Nip it in the Bud get the name right SunBelt Coaches (I called Jay)
I should say that on paper this may sound like Jay and I were at each other’s throats. We were not. We simply went back and forth.
Jay had just interviewed the coach of the team that Louisiana is playing in baseball this weekend, for about 20 minutes. The very subject was their upcoming series against Louisiana.
I noticed about 5 minutes into the interview that he was using the word Lafayette a lot. 30 times or so through the 20 minute interview. "Lafayette this”, "Lafayette that", very nice things but just diarrhea of Lafayette. A passing motorist listening would not know who was being discussed.
The word Louisiana was not mentioned once in the entire interview. Not by Jay not by his friend. Not "Louisiana-Lafayette", nor UL, nor the least favorite UL-Lafayette, nada zip. Just Lafayette.
Well of course the focus yesterday was on Benson, but because of this one sided delivery I had to take a swing, and against my better judgment I hijacked the show as I decided I couldn't let this slide.
Actually Jay and I were supposed to discuss this issue a few weeks back but my grandmother died the Saturday before the Monday I was to call in. The next Week coach Lancon had died so I put it on the back burner.
Yesterday I concluded there would never be a perfect time. So even though I have notes at home, (I had promised to bring my “A” game) I felt compelled to call in and discuss the issue off the cuff. Jay was after all limited to off the cuff as well.
We talked about 10 minutes, at first I just wanted to know how this coach came to his solo usage of Lafayette? He didn't use Lafayette when we were USL. Was it from reading media reports? Was it from Louisiana’s own press reports? Was it because the sports information director tells the media it is ok to ignore Louisiana and promote Lafayette?
I was a little absurd as I only referred to the person being interviewed as the "Coach of South". Jay defended the coach of South’s intentions, and yes he was very complimentary of Lafayette. Any way Jay named a few schools that go by the city designation, such as Green Bay, UNLV, and Charlotte. These are all schools that pretty much crave and ask to be referred to as such.
Part of what I wanted to ask but it escaped me, was does "South’s" coach actually think we want to be called Lafayette? Those schools that Jay mentioned crave the city connection. This wasn't discussed but I can see why a Las Vegas would want the city mentioned, that city defines the state. Green Bay is synonymous with football, I can see a football advantage there, although the school name does not ring any bells with me, perhaps when I heard it in the past I thought they were talking abut the NFL team. Charlotte has to go up against Chapel Hill, which simply goes by The University of North Carolina. I can understand those schools pushing the city.
Jay may not have been asking for this specifically but this was how I took it. He asked me to name one school that has a State @ city designation that doesn't use the city name.
I mentioned
Nebraska @ Lincoln Nebraska UNL
Georgia @ Athens Georgia UGA
Texas @ Austin Texas UTA
(I didn't mention but wish I had) North Carolina @ Chapel Hill Carolina
I mentioned how 40 of the 50 states have "State @ City" schools yet they go simply by the State. On every one of their letterheads the city will be there.
80% of those States have a school that legally is not just “University of ____” but that is how the media reports their name. Why is our media so wary of being politically correct?
At some point Jay mentioned Louisiana-Lafayette, I got back to my original point of the local media feeling compelled to use Lafayette. I stated that if they are that conscious of following the letter of the law, they are missing the mark, there is no such school as "Louisiana-Lafayette" the law says Louisiana @ Lafayette. I used the words Louisiana "dash" Lafayette to make my point.
I brought up the fact that if they followed the letter of the law, the only time Lafayette requires a mention (and only by the University itself) is if the term "University of" is the prefix, otherwise they are free to use just "Louisiana".
Louisiana is who we are; Lafayette is where we are “@”. For the media to refer to the @ as the "who", and either ignore the "who" or designify the "who", then they are perpetuating the problem.
For those within the University who are sleepwalking through this issue, they are being very disingenuous. To promote the supplanting of who we are with where we are, defeats every gain the name change corralled.
Jay rightfully defended that at no time had he ever referred to Louisiana as Lafayette. He stated that the fight would be a 30-year fight, and that eventually we would prevail.
We had fun but alas the topic of the day was Benson, and we had to part ways.
ps this was not an attack on Jay
Quote
Well said
Name failure
dipdunk goofballs in the News Diservices dept. 
