MLB and MPBN

I had a great post idea all set to go this morning. Last night I was driving home and caught Anne Ravana's story on Maine Public Broadcasting's Maine Things Considered. Annie is a great friend of mine and I try to catch her daily stories, which, all bias aside, are well reported and usually very interesting.

Her story last night was about the Penobscot Indian Nation calling on the Baseball Hall of Fame to honor the achievements of Louis Sockalexis, the first Native American to play in the major leagues.

The Penobscot Nation is asking the Cleveland Indians (the team Sockalexis played on) to stop using the cartoon mascot, Chief Wahoo, as Sockalexis is often credited for the teams name change from the Spiders to the Indians.

My goal for this post was to talk about how cartoon mascots offend the very thing they are representing. But because of a glitch on the MPBN website I can't post a link to Anne's story...or even listen to it again. How frustrating! My Mac won't open up the movie file and for some reason the link to listen to it online is broken. This has happened several times and it makes me mad and sad. Get with the program MPBN!

Anyway. The Penobscot Nation (and other tribes I'm sure) are offended over Chief Wahoo. Is it his name? His toothy grin? What about other mascots?

Is the Baltimore Oriole upset at his huge beak and man hands?

Or the Milwaukee Brewer? That Arian moustache is AWFUL!

And the San Diego Padres...that Swinging Friar has a terrible double chin.

I guess what I'm saying is that these teams aren't making FUN of the oriole, brewer, and friar...it's just for fun. I think peoples' sensitivity levels are over the top these days and there are more important things to worry about than a baseball mascot.