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SPORTSFriday 6 November 2015
Adidas offers to help eliminate Native American mascots
ANNE M. PETERSON Brayden White of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, right, and Tatiana Ticknor of the Yup’ik/Tlingit/ collaborative effort with
AP Sports Writer Dena’ina, listen as President Barack Obama speaks during the 2015 White House Tribal Nations schools.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Ad- Conference, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015, in Washington. Adidas emphasized the
idas is offering to help high initiative only involves high
schools nationwide drop Associated Press schools, and that the com-
Native American mascots. pany is not mandating that
The athletic shoe and ap- tionwide that have Native sive. tion is to help break down schools change mascots
parel maker said Thursday American mascots. “Today’s announcement is any barriers to change — and nicknames. The pro-
it will provide free design The advocacy group says a great way for us to offer change that can lead to gram does not involve its
resources to schools look- about a dozen schools up our resources to schools a more respectful and in- other agreements or spon-
ing to shelve Native Ameri- have dropped Native that want to do what’s right clusive environment for all sorships with professional or
can mascots, nicknames, mascots over the past two — to administrators, teach- American athletes.” college teams, or with indi-
imagery or symbolism. The years and another 20 are ers, students and athletes The voluntary program vidual athletes.
German company also considering a change. who want to make a dif- would give schools access
pledged to provide finan- Eric Liedtke, Adidas head ference in their lives and to the company’s design The company said it em-
cial support to ensure the of global brands who trav- in their world,” Liedtke said team for logo redesign barked on the initiative be-
cost of changing is not pro- eled to the conference, in a statement to The As- and uniform design across cause it became clear —
hibitive. said sports must be inclu- sociated Press. “Our inten- all sports. It seeks to be a through conversations with
Adidas announced the ini- the White House — that
tiative in conjunction with schools “wanting to make
the White House Tribal Na- a change had very little
tions Conference on Thurs- avenues to do so.”
day in Washington. Adidas “We are committed to
executives were among continuing a dialogue to
those attending the confer- look at the issue of Native
ence, which includes lead- images in sports and work
ers from the 567 federally to find solutions. Ultimate-
recognized tribes. ly, it’s the teams, athletes,
The company, which has coaches and fans who de-
its North American head- cide what changes they
quarters in Portland, Or- want to make. And if they
egon, also said it will be want to make a change
a founding member of a and we can help, then we
coalition that addresses want to help,” the compa-
Native American mascots ny said.
in sports. The use of such mascots
According to the group has drawn increased at-
Change the Mascot, there tention and controversy in
are about 2,000 schools na- recent years.q
Giants decline 2016 contract options on OFs Aoki, Byrd
JANIE McCAULEY In this Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015 file photo, San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum and Ryan do this offseason, such as
AP Baseball Writer Marlon Byrd slides to score against the Cincinnati Reds in the Vogelsong are free agents. looking into adding a top-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — sixth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco. Lincecum is trying to work tier left fielder on the free-
The San Francisco Giants his way back from hip sur- agent market like Justin
declined their 2016 con- Associated Press gery. Upton.
tract options on outfielders “There’s trade options and “We’re going to need to
Nori Aoki and Marlon Byrd. turned down a $5.5 million Pence. there’s free-agent options look at our outfield. We
Both players became free option on Aoki and will owe Byrd batted .272 with four and even international sce- can’t have an offseason
agents Wednesday night, him a $700,000 buyout. home runs and 31 RBIs in 39 narios,” Evans said. “Keep- without looking at ways to
but the Giants left open the Byrd had an $8 million op- games for the Giants. ing our options open in a improve ourselves,” Evans
possibility of bringing them tion, with no buyout. He “Both contributed signifi- number of areas, that’s the said. “Keep an open dia-
back later in the offseason. was acquired in a trade cantly,” Evans said. reason.” logue with (Aoki) and an
General manager Bob- with the Reds on Aug. 20 San Francisco has spots to open door with Byrd and
by Evans made the an- and was the regular right fill in the rotation, though. Aoki was limited to 93 see what happens over the
nouncement on a confer- fielder down the stretch Right-hander Tim Hudson is games, batting .287 with course of the winter. ... Defi-
ence call, saying, “It’s just in place of injured Hunter retiring, while Mike Leake, five home runs and 26 RBIs nitely not closing any doors.
tough timing for us to make before a broken right leg It’s a timing issue.”
decisions right now relative and concussion derailed
to (Aoki’s) situation given a his second half. But Aoki, First baseman Brandon
pretty good list of things we who returned home to Ja- Belt hasn’t been cleared
need to do this winter.” pan a few weeks ago, is to play following his con-
“To predetermine left field healthy and the injuries cussion but is expected
today is just premature,” didn’t affect the decision, to be examined by a spe-
Evans said. Evans said. cialist in the coming days
Both players have inter- and should be fully healthy
San Francisco, which est in returning, Evans said, come spring training. Gi-
missed the playoffs after but it would be down the ants outfielder Gregor Blan-
winning its third World Se- line after the Giants figure co was cleared after his
ries title in five years in 2014, out what else they need to concussion.q
