Denver U Mascot?

[JackJD]

Denver U is having a difficult time finding a mascot...looks like DU won't have one this year. Story in the Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/hochman/ci...aseline-school

[zooropa]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

See folks, this is what happens when your school nickname is something other than an adorable animal.

My suggestion:

Denver University -> DU -> The DU DUde, which would be a shameless ripoff of Jeff Bridges' character. He could have a little rug in a corner of the arena and everything.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

A few more schools like UND and Denver,and they could form their own Athletic conference......the No Name Conference,or the NNC for short.

I guess Denver does have a nickname,just no ACCEPTABLE mascot,just like UND.I'm sure Pioneers can be manipulated to include every nationality that stepped foot on US soil in say, the last 50 yrs or so........just kidding,but in a sarcastic way,to show how insanely sensitive we are nowdays to all races,regardless wether or not this sensitivity has anything at all to do with,say.....documented History.

I do think they'll have to change their identity in the long run,unless you can envision a bunch of Borats crossing the plains and going over the mountains in covered wagons.Would make a very entertaining comedic (?) movie.A comedy.(LOL)

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

This thread has silliness. Stop being silly. graham_chapman_colonel.jpg

[jackdaniel]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

this thread has silliness. Stop being silly. [ATTACH=CONFIG]460[/ATTACH]

Very good,here here and all that....I dare say,it would help if the whole bloody mascot thing at Denver wasn't so silly to begin with now wouldn't it? ...carry on (insert British accent)

[GopherHole]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

It just gets my ire up when we are constantly looking for ways not to offend people. The comment from their chancellor Robert Coombe as printed in the Denver Post.

"Boone was a polarizing figure that did not reflect the growing diversity of the DU community, but rather was an image that many women, persons of color, international students and faculty members found difficult to relate to as defining the pioneering spirit."

Seriously?

I think Denver University should seriously consider not counting any of their scores since they may find it polarizing should they score more than their opponents.

Thank goodness we have not considered dropping Weary Wil as our mascot for Hobo Day!

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

Usually I'm kind of with this thing. It's easy for me to see how "Redskins" is blatantly racist. I don't get it with Daniel Boone, however.

[Nidaros]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

It just gets my ire up when we are constantly looking for ways not to offend people. The comment from their chancellor Robert Coombe as printed in the Denver Post.

"Boone was a polarizing figure that did not reflect the growing diversity of the DU community, but rather was an image that many women, persons of color, international students and faculty members found difficult to relate to as defining the pioneering spirit."

Seriously?

I think Denver University should seriously consider not counting any of their scores since they may find it polarizing should they score more than their opponents.

Thank goodness we have not considered dropping Weary Wil as our mascot for Hobo Day!

Seriously. Yes when you collect in excess of 25k in tuition
, you have to pay attention. It's not rah rah stuff.

[zooropa]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

Usually I'm kind of with this thing. It's easy for me to see how "Redskins" is blatantly racist. I don't get it with Daniel Boone, however.

I'd oppose Boone on other grounds: The guy was never in Colorado. Why not go with Zebulon Pike instead?

- "Zebulon" is a great name for a mascot.

- The guy was actually *in* Colorado

- His reputation doesn't really center on the displacement of Native Americans.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

I'd oppose Boone on other grounds: The guy was never in Colorado. Why not go with Zebulon Pike instead?

- "Zebulon" is a great name for a mascot.

- The guy was actually *in* Colorado

- His reputation doesn't really center on the displacement of Native Americans.

I guess I can see a little bit of the other side since Boone became a symbol for your last point. I also did not realize he had never been to CO.

I honestly don't know much about him. Here's what wiki has to say about the displacement (no idea about the accuracy).

In the 19th century, when Native Americans were being displaced from their lands and confined on reservations, Boone's image was often reshaped into the stereotype of the belligerent, Indian-hating frontiersman which was then popular. In John A. McClung's Sketches of Western Adventure (1832), for example, Boone was portrayed as longing for the "thrilling excitement of savage warfare." Boone was transformed in the popular imagination into someone who regarded Indians with contempt and had killed scores of the "savages". The real Boone disliked bloodshed, however. According to historian John Bakeless, there is no record that Boone ever scalped Indians, unlike other frontiersmen of the era. Boone once told his son Nathan that he was certain of having killed only one Indian, during the battle at Blue Licks, although he believed others may have died from his bullets in other battles. Even though Boone had lost two sons in wars with Indians, he respected Indians and was respected by them. In Missouri, Boone often went hunting with the very Shawnees who had captured and adopted him decades earlier. Some 19th-century writers regarded Boone's sympathy for Indians as a character flaw and therefore altered his words to conform to contemporary attitudes."

I can see how an argument could be made for a better mascot, but not quite to the chancellor's point.

[Nidaros]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

I'd oppose Boone on other grounds: The guy was never in Colorado. Why not go with Zebulon Pike instead?

- "Zebulon" is a great name for a mascot.

- The guy was actually *in* Colorado

- His reputation doesn't really center on the displacement of Native Americans.

I would agree, picking Daniel Boone, keeps making me think of Fess Parker and how he lost his life at the Alamo, oh crap I am getting Davey Crockett and Daniel Boone mixed up.

I had some visitors this weekend and took them to Laura Ingalls Wilder's homestead in DeSmet. There is so much confusion on details about where the Ingalls lived and when. If you watch the Inspiration channel, you are convinced they lived most if not all of their life in Walnut Grove Mn. History is weird, and can be reinvented to fit the current scene. Here though the new people to Denver U aren't buying it.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

The Fighting Zebs has a certain ring to it. But, Pike would not be appropriate because he could be perceived as a symbol of Manifest Destiny which may be offensive to the Hispanic Community. Just sayin'.

I'd oppose Boone on other grounds: The guy was never in Colorado. Why not go with Zebulon Pike instead?

- "Zebulon" is a great name for a mascot.

- The guy was actually *in* Colorado

- His reputation doesn't really center on the displacement of Native Americans.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

I think they should rename Pikes Peak also.If you're going to re-write History to satisfy the political correct crowd,why not go all the way?Why leave all those offensive names of things out there offending people?

[filbert]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

The problem is that Pike's Peak is more a Colorado Springs thing than a Denver thing . . .

(general rant on subject of nicknames deleted in the interests of board comity)

[sdsu_drake]

Re: Denver U Mascot?

With Colorado's recently legalizing marijuana maybe they should be called the rolling bong hits.