The Mask-Ot

So I read this news highlight on facebook the other day “BYU to consider changing mascot due to possible offense toward older women.”  Yes, you read that correctly…this was a story done by one of the most watched news stations in the state.  Now I dislike BYU as much as the next guy, but, in the words of Chris Berman: C’mon Man!!

The story went on to detail that the use of the cougar as the institution’s mascot may be offensive to some older (I think they meant middle aged) women.  Really?  I didn’t even realize that women were called cougars, but if they were, it should be taken as a compliment.  After all, cougars are graceful, gorgeous animals that aren’t afraid to defend their territory and their young.  I could certainly handle being referred to as graceful and gorgeous on a regular basis!

This is just plain idiocy. 

For those of you that don’t know, BYU is Brigham Young University and is located in Provo, UT.  Commonly referred to in these parts as the “Y”, the university’s mascot is the cougar.  Being the practical thinker that I am, I realize (as most logical people would) that they most likely chose the cougar as their mascot because the Wasatch mountains (mountain range spanning most of northern Utah) are home to many cougars (aka: mountain lions & pumas).  So the founders of the school decided to use a symbol of the local area as the identifying image of their institution.  Isn’t that how mascots are usually determined anyway? 

I am from a small town called Delta, Utah.  Seriously I think there are more jack rabbits there than in the rest of the world combined.  So guess what our high school mascot was (and still is)…you got it, the Rabbits.  The mascot for Cedar HS in Cedar City, UT is the Redmen, so named for the multitude of Native American Indians that once inhabited the area (so I am guessing).    

As stupid as it is to even have the time to think about being offended by a mascot (and if you are, you REALLY need to find a hobby because you have WAY too much time on your hands), BYU isn’t the only college in this state to change or at least consider changing their mascot because somebody got offended (see quote in right sidebar of this blog to remind yourself now I feel about offending people).

Every few years it seems someone pops out a story about the University of Utah (the “U”) needing to change its mascot (the Runnin’ Utes) because it may (or may not) be offensive to the descendants of the native Ute Indians that used to inhabit much of Northern Utah.  Now maybe it’s just me, but if I were of Native American heritage (oh wait, I am!!  Different tribe though…) I would feel honored to have a major institution recognize the heritage of the area and name their mascot after it.  Besides, what would they change it to, the Pioneers??  Then you would have half a million “Mormons” (I can use that term cuz I am one) with their panties in a knot over the use of the “pioneer” as a mascot. 

A few years back, Dixie State College changed their mascot (which used to be the Rebels).  Partly because of the proximity to UNLV whose mascot is also the Rebels, but probably more so because some white collar paper pusher suggested that it portrayed an image of the school as not being patriotic and having a rebellious nature. 

PLEASE…give me a break!!  It’s a freaking mascot—something that is supposed to generate school spirit and make the fans go wild at football or basketball (or whatever-ball) games.  It’s something that gets printed on sweatshirts, T-shirts, pens, pencils, and pants to help students show off their school pride.  I’m pretty sure that 100 years ago when the school was born, the founders did not envision it as a rebellious, unpatriotic institution.  But, because one (maybe two) people even had the time to think that being “the Rebels” didn’t LOOK good, the school changed its mascot.  They involved the students, had a vote, some kind of big celebration, yada yada yada, and wham bam don’t you know it, now it’s the Red Storm.

Forgive me for not having any school spirit here but what the hell is a Red Storm and how exactly do you dress someone up as one at a football game??  Maybe they chose that name because when the wind blows here the red dirt blows around and turns everything a nice shade of rusty brown for a few days…who knows.

What I do know is that these days, far too many people read much more into things than they need to and because they have nothing better to do than cause more drama in the world, they make up these ridiculous stories about being offended by something that means nothing.  You know what I say to people like that?  TOUGH!!  Suck it up cupcake and get over it already.  You are only offended because you chose to be offended.  The world doesn’t revolve around you and if you are offended by something so trivial as a school mascot, that’s your problem.

There, that’s my soapbox for the day!  Now that I have spewed my thoughts on the subject, I think I’ll go find one of my old Dixie REBELS shirts and have a drink!!

(of water…in case you were wondering  ;)

Remember when...

"We are flooded with data but starved for wisdom" ~Margaret Kelly~

I have returned from my blogging hiatus (aka: my awesome vacation) and I have a whole slew of new things to rant about!! So, as to not waste anymore time, here goes the first one!

Do you ever notice how our lives are ran by our electronic devices these days? I'm not that old but even I remember when a text message message meant you were sitting down to write a letter to someone!

In the process of making everything in life quicker and easier, we have also made it more complicated. Think about it...computers and the Internet and smartphones are amazing, as long as they function properly. I can't count the number of times my day has come to a screeching halt because my computer decided to freeze or the Internet connection was cut for some reason. I can't do much of anything at work if my electronics aren't working. I am crippled like a car with no motor when that happens. It makes me wonder how people got work done 20 years ago...

When I was a kid we had a yellow rotary telephone, no call waiting, answering machine or voice mail, no computer until I was a teenager, no Xbox or playstation, and certainly no ipod. I had a Walkman and a stunning collection of cassette tapes on which I recorded my favorite songs from the radio. If I wanted to talk to someone on the phone I had to actually pick up the phone and dial the number (which took about 5 minutes on that lovely yellow phone!) and pray that the other person was actually home to answer my call. If I was bored (not a smart thing to be in our house unless you wanted some super uncool farm chores to do!) I went outside and found or made up things to do. Would you believe that even without all of these things that today's kids HAVE to have, I turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself!!)

The only facebooks we had were comics and picture books, snail mail (or morse code) was THE way to send messages and information to people, and cell phones were the size of cinder blocks (not to mention as expensive as some small foreign cars)! My personal favorite from the "pre-technology" era is that when you called the 800 number on your bank statement (or whatever) because you had a question, a real live breathing person actually answered the phone (OMG you mean real people used to do that??)

Life ran at a much slower pace back then and sometimes (ok most of the time) I wish it still did. Even with the convenience that modern technology has given us, I think it has taken something away from us as well. People don't seem to want to talk to each other anymore...they just text or email them instead. I'm as guilty as the next guy of this because texting is so convenient and can be done inconspicuously but it's a little ridiculous when you are trying to have a face to face conversation with someone and their phone won't shut up or when you are trying to teach a bunch of kids and they just have their eyeballs and fingers glued to their phones. I remember when cell phones weren't even an issue in school because nobody had one...we just had to worry about getting caught passing notes in class instead!

I'm not saying that technology is all bad, after all I am laying on my couch typing this post on my iPad as we speak, but if some kind of disaster were to come along and wipe out our electronics' capabilities, life as we know it would come to an abrupt stop. If no one knows how we functioned before technology, then we will have no way of recovering from such a disaster.

Besides, life is too short and much too valuable to just blast through it at a million miles an hour...I think people in general would be much happier if they just slowed down a little bit and "disconnected" themselves from the world every now and then. It's actually quite liberating to turn your phone off or ignore your emails and just live without the cyber distractions that constantly bombard our neurons. With that, I'm done for the night...don't try to call or message me as my phone, iPad, and computer are being turned off for the night :)