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Sports Mascots Analysis

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Sports Mascots Analysis
For quite some time now, there has been an ongoing battle in our society that has recently been brought to the national spotlight and that battle is regarding high school, colleges, universities and professional sports organizations continuing to display and or use mascots that can be considered culturally offensive and borderline racist. As stated this has been an issue for quite some time but up until recently this issue has been continuously thrown into the national spotlight by the media. This issue has gained so much national attention that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has adopted several policies that once implemented will combat the ongoing issue of racially offensive mascots being used.
Furthermore, in 2005
…show more content…
Some of those colleges are North Dakota Fighting Sioux, College of William and Mary Tribe, and San Diego State Aztecs just to name a few. What is quite astonishing is that, local legislation is getting involved on the high school and collegiate levels regarding this issue but in regards to the professional sports organizations it seems to be a tough task. For example two of the most controversial and offensive mascots in professional sports today is the Washington Redskins (2nd) and the Cleveland Indians (1st) (Kornhauser, 2014). The Cleveland Indians have a historic franchise but as of 1947 people have been quite upset with their mascot Chief …show more content…
Some of these mascots are positive and quite suiting for the organizations or institutions they represent. An example of a positive mascot in today’s sports society is the Chicago Bulls mascot Benny the Bull. Benny the Bull has been a prominent fixture for the Chicago Bulls since the early 1960’s. Consequently Bennie the Bull was the first mascot to walk the sideline of a National Basketball Association (NBA) game (NBA.com). Bennie the Bull provides for a positive atmosphere during the course of a Chicago Bulls game, he keeps fans engaged during timeouts, halftimes, and even city events by doing comedy, stunts, dance routines, pictures, autographs, merchandise, and world travels just to name a few. The Bulls have even gone to lengths to keep Bennie slim and in shape so that they can promote a healthy and fit life style for the youth who come to the games.
In conclusion, it can be strongly stated that although there are several negative and offensive mascots and logos in sports, there are also several mascots that are promoting a positive and engaging atmosphere as

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