Fighting Sioux forced by NCAA to change mascot, brand

Published: Monday, November 15, 2010 at 2:37 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, November 15, 2010 at 2:37 p.m.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Duke without the Blue Devil? Notre Dame without the Fighting Irish? Most students and alumni at those proud universities wouldn't dream of dropping those enduring symbols of school pride.

When I wuz a kid the BSA were quite Indian centric, promoting the good parts of the cultures.

The Indian-centric theme was and is solely limited to Scouting in the United States. Ernest Thompson Seton, the first Chief Scout of the Boy Scouts of America, merged his former youth organization, the Woodcraft Indians, into the BSA. Seton's interests in American Indian life and lore led to his writings and the incorporation of that focus into the BSA. The American Indian focus has been disappearing since at least the 1970s - unless you're a die-hard member of the Order of the Arrow and one of their American Indian dance teams.

The Indian-centric theme was and is solely limited to Scouting in the United States. Ernest Thompson Seton, the first Chief Scout of the Boy Scouts of America, merged his former youth organization, the Woodcraft Indians, into the BSA. Seton's interests in American Indian life and lore led to his writings and the incorporation of that focus into the BSA. The American Indian focus has been disappearing since at least the 1970s - unless you're a die-hard member of the Order of the Arrow and one of their American Indian dance teams.

Political correctness must be seeping into the BSA.

I wonder if NCAA would make Sonny Sixkiller, a former University of Washington quarterback, change his name in order to play ball today.

While the NCAA is taking on issues like schools nicknames, it only took them five years to investigate and rule on Reggie Bush’s eligibility.

I guess we will find out about if Cam Newton broke any NCAA rules in the year 2015.

Political correctness must be seeping into the BSA.

Yes, but dropping the American Indian lore and some of the Daniel Boone outdoorsman skills (brought into the BSA from another early Scouter, Dan Beard) in favor of practical skills has been driven much more by being realistic than political correctness.

Teaching boys to make birch bark cups to drink from when camping is a little difficult in much of the country due to lack of birch trees - and I wouldn't want to see a birch grove after my Troop of 70+ Scouts had each made a cup or two in the same area as other Scouts had been doing the same thing.

Teaching CPR is more important than teaching American Indian hand signals (I taught my Scout some military hand signals instead).

It's like a lot of other things taught in "Scouting for Boys." They're good for survival but not everyday use. I'll tell my guys they can strain water through a neckerchief before drinking it - but I'm then going to have them sterilize the water, practicing several modern methods, letting them know that drinking without sterilization is for survival (and people who want intestinal diseases).

Lashing structures from sapling poles is another skill that is best used the Scoutcraft area of our Scout Hut. We have poles and the guys can learn to lash structures.

However, it's not practical to show up on a Friday night, in some forested area where other Troops often camp, and then to cut down enough saplings for each pair of boys to lash a shelter, and each Patrol to lash its accoutrements of camping.

Indeed, scouting must adapt to new conditions.

I never learned to make a birch bark cup—birch trees are scarce in the chaparral-covered Santa Ana Mountains, the pine and oak forests of the Sierra Madre, or the Mojave Desert, where we often camped.

And straining water through a neckerchief wouldn’t provide much protection against the giardia lamblia, a nasty little parasite found in our mountain streams

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