SOME MARQUETTE HISTORY. Yesterday, the boss, Mountaineer Mike Tomasky, the long-lost Pittsnogle child, had some sport with my alma mater on the subject of Native American nicknames. It is true that Marquette University rather has tied itself in knots over the old "Warrior" name. Some explanation is necessary. They dumped it -- allegedly for reasons of sensitivity, as the Warrior was always depicted as an Indian -- and replaced it with the extraordinarily banal "Golden Eagles." (For anyone who doesn't believe the switch was partly due to the desire to sell a whole line of gear with the new logo, I have a bridge over the Menomonee River I'd like to sell you.) This caused outrage among traditionalists and general boredom among everyone else. Then, a couple of years ago, the school determined that the teams would now be called the "Gold." Being an extraordinarily dumb idea, this inflamed the situation further. The school then determined to put together a poll on what the nickname finally would be. Eventually, this damn thing got Diebolded somewhere until we all wound up with "Golden Eagles" again, despite the rumors of a mysterious alum who would give the school $2 million if it just went back to "Warriors. Many of us oldtimers, raised on the teams led by Saint Al McGuire through the 1960's and 1970's, have long ignored the whole business and gone on our way. No matter what he may have worn on his uniform, Dwyane Wade wasn't no damn Golden Eagle. He's a Warrior. All of which is to show that nicknames are hell.
--Charles P. Pierce
