[begin quoted material] Hello everybody (once more!) As Carol has picked up the subject, I thought that perhaps Wayne would not mind me putting my few cents in. As to the issue of Native American names: please refer to tribes as NATIONS. There is no such thing as a North American tribe. It is called a nation. For example: the Iroquois Nation, the Hopi Nation, the Cree nation, etc. I am currently taking a class entitled "Native American Religion", and I am part Native American with Shawnee ancestors. The nations have their own laws, religions, & culture; they are legally seperate nations within the United States. These are some of the reasons that Native Americans take offence to nicknames of sports team. Although the teams took the nicknames in an innocent fashion, sometimes the practice of such nicknames in logo merchandising and by fans (i.e. tomahawk chop) perpetuates negative stereotypes. I, myself, have no problem with the Chicago Blackhawks logo. I think that it is not insulting or derogatory. I happen to think that the Chicago fans and the hockey team itself are intelligent enough not to insult Native Americans. But unfortunately there are some sports, unlike hockey, such as baseball and football whose fans and teams take pride in degrading Native Americans via their mascots, nicknames, and logos. I wonder what Joe Juneau's opinion is about on this discussion: isn't he a member of the Cree nation? Has anybody asked him? -Pam [end quoted material] I'm glad you brought this up...this is a very legitimate point that escapes us palefaces occasionally. Especially after the fianl (for now) result of Miami University`s debate over its nickname resulted in our new president declaring that the use of Redskin for athletic teams and certain "official uses" is ok, but for all other purposes we will be known as "the Tribe"...oh, well...I'm off to Michigan soon enough. :) BTW, thanks for a wonderful season everyone, my second (tho from the rarity of my posts you wouldn't know it...), and I'll see you all when I'm set up in Ann Arbor. Unsubscribe, please. 'til August, John Davenport Miami University '94 '94 U. of Michigan for a long time... [log in to unmask]