Seminole spearchucker is "top tradition"

Chief Osceola, Renegade named college football's top tradition

By Corey ClarkIt's a scene that has been synonymous with Florida State football for decades. Moments before the opening kickoff, Chief Osceola rides his trusty horse Renegade to the middle of the field inside Doak Campbell Stadium. He raises the flaming spear toward the sky—as the players and fans scream with anticipation—and then slams it down at midfield.Comment:  That's all there is to this article--at least without subscribing and paying. But it's enough.

As I wrote in Why FSU's Seminoles Aren't Okay, this whole spearchucking routine is false and stereotypical. The real Osceola wasn't a chief and didn't ride a horse, for starters.

The routine is still with us because the largest Seminole tribe in Florida gave its blessing. Presumably so it could keep its casinos open with the state's blessing. But that doesn't make the routine any less false or stereotypical.

"Chief Osceola" the terrorist

The Seminoles have been in the news and Newspaper Rock recently. For instance:

Indians had no way to worship God?!
Indians, terrorists = US enemies
Whites "play Indian" in Swamplandia!

Why do Americans think the Seminoles were murderous savages? Who were so primitive they had no religion? Who died out a century ago because they couldn't adapt to modern ways?

Gee, I can't imagine. It couldn't have anything to do with millions of football fans seeing a "Seminole" act like a murderous savage every week, could it? Like the kind of barbarian who's too primitive to have any religion? The kind who died out a century ago because it couldn't adapt to modern ways?

No, there can't possibly be connection between the savage Seminole that Americans see and the savage Seminoles that they believe in. It's just an incredible coincidence, right? Yeah, right.

So "Chief Osceola" terrorizes opposing football teams. And the Seminoles terrorized opposing US armies, according to many Americans. Any questions about why people see the Seminoles as terrorists?

For more on the Seminoles, see FSU Seminoles Blast High-School Seminoles and Andrew Jackson Institute Fights Seminoles.

Below:  "Like Osama bin Laden the original Osceola, I will strike you through the hearts, Americans football opponents."