Florida State Mascot

The tribal elders disagree. And frankly, they are the only ones whose votes count on the issue. Every time someone asks “what’s a Ute?” usually being an ass, we get the opportunity to educate people on the proud indigenous people who were the original “people of the mountains.”

A few years ago, a professor at the U wrote an article in the SL Trib. about how the university should drop the Runnin Utes nickname. The next day, an elder from the Ute nation wrote a rebuttal basically saying they don’t need some white man telling them when they should be offended. He went on to say they love the university and are proud to be able to represent it. They work closely with the U, and their kids get scholarships all because of the nickname. They also get to share their heritage and culture and love to do the Ute Proud halftime show every year. Take away the name and they lose that.

This conversation bubbles up every football season. If people think the Utah Utes should change their name, why aren’t they calling for the entire STATE of UTAH to change its name?

Utah couldn’t do a warrior with a spear because they are trying to avoid war symbolism.

Eff that. In fact never post or share this opinion about changing the team name again. There are few things on earth more condescending or racist than white do-gooder guilt.

Anyone catch the USC ‘mascot’ trying to stab his sword into the turf at Allegiant. Pretty funny.

Do you want to deprive tribal youth of the scholarships granted to them via the tribe association with the university too? This is an absurd topic that gets brought up every year. The vast majority of the tribe takes pride in their association with the university. They don’t need some ridiculous political correctness spouted off by the minority to ruin that association.

I’m just going to say that you wrote this post because you lost a bet and are trying to see how many thumbs down you can get. Am I right?

Growing up in the 50s I saw Hoyo and other cartoon characters used by the U which at the time generated no concern that I noted. I have also know native americans that are no more concerned with this than cowboys are. Still, I want to accommodate even a few people that actually have a concern but hopefully we develop a balance that also considers some among us simply hunt for things to complain about.

I remember when Utah tried something similar to FSU and it came off so poorly they stopped doing it.