Wanna put some vBucks on the table? As a second generation Irish-American (and ND grad) I'm not at all happy with the print version of the Leprechaun. In part because I find the highly stylized, squared-off-at-every-point depiction ugly; and in part because I resent the implication that the Irish are continually, with or without reason, pugilistic.
When I pick up a Notre Dame item (hat, T-shirt, what have you) I bypass the Lep and go for the interlocking ND logo or the dome.
The Irish have fought long and hard to upend the tyranny and abuses of the British. The work is close to being completed though not yet done.
End of political rant, inappropriate as it might be for this board.
I guess the numbers of those of Irish blood who object don't ammount to the quota needed for anyone in power to care enough to speak out... seriously.
Interesting, none the less... I have always liked the Leprechaun myself but I'm Scottish, so only the understanding of English tyranny is in common here. Never thought of the connection to early Irish Immigrats finding a place in the boxing world... I always looked at it from the modern sports world view... Interseting take though, for sure.
On the topic of mascots in general I feel it's overlooked at times how much positive can come from it. I feel there are very few mascots that are just overtly 'wrong'... I believe The Red Skins prob. lead that group, despite my mom being a huge fan of that franchise... but take the Seminoles, I can tell you I have quite a few FSU fans in my classrooms and none of them would ever be exposed to a study of or know anything about Seminole history or culture if not for the connection... and I have had students ask simply on that basis. So I have seen it open doors... I know some object, but if they were made aware how many people study their culture(s) due to any given mascot I wonder if that would impact the thinking at all... If anything, as someone who truely wants more unity than we commonly have, I think where it may hurt is, by giving us just another reason to group each other... (animal mascots aside obviously, we can have the PETA discussion some other time.)
I am of the camp that as this country gets more and more sensitive to these things we can unintenitonally close off some conversations that can be of benfit... also, let's face it... considering the melting pot... no matter how pc we get, there will probably always be someone to object to something...
I was thinking, what would be a safe mascot... a "Pat" like, gender and racially neutrual character sitting at a desk reading an un-named text book? Something like the name of "The Racially Neutrual Scholars"... that should strike fear in opponents... though in all probability, someone will eventually take issue with something there as well.
Anyway, I got off track a bit, but this is an issue I have thought about for a long while and have actually switched my stance on over the years so I guess I just find it interesting...
The way dshans seems to go about this seems to be the way to go imo, if you object... don't buy into the monsters you view as such and feed it...
grin:
