On Wednesday Marquette University changed its nickname from the Golden Eagles – a lame and almost universally hated moniker – to something fresh and new.
Ladies and gentlemen, just in time for Marquette’s entrance into the Big East, I present to you the Marquette Gold.
Yes, you read correctly. Gold.
As in the color, the metal, dental caps, pansies, Dial soap, and the last name of 30% of the world’s porn actresses.
Gold.
In the interest of full disclosure I have to point out that I’m not a big fan of Marquette. I’m an alumni of UWM, a cross-town university who’s basketball team actually qualified for the NCAA tournament (and made it to the Sweet Sixteen to boot).
I thought their wish to permanently close downtown Milwaukee’s busiest street - for the sake of a school common area -was pretentious and arrogant, and I despise the way they jaywalk in rush-hour traffic as if they own the world.
I don’t owe Marquette any allegiance.
But on the flip side, I will state that their women are pretty hot.
None of that matters now. Fan or rival, this name change cannot stand.
This whole thing is a freakin’ embarrassment to the city.
The old nickname, the one they earned a national championship under, was the Warriors. I have to agree, group that name with a mascot named Willie Wampum and you’re pushing the limits of good taste.
Willie was dumped in the early seventies, and the name lived on.
Then in 1993 the university decided, on strictly PC grounds, to change the name of the team. Introducing the Golden Eagles, and a decade of alumni and students asking for a return to the Warriors.
Bowing to pressure, the university leadership caves in and dumps the Eagles – for the before mentioned Gold.
Alumni reaction has been scathing, local talk show and radio hosts have ridiculed it, and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, while endorsing it in an editorial, also spent considerable time thinking up gold-related puns for its headlines.
Marquette, for it’s part, has said the decision is final and not open to debate.
[Guess it’s okay for them to drain your wallet before and after graduation; just don’t dare ask for your voice to be heard. ]
I know about Syracuse, Stanford, and the handful of other schools associated with a color. Fine forthem. Not fine for a university where more than 60% of the student body identifies with the name Warriors twelve years after a name change.
Personally, barring any hokey/stereotyped mascot to go along with it, I think Native Americans should be proud of their association with the term ‘warriors’. At least they get some recognition.
What do my fellow Poles and I get? Meathead on All in the Family, that’s what.
After hearing that nickname for thirty years I’d applaud a team named the Polacks.
Of course, that’s not my call to make. It’s not my race up there on Marquette’s marquee, and so I’ll bow to the Native American’s point of view.
So here’s an idea. Disassociate the Warrior nickname from its Native American past. Throw a European on the logo, or Xena, or any generic figure that moves the logo away from a Native connotation.
The Belgians might object, but screw ‘em.
Or better yet, it’s a Catholic University: why not put an Archangel on the logo? Not only is it true to the warrior image, it’s biblical and therefore bypasses any hint of conflict with the university’s philosophy.
It’d solve the problem and save Marquette hefty loses from their alumni backers.
But I repeat: anything’s better than Gold.
I heard (may not be true) that they received 12 Million dollar donation to the school interesting right after the name change. I think the Warriors was a proud name, and I never did understand why anyone would get upset about that. Jesus was a warriors and so are many of of solders. I think they may loose a lot of students, if I was going to school, I wouldn't want to be gold. Wasn't Jesus upset with the money/gold changes
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