Kerfuffles

I first published this post on 22 August 2005:

The Seminole tribe of Florida has always been proud of its connection with the Chief Osceola mascot of Florida State University and objected when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) banned the nickname and mascot’s use. I blogged on this recently in “No Little Indian Boys“.

Now, comes reporting from the “New York Times” that Florida State Can Keep Its Seminoles. On September 5th of this year, a student at Florida State University will don traditional warrior dress and war paint and ride bareback on an Appaloosa horse named Renegade. While waving a flaming spear, the student will be acting the part of the Seminole’s Chief Osceola. The NCAA is allowing this to occur at Doak Campbell Stadium only, in Tallahassee, Florida, and nowhere else in the nation when Florida State plays its season opener against Miami.

Yesterday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association agreed with the 3,100-member tribe and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, which had also endorsed the nickname. The N.C.A.A. removed Florida State from the list of universities banned from using what it called “hostile and abusive” mascots and nicknames during postseason play. “The N.C.A.A. executive committee continues to believe the stereotyping of Native Americans is wrong,” Bernard Franklin, the association’s senior vice president for governance and membership, said in a statement.

That’s the NCAA’s official word. Actually, it probably has much to do with the discovery that the war paint, flaming spear and Appaloosa horse that mascot Chief Osceola sports have no connection whatsoever to the history of the Seminole tribe, therefore it would not be an insult to the Seminoles for non-Indians to use them. Do not try anything authentic, as that would in fact be considered a grievous racial slur.

It certainly would not be because 81 percent of Native Americans in a recent “Sports Illustrated” poll agreed that sports teams should NOT stop using Indian nicknames, mascots, characters, and symbols, according to National Review Online. What do they know? Their opinions do not count when do-gooders are on a righteous mission of saving the Indians from themselves.

Soon to Be an Endangered Species

Florida Pythons Eat Turkeys and Fat Cats
This new species of snake in Florida is about to do successfully what the Democrats have been attempting for years - kill off all the fat cats. However, one would expect that someone would have taught these former pet serpents, to chew their food before swallowing! That way, they would be able to slither out the same hole they slithered in without their swollen bodies becoming entrapped.

October 12, 2005 - MIAMI (AP) - Once again, a python has been done in by its dinner. After one python exploded after trying to eat an alligator, a 10-foot African rock python was apparently trapped by the turkey it ate at a nursery. The snake couldn’t slither back through a fence to digest the bird. Nursery owner Felix Azquz, 77, noticed one turkey was missing early Monday. Then he saw the bulging snake. The snake will be taken to a zoo.

Last month, a 13-foot python burst as it tried to swallow a 6-foot American alligator in Everglades National Park. On Sunday, a bulging 12-foot Burmese python was captured near the backyard of a Miami Gardens home. A snake expert said the python had eaten the homeowner’s year-old Siamese cat.

Capturing Mighty Python Video from Tampa Bay’s 10 News

Florida is so keen on eliminating its fat cat population that it actually rewarded the Burmese python for eating the Siamese cat with a brand new comfy home at the Sense of Wonder Nature Center. Now ain’t that grand? We always knew there was bad blood between the Burmese and Siamese. It’s just a snake eat cat world, so Go For It Mighty Python! As for the turkey-eating python, he was rewarded with a job performing at a local reptile exhibit. Fair is fair, you know, and what is good for the cat-eating python is good for the turkey-eating python.

Pythons and Alligators

Linked at Basil’s Blog.