PC College Students Push For Nashville Predators Name Change Because of "Stigma" Attached To It

By Tony Mangia

Well, the PC Police are at it again and — to no one's surprise — the roll out of another politically correct crusade started on a college campus.

A group of students at Emory University in Atlanta are politicking the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators to change their name to the Nashville Sabercats to shield sensitive minds from the stigmas associated with the word "predator."

Students suggest rebranding NHL’s Nashville Predators to the Sabercats to get away from stigmas associated with the word “predator”#NHL #Nashville @PredsNHL @sport_analytic pic.twitter.com/wPycYck3Ck

— Emory MAC (@Emory_MAC) February 19, 2019

Never mind that the budding social justice warriors are sticking their noses into another city's business (Don't they have enough problems with the Atlanta Braves name?) they don't seem to understand that the word "predator" has been around since cavemen grunted it at real life saber tooth tigers many hockey periods ago.

It was during a Power Point presentation in a marketing class where a section of Emory's fine student body proposed that the "Predators" should rebrand the name because the word has the offensive connotation of weird guys stalking women and perverts chasing minors via the internet. It wasn't the first call for a Nashville Predators name change. It began about a year ago through a Change.org petition sent to that relentless hidden camera, predator-catcher Chris Hansen — the television newser, who surprised morally-insolvent pervs in kitchens of "minors" all over America and on camera. The petition has now been closed (It had 10 supporters) presumably because Hansen is too busy dealing with his own personal bankruptcy issues.

The Emory marketing project also included rebranding proposals for sports teams like changing the name of the Oakland Athletics to the Oakland Guardians to represent the city's "rough reputation." That's odd because the initials O.G. have a way more violent connotation in most gang-ridden cities like Oakland. And then some students pushed for the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders to become the Bandits. I don't know about you, but Bandits sends me looking for a safe space faster than Predators.

Students want to rebrand #Oakland @Athletics to the Guardians. Team says new name reflects Oakland’s rough reputation. Oakland G’s reflect long history of winning#Athletics #OaklandAthletics pic.twitter.com/qOYYx24GQ2

— Emory MAC (@Emory_MAC) February 19, 2019

I'm sure some easily offended and attention-seeking students will somehow start a movement and find a way to disparage other NHL teams named after hungry prey-chasing animals — Panthers, Coyotes and Sharks — or deadly natural disasters — Hurricanes, Lightning, Avalanche or Flames — weapons — Sabres — or maybe the just plain stupid — the Blue Jackets.

For me, the team name that really represents death, disasters, perverts and preying on the innocent is the Senators. Now that's offensive.

Wisconsin high school athlete suspended for protesting sportsmanship policy on Twitter

The PC Police have struck again after a Wisconsin high school basketball star was suspended for her tweet protesting some new controversial sports chant guidelines.

Hilbert High School’s April Gehl drew a five-game suspension for posting an image of an email from officials at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association and writing, “EAT S--- WIAA,” The Post-Crescent reported.

The WIAA had forwarded all athletes an advisory email that noted an increase in hecklers and asked all schools in the state to “take immediate steps to correct this unsporting behavior.”

Gehl, a three-sport star and one of the top scorers for the Wolves’ girls’ basketball team, was informed by Hilbert athletic director Stan Diedrich on Wednesday that she would be suspended for five games during the current season due to the tweet she posted on Twitter early Monday morning.

“Among the chants that have been heard at recent high school sporting events are: ‘You can’t do that,’ ‘Fundamentals,’ ‘Airball,’ ‘There’s a net there,’ ‘Sieve,’ ‘We can’t hear you,’ the ‘Scoreboard’ cheer and ‘Season’s over’ during tournament series,” the WIAA email specified.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Gehl told the Post-Crescent. “I was like, ‘Really? For tweeting my opinion?’ I thought it was ridiculous.”

WIAA director of communications Todd Clark, who had sent the email to all schools last month, said the chants mentioned aren’t expressly banned from Wisconsin high school sports. Rather, he had sent the email as “a guide to help our schools in promoting positive chants,” he said.

“It’s up to the school for how they want to enforce that,” he said.

The fact that some schools are toning down some of the most popular chants in sports has already prompted a national debate. A few months ago, the Florida Gators band was told to cease playing a specific song because it elicited an inappropriate chant from the crowd.

Fox News columnist Todd Starnes called the WIAA’s efforts a move toward the “wussification of Wisconsin.”

Wisconsin’s football stadiums, basketball arenas and wrestling mats have become safe spaces for the perpetually-offended generation,” he wrote. “Vince Lombardi must be rolling over in his grave.”

“How ridiculous,” ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas wrote in a tweet. “The ‘adults’ making these decisions have too much time on their hands, and too little sense.”

Bilas posted this photo:

Under the new rules, a crowd behaving in an acceptable fashion at a Wisconsin high school basketball game. pic.twitter.com/n8aGfztVdV

— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) January 12, 2016

Travis Wilson of Wisconsin Sports Network allowed he would have approved of only a one- or two-game suspension for Gehl or even a simple rebuke from administrators and an apology by Gehl. But he supports her longer-term suspension, he wrote.

“Because let's be clear: the tweet was inappropriate, and deserved to be addressed,” Wilson wrote.

“Too often in recent years with the rise of social media, student-athletes and students have developed a misplaced idea that they can say whatever they want wherever they want and get away with it.”