Today's topic concerns a college mascot.
No, not that one.
The mascot in question is at the University of Mississippi, more commonly known as Ole Miss.
Their nickname is the Rebels, as in the rebels of the Confederacy. Their fans still were waving Confederate flags and singing "Dixie" as the unofficial school song a few years ago. Last week, the school cut another tie to the "good old days" of slavery.
It came with the choosing of a successor to its former mascot, Col. Reb, a white-goateed plantation owner who looks like a crustier version of Col. Sanders of KFC fame.
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The nickname remains the same, but the mascot is now Rebel Black Bear. Huh? How is a bear a rebel? By not going in the woods?
The link between rebel and bear is bit obtuse. Fans and alumni wanted to keep the nickname for tradition. To legitimize it, the black bear came from the short story "The Bear" by William Faulkner, an Ole Miss graduate and Nobel Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer.
In Mississippi's case, the nickname was more important than the symbol. At UND, the reverse seems true.
Sure, there's affection and loyalty to the Fighting Sioux nickname, which has been around for 80 years. But it seems that current fans are more troubled about losing the modernized Fighting Sioux logo. Ben Brien's beautiful, majestic portrayal of a Sioux warrior has been voted the best logo in the country for good reason.
UND has started the process of retiring the logo and nickname by Aug. 15, 2011. It's either that or leave the NCAA, a move that would make it difficult to find opponents.
Hopefully, UND has learned from other nickname transitions. One came 19 years ago when Grand Forks Central dropped Redskins as its nickname. (Is there anyone still around who still doesn't understand the inappropriateness of that nickname?)
Central went without a nickname for one year, then chose "Maroon and Gray," after the school colors. Who could have known that rivals would make up a very politically incorrect and crude resemblance to that name?
After one year of that awkward and often-mocked nickname, the students voted for its current nickname of Knights.
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The big lesson in GFC's process and many others is this: You need a longer time between nicknames. Without the healing that time provides, the first replacement is going to be automatically dismissed as inferior to the longstanding nickname.
UND should go at least three years and maybe more before picking a replacement. Then, take another year to craft the logo/mascot.
That way, UND also won't have the equivalent of a bear symbolizing a rebel.
Reach Bakken at (701) 780-1125; (800) 477-6572, ext. 125; or send e-mail to rbakken@gfherald.com .
