Yesterday I made a few rounds. First I went to drop $300 on new tires for my car. They didn’t have them in stock, and told me to come back today and they’d be happy to put them on for me. After which I had to run and get my oil changed. After changing my oil, they told me I really needed a new air filter, but UPS hadn’t delivered the box full of them yet, and I’d have to come back today to get one stuck in. After striking out for the second time, I went to drop another $25 to have the Mexicans clean my car (easy with the armor all guys…).

So anyway, the reason I tell you all this is to explain what I was doing today. I went back to get my air filter installed and was sitting around waiting to get my new tires put on while I read the Greenville News. One article (scroll down for the second dark bullet) in particular happened to catch my eye. It’s short, so I’ll quote it here:

PETA protest — The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has written a letter to NCAA President Myles Brand asking the NCAA to stop USC and Jacksonville (Ala.) State from using the nickname Gamecocks.

Spurrier said he had not been aware of the report. But, he said, “I think most all South Carolina Gamecock people are not in favor of gamecocks fighting in a cockpit. I think we all agree that it’s probably a good law that that is no longer legal.”

“I think in a way, though, we’re proud of the animal, the gamecock, because when it gets in a fight, it fights until somebody dies. They’re tremendous fighters. The effort and so forth that those birds have is something to be admired in a way.”

The letter, which was given to USA Today by PETA, said cock fighting was a “hideous ‘blood sport’ that, like spousal abuse, bank robbery and driving while intoxicated, is illegal.”

WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THIS?!

The Gamecock has been the mascot for the University of South Carolina since before PETA even existed.

For reference:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit organization, it has its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, and a claimed 800,000 members and over 100 employees worldwide.

Source: Wikipedia

At the turn of the century, after struggling for more than a decade under numerous nicknames, the school’s football team was first referred to unofficially as “Game Cocks.”

In 1903, Columbia’s morning newspaper, The State, shortened the name to one word and South Carolina teams have been Gamecocks ever since.

Source: University of South Carolina Athletic Traditions

That’s about 80 years of precedence by my count. And in those 80 years, how many people complained? How many people petitioned (much less successfully) to get it removed? How many people implied that the name of the mascot in some way encouraged cock fighting or cruelty to animals?

In fact, if you read further, you realize that the nickname has much less to do with the actual animal than it does a Revolutionary war hero from South Carolina:

In fact, General Thomas Sumter, famed guerilla fighter of the Revolutionary War, was known as “The Fighting Gamecock.”

How much more pathetic can we get? What’s next? Shall we insist that the Atlanta Braves change their name because it implies some type of discrimination towards Native Americans who gave their lives to defend their land? What about insisting that USC’s rival school Clemson change their mascot because “Clemson Tigers” somehow implies violence and retaliation towards innocent fuzzy little tigers?

Common sense has officially surrendered…