In the wake of complaints from coalfield citizens groups, West Virginia University’s athletic department issued this statement today about the Nike ads:
The concept for the uniform design was to honor the coal miners of West Virginia and their heritage. Their hard work and dedication are the same characteristics of the Mountaineer football team.
The graphics surrounding the promotion of the uniform which featured 10 teams and an iconic representation of each school were designed by Nike and reviewed by the WVU athletic department. The intent was for the player on the field to be surrounded by coal and not as an endorsement of any one form of mining technology.
We are in discussions with Nike about the graphic.
So far, WVU President James Clements has refused to comment on the situation.
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“The intent was for the player on the field to be surrounded by coal”
the image in my mind when I read that is Scrooge McDuck swimming in his coin vault. If this was the intent it seems that they have failed. there just ain’t too much coal visible in that hellish vision.
Academia should be leading the march to a cleaner, healthier world. WVU needs to admit it made a mistake and pull the ad. I have no problem with WVU honoring the miners killed in the recent mining disaster but their tacit endorsement of mountaintop removal strip mining is abhorrent. I suspect those miners would agree.
Good grief! It was their intent to honor coal miners not to get in a political debate over mountaintop removal. I am a West Virginia Native. I am not a supported of destroying our mountains,but the reality is this is a part of our state. besides how could you get the effects if you used underground coal mines when in most cases miners cannot even stand up straight.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Nora. I believe that the intent was to honor the 29 fallen miners instead of the debate of mountaintop removal. I too am not proud of the fact that our mountains are being destroyed, but that is a way of life for our men and their families. I am a coal miner’s daughter, granddaughter, and niece and also live with a coal miner and I am very proud of my heritage. I see no reason why these so-called activists have to voice their opinions as they more than likely have never set one foot; much less any other part of their bodies in a coal mines and sees the conditions that our men have to work in. They know not one thing that these men deal with on a daily basis and have no right to voice anything. I think the new uniforms are a wonderful tribute to our fallen heros and the ad that was previously published is a very good one, depicting only the coal heritage, not strip mining in general. How can one say that it is depicting anything? As Nora previously stated, how is one supposed to depict an underground mine scenario when it is hard for our men who are underground to stand up straight. All these “so called” activists need to get a REAL day job and use their brains for something more productive than causing conflict on a daily basis about something that they know nothing about because they have not lived the life of a TRUE coal miner.
OK, folks … thanks for all the comments on this. We’re going to shut down this discussion for the weekend. Happy Labor Day and Go Mountaineers!