Musings on Sports Mascots

By Art Gallagher

We have Giants. Why not Midgets?

If we named sports teams after their owners, how long would be it before Joe Buck makes a crack about keeping up with the Jones? Not until Dallas starts winning.

The Cinncinatti Bengals would become the Browns; the Cleveland Browns, who are named after the first Bengals owner, Paul Brown, become the Haslams and the Baltimore Ravens become the Bisciottis. The Jets would be the Johnsons and the Falcons the Blanks.

I remember when Washington’s NBA team was called the Bullets. I don’t remember the last time they were any good.

I’m of Irish descent. It doesn’t bother me at all that Boston’s basketball team is called the Celtics or that Norte Dame’s teams are The Fighting Irish. In fact I kind of like it. The Luck Charms leprechaun doesn’t bother me either, but I’d rather have pancakes for breakfast with lots of Land O’ Lakes butter.

Do the names Redskins, Indians , Chiefs and Braves bother Native Americans or Indigenous People or whatever we’re allowed to call them this week? Is them/they an acceptable pronoun in this context? Or do they think it’s kinds of cool—like I think of Celtics and Fighting Irish? Is the Tomahawk Chop really demeaning or derogatory? Is the fist pump demeaning or derogatory too?

We have Giants and not Midgets because we want teams to look up to admire.

I don’t have anything against Little People.

I’m worried about sharing this post on facebook and twitter. I’ll share it on Parler, Quora and Me-We.