Interesting times for sporting nicknames on this continent.

In the last year or so, we’ve seen the Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, and Edmonton Eskimos change their team names. Even the Radnor Raiders got in on the action, adopting the “Raptors” moniker instead (it’s the bird version of the ‘raptor,’ not the dinosaur version).

Another name change that flew under the radar was Valparaiso University, the private Lutheran school out there in Indiana.

From ESPN: 

Valparaiso University announced Tuesday that it has adopted the Beacons as its new team name, replacing the Crusaders, a term school officials dropped this year after saying it had been embraced by hate groups.

…

School officials announced in February that they had retired the Crusaders name following input from students, faculty and alumni.

That decision came after a decades-long debate that has recently intensified because groups such as the Ku Klux Klan began using the words and symbols of the Crusades, which were a series of bloody religious wars starting in the 11th century between Christians and Muslims.

“Crusaders” has always been an intriguing discussion when it comes to “problematic” names. It’s a popular moniker for religious schools and is somewhat pervasive, though it might not seem that way since a lot of these institutions are generally smaller. Holy Cross, which plays Lehigh and Lafayette in the Patriot League, goes by Crusaders. And in the high school ranks, Lansdale Catholic uses Crusaders, and has a mascot that looks like this:


(cropped photo from the school website)

It’s one thing to debate whether or not the name itself is “offensive.” I guess we’d have to get a religious scholar in here to tell us more about the Crusades, because my knowledge begins and ends with the movie Kingdom of Heaven. Bunch of guys fighting for ‘The Holy Land’ because “God wills it!”

In Valpo’s case, it seems like they were compelled more by the fact that the KKK and other unscrupulous groups were co-opting the symbolism used by the school, and decided to make that change to distance themselves from the losers. Fair enough.

https://youtu.be/kDgKK-LPINQ