When I first came to the area and learned that the Pea Ridge mascot was a Blackhawk, I thought that was a real good mascot since it is kinda rare, with very few schools having a Blackhawk for a mascot across the United States. I looked up nine schools in the USA with that mascot name, but most of them had a Blackhawk as in Indian warrior, not a bird.
Up in Missouri, Pineville Elementary/Junior High has the same mascot as does Pea Ridge, and the same colors as well. Most schools with a Blackhawk mascot center in the states around Chicago (Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana). That's probably due to the fact that Chicago's professional hockey team is called the Blackhawks.
At any rate, I believe that the only Blackhawks in Arkansas are right here in Pea Ridge. That has cachet similar to the name "Razorbacks" for the University of Arkansas. When folks say Razorbacks anywhere in the country, everyone knows who they are talking about. When I was coaching a summer AAU track and field team, we were based at the university and we used Junior Razorbacks for our mascot. We had a Hog on our jerseys and folks knew when we were running in Texas, California, Florida and, even, Massachusetts where we were from.
Because of the schools that use the Indian connotation for Blackhawk, the mascot has come under attack for being "insensitive" and "offensive." The Madison School District in Wisconsin last summer enacted a rule for all Madison schools that anyone wearing a t-shirt with an Indian sports mascot on it would be subject to suspension and even expulsion. In that school district, if someone shouted the "F" word on school property, that person would be subject to a reprimand or mandatory counseling, but if that same student just walked in with a Washington Redskins football jersey, he could get kicked out of school.
Fort Atkinson, Wisc., has the Blackhawk mascot, referring to the famed Indian chief Black Hawk who actually fought in the area that encompasses that school district. They are under heavy pressure to change their name, but to their credit, they are resisting the PC police and seek to keep their mascot intact.
The governor of Wisconsin, signed a law two years ago that made it much more difficult to force a school to change its name. Prior to that, a single person could claim personal offense and force change on a school with the help of a liberal judge and that state has no lack of that kind of judge.
Schools that would like to keep the Blackhawk mascot and avoid facing intimidation or fierce political pressure to change ought to follow Hendrix College's example of what they did when their "Warrior" mascot came under attack. Hendrix had been the Indian Warriors for a lot of years, but when they were called upon to change, they simply switched their warrior from an Indian one to a Celtic one.
Hendrix used to have an Indian profile on their sports teams, but now they sport a wild haired, face painted warrior that looks a lot like the Celtic warriors of old. Their switch of mascot identity allowed them to keep the name Warriors.
Now comes the rub. I, myself, am a third generation Irish immigrant. I also have some Scot blood in my family tree, so this wild haired Celtic warrior could be construed as making fun of my heritage.
I am SO offended that mascots like the Fightin' Irish and this Celtic Warrior exist, that I have trouble sleeping and it has brought on bouts of depression.
Not.
Celtic warriors were a blend of Norman, Viking, Pict and the Gaels. The Irish people were a blend of some of the fiercest warriors on the planet, and so I can see where they make a great mascot. Since they are a collection of white people, no thought is given if perhaps it might offend someone.
A lot of things have gone off the track over the past few years, with political correctness becoming a substitute for intelligence and common sense.
Now the blackhawk birds don't actually live much around here with most of them living in the American southwest and down through central America. I am not familiar with how the bird came to be the mascot for Pea Ridge but it is a real bird, mostly black with a few areas of white on their bodies.
We have a red-shouldered hawk who has been showing up in our backyard a few times lately, and he is mostly black with some red and white thrown in. He'd make a great mascot.
Can "flip-flops" lead to flops?
Since we are leaving the "cold weather" season, perhaps this is the best time to address something that has been on my mind for sometime. This question relates to whether "flip-flop" wearers diminish their prospects for athletic success by wearing said product.
There's no question that wearing flip-flops routinely or every day is unhealthy. As one person put it on a podiatrists' website, wearing flip-flops is "incredibly unhealthy." The list of health concerns for flip flop wearers is as long as it is varied.
First of all, the kind of flip flops that I am generally referring to are the kind with the flat, rubbery sole with a thong holding it to the foot -- the kind with porous, squishy soles with thin rubber straps beside the arches and big toe.
Syracuse (New York) hospitals published a "top 10" causes of accident and injury among the children of that area that occurred on a regular basis. Number 5 on that list was the wearing of flip-flops. The accidents listed involved slipping, tripping and falling that led to toe gashes, sprained or broken ankles, as well as broken bones in other parts of the body, not to mention the numerous scratches, punctures and abrasions that come with flip-flop use in general.
The University of Auburn did a study that bore out the fact that anybody who wears flip flops on a regular basis will eventually start to walk differently. Auburn found out that inevitably people learn to walk with their toes scrunched up along with developing the habit of taking short steps with very little knee lift in their stride. More ominously, they produced irrefutable proof that excessive flip flop wearing led to permanent damage to the feet. Besides walking differently, kids also learn to run differently.
The University of Miami did studies that revealed that flip-flops are tremendous breeding grounds for more than 18,000 kinds of bacteria. Such footwear is also an excellent host for staph germs, the kind of germ that has been known to prove fatal on occasion such as the tragic story of the Gravette football player who developed a staph infection in 2009. The university studied numerous flip-flops that had been worn for extended periods of time and they discovered that 93% of them carried fecal bacteria with an amazing 20% of them infected with E coli virus. The E coli virus is so deadly that a few years back, a local food manufacturer in Benton County nearly had to shut down their production when E-coli was detected in a storage area outside the plant.
Beside the infectious dangers of flip-flops, there are reams of evidence to back up claims that excessive or even regular flip-flop wearers will have a high chance of developing feet, ankle and leg problems, as well as hip and back dysfunction. The problems relate to the re-orientation of the muscles and ligaments.
Flip-flops offer no muscular or skeletal support. That usually leads to overpronation which gives the wearer the joy of having flat feet. That condition strains the ankle and can also lead to plantar fasciitist. Anyone who has ever had plantar fasciitis can attest to the pain and suffering attributed to it. Razorback basketball fans know of the trials of Michael Sanchez, a star high school recruit who saw very little playing time in three seasons for the Hogs due to foot problems like the aforementioned.
Now to my main point of the column which was to answer the question "Can flip-flops lead to flops?"
There are lots of kids who spend a lot of time trying to be successful in some sporting venue or another. They go to expensive sport camps, buy the right gear and practice to attain the highest level of success possible. I believe the wearing of that kind of foot gear can sabotage a sporting career to a degree unimaginable, making success a lot harder to attain.
The whole point of repetitive practices is the knowledge that our muscles have memory. If a basketball player is a poor free throw shooter, more practice time can correct the deficiency which will come when the muscles in an athletes body "remembers" the proper way to shoot. Coaches of all sports have had to deal with talented athletes who come in with "bad habits" or tendencies to do things in less than efficient ways.
I have long known of athletes who were quick but at the same time, were not fast. Athletes who were quick off the start but who could not accelerate. Being quick but not fast is often the result of a choppy, incorrect running mechanics. An example of that might be a football player who was quick through the hole but who was usually run down from behind after reaching daylight. Running with little knee lift, or running with an improper foot strike are ways in which quick people have trouble accelerating.
When I was coaching track in McDonald County, Mo., back in the 1980s, I had an athlete who had an incredible time for 20 to 30 meters but who never got any faster after that point. He said his back hurt him a lot and after determining that he had flat feet, I got him to a podiatrist who prescribed for him some shoe inserts which he wore daily starting in the pre-season. He then had a banner year in the 100 meters, improving his time by nearly a full second, which meant going from maybe making the finals to being a regional champion. Luckily his flat feet were his only problem. He had good knee extension and decent form but his foot strike was poor, due to the flat foot problem.
Any athlete who depends on speed for success especially in the sports of basketball, and football ought to regard flip-flops like bears regard spring traps. Any fun or joy derived from their use will be deducted from the fun and joy of athletic success. Excessive flip-flop wearing produces inefficient and undesired muscle memory.
There are uses for flip-flops. They are great for hanging around the house or pool, when people really aren't traveling in them much. It's when you wear them a whole lot, or try to walk or run in them when the problems start to manifest themselves.
Lots of folks love their flip flops due to their cheapness and ease of wearing and anyone criticizing their use might raise the ire of those who use the things regularly. So when folks consider their upcoming wardrobe choices before the really warm days return (and I am hoping that they do -- soon!) they ought to think about the dangers of flip-flops. It is the moderation thing.
Like chocolate cake, a little bit now and then won't hurt you but a steady diet of the chocolaty goodness could lead to a lot of problems.
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Editor's note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 04/01/2020