Rob Daniels: Sponsored by debasing depictions

Somebody tell Chief Pontiac to retreat. He shouldn't have been summoned in the first place.

The NCAA had its heart in the right place. Unfortunately, it had already put its hand out in many of the wrong places before it decided to pick its most recent fight.

A month ago, the organization issued an edict banning schools from using Native American symbolism and nicknames on uniforms and other public devices during NCAA championships. The goal was to limit the prominence of potentially demeaning imagery.

If we can encourage the University of North Dakota to ditch the Fighting Sioux as its nickname, they reasoned, we can help chip away — not be confused with Chippewa — at the stereotypical, ignorant portrayals of Native Americans that infiltrate pop culture.

Excellent idea. Now go get some new "corporate partners" and "corporate champions."

As immediately and eloquently dissected by Jerry Palm on his indispensable Web site www.collegerpi.com, one of the three largest sponsors of CBS's NCAA tournament coverage is none other than Pontiac, the car brand once symbolized by a profile view of a Native American male not unlike the Washington Redskins' insignia. Today, the brand's logo is an arrowhead. Because, as we all know, when we think of the American Indian, the first things we should all think of are violence and weaponry.

Another of the NCAA's top-shelf sponsors is Coca-Cola, which lists Chippewa Water among its top brands. Chippewa Water comes from the Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin, or so they say. And the Chippewa Valley gets its name from the Native American tribe of the region.

You can't find any demeaning imagery on the bottles or logos of the water, which is nice. But neither can you find any such references on any of the 121 items officially licensed for sale by Central Michigan University on its athletics department's Web site. CMU's teams are the Chippewas, and the school is one of 18 on the NCAA's hit list for use of "hostile and abusive racial, ethnic or national origin mascots, nicknames or imagery."

Sixteen years ago, the school deleted such imagery from its logos and told the pep band to stop playing Native American drumbeats. No matter. They're targeted. Unlike Florida State, which has the cache of football excellence and the brother of the President of the United States living six blocks away, Central Michigan hasn't been able to get itself removed from the roll of ill repute.

One step below the "corporate champions" on the NCAA sponsorship mantle sit the "corporate partners," one of which is Kraft. And one of Kraft's many brands is Calumet Baking Powder, which has as its logo — surprise — a Native American in headdress.

A calumet is an elaborate pipe believed to have been first made by the Sioux and often used in political settings. Some historians refer to it as a "peace pipe."

Ponder for a moment what would happen if a Central Michigan cheerleader took out a "peace pipe" and started smoking during the NCAA tournament on CBS. Think there might be a problem?

In forging its corporate relationships, the NCAA did not intend to insult, demean or otherwise offend Native Americans. It took the money and didn't do a totally thorough investigation of what the contracts entailed in the public-relations department. Whenever you make a deal with a massive corporation such as Kraft, which has more subsidiaries than N.C. State has delusional football fans, you run the risk of an unholy alliance or 10.

But if you're going to stake out the moral high ground, you had better be sure it's free of weeds. Or you had better start digging.