someone who would contend that the Volunteers killed Mexicans at the Alamo and that Davey Crockett owned slaves, thus the name “Volunteer” should be banned. Ole Miss Rebels?…they’ve been fighting this battle for years. Fighting Irish? What’s the difference between that and the Fighting Illini? If you don’t see this coming you better wake up.

What you read in the last three paragraphs was written by J-79 five months ago when this mascot ban was first enacted.

What I said would happen is happening. The wheels are turning. This mascot ban is dangerously close to expanding beyond Indian mascots into the territory of cultural and regional identity. Just last week, someone asked Miles Brand, “Why is Fighting Irish acceptable?” To which he responded, “We've never had any Irish people come to us and say they find that offensive.” STOP THE PRESS!!! Lets take a close look at Miles Brand’s choice of words, particularly the word, “offensive”.

If the honest end goal of this legislation was to eliminate “Native American” mascots, why didn’t Miles Brand simply answer this question by saying, “There’s nothing Native American about the Fighting Irish, and thus they don’t fall under the jurisdiction of this ruling.” Yet he chose the word, “offensive”. THAT’S WHERE THIS IS HEADED! He has opened the door to the expansion of this rule into the realm of anything deemed to be “offensive”. He said it himself, and I told you five months ago this would happen. I know how these people work. If left to run its natural evolutional course of political correctness, this rule will be the end of any mascot with cultural, regional, ethnic, or religious identity.

This is liberalism and political correctness at work here, folks. These people are absolute moonbats. In their world you can portray cowboys (no less “native” than Indians) as a couple of poo-stabbers, but by God you better not offend an Indian by waving a tomahawk at a Florida State game. Give me a break. By the way, does anybody know how many Academy Awards Humpack Mountain got? I heard it was a “butt-load”.

J-79 Online

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