Here's a PC solution to team nicknames that are offensive ...

Putting pressure on schools to stop using nicknames that certain groups deem offensive isn't exclusive to the politically correct decades of the 1990s and 2000s. It's been going on longer than that.  

Check out this list of schools/teams that have either dropped their old nicknames for new ones and/or have discontinued using their mascots at: http://www.jayrosenstein.com/pages/honormascots.html

In certain cases, I can understand the need to change a school or team's nickname because it's blatantly offensive. The most classic example that comes to mind for me is Pekin (Illinois) High School, whose teams were called "the Chinks" until 1980. (The school's mascot was a student dressed as a Chinaman who wore a coolie hat and banged a gong when the team scored a point.)

A few miles up the road from Pekin is the city of Peoria, home of Bradley University and the Bradley Braves. The school has kept the nickname Braves, but dumped its mascot several years ago.

Bradley is on a list of schools being watched by big brother NCAA for what it deems "hostile and abusive use" of Native American imagery. (Yes, this is the same principled organization which sets rules and regulations for everything under the sun, yet never seems to pass up an opportunity to make more money on the backs of student athletes. See Exhibit A: the NCAA is considering expanding the recently concluded NCAA men's basketball tournament from 64 to 96 teams.)

I noticed this week Bradley's students voted in a nonbinding referendum that asks school administrators to come up with an "appropriate" mascot. Pat Oklendorf, editor of the Bradley student newspaper, told the Associated Press he believes "a lot of people seem to be attached to the Braves name, but they want some sort of character (aka, a mascot)" to be put in place.

Here's a thought: if the NCAA really believes any member school whose teams bear a nickname it considers offensive to Native Americans -- or any other group, for that matter -- why not simply inform officials at each school that they have one year to get rid of the nickname and come up with a new name? That'll put an end to forcing schools like Bradley to continue walking this silly PC tightrope. (On a completely different tangent, why is it that there's never much of a fuss made about professional sports teams which have turned handsome profits with nicknames such as the Indians (Cleveland) the Braves (Atlanta), the Redskins (Washington), the Chiefs (Kansas City) and the Blackhawks (Chicago) for decades? Just wondering.)

I've got an even better solution: since every group likely can find something offensive in every team's nickname, why not do away with nicknames altogether -- from high school, to college, to pro teams? That's right! A clean sweep. No nicknames.

Think about it. Members of PETA, for example, are probably offended by teams that use animal nicknames. And I imagine any team called "the Cougars" not only would offend PETA members -- it would get an earful from single women over 40 who choose to identify themselves as cougars!

What about teams that are called "the Devils," or go by some other demonic name. It's got to offend some, if not all, Christians, right? And can't the same be said about atheists, who no doubt find nicknames such as the Friars, the Preachers (Johnson Bible College, Knoxville, Tennessee), the Praying Colonels (Centre College, Danville, Kentucky) and, of course, the Saints, offensive? Then there's the Vanderbilt University Commodores. Hey, isn't that Lionel Richie's old band? They certainly have to be offended!

We have the Agnes Scott College (Decatur, Georgia) Scotties, the New York Lower East Side Prep Immigrants, the Eufaula (Oklahoma) High School Ironheads (somehow I can relate to being an Ironhead), the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Lewisville (Texas) Fighting Farmers and the Laona (Wisconsin) Fighting Kellys.

Then there's the Yuma (Arizona) High School Criminals (What are the cheers like at that school? Go Criminals ... fight, fight, fight!?), the Madeira (Ohio) Amazons (just the girls' teams), the California State University-Long Beach Dirtbags (that's the name of the baseball team -- I kid you not!) ...

And last, but not least: the Watersmeet Township (Michigan) Nimrods.

On behalf of Nimrods everywhere, I take offense to that!