Take A Hike, Chief

I'll say what I just said on the other Chief Illiniwek video:

I've grown up in Champaign-Urbana and the Chief was a huge part of my childhood. I will readily admit that I got chills when he came out for his last half time performance. I was pretty upset when I found out my favorite team would no longer have a mascot. I'll admit that from the viewpoint of someone who didn't grow up as a Big 10 or Fighting Illini fan, the Chief could look a bit cheesy, especially after watching this video, but look at Brutus Buckeye from OSU. What kind of a mascot is that? At least we are looking up to an actual human that deserves honor.

Also, how is it that the Florida State Seminoles are able to keep their name simply because they pay off the Seminole tribe that is still around? I don't know if you've seen too many FSU fans, but their costumes are far more 'offensive' than some of the Illini fans. Just because there is no Illiniwek tribe in existence anymore doesn't mean we should deny this opportunity to make the Chief more historically accurate.

Yes, there will always be those idiots like the kid in the $3 headdress in the video that had no idea what he was talking about. There will always be those people that ruin it for the rest of us and make it look like the Illini fans are really mocking the Illiniwek tribe but I assure you that is not the case.

Overall, I think there are definitely things about the Chief do need to be changed, but he should not be erased permanently. I think that his uniform (that was made by a troop of boyscouts) needs to be re-evaluated along with his dance routine to make everything reflect the true nature of the Illiniwek tribe. If you anti-chief people are claiming we are not respecting 'your' people (even though most of you live your everyday life like every other Westernized American) then you need to help us make the change instead of just ignoring the problem completely and leaving us with no mascot.

We need a happy medium people!