Oklahoma State Fans Hold ‘Trail of Tears’ Banner for College GameDay

 Image source: Deadspin.com
Image source: Deadspin.com

 

 

A group of Oklahoma State University football fans have sparked outrage for a sign they created to hold during ESPN’s GameDay football-preview show.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys play the Florida State Seminoles tonight in a game in Arlington, Texas. The fans in question evidently felt that referencing a historical tragedy would be a clever play on the Seminoles’ name, and created a banner that said “Send ‘Em Home #trail_of_tears #gopokes“.

Influential sports blog Deadspin.com called it “one of the dumbest GameDay signs you’ll ever see.”

The sign is concerning on a few levels. The Trail of Tears refers to the consequence of the Indian Removal Act of 1830: The forced relocation of American Indians from the southeastern United States to Indian Territory, a region which would later be known as Oklahoma. Between 1830 and 1837, some 46,000 Indians were removed, and many thousands died on the journey west. It’s odd, to put it mildly, that Oklahoma State football fans in particular could create a sign (and it’s not a small sign) that so casually treated a tragedy that is an integral part of their own state’s history. According to 2010 statistics, Oklahoma State graduated the most Native American students of any college in the country, and its student body was 9.2% American Indian or Alaska Native.

RELATED: ESPN Announcer Apologizes for “Trail of Tears” Comment

There’s also something ignorant about a sign that references the Trail of Tears and also says “Send ‘Em Home.” The Trail of Tears wasn’t about sending anybody home — it was about driving Native people from their homes. And in a larger sense, the entire continent was Natives’ “home” until certain uninvited guests showed up, beginning in 1492.

Today is the Cherokee National Holiday; when contacted for comment, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker said that the sign was “not going to ruin our holiday. … We’re trying to at least educate our state and other states as well so they truly understand, and we’ve got more work to do.”

From the official @okstate twitter feed, the university addressed the issue with the following statement: “OSU does not condone the insensitive sign shown at today’s GameDay event and have requested that it be removed.”

The general reaction on Twitter has been one of outrage and disappointment, from Natives and non-Natives alike. Mark Charles, Navajo, who tweets as @WirelessHogan, summed up his feelings with the following graphic:

 

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Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/08/30/oklahoma-state-fans-hold-trail-tears-banner-college-gameday-156681

Seahawks fans aim to break record for crowd noise in home opener

John Boyle, The Herald
Seahawks fans have long considered themselves one of the loudest fanbases in sports, now they’re out to prove it. A fan group known as Volume 12 has applied with Guinness World Records to measure the sound levels at Seattle’s Sept. 15 home opener against San Francisco. The goal is to break the Guinness record for “loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium” which was set in 2011 at a soccer match in Turkey.

In that game between rivals Galatasary and Fenerbahce, crowd noises were recorded at 131.76 decibels. Of course that doesn’t necessarily make that the loudest game in sports history, just the loudest with Guinness on hand to certify the achievement (is being loud an achievement?).

According to Seahawks.com, fans produce noise levels of 112 decibels (I’m sure the fact that it’s 112 and not 111 or 113 is purely a coincidence, right?), which if accurate means Seahawks fans have their work cut out for them come Sept.

We know that CenutryLink Field and the fans who fill it are extremely loud. This fall we’ll apparently find out if they are world record loud.