No. 12 Illinois Fighting Illini vs. No. 5 Virginia Tech Hokies

SAN JOSE REGION

7:10 PM ET  No. 12 Illinois Fighting Illini at No. 5 Virginia Tech Hokies

At this time, I’d like to turn serious for a moment.  I’ve made a lot of tongue-and-cheek comments today, some of those may be insulting to certain people.  But now I’d like to recognize a moment of silence in memory of an American Icon: Chief Illiniwek.  On Tuesday, the University caved into PC pressure and voted to rescind the Chief as the school’s mascot.

Now, Chief Illiniwek was a fictional character, named after a group of six Native American tribes known as the Illiniwek.  During halftime of games, Chief Illiniwek would entertain the crowd with a traditional (and rather horrible) dance.  Some deemed this action as a process that perpetuated stereotypes and hate.  Yes, not all Native Americans wear headdresses and dance around, so we shouldn’t instill this image in our children.  Well it’s a good thing then that all Irish people like to kick the shit out of each other or we’d probably have a potato gun war on our hands. Seriously though, how can one group ban a dancing Indian and allow another savage Indian to ride a horse onto the center of a field and chuck a flaming spear into the ground?  I mean everyone knows that Native Americans are too drunk to ride horses.

As for the Hokies, this is another fictional character derived from and old VTech fight song.  I wonder if this is this first time ever that two imaginary mascots matched up against each other. But no matter how many magical powers a turkey-like Hokie possesses, the spirit of Illiniwek lives on and he will not allow the Illini to go quietly into the night.

Besides, if Thanksgiving taught us one thing, it’s that Indians eat turkeys. Click here to see the Chief’s final dance and to experience what the fuss was all about. Edge: Illinois Fighting Illini