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From the Wisconsin State Journal:

Baggot: UW plays games with nicknames

The boldest part of the policy, adopted by the UW Athletic Board in May 1993, prohibited the Badgers from scheduling a school with a "Native American" mascot or nickname "unless the team is a traditional rival or conference member."

A lot has happened since then, which explains why the UW Athletic Board is expected to revisit the policy today during its first meeting of the school year.

But there is already evidence UW is conforming on this issue instead of staying its own courageous course.

Questions were raised this spring when it was announced the UW men's basketball team would host Florida State as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The OK to play the Seminoles was given based in part on the notion that the assignment came from the league and UW had no input in the process.

That's a copout unless UW officials, citing school policy, asked for a different opponent and were denied. Florida State is on a list of eight NCAA Division I opponents UW teams can't schedule and should stay there.

For some reason, the NCAA believes Florida State's horse-riding mascot - the one wearing buckskin, war paint and a headdress - doesn't violate our senses. UW officials should have recognized that it does and stuck to a policy that made sense long before the NCAA got involved.

What's the fuss? As an NCAA-designated "model institution," the University of Wisconsin is simply following the NCAA's lead in the nickname game-playing crusade.

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Continuation of story above.

Seminole Test Case

When Florida State comes to the Kohl Center to play the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team Nov. 28, will its mascot come along, too?

If so, would Chief Osceola, who wears buckskin, war paint and a head dress, be welcome?

And would Seminoles fans making the trip to Madison be allowed to invoke their traditional "war chant" during the game?

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How can (NCAA "model institution") Wisconsin even play FSU when they have the "Seminoles" moniker? Their very own (NCAA model "model institution") policy says they won't play such schools unless they are traditional rivals or conference foes.

Sorry, FSU is neither traditional rival nor conference foe with Badger hoop.

Hypocrits. H-Y, P-O, C-R-I-T-S. Hypocrits.

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How can (NCAA "model institution") Wisconsin even play FSU when they have the "Seminoles" moniker? Their very own (NCAA model "model institution") policy says they won't play such schools unless they are traditional rivals or conference foes.

Sorry, FSU is neither traditional rival nor conference foe with Badger hoop.

Hypocrits. H-Y, P-O, C-R-I-T-S. Hypocrits.

I think their defense is going to be "The Big 10 made us play them".

I agree, hypocrites.

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I say when Wisconsin comes to the Ralph our team is the Fighting Sioux and their team is referred to as "Wisconsin" on the scoreboard, etc.

The Illinois Fighting Illini (Big Ten) and North Dakota Fighting Sioux (Western Collegiate Hockey Association) fall into that category and remain at odds with the NCAA over its policy. UW officials go so far as to make sure those nicknames are not referenced on the scoreboard or in game-time announcements.
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Being raised in Madison I was taught something in school that not many people realize. When the Badgers orignally choose their mascot, they were not named after the animal the badger. They were named after people. They were named after the miner that were forced to dig holes in the side of hills in which they lived.

"The team's nickname, 'Badgers,' was borrowed from the state of Wisconsin. The territory was dubbed the 'Badger State,' not because of animals in the region, but rather an association with lead miners in the 1820s. Prospectors came to the state looking for minerals. Without shelter in the winter, the miners had to 'live like badgers' in tunnels burrowed into hillsides."

Badger nickname

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Being raised in Madison I was taught something in school that not many people realize. When the Badgers orignally choose their mascot, they were not named after the animal the badger. They were named after people. They were named after the miner that were forced to dig holes in the side of hills in which they lived.

"The team's nickname, 'Badgers,' was borrowed from the state of Wisconsin. The territory was dubbed the 'Badger State,' not because of animals in the region, but rather an association with lead miners in the 1820s. Prospectors came to the state looking for minerals. Without shelter in the winter, the miners had to 'live like badgers' in tunnels burrowed into hillsides."

Badger nickname

And look how dangerous lead is to human life. And they are GLORIFYING that! How horrible for us.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would like to see DYB write about these incidents. Give us details. Let us see for ourselves all of the hatred and abuse that is being pushed upon native americans on UND's campus. If things that she makes inferences to are indeed happening, they surely would be front page news. If things are indeed happening, maybe people that are supportive of the nickname would be more sympathetic to what she has to say, and may be moved to change their mind.

"People don't think I'm an asshole because I'm white; they think I'm an asshole because I'm an asshole." - Unknown. 2006
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It frosts me that columnists like Coleman (Star Tribune) and Yellow Bird can write pretty much anything they want and it isn't challenged. Saying that if you go to a Sioux game you will hear and see hostile and abusive behavior is an incorrect blanket statement. It is irresponsible at best and deceit at the worst.

Yellow Bird ignores the majority of the tribal membership that appears to support UND's use of the name regardless of the council resolutions. Yet assigns this as an attack against Native Americans. If one wants to take a polar opposite view point, it could be seen as a fight for freedom FOR those Native American's who support UND. Their opinion should be just as valid, but apparently it's not.

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Anyone else notice how UND is using the term Force of the North on a pretty regular basis for football and hockey? Is this a type of contingency plan in case the lawsuit doesn't work out as planned? I hope that I am wrong.

I doubt it. See here.

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