In our present age of absurdity, this was likely inevitable: Quality Logo Products, a company that sells sports gear, has conducted a survey that has led it to denounce Notre Dame’s beloved Fighting Irish leprechaun as the fourth most offensive college football mascot in the entire country. The top three were all Indian mascots: Florida State’s Osceola and Renegade, San Diego State’s Aztec Warrior, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Vili the Warrior. So as silly and contrary to fact as it is, the idea that sports teams take nicknames in order to demean and belittle is still taken for granted among the Leftist intelligentsia.
Despite being as woke a university as any other today, Notre Dame didn’t immediately back down and deep-six its pugnacious Irishman. “It is worth noting,” the university said in a statement, “that there is no comparison between Notre Dame’s nickname and mascot and the Indian and warrior names (and) mascots used by other institutions such as the NFL team formerly known as the Redskins. None of these institutions were founded or named by Native Americans who sought to highlight their heritage by using names and symbols associated with their people.”
In contrast, according to the Indianapolis Star, the Notre Dame mascot was adopted by an Irishman: “The Fighting Irish nickname was made official in 1927 when university president Father Matthew Walsh, of Irish descent, adopted the name.” The university stated: “Our symbols stand as celebratory representations of a genuine Irish heritage at Notre Dame, a heritage that we regard with respect, loyalty and affection.”
However, the Indianapolis Star reports that the nickname actually began as an insult: “Because Notre Dame was largely populated by ethnic Catholics – mostly Irish, but also Germans, Italians and Poles – the university was a natural target for ethnic slurs, it said. At one football game in 1899, Northwestern students chanted ‘Kill the fighting Irish,’ Notre Dame said.” Instead of calling for speech restrictions and woke sensitivity training, Notre Dame turned the nickname around. The university noted: “Soon, Notre Dame supporters took it up, turning what once was an epithet into an ‘in-your-face’ expression of triumph.”
That sort of resilience will never do in our age of whining, and so in 2018, ESPN’s Max Kellerman became the first to float the trial balloon that the Notre Dame leprechaun was demeaning and had to go the way of the late lamented Cleveland Indians’ late lamented Chief Wahoo: “How hard is it for you, or anyone, to empathize, simply empathize, with a group who is offended — even if it is a minority of the group that is offended… Many Irish-Americans are not offended, but many are. And should that also change? The answer is yes, unequivocally yes. Pernicious, negative stereotypes of marginalized people that offend even some among them should be changed. It’s not that hard.”
CogitoErgoSum says
If they do change their mascot it should be Mary’s Little Lamb.
CogitoErgoSum says
Go lamb chops!
Reziac says
PETA would like a word with you!
[People Eating Tasty Animals…]
bill says
Perhaps a unicorn another fictitious creature
gravenimage says
Woke Mob Puts Out Hit on Notre Dame’s Leprechaun
……………
I am part Irish myself–as is my husband–and know a lot of people of Irish heritage, and none of them are offended by the Notre Dame logo or slogan. Note that this moniker was made official under an Irish president of Notre Dame. The idea that this is offensive is ludicrous.
Here’s the song “Harrigan” by George M. Cohan–himself of Irish heritage–about an Irishman proud of being Irish who puts up with no guff. This song was a huge best seller a hundred years ago with Irish-Americans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmPBl-XbM-8&ab_channel=NewWorldRecords%2FCRi
mortimer says
I think no Irishman or woman is ashamed of the Irish fighting spirit. To the contrary, they celebrate it a hundred fighting songs. I know also from personal friends of Mohawk and Ojibway heritage that there is great prestige in their tribes for anyone who done military service, especially those who have distinguished themselves in combat. Being a ‘warrior’ is a proud part of many native American cultures, just as it is among Irish people. There should be no hesitancy to adopt the ethos of ‘fighting’ … a hyperbole, to be sure … in sports, but nevertheless, sports are supposed to be played in a spirit of ‘fun’ and not one of mortal combat. The combative, pugnacious mascots referring to ethnicities are merely part of the ‘fun’ and in no way intended to be taken seriously, nor would anyone who understands those cultures be offended.
Ed says
Not to mention the drinking songs!
Donovan Nuera says
(I composed a Hillary campaign song in 2016: “H-A-Double R-I-DAN spells Harridan!”)
CogitoErgoSum says
Her team mascot is a Harpy
Sharon Stewart says
So ❤️It Now the song is in my head learned it as a kid my Mom was 100% ☘️ I am NOT OFFENDED at all. Oh that’s right I have a sense of humor
Infidel says
Thankfully, Notre Dame is standing up for its mascot. Hope this is the start of a larger trend
Wellington says
Won’t be, Infidel. Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA (which I know well) has already given up on the “Crusaders” name in the campus newspaper (now “The Spire”) and the Crusading Knight is gone as well. It’s only a matter of time before the rubes at ND give up too on the leprechaun, especially considering that such cowards have already deprecated the Washington Redskins and the Florida Sate Seminoles.
Yep, only a matter of time. Besides, ND has already been bought by Lefties and Muzzzies, not as much as Georgetown but close. No reason to be optimistic. Notre Dame is now a Catholic university in name only.
The Left and Islam ruin everything they touch. No wonder they’re allies (but only temporarily).
Donovan Nuera says
Remember, Buttigieg’s late father was the world’s biggest fanboy of Italian Commie Gramsci and was a ND professor who progandized all that Marxist crap.
mortimer says
Very sad assessment and no doubt based on reality. These grim kill-joys are puritanical and don’t want anyone to have any fun. What a grim world awaits us, more joyless even than the world of the Taliban if these fascists are not defeated.
Donovan Nuera says
Ironically, they force citizens to wear masks in public, tear down historic statues, and want to mutilate genitals of young girls(and boys).
CogitoErgoSum says
I hope they keep the fighting leprechaun but an archangel in armor holding a flaming sword would be pretty cool … at least, better than a lamb – though Christ is called the Lamb of God. I don’t know if Jesus sometimes joins in to quarterback a game of football in Heaven but I don’t think He would be against people having some fun now and then in a competitive sport. I just wonder how it is that the “woke” haven’t gone after the name of the university because it refers to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
I looked at the “about” page at the University of Notre Dame website and it says the university’s Catholic character still informs all its endeavors and it continues to be a place where the Church does its thinking. Okay, we shall see how it thinks and whether the leprechaun will still be included in a university of diversity.
Donovan Nuera says
A pissed off sputtering mad leprechaun who looks like James Cagney’s brother is the best mascot of all time!
CogitoErgoSum says
I can’t argue with that. You got me there. Ha.
somehistory says
Part Irish myself. Look like more than I am with red hair, pale skin and blue/green eyes.
In the past, there were a lot of Irish men who became police officers, and, according to tradition and the movies, these guys were loved by the people in the neighborhoods they served.
it takes a lot of “spirit” to put life on the line every day, “walking a beat.”
Those people calling themselves “woke,” are just trouble-makers who are targeting everything, and everyone that they believe can be bullied into submission. Once they finish with the rest of us, they’ll eat each other, like snakes. The snakes they are.
Nothing is to be left alone these days. Nothing is of value to the children of the devil, nothing is sacred, not even life. Especially not life.
somehistory says
Jesus said to “stay awake.” His apostles wrote about staying awake so as to know when He was due to return to make everything as it was created to be.
satan the devil is behind this woke garbage and all those lured into it are really very much asleep spiritually. They believe themselves to be so smart and strong, but they are stupid and weak. Blind to the Truth of everything that is important.
tim gallagher says
It mentions that they did a survey and found that a lot of people found the mascot offensive. So there must be a lot of these bizarre, woke types of people out there. I have often wondered, as everyday, something else is cancelled by the wankers these days, such as when Dr Seuss books were attacked, and Pepe Le Pew, the cartoon skunk was attacked for being a sexual predator, etc, who the fuck are these people who sit around getting offended by everything and everyday finding something new to be offended about?. I guess it is mostly university academics with plenty of spare time and a Marxist mentality, who want to destroy every aspect of our free western way of life. But, if they did a survey, there must a plenty of average people who are idiots. I agree with mortimer’s comment, further up, about how these cancel everything type people are killjoys. No fun is allowed. They want to make everybody as miserable as they must be. They want to drag everybody down into the funless world they inhabit. That Notre Dame mascot is a pretty good one.
Reziac says
If the perpetually-offended do such a survey in the freshman dorms and among the faculty, they’ll get exactly the answers they desire. Wokeness is, after all, the new secular religion, and none are so fanatical as the young who’ve never done a day’s work, or have never had to make it in the real world.
Me, my Irish side is boiling mad that they want to take away OUR friggin’ mascot. And it’s not even my school!
How dare they erase Irish people and culture!!
…two can play this game…
tim gallagher says
Reziac, I suspect that the people surveyed were chosen in some way to come up with the bullshit finding they were after. I don’t believe that the average person could possibly be offended by that mascot, which i think is good fun and would be enjoyed by most people. You are right about how pervasive this being constantly offended crap is. I imagine the brainwashed (by left wing academics) young would be supporters of this garbage. It does seem like some kind of new secular religion, as you say. Like you, I am totally sick and tired of this bullshit. These endlessly offended creatures are out to make this world a miserable, dull place where no fun and no humour are allowed.
somehistory says
There was an old Carol Burnett Show skit where Carol was a shopper and Harvey Korman was asking customers about his detergent.
He attempted to take the product she had bought and get her to say that his was better…the “best” and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Carol, the customer being “surveyed,” ended up in the bushes.
People who do surveys ask enough questions at the start to weed out those they don’t wish to include in their “poll,” at the end.
there have been times I received emails asking me to take a survey and a few times I decided to give it a go, only to find out after the first few questions, that I was not able to finish the survey because I didn’t fit the kind of profile they were seeking to survey.
It is not an honest survey when the majority say what the people asking want them too, and yet, we know that the true majority feel differently.
There are a huge number of people of Irish background in this country.
tim gallagher says
somehistory, I feel sure that the average person in our western societies, whether the USA or Australia or the UK, would not go along with a lot of this cancel everything bullshit. Some of the nonsense this cancel mob come out with seems so insane, and I hear many of the commentators say the same thing, who will say “this is nuts”, just as I do, that I often think, no, this must be some kind of April fools’ day joke. I think that enough people are going to get pissed off with this garbage that there will soon be a fight back against the poisonous fools who come up with this nonsense. I have never bothered to do any survey, but what you say rings true. Just as in the USA, there are certainly huge numbers of people from Irish backgrounds. My surname is Irish, but, as with most people, I also have ancestors from many backgrounds, in my case English, Welsh, Scottish and German. I like that mascot. This humourless mob of cancel culture wreckers want to destroy fun everywhere they see it. “Get a life” comes to mind as advice for these creeps.
gravenimage says
Good exchange.
owensgate says
Astonishing. Who Knew. We have been offending leprechauns all these years. Maybe we owe them “reparations”. Good. Find me ONE LEPRECHAUN who has been offended. Just ONE. That’s all I ask. Just one. Put the entire Justice Department on it, and Interpol. Check Swalwell’s bed. Check Pelosi’s freezer. But FIND one. Or just STFU and realize there are seriously important issues going on in the World, and Notre Dame’s mascot is not one of them.
gravenimage says
🙂
owensgate says
I have an “Assault Shillelagh”, and I’m prepared to use it! 🙂
gravenimage says
Brilliant!
OLD GUY says
I think getting hits on your Facebook page drives a lot of these crazy ideas of the cancel culture.
If you want to be offended just listen to Rap music, talk about offensive. Way worse than a Leprechaun mascot, Red Skins, Indians, Hell they will be going after the Bears next.
Why does RAP MUSIC get the free pass?
James Lincoln says
OLD GUY,
Rap music is usually performed by a protected class – people of color…
Jeff Elliott says
Love it, CES! Your ad absurdum argument is classic.
Three cheers for the Fighting Irish, I wouldn’t want to go against them!
But I will say this: If the snowflake goblins do decide to come after The Seminoles, they will learn the true meaning of a name with “Fighting” in it.
gravenimage says
They already are, Jeff:
“The Florida State Seminoles: The Champions of Racist Mascots”
Do you think “Redskins” is offensive and “Seminoles” is not because it has tribal approval? Think again.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/florida-state-seminoles-champions-racist-mascots/
Note that even tribal approval counts for nothing nowadays.
Rarely says
I wonder how the Yankees have survived all this? And Bears? Wouldn’t Yogi be offended? Are the White Sox offended by the Red Sox? Are the people who wear black socks offended? Who do they sue for reparations? Are the Minnesota Twins offending triplets? It’s a good thing the New Jersey Devils and the LA Angels are in different sports — imagine the repercussions of a game between them. Are the Chicago Bulls sexist?
Once absurdity enters the picture there is no end to the fun. These yahoos provide quite a diversion from reality which looks pretty bleak right now.
gravenimage says
+1
James Lincoln says
What about the Boston Celtics Lucky the leprechaun?
Rarely says
OMG. THE HUMANITY!!!
gravenimage says
Yep.
Jedothek says
Laeg mac Medb
King
Fairy fort of Cuilenn Cind Duni
August 27, 2021 C.E.
Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
The University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA
Dear Rev. Jenkins:
Words can scarcely convey the indignation that boils in the breast of me and me fellow Leprechauns as we contemplate the shameless and insulting appropriation of our identity and culture and by the University. We have not survived an epic concatenation of invasions and amassed a gold treasury that would be the envy of Fort Knox (if those sorry would-be misers had any gold left) only to be caricatured and demeaned by a gaggle of priests and ballplayers who would not know Cuchulain if he came up to ’em and spit in their face. If ye think ye can keep up wi’ this kind o’ defamation without consequences, then ye little wit the power of the fairy-folk.
This will be your last courteous warning.
Cordially,
Laeg mac Medb
gravenimage says
🙂
Crusades Were Right says
[ethnic Catholics]
I too am an “ethnic Catholic”, I suppose. I mean, if “Muslim” is a race, then why can’t “Catholic” be an ethnicity?
Just ONE little problem:
Since Martin Luther, John Knox and John Calvin were descended from “ethnic Catholics”, doesn’t that mean THEY were “ethnic Catholics” too? lol
Crusades Were Right says
We Irish are a strange lot:
When we aren’t being a “marginalized people”…
… we’re being “white supremacists”! lol
“The Divil take the lot o’ yiz!”
gravenimage says
Yep.