Bad medicine for mascots

Tim Giago:  The medicine of Michael HaneyPeople of many Indian nations in America place a strong belief in ‘medicine.” Not as much as in the medicinal sense, but in the spiritual sense. There is good medicine and bad medicine. There are those who say that bad medicine was placed upon them by an enemy and they must have a ceremony to remove it. Now don’t laugh because these are powerful beliefs and are often based on reality. If a Mike Huckabee does not believe in evolution and he happens to be a Baptist minister, what does that say about reality?

On Saturday, in a professional football game in Seattle, there was powerful medicine on the field. The Washington “R-words,” believed that their recently murdered teammate, Sean Taylor, a defensive back, was on the field with them. Washington running back Clinton Portis said he knew Taylor was with them in spirit on the field.

There was another spirit on that field. In 2005, just before his death, that gentle giant Seminole Indian, Michael Haney, held a ceremony to place bad medicine on the Washington football team, and on any other sporting team that used Native Americans as mascots. That included the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs, Florida State Seminoles (Michael hated that fact that he was Seminole and the Florida Seminole tribe allowed Florida State to desecrate his people) and the Atlanta Braves and their hideous tomahawk chop.