MetroWest Daily News
Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Buckley: The joy of taking offense
By John T. Buckley/Guest columnist

I watched with great interest as the town of Natick made the overwhelming 4-3 vote to cast aside the school nickname "Redmen" and are in search of a name more inclusive of the community-at-large and upsetting to no one.

Coming up with a new nickname that will not offend anyone is quite the chore with so many people waking up each morning with the sole goal of finding something offensive to lather over.

For years, I have been truly upset whenever I watched Notre Dame's leprechaun strut his stuff along the sideline, making Notre Dame look like the Amos 'n Andy of American ethnic Catholicism while the nickname "Fighting Irish" was displayed throughout each venue.

Being from mostly Irish stock, none of my relatives fought anyone, were less than 5 feet tall, dressed in silly green garb, or looked like a commercial for a cereal.

The Notre Dame nickname reinforces and praises negative stereotypes of the Irish as being drunk, disorderly and socially unproductive in the same way "Gangsta Rap" is. Something out there has to give.

My first thought was the "Fighting Crusaders," but aside from the redundancy, the name conjures up bad memories in sensitive parts of the world and major discord among infidels. If they switched to the Notre Dame "flying buttresses" it would have a catchy Gothic/athletic sound and shouldn't affect anyone save descendants of medieval stone cutters who I am guessing would be a poorly organized constituency anyway.

After my "Grappling Gaelic's" idea fell short, and realizing that the "Fighting Null Sets" was inoffensive, but lacked emotion, Notre Dame's best move would be to go "Green" as they wear green uniforms on many occasions and this would gain them more fans at coffee shops from coast to coast.

The last step would be to look at Notre Dame's use of its "Cross" symbols throughout its campus. After 2,000 years it is time to take a hard look at its viability. It could be offensive to someone. Heck, it's only heritage, yet, while in Natick's case, "Redpersons" seems much more appealing.

JOHN T. BUCKLEY,
Framingham