For years now we have heard complaints about professional, college, and even high school sports teams with politically incorrect and offensive names. Teams with the names “Indians,” “Red Skins,” and “Braves” immediately come to mind — and in some cases schools/teams have responded to these complaints by changing their names altogether (Miami University and Marquette are two colleges that immediately come to mind). In some cases people feel that the naming of a team is offensive (i.e. “Warriors”), while in other situations it is not only the name of the team that is called into question, but also the team image/icon (Chief Wahoo from the Cleveland Indians is an example).
It seems short of a sports team calling itself something non-human (like the Philadelphia 76ers or Chicago Bears), there will always be some backlash by those who feel they are being mocked or belittled. From a sport psychology perspective it makes perfect sense that great consideration take place when generating potential team nicknames. On the other hand, many of the teams in question today have long used the names they currently have, and might argue that they are in no way making fun or discriminating against any types of people (in other words do people think less or differently of Native Americans when they hear the name “Braves?”). And even within this discussion there are smaller caveats — for example, while some people might find “Red Skins” offensive to Native Americans, they might have less of a problem with names like “Warriors.” This issue is not only one of political correctness, but also one of sport marketing, too.
Of course it goes without saying that sensitivity be used when naming a team, but the question really is one of degree more than it is the actual naming. For example, if Red Skins is offensive because it points to a person’s skin color (although it doesn’t necessarily imply anything negative about red skin color), should cowboys be upset that their name is being used to represent a football team that cowboys have nothing in common with? What about (meat) Packers, Steelers (steel workers), 49ers (gold rushers), and the countless other teams that use nicknames of people and professions? Please know that my intention is not to come across insensitive to any person or group, but I am instead trying to objectively discern where the “line in the sand” should be drawn when it comes to naming sports teams?
I wonder how many sports fans think negative or off-color thoughts when they see the Chicago Black Hawks logo of an Indian head? In the NBA Golden State is still called the Warriors – but is that name offensive to sports fans? Should sports teams all agree to put an end to these controversial team namings by simply eliminating any and all references to people – including ethnicity, occupation, gender, and race? Would things be better if teams only named themselves by using animals (Bears), climate (Heat), objects (Rockets), and clothing (White Sox)? Perhaps this is the best (and only) way to be sure that people of specific race and cultural backgrounds will never be offended again in the future.
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