Maybe the Utes aren’t worthy of us…

Ute fans are up in arms over losing their logo ripped off from the Washington Redskins and that we might give up the Ute mascot altogether.

Why does no one consider that maybe the tribe itself bears a great deal of responsibility for this?

Every so often the tribe seems to come up with one more condition to our use of the name, one more hoop we have to jump through.  And I maintain that it is their right to do so without question.  Their name, their conditions.

But at some point for the University of Utah it has to become too much.

Also while in law school I got to do some work in the tribal courts.  One case was trying to get a guy out of tribal jail who had been held for over 700 days for possession of just over an ounce of marijuana, without ever having a trial.  The second was a custody case involving a male from the tribe and a woman who was not a member.

Despite the involvement of a prominent defense attorney, they wouldn’t release the guy, hell he might still be in jail.  And despite serious evidence of neglect the tribal court would not give custody to the mother.  And these are only cases I’ve had personal involvement with.  The stories of corruption I’ve heard are downright shocking.

So before we all start to freak out about the U screwing this up, we really should look at maybe it’s just too much to keep the name.

Just some food for thought.