Pro chief people have been playing a semantic game, trying to elevate the student dancing at halftime above other mascots. He is a mascot. We're willing to let the idiosyncratic term "symbol" into the entry, but not without caveats. The pro chief people insist on the term "symbol" as part of their argument that the chief somehow honors and shows respect to Indians. Never mind the fact that the vast majority of Indians have rejected this so called honor and hollow respect. Be careful about charging that others are not able to differentiate between tributes and jokes as well as making claims about others being useful idiots. (24 feb 07; 10:04 cst)