Tragic shooting reignites war against sports mascots, symbols

Jerry Seinfeld says he doesn’t play colleges anymore, that many of his fellow comedians also avoid the hallowed halls and ivy walls, that young adults who stroll the grounds of higher learning today don’t understand those politically correct terms they so effortlessly inject into conversation.

That they merely want to use the words.

Racist. Sexist. Prejudice.

That, according to Seinfeld, they don’t know what they’re talking about.

The debate has surfaced again, charged by a mass shooting in one of the nation’s oldest black churches, a tragedy that struck Charleston, S.C., last week that left nine people dead and the country again deliberating which symbols and flags and logos and mascots are offensive in a way that they should be expunged from existence.

It is a war that has never ended, an exposed gash that never seems to heal.

Sports has found itself on the front lines more often than not, straddling between discovering those images that best define and encourage team spirit while also avoiding any sensitivities that might bring charges of racism or bigotry.

Example: The University of Mississippi might have buried its white-bearded plantation owner of a mascot years ago, but the ghost of Colonel Reb exists throughout Oxford.

“The term ‘politically correct’ is almost not a politically correct thing to say anymore,” said Michael Ian Borer, associate professor of sociology at UNLV. “I think every community, every population, has a right to define who they are and how they are represented. It’s a debate worth having. Talking about it is a good thing. Not talking about it and having a knee-jerk reaction to it isn’t. You don’t want to end up with a world that is fairly bland, without an array of human distinctiveness and variation of identities.

“College mascots are important. They represent and identify towns and communities and schools and populations. There is both physical and symbolic value to such logos and brands. You want to be sensitive to others, but when does that go too far? When can we not make a joke or be ourselves without fear of offending somebody? That doesn’t seem like a very free society. Social expression is at the very heart of American culture. We can’t change the past, but we can change how we think now and how we move forward.”

It was fairly obvious this week that Sen. Harry Reid either didn’t think before he spoke or wasn’t fully aware of those changes that had been made over the years to UNLV’s mascot, Hey Reb! When asked how he felt about the nickname Rebels and the school’s mascot in light of many decrying the use of the Confederate flag by some states, Reid said he believed the Board of Regents should “take that up and take a look at it.”

The next day, when someone in the senator’s office likely educated themselves on the issue’s history, a Reid spokesman backtracked from the answer faster than most UNLV football safeties have in recent years.

But it added to a theme that seems consistently present in pro and college sports. More and more, teams have changed nicknames and redesigned logos, often at the expense of many fans who are devoted to a specific identity.

I’m not sure that’s always the right thing.

Borer makes a valid point when asking when such reaction becomes too much. We have essentially taken away the ability for reasonable, educated people to distinguish between that which is a symbol of school spirit or one of hate.

Censorship has assumed a leading role in society. Free speech is more and more controlled.

We have become an overly sensitive culture, with every letter of every word of every statement examined for a secret prejudice.

Dartmouth once had an Indian mascot. Then it had one shaped like a beer keg. Miami University went from the Redskins to the RedHawks. Eastern Washington went from the Savages to the Eagles. We know all about the NFL team in Washington and its battle over a nickname.

I guess even some Notre Dame fans over the years have taken offense to their team being called the Fighting Irish, not wanting to be compared to a band of fighting, bearded, bald drunks.

I’m thinking Dad, rest his County Mayo soul, would disagree.

There isn’t a right or wrong answer, and in no way should the debate over college nicknames and mascots ever be compared to a sick, hateful lunatic with a gun who walked into a house of God one night and began shooting.

But if we really have reached a time when it’s politically wrong to discuss what should be considered politically correct, the only progress we make is sensitizing our society to the point that freedom of speech and expression doesn’t exist without fear of retribution.

And that’s a sad truth.

“I think with any symbol or mascot, you ask, ‘What is it saying about us?’ and if we don’t like it, let’s change it,” Borer said. “With a tragedy such as the one in South Carolina, emotions run high. But with something like a mascot or a nickname, it should bring people together.

“That doesn’t mean it often won’t hurt some and that it won’t offend those people, but the hope is you can debate it in a civil and rational manner.”

From the looks of things nationally today, that’s hoping for a lot.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.