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News out of the University of Illinois concerning it's mascot coincidentally came shortly after a post last week about unique mascots. This post is about controversial mascots as the University of Illinois announced that it will retire its 81-year-old American Indian mascot, Chief Illiniwek, following the last men's home basketball game of the season on Wednesday. In 2005, the NCAA deemed the buckskin-clad Illiniwek an offensive use of American Indian imagery and barred the university from hosting postseason events.

Illinois still will be able to use the name Illini because it's short for Illinois and the school can use the term Fighting Illini, because it's considered a reference to the team's competitive spirit, school officials said. It is unclear if the school will get a new mascot.

School officials said they received a letter from the NCAA on Thursday that said the school will no longer be banned from hosting postseason events if it drops the mascot and related American Indian imagery. The NCAA's sanctions thus far have prevented Illinois from hosting postseason events in two low-profile sports.

American Indian groups and others complained for years that the mascot, used since 1926, is demeaning. Supporters of the mascot say it honors the contributions of American Indians to Illinois.

What side of the debate are you on?

[http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/73313689.jpg] At any given time there is a good chance that ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Classic is on in my apartment. I couldn't help but notice that ESPN has devoted this week to showing the top rivalries in college basketball. Rivalry Week is a great concept; schedule all the big time rivalries in a one-week span to get people excited about the upcoming conference tournaments and, ultimately, the NCAA Tournament.

Games that are annually shown during Rivalry Week include: Duke vs. North Carolina, Missouri vs. Kansas, Syracuse vs. Connecticut, Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State, Villanova vs. Saint Joseph's, and Kentucky vs. Florida.

Are there any great rivalries that you know of that they are missing from their line up?

(Photo provided by Getty Images, taken Grant Halverson)

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With softball season just around the corner, I'd like to bring up an area of discussion that received attention over the off season.

Last summer the Division I softball committee recommended a new maximum-contest limit for the regular season. Softball teams are permitted to schedule games on 56 dates throughout the season, and are free to schedule more than one game on each date. Some teams competing in this year���s Women���s College World Series had played more than 60 games before they got to Oklahoma City. The softball committee wants to institute a game limit which would allow schools to play a maximum of 56 games throughout the spring. This is the same number of games Division I baseball teams are permitted to play each season.

However, the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet voted against this proposal. So while softball is limited to 56 dates, many Division I programs play close to 70 games each spring.

Not that I don't love playing this game, but I think I would have appreciated a 56 maximum game limit when I was a student-athlete. Amidst all of the traveling and missed classes, it seems that ten or so less games would benefit each individual student-athlete (mentally and physically) more than those games would benefit the team and/or season overall.

Do you think college softball teams play too many games?

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Watching the BCS championship game between Florida and Ohio State on January 8th, it became difficult to avoid the conclusion that the NCAA has abandoned its commitment to its student-athletes in favor of commercial payouts.

How can the NCAA possibly claim that it is in the best interest of its student-athletes, or even college football, to make the best teams sit out four to seven weeks before an important bowl game? Loss of conditioning alone is a danger to the players. Every few years, the wait becomes longer and the final game later.

In the NCAA, where these student-athletes are completely at the mercy of this organization, these young adults seem to have been sacrificed to the dollar. I would like to hear a rational, ethical explanation as to why Division I-A student-athletes are subjected to the present conditions. The obvious answer involves 12-digit dollar figures, and cities and corporations that fear any change will reduce their financial gains.

(Photo provided by Getty Images, taken by <span id="ctlInfo_ImageDetails">Andy Lyons)

!http://active.typepad.com/teamsports/images/scoreboard_2.jpg![http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/scoreboard_2.jpg]Happy news out of Pasadena, California: Caltech beat an NCAA Division III school for the first time in more than a decade, ending a 207-game streak by beating Bard College (N.Y.) 81-52 on Saturday night. The Beavers, hadn't beaten a fellow Division III school since the 1995-96 season, when they beat Principia (Ill.).

The California Institute of Technology, which has a student body of some 850, is renowned for its programs in science and math. Albert Einstein lectured at Caltech, Linus Pauling was a professor and 31 Nobel Prize winners either have taught or studied on the small campus in suburban Los Angeles. The school has extremely high admission standards and puts arduous academic demands on the students. So it is understandable that while the school attracts some of the nation's best and brightest, it doesn't necessarily draw the most athletically gifted.

One streak left on Caltech's list is a 245-game conference losing streak. The Beavers haven't won a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game in 21 years. They open their conference schedule at Occidental College on Jan. 10 looking to put an end to that streak as well. Good luck to them in doing so!

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Perhaps it's time to revisit this topic in light of one of the most exciting bowl games I've ever seen.

In overtime, Boise State decided to go for a two point conversion, and beat the Oklahoma Sooners 43-42. The Boise State Broncos did for college football what the Utah Utes did a couple years ago. They reminded the BCS that the little guy deserves a chance at the big boys. I understand the strength of schedule argument, but shouldn't they at least get a shot at the National Title?...Have a chance to earn the right to play in the national title game? If they really don���t deserve a shot at the national title (because they play in a smaller conference than Ohio State or Florida), they would probably get eliminated in the first round by the playoff system anyway.

Historically, sports have shown us that the best team the entire season through doesn���t always have what it takes to win when it counts. It just doesn���t seem to be a fair assessment, especially when people use the argument that a playoff system will never be implemented because of all the revenue that would be lost on bowl games. The thought of compromising crowning an NCAA football champion that is truly the best because of moneythat shifting the game around for the sake of entertainment instead of in an effort to uphold the integrity of the game and collegiate sports is even an optionmakes me sick. Especially from a former student-athlete���s perspective.

What about a four team playoff that includes teams like Boise State if they finish undefeated? One thing is for sure, Boise State made a lot of people think twice. Congrats to them on their great season.

What do you think?

(Photo provided by Getty Images, taken by Jeff Gross)

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Last week in the Chicago Tribune's Redeye, I read that Tennessee basketball star Candace Parker dunked again--but this time she was whistled for a technical foul for showboating.

Parker had her fifth career dunk, and third this season, with 12:56 left in the first half of the Lady Vols game against West Virginia. She stole the ball at one end and jammed it with one hand at the end of a fast break. This time Parker's dunk was more emphatic with the rim making a louder thud, and she finished by popping her jersey. That led officials to confer with each other, and a technical was called.

I can't help but thinking how many male college basketball players dunk the ball and then showboat afterwards, playing to the cameras--not only not getting called for technicals, but being admired as superior athletes. I will admit, I appreciate athletes who put their head down and get their work done, hustling in a unflashy manner. Nonetheless, for those who dunk the ball and pop their jersey to represent their team or even themselves, shouldn't men and women get equal treatment?

(Photo provided by AFP, taken by Mauricio Lima)

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The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics released a position statement last week calling for a ban on the use of male practice players in women's intercollegiate athletics. The statement concludes months of debate about whether the practice should continue.

According to the CWA statement, the use of male practice players &quot;violates the spirit of gender equity and Title IX.&quot; The committee believes that &quot;any inclusion of male practice players results in diminished participation opportunities for female student-athletes, contrary to the association's principles of gender equity, nondiscrimination, competitive equity and student-athlete well-being.&quot;

The most common argument in favor of using male practice players is that it improves female players' skills. The CWA determined that this argument implied &quot;an archaic notion of male preeminence that continues to impede progress toward gender equity and inclusion&quot; and believe that using male practice players is a threat to the growth of female participation.

(Photo provided by Getty Images, taken by Jim McIsaac)