Apparently William and Mary is being asked to reconsider its team name. Once upon a time it was the William and Mary Indians. In an appropriate gesture to sensitivities they changed the name to the William and Mary Tribe. Now the NCAA is questioning Tribe (along with other colleges with even more potentially offensive mascots).
Blogger Herb Ely suggests the William and Mary Ethnics, which he says might offend no one or at least offend everyone. Better yet, he suggests an appropriate new fight song in response to all this. It ends:
I learned my lesson well.
You see you can’t please everyone
So you got to please yourself.
From Rick Nelson’s Garden Party, of course.
Indeed, while NewMexiKen finds some mascot names offensive — Redskins in particular — Tribe seems pretty reasonable to me. Of course, I am using a mousepad with that very William and Mary logo on it right now.
So what is your connection to the (pardon the expression)tribe? Mne is that we have a son and daughter who graduated from W&M. I ran across your blog a few weeks ago. It brings back good memories. ‘ Santa Fe High class of 59.
The NCAA has asked each school with an Indian mascot to prepare a report explaining how the mascot name came into being, and how Indians relate to the school.
William and Mary’s royal charter, given in 1693, required the school to educate local Indians. The college operated an Indian school for almost 100 years. For me, that passes muster.
Ken,
right befroe I read this, I made my reservation to go to Norfolk for my little brother’s graduation from the Tribe. Just seems weird. I guess my nose is itching so to speak.
Both of NewMexiKen’s daughters graduated from The College of William & Mary in Virginia, and both have Master’s degrees from there as well.