Imagine that jumping out of Cocky's box on the 50 yard line!
Then Cocky should look more like this...
Are we gonna change mascot name from "Gamecocks"?
- Thread starter GarnetBeamer
- Start date
I wouldn't even take that story as gospel. There is no one agreed-upon versionHere's the story from the University (though not the one I remember reading):
Why are we Gamecocks?
Of all the mascots the University of South Carolina might have chosen, how did the gamecock — a feisty bird that relishes a scuffle — get the nod? It all goes back to the aftermath of a football game in 1902 in which Carolina students nearly came to deadly blows with their in-state rival.sc.edu
Here's what the University 101 textbook says:
"The university’s athletic teams used a variety of names
in their early years before settling on “Gamecocks”
around the turn of the century. The cruel sport of
cockfighting is now illegal, but the resilient spirit
of its avian competitors lives on in the nickname
“Fighting Gamecocks.” A cockfight was not over
until one of the birds was dead. Thus, calling someone
a “gamecock” is a testament to their courage and
tenacity against all odds.
A historical precedent for the name comes from
Revolutionary War general Thomas Sumter, a famed
soldier who was nicknamed the “South Carolina
Gamecock.” The first unofficial use of the nickname
“Game Cocks” for the university was in 1900, and
Columbia’s morning newspaper, The State, began
using “Gamecocks” in 1903. The official school colors
of garnet and black, also adopted in the early 1900s,
reflect the dominant colors of a fighting rooster."
"The university’s athletic teams used a variety of names
in their early years before settling on “Gamecocks”
around the turn of the century. The cruel sport of
cockfighting is now illegal, but the resilient spirit
of its avian competitors lives on in the nickname
“Fighting Gamecocks.” A cockfight was not over
until one of the birds was dead. Thus, calling someone
a “gamecock” is a testament to their courage and
tenacity against all odds.
A historical precedent for the name comes from
Revolutionary War general Thomas Sumter, a famed
soldier who was nicknamed the “South Carolina
Gamecock.” The first unofficial use of the nickname
“Game Cocks” for the university was in 1900, and
Columbia’s morning newspaper, The State, began
using “Gamecocks” in 1903. The official school colors
of garnet and black, also adopted in the early 1900s,
reflect the dominant colors of a fighting rooster."
Here's the story from the University (though not the one I remember reading):
Why are we Gamecocks?
Of all the mascots the University of South Carolina might have chosen, how did the gamecock — a feisty bird that relishes a scuffle — get the nod? It all goes back to the aftermath of a football game in 1902 in which Carolina students nearly came to deadly blows with their in-state rival.sc.edu
Yes, towards the end it acknowledges the obvious connection between Thomas Sumter and the name Gamecock.
Listen, folks, you're better off arguing why we shouldn't be changing the names of ANYTHING (a position I agree with) rather than trying to dismiss a connection between the name Gamecock and Thomas Sumter. Did a group of University officials sit down and vote to name ourselves Gamecocks in honor of Sumter? Of course not. But to deny the connection between the 2 is silly.
Maybe Clemson University should change their name seeing it is named after the daughter of John C. Calhoun and the university is built on donated land that was once Fort Hill plantation that was owned by John C. Calhoun.
You are not close enough to the situation to say that. We are not at "welp, change one thing, change em all!" level. There is a group of people on campus working on this issue. "Trust the coaches" as they say
Yes, I referenced this earlier.
Back when Clemson folks were pushing for name changes, I mentioned this fact and they similarly lost their minds.
Come now. ANY self-respecting South Carolinian who knows anything of our history, knows the connection between "Gamecock" and Thomas Sumter.
I've only been to Clemson for a couple games and I don't have an intimate knowledge of their campus historical markers etc. They better acknowledge the hell out of that Fort Hill thing though. Having a racist past is one thing; being located on an actual plantation is another. I know there is a recently acknowledged cemetery up there where slaves and descendants were buried.
More needs to be done, but USC has added historical markers about slaves' roles in building the Horseshoe in recent years.
I do not like judging people from centuries ago by todays moral standards. Only a minuscule percent of people who lived in those times can pass that test. I am sure over 90 percent of the population in the 18th 19th century were not terrible people. One thing we have in common with them is our opinions are shaped by the world we live in.
Think bigger than South Carolina. We don't just do stuff on a state level, we're on a national/international level. There is a bigger world out there than our 46 counties
Since our mascot is actually an American Revolution general rather than a bird, can we stop calling it the "Chicken Curse"?
Well, I've accomplished my intended purpose in demonstrating the foolishness of the name-changing initiative. People don't REALLY believe in the cause.
Before anything gets further obscured in this thread, this is basically the university's current official position. Pastides received the report from the historical commission and said at this time USC will seek to "contextualize" etc but not go back and change things.
You're just casually lobbing comments to try and get a reaction. People who are up on the situation aren't worried about it
That's been discussed on here many times and also the naming of Tillman Hall. Of course, that one gets much more approval than changing anything to do with USC for obvious reasons.
Until recent years, this was the norm. Folks were viewed through the historical lens.
Well, I'm not worried about it. I certainly don't think the University actually cares enough about the cause to make the biggest change. Again, it just shows the fallacy of the whole thing.
That's appropriate. Use it as an opportunity to actually teach history....good and bad.
There is a lot of that going on. Graduate students from the History Department are actually involved in these studies and such. I think there is a huge "public history" learning opportunity here. We actually have one of the top master's programs for that at USC.
Learning opportunities for undergrads too. Who are we? Who do we want to be? How do we represent ourselves? All questions worthy of critical thinking
Well… PETA had us in their sights for a bit due to the “Fighting Gamecocks” connotation and animal cruelty.. but I have yet to see a racist correlation made…
OP just loves name changes, he is on #4 in about a year.
lol, I remember back when the PETA thing first came up. Know what folks said? "Hey, we're not named after cockfighting, we're named after Thomas Sumter!"
Simple solution: don't change anything.
Again, for the record, I think changing the mascot name would be absurd.
I also used to think it would be absurd to think of college athletes getting paid. Or of major college sports breaking off from Universities altogether.
Again, for the record, I think changing the mascot name would be absurd.
I also used to think it would be absurd to think of college athletes getting paid. Or of major college sports breaking off from Universities altogether.
USCBatgirl21
Well-Known Member
Actually the University does NOT claim that. From our very own Athletics website.
https://gamecocksonline.com/sports/2018/6/21/trads-scar-trads-html.aspx
"Nickname
The University of South Carolina is the only major college athletic program in the country that uses "Fighting Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. The University's athletic teams have been known as Gamecocks for almost 100 years.
At the turn of the century (1900), after struggling for more than decade under numerous nicknames, the school's football team was first referred to unofficially as "Gamecocks."
In 1903, Columbia's morning newspaper, The State, shortened the name to one word and South Carolina teams have been Gamecocks ever since.
Those early teams must have been a feisty and spirited group. A gamecock, of course, is a fighting rooster known for its spirit and courage. A cock fight, which was a popular sport throughout the United States in the 19th century, would last until the death of one of the combatants. Cock fighting has been outlawed by most states for humanitarian reasons, but it is still held surreptitiously in many areas.
The State of South Carolina has long been closely connected with the breeding and training of fighting gamecocks. General Thomas Sumter, famed guerrilla fighter of the Revolutionary War, was known as "The Fighting Gamecock." "
While Gen Sumter is mentioned, we are not actually named for him. He is simply mentioned as a reference to the history of Gamecocks in SC.
What I'm hearing is we are going to change "fighting Gamecocks" to
" strongly worded text message Gamecocks" .
" strongly worded text message Gamecocks" .
While we’re at it might as well change the name of the White House cause that’s probably racist in some peoples eyes too. I’m so over all the talk about crap that happened long enough ago that generation is dead and has been for a while now. Nobody can change what happened then.
Facts always matter. The problem most have with this whole issue is that it brings to the forebear a lot of historical facts that people never learned or have wanted to forget. Good and bad, it is our history.
So we started with everything in the Civil War bad, now we go further back to the Revolutionary War. History is history and it's not to be removed or changed but to learn the lessons, good and bad. Removing all history is a typical Marxist move.
Really, I would prefer they work on something of substance, such as developing winning football and MBB programs.
Jaguars was a cool mascot/name……didn’t realize it was part of history. I think Carolina Pride would have also been cool, as in a pride of Lions, with Lion mascot(s). The stadium could have been the Lion’s den.
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