Regional in Lafayette

[CajunProud]

He did reply. I have asked if he minds if I post his reply here. I am waiting for his response.

[CajunProud]

The following is my e-mail to Mr. Nation and his response:

ME

Please go to the UL tab at the top of the screen on ragin pagin and
read battle for a name and you will understand why we are so
passionate about the name issue.


BOYD NATION

I'm quite familiar with the history. I think it's a misguided effort
on both sides of the battle, but I tend to play the ball where it's
actually lying.

ME

By the way, what do you think our chances are of going to Omaha this
year? We should be very strong.

BOYD NATION

In the range where it's neither surprising if they do or if they don't.
They'll need for quite a few things to go their way, including a few
that are out of their control, but none of those things are all that
unlikely.

[Zeebart21]

I just happened to run across this quite old thread while Googling for some other stuff and thought I'd clarify my position just to get it out there in public; it's surprising how often issues of naming come up and how passionate some people become about it. I won't get into motives or amateur psychoanalysis, since they don't matter here, but I'll explain why I do what I do.

I have two basic rules about what name I use; if the two conflict, the second rule takes precedence. The first rule is that schools have a right to be called what they want to, within the bounds of disambiguating everyone. The second is that the athletic department does not get to decide what the school is called.

The first rule means that I'm fine with switching from "Cal Irvine" to "UC Irvine" or from "IUPU-Fort Wayne" to "IPFW" at their request (or from "Kent State" to "Kent" and back to "Kent State"). The second means that I'm sticking with "Texas Christian", "Central Florida", and "North Carolina-Charlotte" rather than the shorter versions that the MBA's in athletic marketing would prefer.

In this particular case, if you go to either www.ull.edu or www.ragincajuns.com, you'll see that they're referring to themselves including Lafayette as part of the name; it seems that this particular movement is more within the fan base than the school itself.

Boyd Nation

Don't be a drive by poster. In the world of ridiculous athletic budgets and extremely stupid coaches salaries you might find us a breath of fresh air. Tony R, has made this program what it is on his own. He is one of the best coaches in the nation, and if he had any type of a budget for baseball we'd more than likely be frequent visitors to Omaha. Step back from the wildside. You are welcome here, and we'd really love to get your perspective on things whenever possible.

Thanks,

Z

[rhineaux]

_ The following is my e-mail to Mr. Nation and his response:

ME

Please go to the UL tab at the top of the screen on ragin pagin and
read battle for a name and you will understand why we are so
passionate about the name issue.


BOYD NATION

I'm quite familiar with the history. I think it's a misguided effort
on both sides of the battle, but I tend to play the ball where it's
actually lying.

ME

By the way, what do you think our chances are of going to Omaha this
year? We should be very strong.

BOYD NATION

In the range where it's neither surprising if they do or if they don't.
They'll need for quite a few things to go their way, including a few
that are out of their control, but none of those things are all that
unlikely. _

This guy sounds like Bill Belichick...never wanting to get too far out on a limb.

A pretty respectable response nonetheless. I wasn't really expecting him to start a revolution on our part.

[HoustonCajun]

He is right. If our own university and athletic department continue to call us Louisiana Lafayette, why should they call us anything different? We are our own worse enemy. Too many mixed signals to the media.

On the other hand, if our athletic website called us nothing but Louisiana and UL, it sounds like he would follow that lead. He doesn't care what we want as alums and athletic supporters, he follows what the university actually uses, which in this case, is Louisiana Lafayette.

I am so sick of this. We should have become the University of South Louisiana and kept the USL or even Acadiana University. Something to distinguish us as being other than a hyphenated school.

[BrudaCajun]

_ He is right. If our own university and athletic department continue to call us Louisiana Lafayette, why should they call us anything different? We are our own worse enemy. Too many mixed signals to the media.

On the other hand, if our athletic website called us nothing but Louisiana and UL, it sounds like he would follow that lead. He doesn't care what we want as alums and athletic supporters, he follows what the university actually uses, which in this case, is Louisiana Lafayette.

I am so sick of this. We should have become the University of South Louisiana and kept the USL or even Acadiana University. Something to distinguish us as being other than a hyphenated school. _

I like the USL idea thats the best thing I heard in a long time.

[CajunProud]

_ I like the USL idea thats the best thing I heard in a long time. _

I like it as well.

University of South Louisiana

Works for South Florida and Central Florida

[boyd.nation@mind]

_ This guy sounds like Bill Belichick...never wanting to get too far out on a limb.

Well, the limb's not that long. UL-L falls into a group of about 15 teams (as far as I can tell at this point, which is, after all, still in December) that probably won't be one of the 8 best in the country but will be close enough that it wouldn't be surprising to see them in Omaha. They'll probably be a little closer to the top of that group than they were last year, but they're still going to either need some help in the form of non-impossible seeding or excellent timing in the randomness of when their best run occurs to make it to the CWS.

Boyd

[Turbine]

Thanks Boyd

Never want toooo rosy a picture this early in the (pre)season right

Top of the morning to you.

Geaux UL

[rhineaux]

_ Well, the limb's not that long. UL-L falls into a group of about 15 teams (as far as I can tell at this point, which is, after all, still in December) that probably won't be one of the 8 best in the country but will be close enough that it wouldn't be surprising to see them in Omaha. They'll probably be a little closer to the top of that group than they were last year, but they're still going to either need some help in the form of non-impossible seeding or excellent timing in the randomness of when their best run occurs to make it to the CWS.

Boyd _

Ahhh, I was trying to give you a hard time. We all kinda expect what you're saying. We had a pretty good team last year, and couldn't get it done in the last game. Not to mention, we had one of the toughest paths to the CWS. This year, we'll need a much better regular season performance to make sure that we either host a regional and keep the home field advantage, or assure us of getting an easier regional/super regional group.

Thanks for stopping by again, hopefully you won't be a stranger. The college baseball talk gets really good around here when the season rolls around. Hope to see you down the road.