2013 Staking a Claim for Louisiana

[Just1More]

I had an inkling feeling that ULM has always had some sort of greasy hand in a lot of our name issues with ESPN.

Sure they have. They send emails and letters claiming what we're doing is illegal. It is not. We have the right to call ourselves "Louisiana", athletically. We, the fans, need to explain to ESPN that representatives of other programs do not dictate what we "call" ourselves athletically. ESPN thinks they're ending the contraversy by calling us names we do not go by, even from the official documentation perspective. They need to make it clear at the beginning of their broadcast that "University of Louisiana at Lafayette goes by 'Louisiana Ragin Cajuns' and therefore will be referred to as 'Louisiana' and 'Ragin Cajuns' on our broadcast". They will not be going against any law and they will be respecting our wishes.

Personally, I don't care if ULM or some other program uses "Louisiana". LSU won't. The rest that attempt it will soon realize they are ruining their own identity with nothing to show for it.

I do not expect entities like ESPN to not follow our requested athletic name. It's easier for their broadcasts, and again, it is what we demand on our athletic branding.

[Hammer58]

This. Put your pitchforks down guys.

I talked to the ESPN announcer at the New Orleans Bowl who pretty much said the same thing. This goes way above the announcer's heads. I don't know who up there is fighting us or why but it is what it is.

So just surrender, right? Not surprised at that reaction.

If moanroe's e-mails and calls created this then our response should be an equal or greater number of calls not just throwing in the towel.

[billbeck451]

Actually, it looks like we know exactly who the culprit is. F*** this F****** conference! Seriously. They fight us on the name and then siphon off all our NO Bowl money. F*** them.

From @JoeDavisESPN

every time he tweeted he had a different excuse - its his bosses, its ULM, its the Sun Belt and never would address why not just use Ragin Cajuns

[wcd35]

every time he tweeted he had a different excuse - its his bosses, its ULM, its the Sun Belt and never would address why not just use Ragin Cajuns

No that's pretty much straight forward. ULM tells the SBC what they want. SBC tells ESPN what they want. That's that. So he hears it directly from his ESPN bosses. I'm sure they tell him that's what the conference wants and I'm sure at some point he's made aware that its ULM fighting it. Its probably hard for him to type a full explanation in 140 characters.

[Just1More]

Karl Benson has worn through my last level of restraint. I usually reach down and help someone up that I jack-jaw. When I jack-jaw that clown, I'm going to violate him. And I can violate. I'm sick of this pathetic conference and the weak rejects that run it. They've all been ignorant cowards. They fail to realize you actually build the identity of a conference by showcasing the stars. You don't keep divvying up the scraps and spreading the misery equally.

Benson is a moron. All he does is glad hand every member president on this sinking ship. We absolutely have to insist, with very loud intentions, that our AD and president get us out of this stinking conference. The SBC sucks bowel pipe.

[VObserver]

So just surrender, right? Not surprised at that reaction.

If moanroe's e-mails and calls created this then our response should be an equal or greater number of calls not just throwing in the towel.

While I agree with this; remember that two years ago, T-Joe made us change the Scoreboard in Cajun Field from 'Louisiana vs ULM' to 'Cajuns vs Warhawks', at the request of the President of ULM. If that happens again this year, at least part of our problem still lives in Martin Hall. Maybe we should be sending emails to president@louisiana.edu as well as to benson@sunbeltsports.org. Emailing ESPN is pointless; they aren't changing until the Conference tells them to. At least they finally came clean as to the real reason.

[billbeck451]

but it was fun listening to my phone chime all night as Ragin Cajun fans tweeted that esnp loser

[Just1More]

So just surrender, right? Not surprised at that reaction.

If moanroe's e-mails and calls created this then our response should be an equal or greater number of calls not just throwing in the towel.

We need the announcers to inform us of who, by name, has ULM and the SBC effectively contacted at ESPN. We don't need the contact info of those that don't make decisions. Who, specifically, makes the decisions at ESPN wrt our broadcast athletic nickname?

If that individual confirms that it's the SBC... we need to organize around T-Joe and force a plan that both he commits to, and we commit to. Karl Benson and the SBC do not tell us what our athletic nickname is. If we say to ESPN that we call ourselves the "Louisiana Ragin Cajuns", that is what we should be called during our broadcasts.

[Just1More]

While I agree with this; remember that two years ago, T-Joe made us change the Scoreboard in Cajun Field from 'Louisiana vs ULM' to 'Cajuns vs Warhawks', at the request of the President of ULM. If that happens again this year, at least part of our problem still lives in Martin Hall. Maybe we should be sending emails to president@louisiana.edu as well as to benson@sunbeltsports.org. Emailing ESPN is pointless; they aren't changing until the Conference tells them to. At least they finally came clean as to the real reason.

I agree. We, as fans, need to know where T-Joe stands on this. I don't care if he uses Ragin Cajuns on our scoreboard. That is part of the athletic nickname. But, he needs to let us know why Benson and even ULM get to trump our athletic nickname.

[CajunRebel]

So just surrender, right? Not surprised at that reaction.

If moanroe's e-mails and calls created this then our response should be an equal or greater number of calls not just throwing in the towel.

Don't put words in my mouth.

I'm pretty sure everyone but you understood that I was talking about not attacking the announcers for listening to their bosses. All it will do is ____ them off and make them Lafayette us more often out of spite.

A few of us did tweet him and ask him to use Ragin Cajuns instead of la-Lafayette. He said he understood our frustration and he'd use that more often.

This has been par for the course since ULM joined the conference 10 years ago. I promise ULM fan emails had nothing to do with it and emails from us won't change it. ESPN is well aware of what we want to be called and they refuse to do it because they don't do business with us. But they do do business with our conference and they are trying to respect the wishes of their business partner by calling us La Lafayette. With ESPN it's not our fight. It's up to the administration, to convince the conference, to convince ESPN.

[Turbine]

On this going back to the SBC offices, the ironic thing is that when Karl Benson has been interviewed locally, he has referred to UL as Louisiana.

So this ESPN message source has several possibilities, it's either a Wright Waters archive holdover edict, or it is being delivered by an interested SBC employee/meddler, or ESPN has its own overly interested UL namegater.

jmo

[CrazyCajun]

On this going back to the SBC offices, the ironic thing is that when Karl Benson has been interviewed locally, he has referred to UL as Louisiana.

So this ESPN message source has several possibilities, it's either a Wright Waters archive holdover edict, or it is being delivered by an interested SBC employee/meddler, or ESPN has its own overly interested UL namegater.

jmo

Or Karl benson is a worm ___ coward