First the NCAA announced that all college nicknames that are deemed hostile or abusive, specifically referring to Native Americans for now, will be banned from NCAA Championship competitions.

Then the California Legislature decided that state high schools should adopt a similar policy saying that public schools could not have Native American or ethnically themed mascots.

With all this commotion about Native American mascots, I wanted to look at some of the other nicknames in the collegiate ranks and see if perhaps others should be altered as well. I’ll break down five kinds of team names that should no longer be used.

The Cowboys

First, I’ll begin with those most often associated with “Indians,” the Cowboys. Schools such as Oklahoma State should no longer use a grizzled man waving around two pistols for two reasons.

One, this isn’t what a cowboy is. A cowboy’s job is to round up cattle, not chase and shoot people on a horse like their mascot.

Secondly, he’s waving around guns. There’s enough violence in the world already, we don’t need to see it with our college mascots.

The Crusaders

Do you actually know what the Crusaders did? It involved people killing others for treasure and money, but said that they were fighting in the name of God to protect their religion.

The Crusades have no real relevance to America, but still the name needs to be addressed.

The Aggies

You might as well just call them the “Farmers.” Should we really mock people who are usually of a lower class and who struggle to make ends meet from season to season by using them as a nickname?

And if you’re not referring to the development of crops, then what else could an Aggie be? Are you representing those who provide healthy plant life in packaging known as a “dime sack?”

All Natural Disaster nicknames

The Hurricanes? The Cyclones?

It’s not quite the same, but we might as well call some New York state university the Twin Towers.

People don’t want or need reminders of events that have caused grief. In August and September, University of Miami fans may cheer on the Hurricanes on Saturdays, but run and hide from them on Sundays.

This makes no sense. Just get rid of them altogether.

The Rebels

This one by far makes the least sense to me, but I suppose they’re not very common. This last one can be depicted in many ways, but I’m looking at the way, specifically, Ole Miss depicts its mascot. Plantation and slave owners should be in no way allowed to represent the NCAA.

You would think that most college competitions have at least one African-American involved and maybe, just maybe, a plantation owner running around the sidelines would offend them.

The Civil War is over.

But the NCAA should at least have the guts to stand up to the University and force a change.

Parting shot

Native American names are obvious and easy to say offend people, but there are many others that should not be used. America is the land of opportunity, making for a wide variety of people living here.

The NCAA and the government should no longer allow nicknames that may offend particular groups.

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Tyler Stalker can be reached at [email protected]