The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who are the new Phillies AAA affiliate, were forced to change their mascot’s name from PorkChop to Ferrous after people complained PorkChop was racist. Apparently, the slur is derogatory towards Puerto Ricans. Not only was this news to me, but it was also news to the IronPigs General Manager Kurt Landes,"We were really unaware of any negative connotations with the word 'pork chop,"' he said. "If it offended a few, it's a few too many."The name was selected from a group of 7,300 fan submitted names for the furry mascot. I'm guess those who submitted the name were either unaware of the other meaning or found it incredibly funny that the team had no idea about it. Ferrous, the mascot’s new name, was actually the top submission by fans and comes from the Latin word iron. Oh, those smarties in Allentown.
This isn't the first time a sports team has laid down because some ethnic group has gotten upset. Remember the Redmen...I mean the St. John's Red Storm. Hey and that team in Syracuse...the Orangemen? But my favorite had to be the fact that the MLS Houston Dynamo originally wanted to be called the Houston 1836 highlighting the year that Texas became a state. Unfortunately it upset Mexicans because Texas had seceded from Mexico. So should they just annex themselves back to Mexico to make you feel better?
I say stand up Chief Wahoo! Do the tomahawk chop you Braves fans. Parade yourself around on that horse Florida State Seminoles guy. People are way too sensitive these days and they need to just get over it!
(Photo: ironpigsbaseball.com; source)
It's been fun blogging with you,
Kate
No comments:
Post a Comment