Thursday, May 14, 2009

GMAFB, Part 15,982

College converts its Crusader teams

A Christian college in Quincy has thrown its mascot to the lions, dropping the name Crusaders because of its historical connotations of religious wars.

Eastern Nazarene College, a 1,200-student liberal arts school, announced yesterday that its teams will now be known as the Lions, following the lead of many high schools and colleges that in recent years have abandoned the Crusaders moniker.

I'm stunned. Simply stunned. This is political correctness taken to the absurd extreme here, folks. How many people on the street do you think could place the Crusades in proper historical context? Failing that, how many do you think could even place the Crusades in a timeline? Is this really such a pressing issue that schools have to actually change the name of their sports collectives?

I find it incredulous that this is the sort of thing that school administrators have to worry about. With crumbling infrastructures, teen pregnancy, rampant drug use, youth violence, and falling test scores, the best policy they can come up with is to change the school mascot? Really?

Is this what school administrators get paid six-figure salaries to do?

That is all.

10 comments:

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

"How many people on the street do you think could place the Crusades in proper historical context? Failing that, how many do you think could even place the Crusades in a timeline?"

I'll have to admit that I'd have to look it up. That part of history does not really interest me enough to actively pursue the information. On top of that, not only could the history teacher I had in high school put you to sleep faster than you could say "he speaks in a monotone," but he would even put himself to sleep in the middle of a sentence! (Seriously, I think he had some sort of narcolepsy, or petit mal seizures. He would just drift off in the middle of a sentence, then start snoring.)

You're right, it shouldn't really be an issue.

Wally said...

Christian college chooses "Lions" ? Maaahvelous logic on that one.

Oh that must be okay as we're not feeding lions anymore, unlike those silly crusades raging on today.

Seriously, better Spanish Inqusition - Mel Brooks or Monty Python ?

ASM826 said...

A Christian school changing it's name from Crusaders to Lions? That's pretty funny, the kind of joke you to tell to a crowd in a Coliseum.

scotaku said...

Now if they could just get that pernicious "Nazarene" out of the name - it is really way too closely related to "Nazareth," and if you think about it, Nazareth really only had the one good song. But what could they change the name to?

libertyman said...

It would be funny if they changed their name to the "Redskins"

Jay G said...

Jake,

Well, I had to look up the exact range of the Crusades, certainly. But without looking I knew it was in the middle ages before the age of exploration...

Wally,

Yeah, the irony was not lost on me, either...

And definitely Mel Brooks. Just on the nuns alone...

ASM826,

I think the regents had just read too much CS Lewis... ;)

scotaku,

Gotta disagree with you there.

"Love Hurts" was every bit as good of a song as "Hair of the Dog"...

libertyman,

LOL! That's good.

Either that or a minuteman, complete with a rifle...

dr mac said...

Next thing you know is a stalwart Catholic University will ask Obama to speak and give him a honorary degree.

ASM826 said...

Dr. Mac,

The way the Pope has been kowtowing in the Mideast the last few days, no form of surrender would surprise me.

If the Pope sees him self as the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the leader of the One True Church, he needs to start talking and acting like it. He could be the spiritual leader that the resistance to violent Islam coalesces around, but instead he apologizes and appeases.

Paul, Dammit! said...

Hey, given the circumstances, the crusades were a great idea. They stopped the Moors from invading Europe, and moved the fight from Europe's coasts to the Middle East, where the aggressors lived. If there hadn't been any crusades, we'd all be speaking arabic and hanging out our prayer rugs. They had the superior military, but we had better defensive skills. Moving the fight and digging in in Jerusalem was a good thing.

Paul, Dammit! said...

Oh. Lions 1. Christians, O.