As I See It
From Badgers to Ducks to Eagles, it sure beats team “hockey club”
It’s a big time of the year to enjoy sports in the U.S. and to cheer on your favorite teams. I got down to Madison this month to take in a Saturday night football game at Camp Randall. The Badgers hosting the Ducks, of Oregon, who are getting all the votes for No. 1 in the polls. There were several Oregon fans sitting around me at the game, and I didn’t think to ask if they liked their team being named the Ducks.
Team names are still a tricky subject. I imagine that many UW-La Crosse graduates from before the late 1980s still think of their team as the Indians, not the Eagles. Cleveland’s baseball team is now the Guardians, for the same reason. And I was just reminded that the new professional hockey team in Utah is working on a name. For their first season, they’re calling themselves the Utah Hockey Club. Yippee. They promise to have an official nickname for next season, with votes from the fans. So, how about ‘Them Hockey Guys?” You could do worse.
— Brad Williams