May 6, 2001

By Nick Canepa
San Diego Union-Tribune

SAN DIEGO - I'm not big on revisionist history, and a form of it is being practiced at San Diego State. A task force is playing Hernando Cortes. Montezuma II has been arrested. Soon he will be stoned by those who once loved him, and that will be that.

The task force has recommended that the university's loin-clothed, red-faced, spear-firing mascot, Monty Montezuma, be replaced by a kinder, paler, better-dressed Monty, perhaps something in an Armani. A visit to Nordstrom for Monty. Suit, tie, umbrella instead of spear.

Is Bruce Henderson walking these halls of ivy? The students voted overwhelmingly to keep the Aztecs nickname and Monty Montezuma mascot, but apparently they don't matter. They merely pay tuition. What good is a campus referendum and vote if it isn't going to mean anything?

Now, as an SDSU alum who had no vote in this suddenly controversial matter, I admit to being no fan of Monty Montezuma. Not that I found him degrading. I always thought he was kind of embarrassing. After the late, great Tuffy Avii took off the garments, Monty should have been retired for good. Following Tuffy was like following Sinatra.

So, if Monty has to go -- and the decision now is up to university president Stephen Weber -- I'm not going to throw myself on hot coals.

But I don't believe any of this is really necessary. Changing the logo, which is plastered everywhere, is going to cost a lot of money, and this school doesn't exactly have a Harvard endowment. It could be doing much more important things with the dough.

At least "Aztecs" isn't going to change. If you want to say the red-faced, loin-clothed Monty is degrading to a race, you have a point. But the term Aztecs, by itself, is not degrading.

The rub: What other kind of Monty is there? General Montgomery? Colin Montgomerie? Please.

I've always felt universities honored these folks. There is nothing inherently wrong in saying you were a Florida State Seminole. The tomahawk chop is another matter.

The NFL's Washington franchise calls itself the Redskins. It's beyond degrading. It's a racial slur.

Washington's first owner, George Preston Marshall, the last man to place a black player on an NFL roster, made Ty Cobb look like Gandhi. Marshall, whose greatest contribution to his sport was developing the halftime show, is a Hall of Famer, of course. Among all nicknames in sports, that's the one that should be changed.

Anyway, if Weber goes along with the task force's recommendation, what's next? Does he tidy up the logo or order up a new mascot?

I've been giving this some thought. How about a Marine? A proud, historic outfit, the Marine Corps. Their dress blues are the greatest uniforms in the world. Very much San Diego. There's the natural historical tie-in, given the Halls of Montezuma. And, in that the Marines come under the Department of the Navy, they have no university bearing their name.

The few. The proud. I like it.

All this stuff about eagles and other forms of fowl isn't going to cut it. I mean, if you call yourself the Aztecs, your options on a mascot are pretty limited. You can't have a bulldog or goat. The horse is pretty much used up. And cows. The poor cow has enough problems.

What goes with Aztecs? I don't know if someone running around dressed like a pyramid is going to work. Egypt probably would take offense.

Why, by the way, isn't the Audubon Society upset with these teams that have birds as mascots?

Why isn't the Sierra Club fuming over the Stanford Tree?

Why aren't the Irish upset with Notre Dame, which is a French name to begin with?

Hoyas might frown on Georgetown, but nobody seems to know what a Hoya really is.

Have USC alums bothered to take into account that the Trojans were had by the Greeks?

USD has the Toreros, or bullfighters. Are animal rights groups storming Alcala Park?

Yuma High's nickname, the Criminals, in deference to the territorial slammer, may be the best in the world. Have cons and ex-cons united against the Crims?

Minnesota is fortunate there are no Vikings around anymore. At least I don't think there are. That could be a problem.

I went to San Diego High. We were the Cavemen then, Cavers now. We had first crack at a school nickname in this area and that's the one we picked? Am I complaining? Hey, I'm a Caver. I'm an Aztec. I haven't been profoundly affected by either nickname since graduation.

I also went to Roosevelt Junior High. The Rough Riders. Now there's a nickname with meat on its bones. To the best of my knowledge, Teddy's descendants have not complained.

State's task force -- say, that isn't a bad nickname, Task Force -- recommends there be a "historically accurate ambassador" with the name Montezuma II. Just how they plan to go about that is a mystery to me. Do we have many historically accurate depictions of a ruler who died in 1520? What if he looked like Adam Sandler?

Like I say, I won't be sorry to see Monty go, but that's me. Many others will. The students are the ones who have to live with this, and they voted not to change. Their votes should have counted.

Dr. Weber, we have more important things to worry about.