Marquette Gold revisited

[JWags85]

Putting aside Warriors for a minute, one name that I was disappointed didn't get more attention was Golden Avalanche from the football days. I remember that it was what I voted for during the first vote (naturally hence my disappointment I guess). The only problem would be some sort of tasteful mascot/imagery.  Oh well.  And FWIW, there is a really cool Golden Avalanche faded T-shirt available in the spirit shop right now.  If I had a brain I would've bought more than one considering how much I wear it.

I have it, and living in Chicago, I get compliments/comments on it honestly about 75% of the time I wear it.  Its awesome.

[MerrittsMustache]

Golden Avalanche or the Hilltoppers would have made everyone happy.  My 8 and 12 year old don't believe in Santa Claus, but they do still believe that our nickname is the Warriors. 

Not true. There's a significant contingent of MU alums who would only be happy with Warriors. There would be another contingent of alums who would think that MU would have looked like a bunch of fools if they were on their third nickname in a 12-year span.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Not true. There's a significant contingent of MU alums who would only be happy with Warriors. There would be another contingent of alums who would think that MU would have looked like a bunch of fools if they were on their third nickname in a 12-year span.

You're right, but the easy defense for that is, "We're going back to the school's original nickname. We feel "Hilltoppers" is an important part of the MU history, and we are going to embrace and honor Marquette's ORIGINAL nickname."

[PJDunn]

That is why both those nicknames would of worked...they are part of our history.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

my vote was for no nickname.  just Marquette.  that would have been unique.

[🏀]

my vote was for no nickname.  just Marquette.  that would have been unique.

That would be have been awesome, but would potentially have marketing issues.

[Coleman]

We could have just had a large cartoon Fr. Marquette mascot. That would have been sweet.

[T-Bone]

I thought the '94 vote came down between the Golden Eagles and the Lightning.  Or at least that's what the administration said were the top 2 vote getters.

[MerrittsMustache]

my vote was for no nickname.  just Marquette.  that would have been unique.

It's good to know that Gold wasn't the worst idea out there.

[cheebs09]

I will say one of the positives to come out of the Gold fiasco was the new MU logo they came up with. I think it is a pretty cool logo. Now the new Golden Eagle, I'm not so high on, but the MU is pretty cool.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

It's good to know that Gold wasn't the worst idea out there.

why?  most people hate the GE, or at least are apathetic towards it.  use the monogram and just be Marquette.

plus, in the absence of a nickname, the warrior nickname would be used by announcers, etc.

[boyonthedock]

anything but boring overused golden eagles. the generic nickname is the number one reason IMO why announcers still slip up with warriors. who cares about a generic new name. I voted for avalanche in the first round, and hilltoppers in the second. just anything but golden eagles. i would have also accepted jesuits, jumping or no.

I was one of the few people that didn't hate gold, if only it was something different than everywhere else.

[Canadian Dimes]

I thought the '94 vote came down between the Golden Eagles and the Lightning.  Or at least that's what the administration said were the top 2 vote getters.

T-bone you are absolutely correct the 94 came down to those two...I beleive the admisitration wanted Golden Eagles all along and came up with Linghtning because it was so universally stupid that no one could vote for it.  my self and many others wanted golden avalanche back in 1994 but it was denied.  i spoke to cords afew years later and brought up the whole 1994 vote...i point balnk asked him why they were so adamnatly against the Avalanche.  I told him it was at least original and historic and something all MU alums could embrace, especially many of the older grads.  cord's response was they thought Avalanche would be a marketing and imaging and mascot issue...to which i stated  'so what the hell were you going to do with Lightning"...he had no answer.  Who needs logic when u have an agenda....

Gold presented the same problems.....

Avalanche was so simple in my opinion

[Avenue Commons]

They should have let the fans vote between Golden Eagles, Gold and maybe one other choice, excluding Warriors instead of just defaulting back to Golden Eagles. All they did was waste the fans' time and piss them off.

This is close to what did happened. There were a number of other options besides Gold and Golden Eagles. That was the problem, though. The "other" options split up the dissenters' votes and left Golden Eagles standing alone as the "conservative" option. The voting was done online. I knew as soon as I logged on that this is what would happen.

Golden Eagles won because it was the most "familiar" and, believe it or not, many young alumni relate to it. It has been our mascot for 16 years after all.

BTW, we were never "the Gold." It was only a proposed nickname. It was never actually the nickname for MU athletics.

[Benny B]

plus, in the absence of a nickname, the warrior nickname would be used by announcers, etc.

anything but boring overused golden eagles. the generic nickname is the number one reason IMO why announcers still slip up with warriors.

There are some media & sportscasters - those considered "old-school" or those with "street cred" (or whatever the current jargon is) - that still refer to MU as the Warriors.  If they do "slip up," it's when they call them the Golden Eagles.  Some of the older guys, especially those who knew Al McGuire, seem to share the sentiment that changing the nickname was a disservice not only to Marquette, but to college hoops in general.  Honestly, I've never heard Dicks Enberg or Vitale refer to Marquette as the Golden Eagles - not to say that he hasn't, but these two are good examples of the rarest of offenders when it comes to not using the Warrior name.  Even the younger guys with respect for the game and tradition (Jay Bilas, for example) toss the "correct politically incorrect" nickname out there every once in a while - granted, some of them may be pandering to the MU crowd, but regardless of intent, it's welcome to know that those of us who still feel affected in some way by the Travesty of '94 do not stand alone in the college hoops world.

Nevertheless, I'll bet anyone a dollar that you hear "Warriors" at least twice on Big Monday this year.

[bork]

Don't blame me, I voted for Lightning.   

[mug644]

I understood why Golden Avalanche was not desirable to the administration and some alums--I was at MU during the 'Lanche's hey-day (well, maybe not all of it!)--but I never did understand why there didn't seem to be much energy towards Hilltoppers as the best alternative to Warriors. I would've, absolutely, voted Warriors, and saw Hilltoppers as head and shoulders better than either Golden Eagles or Gold, if only for the history.

[Litehouse]

why?  most people hate the GE, or at least are apathetic towards it.  use the monogram and just be Marquette.

plus, in the absence of a nickname, the warrior nickname would be used by announcers, etc.

Absolutely agree.  For all practical purposes, MU has no nickname right now.  It's used as little as possible, and it's difficult to even find a shirt with the GE name at the Warrior Shoppe.

I think it would have been cool to just drop it.  It could have been like the early baseball teams (Dodgers, Giants, Pirates, etc.) that received their nickname over time, mostly based on phrases coined by sports writers.

[MU B2002]

Stanford Cardinal (color not bird)

Tree, not color.

[MerrittsMustache]

Tree, not color.

The tree is the mascot but the nickname is Cardinal the color.

[MU B2002]

The tree is the mascot but the nickname is Cardinal the color.

Well then..I learned something new today

Thanks.

[mu-rara]

The tree is the mascot but the nickname is Cardinal the color.

Do they actually have a tree running around at their games?   That's almost as dumb as a brick of gold, or a golden chicken.

[reinko]

Do they actually have a tree running around at their games?   That's almost as dumb as a brick of gold, or a golden chicken.

It's an unofficial mascot, put on by a student organization.


Per wikipedia:

The Stanford Tree is the unofficial mascot of Stanford University. Stanford's team name is "The Cardinal," referring to the vivid red color (not the common song bird as at several other schools), and the University has never been able to come up with an official mascot which adequately conveys the fierceness and sporting prowess it had hoped to symbolize with that particular shade of sanguine. This fact creates a void not typically found at schools with less-abstract symbols for their sports teams, and into this unfulfilled void the Stanford Band has insistently thrust what is one of the United States' most bizarre and controversial college mascots.[1] The tree regularly appears at the top of internet 'worst mascot' lists.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

[Ari Gold]

Hilltoppers is not a good idea because MUHS is the Hilltoppers now. Not that there is a huge issue about sharing a nickname with any high school team because that happens all the time, its just that MUHS is 10 blocks away.  Their mascot is a ram.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Hilltoppers is not a good idea because MUHS is the Hilltoppers now. Not that there is a huge issue about sharing a nickname with any high school team because that happens all the time, its just that MUHS is 10 blocks away.  Their mascot is a ram.

Hilltoppers was MU's first nickname. They don't have to be scared of going back to it because MUHS kept the nickname.

Hell, MU basically took BC's nickname. That should have been a bigger concern.