Marquette Gold - heraldblog

Marquette Gold

Marquette University used to call its athletic teams "The Warriors", which I thought was really cool. The school had this dude dressed in full Indian head dress dancing at basketball games, and the name spoke to the fighting spirit that made the Warriors basketball team so sucessful, year after year.

But some people didn't like the name, and in the early 90s, the school changed its name to the Golden Eagles. The outcry was predictable - everybody thought the new name sucked.

The grumbling continued for about the next 10 years, and reached a crescendo last year when some alumni promised to pay the school $2 million to change the name back to the Warriors. The school's board of trustees, faced with a no-brainer decision, chose not to use their brains and rejected the offer. But they did promise to "look into" the matter.

Well look no more. Last night, the no-brainer faction selected a new name: Gold. The Marquette Gold. Yeah, you got it. Gold. Like the color. Or chemical element, I suppose.

Public support is underwhelming. A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel poll that Neill just sent me shows 90 percent of self-selected respondents think the name is not a good thing.

It's no wonder. Gold is not a team name. It's an adjective. What does it modify? Bar? Standard? Tooth? Even the University of Alabama had the good sense to let the other shoe drop, following the word "Crimson" with a noun, "Tide". Crimson Tide. See how that works, Marquette?

Maybe the school trustees had a credit card tie in in mind. Marquette Visa Gold!

Textbooks for one semester: $400
Two kegs of Miller for your frat brothers: $70
A new kitchen rug to replace the one you hurled all over: $60
A lame ass athletic team nickname you can bitch about well into you alumni years: Priceless

Three, four, five, six, Texas is pathetic

Some Texas lawmakers are upset about overly exhuberant high school cheerleaders, and want to make it illegal to, uh, cheer:
The state's House of Representatives voted 85-55 to approve a bill that would forbid sexy cheers and give the Texas Education Agency authority to punish schools that allow "overtly sexually suggestive" routines at football games and other events.

The proposal must go to the Texas Senate for consideration.

"People are calling and telling me how disgusting it is to see sexually suggestive routines on the part of marching units or cheerleaders," said State Rep. Al Edwards, a Houston Democrat who sponsored the bill.
Somebody needs to tell Rep. Richards to hit the showers. The cold showers.

5.5.05 18:10

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To date 4 Comment(s) TrackBack-URL

John / Website (5.5.05 19:24)
My dad, who graduated back when the were the Warriors, is pretty livid. He's declared not to donate another dime until its changed.
What the fuck were they thinking? Gold? That is so incredibly lame.
I don't even know why they changed Warriors in the first place. It wasn't an obnoxious depiction like the Redskins or the Indians. They could have always changed the mascot, and kept the name.

(5.5.05 19:50)
I still have my Warriors hooded sweatshirt.
The mascot was my favorite part. I've been to genuine Indian pow wows, and the MU mascot wasn't doing anything different than what I saw at the pow wows. To me, the image of an Indian warrior depicts strength and dignity, which is what I like to see in a school basketball team.
Gold? That's an element. Did the trustees conisider lithium and zinc?

Neill / Website (5.5.05 20:59)
you should elaborate about the warrior mascot...mainly about the story you told me last night. whats better than a kick ass warrior for your schools mascot?

(5.5.05 21:20)
The mascot's name, I think, was The Last Warrior", aka Fists of Fury.