More spring league follies
 

Just got my schedule for this weekend. One of the JV games has a team called the "Alien Funk Squad". No - I'm not kidding. BTW - they're 1-9 so far this season.

Who thinks these things up, ET?

I LOVE that name. It says the kids are at least having fun. I am a big fan of creativity!! Not to get this into a mascot thread but that is why I ALWAYS root for teams with the 'funky' names: The Fighting Blue Hens of Delaware, Montana AandT Orediggers, The Blue Hose of Presbyterian College, The Fightine Squirrels of Mary Baldwin College, and for our IHSAA peeps: The Pretzels, Rocks and Missles (formerly Milledgeville)

Growing up in Illinois, I was aware of lots of funky HS nicknames. One of my favorites was the Cobden Appleknockers. One of the worst, because it was offensive and disgusting, was the Pekin Chinks (no - I am not kidding).

Isn't there some HS team in Arkansas called the Uncledaddies? :p

And to think that people are grumpy up here about Indians and Braves.

My favorite rec team name -- "G as in Gnat."

I Play Their Slots All The Time ...
 

I am not a Native American so my opinion probably doesn't count for much. I personally don't mind the nickname Braves, Indians, Warriors, Chiefs, etc., especially if the school is in a geographic area where Native Americans lived. What sometimes bothers me is the stereotyped mascot, non authentic costumes, chants, etc.

One of my favorites is: UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.

On the Mascot Front......
 

Billy, I went to a little school in PA named Shippensburg University. We were the Red Raiders (Indian Mascot) when I graduated.

I went to homecoming a few years back and they had changed our mascot/motto to a Ship (as in Ship pensburg). It was so sad, yet, so PC.

And, don't ask what the mascot looked like! :eek:

I'm sure it looked like ship. :p

Dorks. They look like a couple of dorks.
 

A darn shame Old Town was bullied into making the change.

Old Town has nearby Indian Island. And, yes, it is a reservation.

For the rest of the crowd, Gap is talking about a high school not far from me that changed it's nickname from Indians to Coyotes. My only problem with the name "Indians" is that it's a misnomer. (Columbus thought he landed in the East Indies.) Yet, that aforementioned reservation never changed its name to "Coyote Island."

(paraphrased)**

With regard to whether Braves is an appropriate name for the baseball team located in Atlanta, and the possibility of using another name, I submit the following. Let us choose a group which is not easily offended, and furthermore if this group is offended, we don't really care.

Got it.

The Atlanta Lawyers


**Lewis Grizzard

JAR - one of my favorite authors (g_d rest his soul)

Classics Lewis Grizzard Titles if you're not familiar:

They Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat (Written as a result of his many heart surgeries which eventually killed him)

Life Is Like a Dogsled Team...: If You're Not the Lead Dog, the Scenery Never Changes

Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night

Elvis is Dead and I Don t Feel So Good Myself

Don't Bend Over in the Garden, Granny, You Know Them Taters Got Eyes

Does a Wild Bear Chip in the Woods? (On Golf)

If Love Were Oil, I'd Be About a Quart Low



He would definitely have fit in this Forum.........

Boston Braves ...
 

The Braves, who played in Boston and Milwaukee before moving to Atlanta in 1966, trace their nickname to the symbol of a corrupt political machine. James Gaffney, who became president of Boston’s National League franchise in 1911, was a member of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party machine that controlled New York City politics throughout the 19th century. The Tammany name was derived from Tammamend, a Delaware Valley Indian chief. The society adopted an Indian headdress as its emblem and its members became known as Braves. Sportswriter Leonard Koppett described Gaffney’s decision to rename his team, which had been known as the Doves, in a 1993 letter to the New York Times: “Wouldn’t it be neat to call the team the ‘Braves,’ waving this symbol of the Democrats under the aristocratic Bostonians? It wouldn’t bother the fans.” And it didn’t, especially after the Braves swept the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1914 World Series.